101 Ten-Minute Dinners

I came across a fantastic piece in the New York Times featuring 101---yes, that's one-hundred and one---ideas for ten-minute dinners. (Click here & we've also pasted it in the comments to read the full article.). I have a feeling the writer of the piece has a perfectly organized, full-stocked kitchen---with no little children underfoot. For those of you more like me, with a sometimes-less-than-perfect kitchen and lots of knee-high interruptions, some of these dinners may take a bit longer than ten minutes----but they're all very simple, with just a few delicious ingredients and unfussy techniques.

What I like best about this article is that the ideas aren't presented in typical recipe format, which sometimes can seem forbidding, especially when the list of ingredients is long and the steps sound difficult. Instead, they're presented in two or three sentences, with the ingredients and estimated quantities described clearly but very simply. Here are three of my favorites:

Put a few slices of chopped prosciutto in a skillet with olive oil, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a bit of butter; a minute later, toss in about half a cup bread crumbs and red chili flakes to taste. Serve over pasta with chopped parsley.

Make wraps of tuna, warm white beans, a drizzle of olive oil and lettuce and tomato.

Niçoise salad: Lightly steam haricot verts, green beans or asparagus. Arrange on a plate with chickpeas, good canned tuna, hard-cooked eggs, a green salad, sliced cucumber and tomato. Dress with oil and vinegar.

And those are all before #40! The dinners are intended for summer dining, so there are lots of salad ideas; there are also lots of alternatives to the chicken and red-meat stand-bys we sometimes get stuck in: there are some very interesting egg ideas, some great preparations for shrimp and other seafood, some delicious vegetarian options and lots of modified ethnic dishes. Some of the ingredients are maybe just a little "foodie"---I don't know about you, but prosciutto is not a staple in my kitchen---but most of them are familiar and readily available.
So which recipes are your favorites? Do you use any of these techniques or ingredients regularly? Do you have any ten-minute ideas of your own to add? As for me, I'm off to the market for some prosciutto.

-Rosalynde Welch

August 2007 Anything Veggies

Haydee Hyde will be hosting cooking club at her home on Thursday August 9th at 7 p.m.
The theme is veggies. {Main dishes, side dishes, "desserts", anything veggies} For those of you that just moved into the ward Heidi has recently moved one block out of the ward boundries. We love Heidi and are excited that even though she moved into the Carondelet Ward she is willing to host cooking club. I hear her new place is adorable. See comments for her address and directions. If you haven't been in a while come eat, laugh and relax.

Edible solution:
Did you know that your lettuce can stay fresh a little longer if you wrap it in a paper towel and put it back in a plastic bag or plastic container, even after you have cut it?

-Haydee

Edible Solutions to Food Challenges

I'd like to propose that each of us start sharing our Edible Solutions to our food challenges on the Webster Groves Cooking Club Blog. Lets have a Food discussion each month. What are some challenges with food, cooking, entertaining, cooking for kids, cooking as you serve in the church etc... or solutions that you have discovered. I'd like to ask those that sign up to host be responsible to pick a topic for discussion. Let's give the people in the coming months some ideas of what you'd be interested in learning. Post your ideas in the comments box. I'll contact each of the hosts about this. Is that clear as mud. Take a quick second and write your food challenge.