but not simpler

“Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
- Albert Einstein

This is more of an idea than a recipe, but I wouldn't want you not to know about it. I got it from Nigel Slater, of course, from his book Appetite. The idea is this: get some soft cheese, like a tallegio, or a brie, anything melt-y. Cut it in little pieces, and place those in a bowl. Boil some water for pasta, and steam some veggies (I like broccoli in this, and whole wheat penne). Put the veggies in the bowl with the cheese, swirl around a bit, add the pasta, swirl around a bit more, and the cheese will start to melt and form a bit of a sauce, with little nuggets of cheese remaining as tasty bites.

I think it's also in Appetite, though it may have been in The Kitchen Diaries, or somewhere else all together, that Nigel wrote about how not making too much of a fuss is what keeps him from getting tired of cooking. Yes. Sometimes I want a big to-do, a challenge, a complicated cake or a curry with 25 ingredients. But it's recipes/ideas like these that keep me from resenting going into the kitchen every night. Keeping it as simple as possible. But not simpler.

- Anne