This is one of my favorite soups. Nice and hearty but also very nutrient rich. Perfect for a cool, fall evening and a cold winter day.

• 2 tablespoons neutral oil
• 2 stalks celery, diced and veined
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 yellow onion, medium, diced
• 1# small button mushrooms, quartered length wise
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 vine ripe tomatoes, concasse (peeled, seeded and diced)
• 2 yukon Gold potatoes, diced, skin on
• 3 0z. tomato paste
• 32 oz. chicken stock (broth is fine)
• 1/2 bunch of basil, stemmed and chopped
• Salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 tablespoons of cold butter chopped up

In a large saucepan bring the oil up to temperature over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot and onion and saute until the onion has softened. Add the mushrooms and saute another few minutes. Add the bay leaves, tomato, potato and tomato paste and stir in until everything is coated with paste. Cook for two minutes constantly stirring. Add the stock and bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add the basil and adjust the seasonings. Slowly add in the butter while constantly stirring over low heat or with the heat off. Serve immediately.

Note: If you are not going to serve all the soup right away remove what will not be served and do not add the butter to it. The butter addition is a finishing technique that adds richness to the soup and is done right before service.

More and more these days when I eat out I am disappointed. I suppose a lot of that comes from having a mother who was a wonderful cook and being spoiled food wise growing up. Then, of course, going to culinary school and having been a chef, I always think I could do a better job. I'm not trying to be smug but it does seem unless you go to a restaurant owned/supervised by the likes of Mario Batali, Charlie Trotter, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Patrick O'Connell or Thomas Keller it just isn't worth it. Before you blast me - yes, there are a lot of other very good chefs out there whose restaurant I would love to eat at but the list would be too long.

I'd even be happy to find a mediocre restaurant that was always mediocre. A lot of the places I have had a good meal at I go back too and it isn't as good the second time. The one thing my first chef always preached to me, other than hurry the **** up, was to be consistent. People like to know what they are going to get and the expect it.

Tonight, I will be cooking at home and enjoying my dinner.

It is true. Many people are put off by foods just by the sight of them without even trying them. "That looks awful. I'm not eating that!" has been said many times. A few extra seconds spent on plate presentation can go a long way. Next time you put dinner on the plate have a good look at the plate and see what you could have done better to make the food pop out to your eyes.

One of my favorite meals is grilled salmon with a balsamic drizzle, stewed tomatoes, wilted spinach and rice pilaf. It is a simple meal and I could put little piles of rice tomatoes spinach, plunk the salmon somewhere on the plate and add a little drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar but I do not.I look at what I am serving and pick the plate. For this dish I see that the stewed tomatoes are probably going to have a good bit of liquid in them so perhaps a plate is not the best choice so I pick out one of the larger, flat bottomed bowls I have to serve it in.

First, I put down some rice right in the middle of the bowl then I top that with the stewed tomatoes, knowing that some of the juices in the tomatoes with further flavor the rice pilaf. On top of the rice and tomatoes I add some of the wilted spinach and place the salmon on top of it all so the food is neatly stacked. I take the reduced balsamic vinegar, which is also nicknamed "balsamic tar" as it is syrupy and jet black, and with a spoon just put a few very fine ribbons across the salmon.

Voila, a meal that pleases the eye then pleases the palate. Your guests will think you are a gourmet!

Do yourself and everyone that will be eating your roast a favor and sear it first. Why? First, it will seal all the juices in the meat so you do not have a dry roast. Second, your drippings will have better color and flavor giving any sauce or gravy you make from the drippings look and taste better.It is easy to sear a roast. Just get out a skillet (cast iron is preferable and nonstick is least preferable), heat it up so it is nice and hot, add some vegetable oil or clarified butter and sear the meat on all sides. Once the roast is seared, put it in your roasting pan on a bed of mirepoix (equal amounts of chopped carrot, onion, and celery) and let it roast until it is cooked just how you like it.

You can also use the pan you seared the meat in to roast the meat but if you do not be sure to deglaze the cast iron pan you seared the roast in and reserve that liquid to aid in making a great sauce or gravy.