When asked to pick a favorite Bon Appetit recipe of all time, most staffers will tell you something showstopping. And why not? The site (and app) are full of impressive cakes and applause-worthy party mains, dishes stunning enough to warrant a special call-out. In other words, when we get this question, we bring the big guns, because we think you want spectacle and we know our recipes can deliver.
But if you press us—back us into a literal or metaphorical corner and insist we tell you the dish we make at home more than any other—you will discover that it’s the simple stuff that looms the largest. Weeknight chicken dinners with formulas we’ve memorized, pantry pastas we fall back on again and again, the most straightforward desserts we can pull out of our back pockets whenever a potluck comes calling. We love the basics, and it’s those URLS (not the briskets, not the pies) that we wear into the ground.
My most-cooked Bon Appétit recipe is Herby Barley Salad With Butter-Basted Mushrooms. It’s a Chris Morocco joint that hit the website in 2015, around the same time I started to host my friends for dinner parties in my first dinky NYC apartment. These mushrooms made repeat appearances at those parties, regardless of the season or whatever else was on the table. They felt robust enough as a side to round out a menu, and special enough due to the basting technique and crispy shallot topping to warrant a spot.
When I got better at menu planning and prioritized variety, I’d still make the mushrooms, just for my own dinner on a Tuesday after work, or to pack for a few days of lunch. I made them week after week, swapping in different grains, varieties of mushrooms, and herbs, but otherwise keeping the formula the same. I’ve always been a grain bowl girlie, and this became my go-to. Even today, when I type “bonappetit.com” into my browser, this recipe is one of the suggested auto-fills. The internet knows: I’m probably looking for the mushrooms.
It took me years of knowing Chris before I felt comfortable telling him that his recipe had played such an important role in my life. It’s kind of a weird thing to say to somebody! But one afternoon in the test kitchen, I took the leap. I don’t know what I expected, that he’d put his hand over his heart, touched? That we’d hug or something? Instead he looked at me weirder than when I suggested doing a Feast of the Seven Fishes story with gummy candy sea creatures. “Those…plain…mushrooms?” he asked. “Those are your favorite of all time?” What can I say? I love those plain mushrooms! They may not be a zillion-layer cake or a billion-hour braise, but to me they’re perfect.
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