Recipes

I’ll be straight up with you here: I am not a chef, I just like to cook and I love to eat. Yeah, I make some awful mistakes – completely inedible food (if you can call it that) that leaves me taking the fam out for fast food. However, sometimes I make something that is incredibly tasty and I’d like to share some of my experiments with you.

I say ‘experiments‘ because that is how I cook most of the time. I may eat something at a restaurant, or see a picture in a magazine, or see something that interests me on a cooking show, and then try to re-create the dish at home. Most of the time I end up making several substitutions to suit my tastes, or simply because I don’t have an ingredient, or maybe just for cost considerations. For example, I can’t afford a good piece of beef tenderloin. However, I can afford a pork tenderloin, or even a flank steak.

Nevertheless, my philosophies when cooking are simple:

#1 – Experiment. Not everything will turn out good, and that’s ok. But some things will turn out great. I read cookbooks and watch cooking shows then go out and buy some groceries. Over time, I’ve learned a few combinations that work well together because I’ve experimented. I encourage you to do the same. Learn what cilantro tastes like and when to use it. Learn how much cumin you can add to a dish without overpowering it. Learn how much curry you can use before it is revolting. And so on. Don’t be afraid.

#2 – Use simple foods wisely and well. I don’t need truffles, or yellow fin tuna, or some oddity that can only be found at certain times of the year for which I’ll have to spend a few fingers on. Instead, I like to take foods that are accessible and create from them surprising things. I’m a big fan of taking something like canned beans, for example, and adding some additional spices and fresh vegetables. Might as well use what I have in the pantry.

My purpose with the recipes is to share with you some of my favorite things and hope that you like them as well. Let me know what you think.