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FeedFifteen Minute Meals—or Shameless Self Promotion?
A reader writes: “I have an idea for a future column, for either the magazine or your blog. As a fairly new mom (my son is 11 months old) who works full-time, I'm wondering if you could do a story along the lines of ‘Simple Meals Ready in 15 Minutes or Less’ or something like that. I think this would be invaluable to the busy readers who are strapped for time (but who would rather make a healthy dinner than hit the drive-thru).
I hear you. Eating a healthy dinner that takes less than fifteen minutes to prepare is pretty much the Holy Grail of parents with infants or toddlers. My first best idea involves shameless self-promotion: How about you pick up Real Food? It’s a recipe magazine that’s free in all the Lunds and Byerly’s, and part of my job here involves editing it. (It’s available nationally as well, write to me if you need to know where in your area.)
Anyhoo, there are a couple of recipes in there that meet your needs, I’m especially thinking of Martin Yan’s Shangri-la beef and carrot rice. I talked to Yan (of Yan Can Cook fame) for that story, and he told me that one of his habits as a working dad was this: He’d fill up his rice cooker, and everything else had to be ready by the time the rice cooker popped.
Weirdly enough, even before I talked to Yan a rice cooker had become one of my family’s default solutions to healthy eating on hectic weeknights. We got the cheapest one at Target (it’s red, and cost $15) to see if we’d really use a rice cooker at all, and it works quite well: Put in your rice. When the rice has fifteen minutes or so left to cook, load up the steamer tray with veggies, tofu, or whatnot. Sometimes we put leftover chicken up there to warm up. If you wanted to be strategic about it you could cook a bunch of chicken on the weekends in preparation. We get what we call rice shakers’, rice seasonings from Japan, available at Shuang Hur on Nicollet and 27th or United Noodles (www.unitednoodles.com). We use those to season the rice and whatever’s on top of it. Then we add some soy sauce, plum vinegar, and so on. It’s pretty good. I wouldn’t call it cuisine, but it makes an acceptable dinner, and is more or less identical to something they serve at at least one restaurant, Uptown’s Tao Natural Foods. I’m now thinking of investing in a big, fuzzy logic rice-cooker in hopes that the whole rice-cooker thing takes weeknight dinners to the next fast-easy level.
Speaking of rice, another tip I got once—I think from Scott Uehlein, the author of Canyon Ranch Cooks—was to make a giant pot of brown rice on the weekends, and reheat that for weeknight meals. We’ve actually managed to do this a number of times, and somehow it removes a psychological barrier to getting dinner on the table; I make brown rice a pound at a time now, I thinly slice a few cloves of garlic, sauté them in a couple tablespoons of butter until they start to become golden brown, add three cups of rice, sauté that around until various grains start to brown, grind some pepper in there, then dump in six cups of water and some salt, bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and wait an hour: Voila! Rice. (You can freeze it too; it reheats in the microwave in a jiff. I know some people buy frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s, but I just can’t get my head around that.) You can do brown rice in the rice cooker too (we do) except since we got the cheapest, smallest one, it seems sort of silly to go through the bother of sautéing garlic in there (though I’ve done it, and it works.)
My other weeknight fail-safe is to basically just sauté a chicken breast or pork chop in some butter with lots more thinly sliced garlic, and squirt a little lemon juice on it: There’s a more accomplished version of this dish on the menu at the Modern Café, and also, I think, at the Loring Pasta Bar.
So, those are my tips: Get Real Food (my magazine!), brown rice, and garlic chicken. But I’m sure other readers have better ideas. So, anyone? Weeknight super-quick desperation dinners that leave you with your culinary dignity intact?
Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 in Permalink
Comments may be edited for length, clarity, or appropriateness.
Reader Comments:
I am a mom of a 2 year old and this is my most favorite topic so I was thrilled to see this post. Here are my top recipes:
--Chicken Sausage
Archer farms (or any other) basil chicken sausage sliced thin into rounds, sauteed with a can of white beans, a can of tomatoes, and some other fresh veggies I have on hand.
--Huevos Rancheros
1 can of Muir glenn fire roasted diced tomatoes in a saucepan. Make little dents in the sauce and crack an egg into each one. Simmer till egg is "poached" to your desired doneness. Sauce will not cover top off egg. Add a can of black beans, corn or flour tortillas, some Salsa Lisa.
--Roasted Chicken from kowalskis
Bring home. make salad. tear up chicken breast.
--
Would love to hear other people's mainstay recipes!
I use a lot of "recipes" from Mark Bittman's column last summer, Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less
(You may have to log in, but it's free.)
Oops, link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dining/18mini.html?ex=1342497600&en=e76301c448a572af&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
I bought a (cheap) rice cooker once and took it back because it left a mess of spattered rice starch all over my counter top. Do they *all* do that? I love the idea of a rice cooker but with all that cleanup it wasn't any easier than cooking on the stove top.
Our #1 version of a quick dinner is baked or sautéed fish with salad. Fish cooks faster than meat, generally. We keep tilapia in the freezer (individually-wrapped fillets thaw in 5 minutes in the sink) or get something fresh. Otherwise there is always frozen shrimp to make a quick pasta dish or scrambled eggs.
IMO, recipes are for weekends. Anything quick we cook during the week is improvised. It's all about ingredients. If you have decent stuff on hand you can cook a delicious dinner every night. And we are loving our CSA share this summer - who knew turnips could be so delicious in the spring!
Hi everybody, great ideas!
Thanks, Jen, I made your huevos rancheros recipe tonight, it took ten seconds and was delicious. Had some scallions on hand, yes, from our CSA which improved things. (I don't know what to say about that whole thing yet, when I do, I'll blog about it. So far: It's wonderful, and I have no time for it. Is that just going to be the story of my year? I think I know the answer to that one...)
Anyhoo, Pinecone, haven't seen any splattered starch, and I like the rice-cooker so far for the walk-away factor. With two kids in diapers and one nursing I'm not reliably able to track even something as simple as rice. Other than that, yeah, the stove works fine. But: What do you do with tilapia? I have to confess whenever I've tried it it tastes sort of watery and nothing. I want to like it, it's so eco- green, etc., but so far only have liked it whole, in Asian and Mexican restaurants. Any tips are greatly appreciated,
-Dara
Cunning, thanks for the Bittman link - fantastic!
My go-to quick dinner is the frittata. Basically, I warm any leftovers I have around in an oven-proof skillet on medium low with a little olive oil: things like veggies from yesterday, salad greens, grains, Chinese takeout (include the rice!) - you get the idea. You really can use just about anything. A favorite is leftover spaghetti with sauce.
Anyway, beat 4-5 eggs with a little salt & pepper and add them to the skillet. It will take about 7 minutes for it to become mostly set (will still be runny on top). Pop it under the broiler for a few minutes to cook the top, and voila! Serve it with some bagged salad greens with a little oil and vinegar and you're good to go. Filling and delicious.
I love frittatas because they use leftovers and they can become leftovers: Make a yummy frittata sandwich the next day - it tastes great cold or at room temp.
The Mark Bittman and rice comments here have collided today on Mr. Bittman's blog (bitten.blogs.nytimes.com) and in his weekly article, both of which feature rice salad recipes.
(On the subject of rice: We have had a zojirushi rice cooker for the past 5 years and have never had a problem with any mess. It's been a terrific tool.)
We do a lot of non-cooking in our house. For example, we'll toss hummus, grapes, cucumbers, feta cheese and pita bread on a platter in the middle of the table and share. These meals are great since they are extremely simple and they have a habit of turning into long, talkative meals with spouses and kids. Other options would include an antipasto platter with a loaf of bread, or multiple fruits, cheeses, nuts and bread. We eat a lot of fresh produce this way. Of course, all of these meals are better with a bottle of wine!
I would add that the fastest way to cook is to escape the tyranny of recipes altogether and learn cooking/food basics. A book like "How To Cook Without a Book" or "How to Cook Everything" can show you what to do with all that 'stuff' in your fridge. Once you have some basic technique and understand which flavors work together, you can stock your kitchen with foods that go together simply, quickly and deliciously.
Tilapia - They breed like rabbits and eat like swine (just about anything) but it's not always the tastiest fish. The frozen stuff we have on hand is best when highly seasoned. Probably the tastiest thing we do is sauté it with garlic, lime and tequila and make tacos with corn tortillas and black beans. The fish is soft so it doesn't stay real chunky - kind of gets disguised with the other ingredients. Otherwise we've been known to slather it in a Cajun spice blend or buffalo sauce and bake it. It can be work in a stir fry if you don't mind the soft texture. It helps to cut it into smaller chunks and dredge in flour or corn starch. Or if you're into mac & cheese from a box (we like Annie's) it's good mixed in (tastier than a can of tuna, IMO).
If you've tried tilapia and don't like it, it's worth another shot if you can get some of the fresh, never frozen stuff that's raised in MN. Otherwise catfish is pretty equivalent in price and versatility, but has a more firm texture.
Another inexpensive but super tasty (& healthy) fish is trout - the dressed & deboned Star Prairie Rainbows make an impressive meal in under 10 minutes either pan-fried, baked or slapped on the grill.
Pesto! Pesto is a favorite key ingredient to a quick meal when it's getting close to grocery time. It can be homemade or store-bought and then frozen so it's on easy stand-by (pop it in the microwave for 5-10 seconds to thaw out enough for a meal). It can be spread onto fish or chicken before baking it, added to eggs in a whatever-vegetables-are-left-in-the-fridge omelette, mixed it into mashed potatoes or rice to use as a base or side-dish, added to olive oil and vinegar salad dressing, or one of my favorites is to add it to a pasta salad with tuna canned in olive oil. Yum...
Rice cookers are brilliant and great for hot summer days when you want to avoid the stove/oven. There's one at Target right now by Aroma that has a steam tray and a non-stick coating for $20. By the way, quinoa, couscous, and lentils can also be cooked in the rice cooker (amongst other grains and small legumes). Also, check out the book "The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger/Julie Kaufman.
One more tip: if you wipe off the bottom of the rice pot before you put it into the cooker (read: no moisture on the bottom), the rice is less likely to burn.
Lots of people thinking alike--I too still have Bittman's 100 stovetop dinner article from last year, plus How to Cook Everything and Pam ANderson's How to Cook Without a Book. I'm also enjoying entries at Apartment Therapy's food site, The Kitchn
Washing lettuce as soon as I get it has been a huge help to me this summer. Insta salads--just add chopped fruit,veggies, and nuts. Now if only the kids would eat it. Sigh.