As for the Topic of the Day...
When I cook vegetables at home, I usually do something very simple with them - boil, steam, saute, bake, etc. And even though I have been quite the "regular" cook over the past couple of years, my knife skills are still on the slow side, so the less the chopping and dicing the better. Sometimes there's nothing better than a perfectly baked baked potato. Or a baked sweet potato. Or a roasted bulb of fennel.
I came across and Afghan - I think it was Afghan - dish a few years ago, that's basically comprised of caramelized onions, tomatoes and chick peas. Very easy to prepare and quite delicious. *And for some protein, you can poach an egg in the cooking liquid.
I'm the same with fruits. I prefer to eat them out of hand. If I want a "fancy" fruit tart, I'll order one when I'm out at a restaurant. However, depending what I happen to find at the market, I will occasionally make a crostata with the aid of a store-bought pie crust. Just plop the fruit on top of the pie crust, top with some sugar and cinnamon, dot with a few pats of butter, then bring the pie crust up around the fruit and bake. Yummers!
