Marcie Turney: New Ideas for Chicken, Pasta and Bread

By Kristin Donnelly

A chef creates Mediterranean, Mexican and Indian dishes out of unadorned basics.

For this "Art of Cooking" issue, F&W decided to stretch the metaphor as far as it would go (and maybe a little bit further) by asking Philadelphia chef Marcie Turney to create recipes based on the culinary equivalents of a blank canvas: chicken breasts, plain pasta and bread. Considering that she and business partner Valerie Safran have three restaurants, each inspired by a different place (Mexico, the Mediterranean and India), we felt like we'd commissioned pieces from Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso and Anish Kapoor all at once. "I cook from my memories," says Turney, who drew inspiration from trips to Mexico and Italy to come up with a trio of recipes for each main ingredient. Each dish is quick, delicious and (don't groan) a masterpiece of simplicity.