The Perfect Dad Dish

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

We have always known that the key to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Thinking back to how our mothers cooked for our fathers, it might have been that very trick that we have to thank for bringing us to this earth today. This Father’s Day, perhaps all Dad really wants is the sort of big and hearty dish that's on a scale with the warmth and comfort we have in our hearts for him.

If you were my dad’s stomach back in the time when he and my mother were courting, the key to making that jump from stomach to heart might have been some sort of vegetarian curry, of the Indian variety, with perhaps a side of chai tea. Not really the sort of steak and potatoes dish that most men have in mind when they think of their favorite comfort meal, but hey, I always knew my dad was a little different. After spending a year of college living in India, researching religious practices of a small village sect, my father understandably developed a taste and subsequent nostalgia for simple, peasant-like Indian food.

My father’s favorite comfort food at the time of his marriage was not the norm by any means. But at the same time it was totally in-line with what most men prefer: hearty, rich, meal-like dishes. In a study published in 2003 by the University of Illinois on comfort food preferences across age and gender, it was shown that women tended to like snack-like comfort food while men decidedly veered in the direction of steaks and casseroles. A hearty peasant dish like what my father was accustomed to eating in India is just the sort of rich comfort food that lets a man, especially your father, know how much you care.

The second part of creating the perfect dad dish, I believe, relates to size. This is America and here bigger is better, particularly when it comes to food (I should note that I do run in certain circles of male foodies who might counter that they enjoy the miniscule tasting portions of five star restaurants. But even the biggest foodie can’t eat on so small a scale all the time). There is a reason that lumberjack breakfasts are a staple breakfast food at diners, and Hungry Man frozen dinners are approximately twice the size of an average frozen dinner. Men like their food BIG… plus "Hungry Woman" just wouldn’t have quite the same ring, now would it? Even my dad, despite the slight build of his 5 foot 8 inch frame, still lived up to his nickname, The Garbage Disposal, in his capacity to finish not just his own dish, but whatever was leftover on the kids’ plates.

The third key to creating the ideal male meal might lie in one of the oldest and probably truest rules of all: men are simple creatures. A random poll of male acquaintances and relatives confirmed this suspicion, that it really does not take much to figure them out, or to make them happy. So skip intricate preparation and pain-staking plating. Just make sure you are cooking a food he is going to like. I have seen my own father, for instance, find as much pleasure at home with a glass of red wine with a side of tortilla chips as he has in the plush seat of a fancy restaurant. Meat and potatoes, steak and pasta, chicken and rice, chances are it is the fact that you cared enough to cook that will mean more to any dad than how complicated the meal, or how long it took to prepare.

When cooking for your dad this year, keep it simple, make it big, and do something with the richness to match your affection for the man who brought you up in this world to enjoy the pleasures of life, even the simple ones.

Serves/Makes: 8

• 1 pound rigatoni pasta
• salt
• 1 pound top round steak, thin cut
• black pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 large onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 4 ounces crimini mushrooms
• 1 can (15 ounce size) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano
• 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• Parmesan cheese