Then Cuban cuisine is for you. We use a lot of onions, garlic, bell peppers and cumin to kick up the flavor without the heat.

Sol

I was going to suggest Greek...

Definitely Thai, very simple, you can buy pre-made curry paste and frozen breads.

I vote for Spanish....the Mediterranean diet with lots of garlic, olive oil, fish, salads, fresh vegetables and fruit.
It's even GOOD for you!
Not heavy on hot spices but yes with many fresh herbs and cooked in the simplest manner without a lot of manipulation in the kitchen.

Go for it!

SharonCb

I vote for "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks 3 ancient Cuisines"
It covers Italian, Greek and Chinese, and true to Frugal's form is simple and pretty basic.
And you might try some simple stuff....like adding 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder to the next chicken in cream sauce you make, get some fresh garlic and add some chopped to the next steak you grill, get some Montreal Steak seasoning and sprinkle some on your burger, roast some peeled potatoes that you sprinkle with rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper.
You really don't need a cookbook to add some spice to your life!
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: The book...

Love CUBAN and PUERTO RICAN homestyle food..its to die for!!!

Duane, I second that Frugal Gourmet cookbook. I have that as a gift from RobinKate, and I like reading it nearly as much as I like using it for the recipes.

I think you should try them all, it's the only way to discover what you really like. I find that I like a mixture of many. I'm not all that keen on Thai, but I do like that chicken/coconut milk soup, even if Ashley says it is "too weird". I don't care for tomato based sauces usually, or white pasta, but I especially like some of the Italian seafood based things and gnocchi made with stuff other than white flour. I like Mexican, but not very hot and I like much of the Indian cuisine but not curry. (grin)

Yeah, I know, I'm picky. But that's the beauty of living here, we can pick and choose from the "melting pot" that is America's cuisine, and take the ones we personally enjoy.

I say try 'em all. If I make something I don't like, I figure I can stand to miss a meal, LOL. Make Lars' Algerian chicken with the sumac, Sol's Dirt Bombs with cardamon, some fresh Italian sausage with lots of fennel and asiago cheese. Enjoy, my friend, enjoy.

Annie

Linda and Annie thanks for posting about the Frugal Gourmet Cookbook. I used to watch him years ago on PBS all the time. I need to think hard about getting this cookbook (I need another like I need a hole in the head)!

Annie you and I have some things in common that I have noticed so far - I don't like bananas and I'm not a big fan of Thai either. No coconut for me though.

I agree with Annie to try them all but I will say that I love Sharon's Med. idea of eating...talk about YUM!!!

Cajun food will definitely make your dulled tastebuds sit up and take notice!! The ingredients are mostly simple and relatively inexpensive because they're dishes concocted by poor, hard-working people who absolutely loved good food and had a gift for making much out of little.

While some are quick, many do need to cook for hours. But it's not 'hands on' time. You can let stuff like jambalaya simmer away on the weekends while you do laundry and catch up on paperwork. Make a big pot of whatever and freeze most of it for weeknight meals when you're zonked. Lots of 'one-dish meals', so all you'll need is bread and a salad and you'll be good to go.

sm

I'm Greek, so, of course, I think Greek food is great. It's really simple yet flavorful. I'm talking about the family style food,not necessarily the stuff you get at festivals or restaurants. The Frugal Gourmet's three great cuisines book that Annie & Linda mentioned is a good start.

That said, I am always amazed at the food Sharon (Canarybird) photographs. The Spanish inspired dishes look so colorful & amazingly tasty.

I've found that authentic ethnic cuisine takes a lot more steps to prepare than what most people want to do on an average weekday or busy weekend. Here are a couple of simple recipes that I make quite often that are simplified ethnic dishes:

CHICKEN DELICIOUS
4 chicken breasts
2 T. butter or margarine
1/4 C. yellow mustard
1/2 C. honey
1 t. salt
1 t. sweet (not spicy) curry powder

Melt margarine in a small pan. Add remaining ingredients and cook on medium heat until thickened. Place chicken in a baking dish and pour sauce over chicken. Bake at 375 until the chicken is cooked through (approximately 45-60 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken). Serve with rice.

PICANTE CHICKEN
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 jar of Pace mild picante sauce
3 T. brown sugar
1 T. dijon mustard
Wash & rinse chicken. Put in 8x8 baking dish. Mix picante sauce, brown sugar and mustard in a small bowl. Pour over chicken. Bake at 375 for 30-35 min, or until chicken is done. Serve with rice.

DAL from JessyF
1.5 Cups Orange Lentils 'Masoor dal'
3 Cups water
1 onion - chopped
1 Tablespoon Garam Masala
1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger or jarred
1 cut up tomato
Handful cilantro

Cook onion in a bit of oil until brown, not dark.
Add lentils and cook three minutes.
Add water, bring to boil, stirring.
Add garam masala, ginger, cut up tomato
Cook until lentils are soft (the split ones 'melt'), stirring occassionally. Garnish with cilantro and hide from the rest of the family.

GINGERED BARBEQUED CHICKEN BREASTS
from my Mom

1/2 C. ketchup
3 T. worcestershire sauce
2 T. peanut oil
1 T. honey
1-1/2 t. grated fresh ginger
1/2 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. chili powder
3 chicken breasts, approximately 1 pound

If baking in an oven: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wisk all the ingredients together. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brush half the sauce on top of the chicken. Bake for 20 minutes. Brush remaining ingredients, bake for 20 more minutes. Also excellent on the grill.

CAJUN MEATLOAF by Paul Prudhomme
This one takes a little more prep time but it is worth it and will make 8 nice slices of meatloaf which can be freezed if you don't eat them all at once:

Seasoning Mix:
2 bay leaves
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 t. black pepper
1/2 t. white pepper
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground nutmeg

Meatloaf Mix:
4 T. unsalted butter
3/4 C. onions, finely chopped
1/2 C. celery, finely chopped
1/2 C. green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 C. green onion, finely chopped
2 t. minced garlic
1 T. tabasco sauce (more or less to taste)
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 C. evaporated milk
1/2 C. ketchup
1-1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 C. fine dry bread crumbs

Combine seasonings in small bowl. Melt butter in 1 qt. saucepan; add onion, celery, peppers, green onions, garlic, tabasco, worcestershire and seasoning mix. Saute until mixture sticks excessively, about 6 min., stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom. Stir in milk and ketchup, continue cooking about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Place ground meat in ungreased 13" x 9" baking pan. Add eggs, cooked vegetable mixture and bread crumbs. Mix by hand until thoroughly combined. Shape into loaf pproximately 1-1/2" high, 6" wide and 12" long. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes,then raise heat to 400 and continue to cook until done, about 35 minutes.

Two tips: I put very little hot seasoning in this recipe and serve it with a bottle of tobasco sauce so everyone can season it to their liking. Also, if the cooked mixture is too hot to handle, I use latex gloves to mix it all together. I've substituted 1/2 turkey and Eggbeaters with no problems.

Good luck finding flavorful recipes!

Kari

This is probably OT, but Jeff Smith was suddenly yanked from PBS after some "inappropriate" acts with a young boy. Although that has nothing to do with cooking, it spoiled anything with Frugal Gourmet connotations for me. Something to do with likability.

Jim

Jim, he was "accused" but was never charged, tried or convicted.

Being in prosecution I tend to always lean toward believing everyone is guilty, but there is that little Constitutional issue...

Annie

Duane, I'm a pretty plain Mid-West cook, who grew up in the area that you live in. My DM was a meat and potatoes cook, so it took me awhile to learn to like certain foods. I try adding some spice to my cooking by using fresh ginger, cilantro, hot sauces, fruits, wine, mustard's, etc. I try to watch for recipes that are not too off the wall but have different ingredients that I think I might like.

Sometimes you just have to be brave. I know what I don't like, so I let those recipes pass, but I watch for recipes that I might like. Sometimes I like them sometimes I don't but usually this group on the CF is right on when they say something is good. So then I go for it!

Good thing I have a dog that will eat anything we give her...

Nancy

Another vote for Louisiana cuisine. It can be as elaborate or as simple as you want, but it's never boring. The link is to my favorite Louisiana cookbook, now in paperback. My 30 year old copy of it is falling apart from overuse; I have probably 200 cookbooks, but this is one is always on the shelf closest to the stove.

But here are a few suggestions to improve the overall zing of your cooking.

A couple of condiments I wish I had discovered earlier: SRIRACHA is a southeast asian hot chili sauce. And I do mean hot. It's mostly chili peppers and garlic. A squirt of this stuff will liven up any soup or bean or meat dish with pure capsicum hot-osity. Go to Wikipedia and enter 'sriracha' and you'll see a picture of the most popular US version of this sauce. It has a rooster on the bottle; some people call it rooster sauce. You can find this at any world food market, and even though it's a US product, I've always been able to find it at Indian grocery stores. Great stuff. And the big boys use this too; I saw Mario Batalli on Iron Chef give a healthy squirt of this stuff into some dish he was making.

Another condiment that's worth checking out is Spanish smoked paprika. It's made from peppers that are dried and then smoked over oak fires. It comes in sweet, bittersweet and hot. All of them add a yummy smokiness to your dishes. Look for the words 'Pimenton La Vera' to make sure you're getting the authentic article.

Finally, the simplest way to get good tasty comfort foods of whatever level of spiciness you want is to get a pressure cooker. On this forum I and others have extolled the virtues of the PC; do a search and you'll find a bunch of threads. I have become nearly addicted to Patak's curry paste in all its varieties, and I can whip up a tasty curry in about 15 minutes in the pressure cooker. It takes longer to make the rice than it does to make the curry. Fagor makes a multi set of an 8 qt stockpot and a 4 qt saute-style pan with a pressure lid that fits both, for about $100. Get something like that and any of Lorna Sass's cookbooks, and you'll be able to cook great food in very little time.

Bon appetit!

Here is a link that might be useful: new orleans cookbook

I have become a big fan of Indian food. The people of India do things with spices that I couldn't have imagined before I started studying their cuisine. Sometimes, it puts people unfamiliar with it off, because so many spices are unfamiliar, but it really isn't difficult once you get into it.

A very good starter book is, "Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking", with recipes by Raghavan Iyer. Yup, Betty Crocker. It was the first Indian cookbook I got, and 6 or 7 books and several years later, I can still say that I'm glad it was my first as I learned not to be intimidated by this wonderful cuisine because of the straight forward recipes that were included.

Another book I recently picked up that is wonderful for injecting a bit of "newness" into everyday foods is Williams-Sonoma's "Eating By Color, for maximum health".

It sounds gimmicky, but the recipes I've tried so far have been very tasty, utilized unusual combinations of ingredients and are surprisingly simple in terms of preparation.

Another good place to check out is www.allrecipes.com. Gardenweb.com and allrecipes is where I spend the majority of my time online. It was a wonderful collection of recipes and real people rate each recipe and gives feedback on what to do or dont do. It really is a great place to learn how to cook many things. Most of the meals I cook now are from that website. Good luck!!!

Thank you all for taking time to give me some great ideas. I am copying this thread for future reading. If only my life would slow down to where I can actually shop for and plan a cuban, cajun or indian meal! 'tis the times I guess!

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Duane

Annie:

Jeff Smith was, indeed, charged.

He then paid an undisclosed settlement to seven of his accusers out of court. Hence, no trial.

Sorry, Duane, for hijacking this thread.

But on the positive, on-topic side, I think that every ethnic cuisine has its falvorful-yet-simple recipes. It's a matter of finding them -- or having them thrown at you in a forum such as this.

Joe