Simple does not mean boring. Few ingredients for big flavor. What you do with them is what counts.
A little over a year ago, I won the heart of my love with one of my favorite dishes: Chicken Cacciatore. A wonderful braised chicken dish with very simple ingredients: a chicken, tomato sauce, an onion, garlic, mushrooms, herbs, a little red wine, lots of love and a little time (and thyme actually). Fairly simply ingredients but when put together properly, something wonderful comes out. Sure, you could just throw them all in a pot and hope for the best, but it takes more than that. First you need to brown the chicken, then the onions, mushrooms and garlic. Don't put the garlic in too early or it will burn. Toss in the herbs, do a little deglaze action with the wine, pour in the tomato sauce, bring it to a boil and let it simmer. How long? Until its done!
Traditionally dishes like Chicken Cacciatore, Coq au Vin, Boeuf Bourguignon and a ton of other slow braised dishes started out as peasant food. With Chicken Cacciatore, the cacciatore roughly translates to "hunter". This was food that was thrown in a pot as a hearty meal for the hunters. Coq au Vin was a rooster who couldn't... well let's just say his time as the hen house stud had passed. He was old, stringy and tough so you marinaded him in wine and cooked him slowly. Boeuf Bourguignon was the tough cuts of meat you couldn't sell at market. You had to take your time with these things to make them something wonderful. Maybe that is what I love about them. Humble ingredients that when put together properly become something amazing. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. I mean look at any expensive French restaurant and you are likely to see Coq au Vin or Boeuf Bourguignon on the menu commanding a pretty high price! I always chuckle to myself thinking the chef in the back must be laughing his way to the bank on the price of that recipe to make!
So the next time you are trying to think about what to cook for dinner and get a little disappointed with no fancy ingredients, take a look at a few more rustic cookbooks or recipes. I bet you will find something fantastic if you are willing to take a little time and not rush things.
What do you do with the other half bottle of red wine? :-)