Some people love to prepare recipes full of numerous steps with exotic ingredients and complicated flavors. Nothing thrills them more when they see a long list of ingredients and procedures that might require them to clarify butter, make a reduction, or run out to a specialty market.
This is not me. I confess to being a pretty basic cook. Not only do I lack the time and skill, I am inclined toward basic recipes I can throw together in ten or twenty minutes…preferably in one pot. My only requirement is that they be healthy and not have a list of ingredients as long as my arm.
I adore the cookbooks of Brother Victor. He is a resident monk and the cook for a monastic order near the Hudson Valley in New York. The order is vegetarian, but his recipes include fish, dairy, and eggs. These recipes are very simple, calling on basic staples any healthy vegetable garden will feature (carrots, spinach, celery, etc.) Throw in a starch, some beans, a handful of seasoning, and you are done.
These recipes aren’t for everyone. My husband thinks them bland and boring, but I adore the simplicity. This is “peasant” cooking. Nothing fancy, but somehow it harkens back to a simpler time when there were fewer demands on a cook to produce a spectacular array of flavors. And the fact that Brother Victor’s cookbooks have all been best sellers gives me tacit permission to revert back to these simpler recipes. If you wish to check out his other titles and look over the recipes, you can click HERE
