You can't go wrong with...

[Verjuice]

Is there a staple dish that you never seem to tire of? An ingredient that you can't seem to get enough of? A fallback dish that you rely on to get you through less imaginative periods?

I have a tendency towards overkill when I begin a love affair with a new ingredient or recipe. After a couple of weeks, I never want to see it again.

There are only a couple of exceptions. One is a tarted-up oat bran of many years standing. It's failsafe, foolproof, and child-tested. Probably the only 1,200 calorie bowl of hot cereal in town. I could eat it three times a day, but then I'd never want to anything except lie around like a beached whale, napping and giggling listlessly between meals. It's what I make when I don't want to think about what to make. The finished product looks like it requires a certain amount of creative effort, but really doesn't. I always toast the cereal before cooking it, Always butter, almonds, Turkish apricots (made more plump and luscious by a brief soak in chamomile tea), whole milk. Honey, maple syrup AND brown sugar (indeed). Cinnamon, maybe walnuts or pecans. And a generous dollop of Greek yogurt.

Other than that, I can never have too many pistachios, broccoli, green chili, Rio Star grapefruits, and Michel Cluizel bittersweet chocolate. I have eaten all of these things nearly every day for years and I still hunger for them.

How about y'all?

[jsolomon]

BACON Also, rice wine vinegar (as an ingredient, anyway).

Other things are chicken enchiladas, homemade lasagna, and soft-boiled eggs with tabasco sauce.

The last one I can't explain. I freely admit that it's a weird one to crave; yet, I do.

[Raynickben]

Mine is popcorn. I always have it in the pantry, it's quick, easy and not too fattening.

Now of course I wouldn't feed my kids popcorn for dinner so for them it's tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

[JPW]

For me it depends on the occasion.

Thursday night is our clean-out-the-fridge curry night. Plug in the rice cooker, grab the wok throw in some oil and garlic and toss in whatever maybe left in the fridge.

Could be veggies, meat, and/or just about any other perishables that might be found.

If I'm having guests and get too lazy, it is generally just throwing a big slab of meat on the grill. As a side i have the easiest onion soup recipe that I stole from one of eGulleteers' least favorite Food Network hosts -- Paula Dean.

Get the sweetest onion you can find, peel, core a small hole in the middle, and cut (but not all the way) into 4 quarters so you have a flower bulb looking thing. Put butter in the slits, a beef bullion cube in the hole, wrap in tin foil, throw on the grill until soft (30-45 minutes). Carefully open in a soup bowl and -- voila -- French Onion Soup (without the bread and cheese).

Edited for fat fingers not working correctly

Edited January 13, 2004 by JPW (log)

[MichaelB]

Is there a staple dish that you never seem to tire of? An ingredient that you can't seem to get enough of? A fallback dish that you rely on to get you through less imaginative periods?

There is a single answer to all of your questions, Grasshopper:

Duck Confit.

[AzRaeL]

Oxtail soup

[Squeat Mungry]

Scotch. Oh, food? I never get tired of osso bucco in the fall/winter, and I'm always happy with good bread and cheese.

[Bond Girl]

Seafood Gumbo in the winter, beer steamed shrimp with cajun seasoning in the summer, Pan seared skate with brown butter whenever I can find skate, crabmeat salad with avocado, and just plain cold soba with dipping sauce late at night.

[JennyUptown]

Tang. Oh, that's not a food? OK.

Bacon, sausage, other salty meats.

Blue cheese of all varieties.

[fifi]

My fall back usually involves friends or family wanting one of my usual dishes but we have other things to do. (Like when the kids are in town.) I do a brisket in the oven in a cooking bag. You season it up as if you were going to smoke it. Put it in the bag with a couple of cups of very strong coffee. Set the oven to 225F and walk off. I do a similar thing with pork butt but with beer or white wine instead of coffee. This assumes that I am not firing up the smoker. I am getting enough confidence in the Weber Smoky Mountain that I could walk off from that, too... almost. Slow cooking methods are great because they are forgiving of you getting home a little later than you planned.

[krisdata]

Thai lettuce wraps, adapted from a recipe in Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer. And pita and hummus.

I could live off the stuff...

[Toasted]

In our house it's vegetarian chili with tons of melted cheese and sour cream to balance out the healthiness of all those veggies. I make a big pot of it at least once a month and freeze the extras so it's always available.

However when it's just me and I'm starving, the obvious choice is beer and Cheez-its. I don't have to cook it and I never get sick of it.

[curlywurlyfi]

Thai/Asian dressing - mix of some or all of the following: soy sauce, nam pla, grated ginger, grated garlic, chopped fresh coriander, chopped red chilli, mirin, rice wine vinegar, muscovado sugar, sesame oil, lime juice. It goes with everything - it can be dipping sauce, salad dressing or marinade, depending on what you're doing.

Fi

[babka]

pasta puttanesca

slow-cooked scrambled eggs

spicy olives and tamari almonds.

[slbunge]

'Fingers' of polenta baked in a casserole dish with homemade tomato sauce and topped with a crumble of a sharp blue cheese.

[pattimw]

grilled cheese, because there are lots of ways you an modify it......add bacon, add tomatoes, roasted red peppers, sauteed mushrooms, ham, all kinds of cheese...

I never thought I had a fall back meal, but I discovered that I did on Sunday night. We had just returned from New York, hungover as all hell, and I was hungry and wanted to make something easy, yet filling, hearty, and comforting. It's not very exciting, or gourmet. It's.....ground beef with Barilla pasta sauce and piles of linguine. With heaps of parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Barilla makes some great sauce. my favorite is the hot pepper, although they were out of that Sunday. So I went with the marinara instead. still good, with chunky tomatoes.

[ExtraMSG]

Nuts, cheese, and dried fruit. I could eat this combo all day and it takes no work whatsoever. A perfect balance of flavors.

[jsolomon]

mmm... gizzards... I have some braising right now

[fresco]

Pasta with pesto. I make a bunch of pesto every fall and freeze it. Guaranteed to get me through any failure of inspiration, spell of laziness, etc.

[reesek]

Nuts, cheese, and dried fruit. I could eat this combo all day and it takes no work whatsoever. A perfect balance of flavors.

sounds like mine.

i call it the graze. because my eyes are too big for my stomach... it's one of my more expensive meals, but i'll go to my lovely market get dried cherries, or a gorgeous fresh pear/peaches in the summer and match the cheese to the fruit or the fruit to the cheese - depending on the season. potato bread from a local bakery, olives, onion or pepper pickle if i've been creative, and if i'm feeling truly decadent, a hunk of smoked albacore.

jenny - if you are interested in trying fish i suggest you go smoked first. the smoked albacore i get tastes exactly like bacon but with the texture of very dry chicken. it's awesome with fruit and cheese.

[hillvalley]

Right now it seems to be chicken soup. I am averaging a pot every week and a half.

My long term ones are natto and black olives.

[jschyun]

oatmeal

[tejon]

Soup. I love soup in all it's forms: cream soups, clear asian broths, minestrone brimming with vegetables, filling lentil soups, chicken soup that fills the house with that wonderful smell. I adore soup and make it again and again. Dal comes in close second - if I can't think of anything else interesting to do for dinner, dal with some basmati rice and spiced vegetable of some sort wins out every time.

Edited January 15, 2004 by tejon (log)

[KAPDADDY]

Good bread

Good cheese

Steamed rice

Lots of beef

Fresh mushrooms

[sandra]

pasta with tomato sauce - lots of grana padano or parmesan...