The New York Times
10 Minute Meals
By Sam Gugino
This article, published in the New York Times, represents the birth of the "Beat the Clock" concept.
Sea scallops and shiitake mushrooms surrounded by a puree of petits pois. Seared duck breast on mixed greens with a raspberry vinaigrette. Red beans and smoked ham over basmati rice. What do all these meals have in common? They can be prepared in 10 minutes.
There was a time when rushing to put a meal together in an hour was a feat. Today, as one-income families have given way to two wage earners, who often work late, 60 minutes to prepare a meal seems as leisurely as a Sunday stroll in the park.
To accomplish 10 minute-meals you don’t need recipes - they take too long to read! You need to remember four concepts: flavor, focus, organization and creativity. Flavor means buying food that has lots of taste and texture already built in because you don’t have time to ease them out. “Let’s face it, good cooking in a hurry is really ingredient driven. And the more sophisticated your pantry, the better,” says Faith Wheeler, owner of a marketing and communications company in San Francisco.
Wheeler has a preference for Thai food. So her pantry allowed her recently to create a 10-minute, Thai-inspired vermicelli using canned chicken stock, coconut milk, fresh ginger, Thai fish sauce, basil chili paste and leftover salmon after her two small children were put to bed at 8 p.m.
These ingredients may not be up your alley, but whatever you keep in your pantry (see box) have to “do double duty in flavor and texture. That’s what shrinks time,” says Andrew Schloss, author of “Cooking with Three Ingredients (HarperCollins, 1996).
Focus means the question, “How was your day, dear?” has to be asked and answered while eating, not cooking. Focus begins soon as you walk in the door, put a pot of water on to boil and turn the oven to broil.
“We live on grilled chicken breasts,” said Peggy Katalinich, the food editor of Family Circle magazine. Ms. Katalinch’s husband, Gerard Jetter, automatically turns on the outdoor gas grill when she arrives home in Mineola, LI around 6:30 p.m. Then she offers her husband and two children a choice of bottled sauces to go with the chicken.
Organization means, in addition to a well-supplied pantry, a well-equipped arsenal of utensils which includes, for example, a wok (which doubles as a mixing bowl), pasta pot, large skillet (small skillets don’t cook as quickly and steam foods), meat pounder, salad spinner and food processor (for quick, no-cook sauces and some chopping). Surprisingly, many people don’t rely on a microwave oven for speed. Instead, it is used for steaming vegetables and defrosting. (Though it makes fast polenta.)
For some, organization also means planning ahead. Rosann and Arthur Levy of Murray Hill (she president of the Family Business Council of Greater New York, he senior partner of Arthur D. Levy and Co.) plan their three or four at-home meals for the coming week on Sunday night. That way when they come home at 8 or 9 p.m. the ingredients and game plan are ready and waiting.
Creativity means thinking about food concepts rather than slavisly following a recipe. For example, think of all the pasta combinations there are. While pasta cooks, use your imagination to prepare a sauce and vegetable combo.
You can also save time by adding vegetables such as broccoli florets or asparagus pieces to the pasta cooking water a few minutes before the pasta is done. (Incidentally, bringing pasta water to a boil takes more than 10 minutes. To reduce that to six, put the water in two smaller pots. Combine the pots when the water boils.)
Almost any kind of meat - from pork and lamb tenderloin to veal scallopini - can be a 10-minute meal if it is first pounded paper thin (by you or your butcher). Steak Diane, for example, is made with sirloin steaks pounded into paillards, seared for 30 seconds each side, then simmered a few minutes in Cognac. Fegato alla Veneziana at fancy restaurants like Barbetta in Manhattan is essentially strips of calf’s liver and thinly sliced onions sautéed for five minutes. (Serve it with that micro polenta.)
Fish doesn’t need pounding because its less dense texture allows it to be cooked quickly. Shrimp and scallops cook even faster. For example, the sea scallops with shiitake mushrooms, adapted from “Recipes 1-2-3” by Rozanne Gold (Viking, 1996)
which serves two. While a 10-ounce package of frozen baby peas cook, the mushrooms are sliced, then quickly sautéed in butter with the scallops, seasoned with herbes de Provence and splashed with some dry vermouth. The cooked peas are pureed and seasoned with salt, pepper and butter. To serve, ring a serving platter with the puree and put the scallops and mushrooms in the middle.
Eggs dishes like frittatas are marvels of simplicity and speed and meals in themselves when bulked up with ingredients such as leftover vegetables, smoked fish, or roasted peppers.
Canned roasted peppers, by the way, are among the most versatile of all pantry ingredients, easily made into relishes, soups, fillings, even a sauce for roasted cod as Gold notes in her new book. Just puree and heat the peppers, whisking in cold butter and any pan juices from the cooked fish.
Salads can quickly become one-dish meals by adding protein such as sautéed chicken livers, crumbled feta or blue cheeses, or toasted nuts. For the duck breast on mixed greens (which serves two), cut a duck breast half into two equal pieces (about five ounces each) and pound to half their original thickness. Cook the duck in its own fat over medium-high heat(about eight minutes for medium rare). Meanwhile, wash and spin dry a mesclun salad mix. When the duck is done, remove and deglaze the pan (containing a few tablespoons of reserved duck fat) with raspberry vinegar and a little chicken stock. Slice the duck on the diagonal, put it on the salad greens and pour the raspberry vinegar mixture over.
Quick soups, even stews are possible in 10 minutes too. Indeed, a quick cassoulet with turkey kielbasa and Canadian bacon isn’t out of the question. Canned beans come in handy here as they do with vegetables or grains in main course salads.
For the red beans and rice (a variation from “Recipes 1-2-3” that serves 3 to 4), combine a cup of basmati rice, 13/4 cups water and salt in a covered saucepan. While the rice cooks, sauté a medium chopped onion with about eight ounces of chopped smoked pork for two minutes in a deep skillet. Add two, 15-ounce cans of drained and rinsed kidney beans and a cup of chicken stock and hot pepper sauce. Simmer 8 minutes and serve over rice.
Rice dishes can be the focus of 10-minute meals in many ways, if you use quick cooking, flavorful basmati rice. But not instant rice. Even 10-minute meals have standards.
THE ESSENTIAL PANTRY
A well-stocked larder is crucial for 10-minute meals. Running out for ingredients takes time.
Instead, stock up once a month or so on the following: pasta; basmati rice; instant couscous; polenta; canned beans such as kidney, black, cannellini, garbanzo and pinto; canned seafood, especially tuna, salmon, clams, sardines, and anchovies (filets in cans or paste in tubes); roasted peppers; strained canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and tomato paste in tubes; artichoke hearts; olives; dried tomatoes in oil; vinegars, including balsamic and fruit vinegars; oils, including extra virgin olive oil, flavored oils such as garlic and basil oils, sesame oil, peanut oil and canola oil; still-potent spices; prepared sauces, dressings or condiments such as olive paste, tapenade, salsas, chutneys and teriyaki sauce; basmati rice; dry vermouth, brandy and red wine; and, if you have a cool pantry, potatoes, onions and garlic.
In the refrigerator: eggs, pancetta or bacon, cooked sausage, olives, cheeses and produce. With the exception of produce (and some cheeses), these items can be replenished every few weeks.
In the freezer: grated Parmesan cheese, peas, corn, broccoli florets, lima beans, fresh sausages, boneless chicken breasts, turkey cutlets and/or veal cutlets. These can be replenished as needed.