I can hear you say: not enough time! Well, we're not talking about making a cassoulet or a bouillabaisse here. We're talking simple, healthy and quick recipes fit for these uncertain times as outlined in the last two diaries, here and here. Anyone can reproduce these recipes and let me emphasize this point again: all it takes is a little planning ahead.
For the sake of clarity all the given recipes are made for 4 persons; you can halve ingredients in 2 or 4, if single, or multiply according to the number of your family members/guests.
Food, glorious food! It is an absorbing subject. Yehudi Menuhin once quoted saying that it was a pity that people only had one lifetime, because, after playing the violin for over fifty years, he began to understand how better it could be played, provided that one had several more lifetimes available. Food is a bit like that. The more one learns the more one realizes how much more there is to learn, and to appreciate.
Assuming that you have read the last WFD diary about ingredients, here we go for the goodies.
First up is the well known classic "I'm in a Hurry Stir-fry": assemble all the edible leftovers in your refrigerator, boil some salted water and cook enough tubular dried pasta (penne, rigatoni, tortiglioni etc.) to feed yourself and whoever is around. Chop up all ingredients to your favorite bite size, add 2 chopped onions, as much peeled & minced garlic as you can stand, and get the stir-fry pan going. Pour some olive oil (or any oil you like and have) over a moderate to high flame, drop the onions & garlic, add your leftovers, stir vigorously and add the cooked pasta. A few drops from a bottle of Ketjap Manis would do wonder to this dish. Or a shot of chili sauce. Or both. This exercise should take no more than 15 minutes, 10 if you had the pasta cooked in the morning, before you went to work. This remains one of my favorite, it clears the refrigerator, it's cheap to make and it's always interesting to mix new flavors. Moving along.
Rice dishes: if you don't have a rice cooker, plunge a packet of brown (or any other type you have) rice into some cold water, wash thoroughly and rinse, and cook according to the instructions on the packet (cooking time varies between types of rice). If you can do that while you fix your breakfast, it's half the battle. Then all you have to do when you come home is to assemble your main ingredients and turn on the gas or the electric stove, and stir-fry. Naturally, there are other ways to cook, not everyone likes to eat stir-fries and that's going to be the subject of the the next diary.
My very favorite rice stir-fry is the one I make with squid, mussels and wild rice. It is not complicated providing you can find good quality frozen squid tubes (almost anywhere in supermarkets and delis). You would need the equivalent of a pound of squid, 2 pounds of fresh mussels, 2 red onions, 8 to 10 garlic cloves, a good handful of baby spinach (it usually comes into washed, pre-packed bags), 2 or 3 chilies cut into strips, a handful of fresh cilantro and some olive oil to fire up the pan. BTW, cooking wild rice takes longer, by at least another 20 minutes, so again it's a good idea to cook it in advance, if you can.
Clean and cook the mussels in a pot with a glass of dry white wine (and keep the juices), remove the mussels from the pan and set aside, still in their shells. Then cut the squid into strips, mince the onions and the garlic, pour some olive oil into the pan over a high flame and throw in the onions and the garlic closely followed by the squid, stirring for 2 or 3 minutes. Squid cooks easily, this should not be overcooked. Add the chilies, the rice then the spinach, keep stirring for another 3 to 4 minutes, add the cooking juices and toss in the cilantro at the end. Preparation time 10 minutes, cooking time less than that.
Here are a number of ideas for rice dishes:
spicy chicken breasts cubes with roasted red peppers, eggplant and Jasmine rice (to which I'd add some turmeric and fresh chilies);
seitan, garbanzo beans, carrots shavings & brown rice;
sliced smoked turkey breast with zucchini, red cabbage & plain ole Louisiana rice; pork, beef or lamb sausages with bacon, Chinese cabbage & arborio rice. The list is endless. More stir-fries ideas here.
Some ramen noodles ideas: soak a packet (or 2) of ramen noodles in hot water, drain and use it as a filler for stir-fries such as any leftovers, ham & peas (great comfort food); spinach, sweet corn & canned tuna; red kidney beans, broccoli & mushrooms; smoked mackerel with a packet of frozen vegetables, just add some lemon juice. Tons of other suggestions here, good, no nonsense site.
I love using beans and lentils. It goes with just about everything, it's nutritious and it's not expensive. If you soak a pound of green lentils overnight, then rinse and drain, it would only take 10 to 12 minutes to cook in salted water. Beans would obviously take quite a bit more, just remember to soak them overnight as well. For those who are dedicated carnivores, the best combination with lentils is pork and pancetta (which is glorified bacon, really). Buy a fillet of pork (a tad more expensive but no waste whatsoever), a few slices of pancetta, 6 carrots, 2 or 3 sticks of celery, 2 onions, and garlic, lots of garlic. Bake the fillet of pork the day before (always a good idea) and slice it when you're ready to cook your stir-fry: pour a little nut oil (peanut, walnut), add the onions & garlic, add the cut pancetta, stir a little, toss the sliced pork and the celery & carrots, stir and add the cooked lentils. Stir for 2 or 3 minutes, and add a dash of red wine vinegar to it, it adds un certain je ne sais quoi! prep time: 12 minutes, cooking time: 8 or 9 minutes.
Here's a great vegan recipe for Puy lentils (or any lentils, really): 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 2 onions, as much garlic as you like, 2 red bell peppers, 2 carrots, 2 celery stick, a small bunch of spinach (I would use Swiss chard but it's not always available), a teaspoon of each of the following: turmeric, fennel seed, coriander seed, ground allspice and ground ginger. Have some Tamari on standby and here we go: pour a little sunflower oil in the pan, add the onions, garlic, celery & carrots, stir for 2 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes with the juice, strips of bell peppers, the spices, stir for another 2 minutes and add the cooked lentils and the spinach, stir for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, drizzle the dish with some Tamari (or dark soy sauce) and you're done. Prep time: 10 minutes, cooking time: 9 minutes...but who's counting?
This is a truly great site for vegan recipes involving lentils.
Nowadays you can buy cans of cooked quality beans such as pinto, garbanzo, cannelini, red kidneys and even black beans, so if you're stuck for time it's advisable to keep a few in your larder. They make an easy stir-fry, all you have to do is to add whatever takes your fancy, and stir.
And now for the pièce de résistance I have a dish named after Obama. I used to name some dishes after deserving celebrities in Sydney, and I can't think of anyone more deserving than your next President as he stands on the right side of history (B Clinton can still deliver a knockout speech!) This dish, to be fair, should be enjoyed by everyone and should include "progressive" grains such as aramanth or quinoa.
Quinoa is a supremely light grain and easily digested (when cooked it resembles couscous). It has the most complete nutrition and highest protein content of any grain, cooks just like rice, and is incredibly tasty even by itself. And look at this other amazing grain: the fiber content of amaranth is three times that of wheat and its iron content, five times more than wheat and contains two times more calcium than milk. Using amaranth in combination with quinoa, corn or brown rice results in a complete protein as high in food value as any fish, red meat or poultry. So here we go: the Spicy Obama All American Health Stir-fry!
For this Democratic dish you'll need to cook 250 grams of either quinoa or amaranth, 500 grams (125 grams per person is plenty) of smoked tofu, a bunch of Bok Choy, chopped roughly, 2 red onions, cut into strips, 6 to 8 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced finely, a handful of sun-dried tomatoes, cut into little bits, 4 red chili peppers (or 6 to 8 Thai green chilies) cut finely, a large fennel bulb, cut like onions (if you can't locate any, a good substitute would be celery though not as tasty), a small amount of toasted sesame oil, and have your bottle of Ketjap Manis or Tamari on the ready.
Cube your smoked tofu and set aside. In the stir-fry pan, pour a little sesame oil, add the onion and garlic first, stir well and cook for 2 minutes, then add the sun-dried tomato bits (it gives a sensational taste to the dish and you need less salt), then the chilies, fennel, bok choy, keep stirring as you cook, add the cubed tofu then the quinoa or amaranth to it, mix it well then toss in some Ketjap Manis or Tamari to taste. Voila! This should not take any more than 10 minutes to assemble and cut and 10 minutes to cook.
Not enough recipes? Check my earlier diary on stir-fries here. Next week I'll concentrate on pasta, glorious pasta. Bon appetit! And what's going to end up on your plate tonight, and how did it get there?