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Authors: Carla Snyder

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BOOK: One Pan, Two Plates
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I can’t help you with your laundry or bills,
but
One Pan, Two Plates
can help you get a healthful meal on the table in less time and with less cleanup. All the dishes are complete made-from-scratch meals, with one-pan cleanup and ready to eat in less than 1 hour (many less than 30 minutes). These are not your grandmother’s casseroles, but enticing dishes like Skirt Steak Fajitas with Pico de Gallo and Avocado (
page 90
), Black Cod Fillets Poached in Five-Spice Broth with Baby Bok Choy and Udon (
page 181
), and Fettuccine with Scallops, Carrots, and Ginger-Lime Butter Sauce (
page 24
). How is this possible? I plumbed my twenty-five years of knowledge as a cooking school instructor, caterer, and recipe developer to find ways to orchestrate components with similar cooking techniques into complete meals in a single pan.

It’s simple, really. Take Sautéed Pork Chops with Sweet Potato, Apple, and Mustard Sauce (
page 79
). The recipe begins with a simple sauté of two pork chops. The chops are removed from the pan when partially cooked, and thin slices of sweet potato and apple are added to the hot pan along with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a splash of cider. That aromatic mix is covered and cooked until almost tender, and then the pork chops are returned to the pan and the whole thing is finished in a few more minutes, with perfectly tender chops. After you arrange the pork and potato mixture on plates, a quick sauce comes together by simply whisking a tablespoon or so of Dijon mustard into the pan juices. A drizzle of sauce and dinner is done—a fresh, healthful meal that’s balanced in flavor and pretty on the plate, all in less than an hour with one pan to clean.

Whether you are a young couple just starting out or empty nesters, you’ll find it much cheaper and quicker to cook recipes for two instead of the usual four to six servings you find in main-course recipes. Cooking for two also means that you’ll have no surplus food to wrap up, refrigerate, and incorporate into another meal within a few days. Imagine, no more guilty leftovers tossed in the trash because they went bad or they just weren’t appealing reheated in the microwave the next day.

With the recipes in this book, you are also spared having to put time and thought into side dishes, since the whole meal has been composed for you. One of the biggest dilemmas for home cooks is what to serve alongside the roast chicken or beef tips. In
One Pan, Two Plates
, the complete meal is right there.

About that one pan: Most of the
One Pan, Two Plates
cooking is accomplished in a heavy 12-in/30.5-cm skillet with a lid. The heavy-gauge pan allows you to cook over hotter, faster heat and the large size is perfect for two complete portions. While you will, of course, be wrangling a few basic tools such as a sharp knife, cutting board, mixing bowls, spoons, whisks, and strainers, no other pans or fancy kitchen equipment are required.

But the real beauty of this collection is its unwavering focus on made-from-scratch meals with all the healthful and tasteful benefits associated with eating well. You will invest a small amount of time cutting and chopping fresh vegetables like onions, garlic, carrots, and celery, but that time will reward you with delicious, good-for-you meals, a life-enhancing trade-off.

The book begins with a chapter called “The Carbohydrate Cure,” pastas, grains, and sandwiches that have the double advantage of being both healthful and inexpensive. Many of the ingredients are sitting there in your pantry, waiting to be transformed into delicious comfort-food meals like Pasta Carbonara (
page 30
) or Three-Cheese Mac with Crispy Prosciutto (
page 19
). Filling grains like rice and barley and quick-cooking legumes like lentils in a rainbow of colors, as well as good-quality canned beans, are easily transformed into delicious stews like jambalaya and biryani and elegant, tender risottos.

The other three chapters, “Hungry for More” (dinners featuring beef, lamb, pork, and veal), “Poultry with Soul,” and “Angling for More” all feature the more meat-centric meals that many of us associate with dinner. Each recipe features a protein in the form of meat, poultry, or fish with an accompanying vegetable cooked in the same pan. Dishes like Rib-Eye Steaks Florentine with Parsnip-and-Potato Galettes (
page 92
), Balsamic Turkey with Artichokes and Eggplant Caponata (
page 128
), or Miso-Glazed Cod with Wilted Asian Red Cabbage Slaw (
page 178
) demonstrate the range of cuisines, techniques, and seasonal ingredients that can be enjoyed in the one-pot world. Also included are filling and fast egg-based dishes like Winter Frittata with Escarole, Bacon, and Feta Cheese (
page 121
) and Fluffy Spring Frittata with Asparagus, Bell Peppers, and Gruyère (
page 118
).

I can’t resist the cooking-school teacher inside me, so each recipe includes a helpful hint with in-depth information about the dish or an ingredient.
And because a glass of wine makes every meal more civilized, I’ve paired each dish with a wine or beer suggestion for serving alongside. Sometimes I offer a few suggestions for quick and easy go-withs such as microwave rice, tossed salads, garlic bread, et cetera, in case you just want a little more on your plate for variety, or you are extra hungry—because let’s face it, sometimes we are
hungrier
than others.

As an added bonus, the recipes in the book are also arranged in a “Find It Fast” index to help you select meatless or seasonal meals, using headings such as “Meatless Mondays” (vegetarian meals), “Baby It’s Cold Outside” (winter meals), “Hot Town Summer in the City” (summer meals), “Falling Leaves” (autumn meals), and “Spring Forward” (spring meals).

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that
One Pan, Two Plates
will change your life, but I hope this
streamlined
style of cooking will help you to eat more healthfully, with less work and worry. I’ve always believed that dinner doesn’t have to be stressful, but that it should always be delicious. So whether you’re a kitchen newbie or an experienced cook, browse through this book, choose a recipe, and get the cooking started in your home tonight.

KITCHEN COUNTER POINTS:

tips to help you cook with speed and success

If you have convection capability, use it.
Convection cooking uses hot air to roast and bake. Foods brown and caramelize faster in convection mode, and your oven will preheat faster as well. To adapt these quick-cooking recipes to convection mode, just set your oven temperature as directed in the recipe and set the timer a few minutes less. Monitor the cooking until you get the hang of it.

Use a heavy skillet.
A heavy skillet will allow you to use higher heat (which cooks faster, naturally) than most lightweight cookware. I recommend a 12-in/30.5-cm cast-iron skillet with a lid and an ovenproof handle so that it can go from stovetop to oven safely. Nothing cooks like a cast-iron skillet, and they’re often inexpensive to boot.

Purchase a large plastic cutting board.
A larger cutting board, for example 18 by 24 in/46 by 61 cm, will give you plenty of room to cut all your fresh vegetables at one time, and if it’s plastic it can be washed in the dishwasher.

Invest in a sharp knife.
Nothing will improve your kitchen life more than a sharp knife. For the kitchen freshman, I recommend a 7- or 8-in/17- or 20-cm Santoku, which is a Japanese version of the traditional European chef’s knife. If you have chef-size aspirations, go for a 10-in/25-cm classic chef’s knife. Once you get used to it, the extended length makes chopping less work and more fun. After use, just rinse the knife and dry it off. Don’t put it in the dishwasher, as that tends to dull the blade.

When you buy the knife, invest in a sharpening steel as well.
The steel actually keeps your knife sharp, affording you fewer trips to the professional sharpener. Ask the salesperson to demonstrate how to use the steel or check out the technique online.

Slice food thinly for faster cooking.
In order for fresh vegetables and meats to cook quickly, it’s necessary to cut them into thin slices so that the heat can penetrate. Make the cuts according to the directions in the recipe and your dinner will be on the table in no time.

Buy a box of kosher salt.
If you aren’t already using it, switch to kosher salt for cooking. The clean flavor is vastly superior to regular iodized salt, which can add a metallic taste to your food. I like to keep kosher salt in a ramekin close to the stove. That way I can grab it with my fingers instead of shaking unknown quantities from a shaker. And don’t be shy with the salt; you are cooking fresh food and, for the best flavor, it needs to be seasoned.

Freshly ground black pepper is more robust than packaged ground peppers.
To give your food more oomph, buy a peppermill (it needn’t be expensive), fill it up with whole black peppercorns, and grind the fresh pepper directly onto your food. It adds a blast of flavor to everything. Simply add as much as suits your taste.

Chicken broth adds extra flavor.
When cooking quickly, flavors don’t have the chance to develop as they do when cooking at a slower pace. Therefore, I call for chicken broth in many recipes in this book, for a little taste boost. The best way to buy broth is in aseptic containers (those coated and lined cardboard boxes with built-in plastic spouts all over the grocery shelves these days); look for low-sodium versions. Well-stocked supermarkets usually have relatively inexpensive, high-quality organic broth products. If you don’t use an entire box, just close the spout and store it in the fridge for 4 to 5 days or freeze for 4 to 6 months.

Use panko bread crumbs for extra crunch.
Panko are Japanese bread crumbs now found in most well-stocked grocery stores. Made from bread without crusts, panko crumbs are light and flaky and add effortless crispiness to toppings and pan-fried meats and vegetables. You’ll never use those sawdusty Italian bread crumbs again.

Ethnic ingredients inject food with interesting flavors.
It’s fun to try new flavors, to keep the dinner table fresh and interesting. The few ethnic ingredients in this book are used in multiple recipes, so you’ll be able to use them up over time as you explore these pages. Take a cruise down the international aisle at your grocery store. Flavors from other continents are just waiting on the shelves to be discovered.

Extra-virgin olive oil and regular (“pure”) olive oil are healthful options for cooking.
A general rule is to use extra-virgin olive oil, which is more expensive, for salad dressings and uncooked foods, and regular olive oil for cooking. I prefer to cook with olive oil and rarely reach for flavorless vegetable oils of the canola sort, but the two types are interchangeable. Either works fine for these recipes.

Select smaller onions.
Those small yellow onions on the pile or in the mesh bag are just about the right size, 2½ in/6 cm or so in diameter, when cooking for two. One works well for most recipes.

BOOK: One Pan, Two Plates
7.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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