Simple favorites

Some of the best things in life are simple. This is especially true about food and flavors. Okay, I’ll admit, I do love how impressive it sounds to make something like roast lamb with a rosemary-Dijon rub and a cool mint mascarpone dipping sauce. Yes, yes, admire me, envy my culinary prowess and bow before me Queen of the Kitchen! Buwahahaha! Bragging rights aside, simple flavors are often superior. Here are a few of my best simple favorites.

Marinated tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes (or grape or whatever small tomato you find)
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper


Halve the tomatoes and put in a bowl, add enough olive oil to just coat. Season with salt and pepper. Allow the tomatoes to marinate for at least 20 minutes. Serve with crusty bread. It’s soooo good. In fact, I recently had a party with a number of different appetizers and this was the favorite dish. No one can believe it’s just tomatoes, olive oil, and salt and pepper, it’s amazing. The best part is the tomato juice mixed with the olive oil in the bottom of the bowl. I also eat this for lunch sometimes. Be sure to try this one.

Perfect balsamic vinaigrette
1 part Balsamic vinegar
2 parts extra virgin olive oil
A dollop of Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
Add all of the ingredients in a plastic container with a lid and shake to combine. The Dijon mustard acts as an emollient so the vinegar and the oil don’t separate like a standard oil-vinegar dressing. This is almost the only dressing I use. You can refrigerate, but the oil will get cloudy and clumpy but will be fine once it warms to room temperature again.

Balsamic chicken
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Equal parts balsamic vinegar and olive oil
Rosemary
Salt and pepper




Wrap chicken breasts loosely in plastic wrap and using a meat mallet or frying pan pound the breasts flat, until they were about 1/3 as thick as they started. Put flat chicken into a plastic bag and add balsamic vinegar and olive oil-enough to coat. Chop rosemary (however much you enjoy) and salt and pepper. Marinade for 20 minutes or so. Cook chicken over medium-high heat until both sides are nicely seared and then reduce heat to low and cook until the marinade melts. Cooking it over high heat causes the sugars in the vinegar to caramelize and then cooking it over low heat causes it to melt.

The chicken is the prettiest chicken you have ever seen. This is delish on pasta (the pasta tossed with some browned butter and a slash of balsamic vinegar and grated ramano), by itself, or my favorite application, on a salad with dried cranberries, goat cheese, candied pecans, and the perfect balsamic vinaigrette mentioned above.

Baked Goat Cheese
5 inches of goat cheese
Jar of tomato-basil marinara
Garlic toast

Heat oven to 350. You can make garlic toast by buttering some bread and sprinkling with garlic salt and baking until golden brown. Break the goat cheese into thumb sized chunks and sprinkle in a baking dish (9X9 or smaller) and pour a jar of marinara sauce over the goat cheese. Bake for at least 20 minutes but up to 45 minutes. This is a great dish to entertain with because you can leave it in the oven until everyone is ready to eat without worrying about burning it.