Fatten Your Friends Up

      I tend to cook quite differently for other people than I do for myself. Earlier tonight, for example, I cooked myself a dinner of salmon, a portabello mushroom, and roasted zucchini. Right now I've got a pot of super healthy chicken chili simmering on the stove for me to eat throughout the week. But in between those two virtuous dishes, I commited a health food sin: I used buttah, baby.
     A friend asked me to contribute a side dish to a potluck tomorrow. I briefly considered bringing a quinoa salad.  But let's be real here. If you want to please a lot of people at once, sometimes you gotta play dirty. I chose instead to make red skinned smashed potatoes with goat cheese, roasted red peppers and garlic, carmelized shallots and butter. Delicious butter.
    It's absolutely possible to cook food that is both healthful and delicious. But it's also fun to be bad sometimes. I just hope someone brings a veggie tray.