Tasty Rules!

From time to time I’ll post content from others. Julian’s already posted one or two items. Today’s feature is by my longtime friend Michele. Enjoy!
I’ve tried to teach my daughter the rule of thumb that the first time you make a recipe, you should follow it exactly, to see how it is supposed to taste. After that, feel free to tweak. Of course, some recipes are easier to tweak than others – pastry being the hardest.

There’s another “rule,” so I understand, that says something about not trying recipes for the first time for company. What if it fails? Won’t this be embarrassing on two levels: the food isn’t tasty and guests might go home hungry? (I suppose that embarrassment could work the other way: guests would be too embarrassed not to eat and, thus, go home full albeit not satisfied.)

But, as many people have done before, I brazenly ignored both these “rules” last Thanksgiving. I wanted to serve the traditional sweet potatoes, but not plain baked (too boring) and I’ve never understood the appeal of sweet potato casseroles. Fortunately, Jerusalem, A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi (Ten Speed Press, 2012) offered a recipe for “Roasted sweet potatoes & fresh figs.” The supporting text rhapsodizes on the glories—and availability—of fresh figs in Jerusalem, and reports that the success of this dish “wholly depends… on the figs being sweet, moist, and perfectly ripe.”

Yes… well… I live in the northeast (no local figs, ever) and it’s winter, so what the heck. I bought a pint of dried black mission figs from Trader Joe’s and forged ahead. The result was wonderful, and my guests thought so too!

So, the heck with cooking rules! Tasty rules!