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
