Here to stay

Confounded by the head-spinning speed of food trends? I asked Carmichael resident Elise Bauer of the popular Web site Simply Recipes (www.simplyrecipes.com) to name three recipes that never go out of style. Recipes for all are on the site.

1. Pot roast: “The recipe we use most generally is from my mom. It’s very simple, and it requires using a chuck roast, onion and garlic, and only a half-cup of red wine. The trick is in the low-temperature cooking, which brings out the flavor of the inexpensive cut.”

2. “The same is true for roast beef. You slather a boneless rump roast with olive oil, insert slivers of garlic, and start it off on high temperature, 375 degrees for half an hour, then lower to 225 degrees. It’s a classic recipe that everyone should know how to do because it’s so easy and you have roast-beef sandwiches all week.

3. Guacamole: “Again, it’s the easiest thing. Take an avocado and mash it up with a fork—for goodness sake don’t put it in the blender. Add Serrano or jalapeno, red onions, chopped cilantro, lime juice. Mexican food may have been considered a food trend, but it’s here to stay, and thank goodness for that.”