Cooking for three growing boys has its challenges.  They may always be hungry, but having been raised up to this point on primarily convenient foods, they have a very limited idea of what is acceptable to eat.  Unfortunately for me, just about any vegetable that I consider to be amazing is not currently on that list.

After months of trying to accommodate their wants with a real need to get them to eat in something like a healthy manner, it has come time to put on my “Dad” hat and just start making the right foods, regardless of the amount of noise coming from the dining room when something green comes out of the larder.

What do you do to get your kids to eat better?  Do you have tricks for sneaking healthier alternatives into the mix, or do you just sit staunchly by until they finally cave in and eat what they should eat?  I’d be very interested to know what other parents are doing here, especially since I’m starting with kids that haven’t been eating my food for the last four years.

I’ll grant that the only nod towards health that this particular dish shows is the spinach itself.  This is not the world’s healthiest pasta dish, but I’m using sausage, butter and garlic as gateway foods to introduce healthier items like spinach and fresh basil. (They loved the basil… Not so much the spinach, but they ate some of it, so it’s a start!)

Another trick I’ve begun using is to decrease the amount of “the good stuff” in the dish.  While I more than likely would have made this a year ago with a pound of sausage and simply saved the leftovers, now I’ve cut it down to 1/2 pound, knowing full-well that the two older boys will not leave even the smallest meaty bit in the pan or on their plates, regardless of how little they touch the vegetables.

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If you’re wondering why I would take the time to post a recipe for a simple salami sandwich, I assure you that there is a very valid point behind this entry. The idea stemmed from a comment in a twitter conversation that got me thinking about a few things.  That idea simply could not go without being written because I think that it pertains to every food blogger in existence at least at one time or another.

This post is dedicated in particular to my good friend Judy from No Fear Entertaining. It was a the following tweet that got me thinking about food today.  In particular, it got me thinking about what food is good food, and what is worth serving to family, friends or acquaintances.

I was checking my twitterstream when the following popped up from Judy (You are following her on twitter, aren’t you?):

@nofearentertain Dinner tonight:  Ham and salami sandwiches…I suck :-(

Of course several of us chimed in to say there was absolutely nothing wrong with this idea as a meal (To be entirely honest, I was contemplating the sandwich above long before she brought the subject up), but the statement itself got me thinking about food bloggers and how the act of being a food blogger changes our idea of what food should be. It also started me thinking about how it changes our perspective in relation to every person out there who might someday read what we’ve written.

Regardless of whether we make our money directly from our writing, food bloggers are in a sense professional foodies.  We follow the latest news in food, chefs and restaurants.  We seek out unique and pristine ingredients.  We insatiably follow food trends and at times even create the trends that the rest of the world follows.  In one way or another we define our lives in the food that we eat, the places we congregate and the meals we prepare, but in the process we disconnect ourselves from the world at large.

The quest for perfection that we engage ourselves in has an unfortunate side effect for almost every one of us at one point. It causes our focus to shift from what good food is at its core to a strange belief that the ingredients make the dish.  Nothing is farther from the truth.  The primary ingredient in great food is the love that goes into it, not whether or not the cheese used on the side was organically cultured three miles underground and cased in fine port for seven years. (Though that does sound lovely!)

Art Smith attributes his success as as a chef to preparing the food he loves with all the love he can.  The world seems to agree.  Art is acclaimed for his dishes.  They aren’t fancy.  They aren’t pompous.  They aren’t even gourmet in the fashion that most would consider a meal called gourmet food. They’re just good modern interpretations of good old fashioned Southern American meals.

Take the humble sandwich above.  Today I think nothing of it.  It’s something I might make on any given day.  A simple assemblage of ingredients that are invariably on hand in my refrigerator and pantry. On any other occasion I would have enjoyed it without ever really appreciating it, but the thought of what makes up a truly great dish placed it firmly under scrutiny.

To a foodie it’s a simple sandwich.  To my younger self it would have been a gourmet extravaganza. As a child I had never experienced such things as spicy brown mustard or shaved Parmesan cheese.  Romain lettuce was something you found as a garnish on plates at some of the better restaurants, not something used on a sandwich. Parmesan cheese came in a green shaker can that went in the fridge next to the Miracle Whip and grape jelly.

The sandwich above was as far from my experience as escargot. I wouldn’t have gotten it.  It would have been gourmet in the extreme.

That is not to say w didn’t eat a lot of salami sandwiches.  Growing up in the primarily Italian California wine country gave me the opportunity to eat a great deal of salami.  It was generally enjoyed with sourdough bread from the Sonoma French Bakery and some wonderful aged cheddar from our local delicatessen, with a hint of mustard and all the love my mother could put into it.

I never noticed that it wasn’t up to par.

So to all food bloggers out there, and to any aspiring foodie who may find themselves looking at the ingredients list before they look at the faces around their table. Please don’t forget what the real meaning of great food is.  It’s not the ingredients.  It’s not the cost, nor the complicated French method necessary to create the sauce. It’s the love that went into the making of a dish that gives it value.

So to my good friend Judy I say again; There is absolutely nothing wrong with serving ham and salami sandwiches for dinner.  They may be more appreciated by the younger members of your clan that would a perfect Coq au Vin, they’re a lot less complicated to make and I have no doubt in my mind that when prepared in your household they are infused with all the love in the world.

Food is love.  Let us not forget that in the details.

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Fettuccine Alfredo is one of Italy’s most wondrous exports. A perfect pairing of rich, creamy sauce and perfectly cooked pasta that serves equally well as a main dish or as a side to nearly anything you feel like serving with it.  It’s complex yet simple,  filling and decadent.  What could be more wonderful?

Now what if I told you that every recipe that you’ve probably ever seen for Fettuccine Alfredo was wrong?  What if I told you that it was probably the most simple dish in the world to make?  What if I told you that Mr. Alfredo’s Fettuccine has been done a glaring disservice by a million cooks, including renown chefs around the world.  Would you believe me?

If you won’t believe me, would you believe Saveur magazine? Their May issue features an article by Tod Coleman titled “The Real Alfredo”, which details the history and creation of this iconic dish from its birth just after the turn of the century.  Alfredo, it seems, created the dish for his wife, who had lost her appetite after giving birth to their son.  His modified Fettuccine al Burro featured far more butter than the original, a combination that “…neither his wife or his customers could resist.”

While most versions I’ve seen are fairly complex and require a fair bit of attention to detail, the original Fettuccine Alfredo has just four ingredients and takes mere minutes to make, but results in a dish far more complex and wondrous than any Alfredo I’ve ever eaten in an Italian Restaurant anywhere… Ever. And I’ve eaten a lot.

So please be so kind as to take a moment to meet the real Alfredo.  You’ll never think of this dish the same way again.  But you may find you eat a lot more of it.

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(I’m combining this post with my weekly Thursday Thirteen, if you were just here to see the TT, scroll to the bottom of the post.)

As foodies we are sometimes driven to try the most recent trend in foods. To go after more exotic ingredients and preparation methods. To push our cooking skills and palate’s further than they have ever gone before. All of these are good things and make for a very interesting culinary life. Food should never be boring, after all.

While I subscribe to the concepts mentioned above, there are still times I when just want a really good French Fry, and yesterday was one of those days.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t liked fast food french fries in a very long time. Most are nothing more than overcooked, greasy little processed things that don’t do anything at all for me, other than perhaps cause a case of indigestion later. On the other hand, I rarely turn down the opportunity to indulge in a homemade fry, whether I’m the one making it or not, making fries one of the things I almost never order in a restaurant. I’ll take mine my way, thank you.

I prefer to make fries in a cast iron skillet rather than in a deep pan or heavy dutch oven for several reasons. One, the oil heats much more quickly in a heavy shallow pan. Two, it cools more quickly when the heat is lowered because of greater surface/air ratios. Three, It’s a lot harder to crowd the pan, which allows me to see each and every item that I’m frying while keeping my temperatures constant. Taking out the guess work is a good thing, as it means that you won’t end up with greasy food.

(Read the bottom of the post to see the thirteen things I will almost never order out)

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