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Cookbooks: Quick meal favorites?

post #1 of 23
9/10/07 at 10:40pm
Thread Starter 
I'm working alot and have little time to cook, but I still try and find time to eat right. Fresh veggies are a requisite of the menu. Anyone have any favorite recipes or cookbooks that are based in fresh food and really quick preparation? I need to expand my horizons. ( Please forget mentioning anything that uses ketchup, etc., or stuff that comes out of a can.)
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post #2 of 23
9/10/07 at 10:44pm
What is quick? The better you get with a knife and the better organized you are the more you can do in a short period of time.
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post #3 of 23
9/10/07 at 10:49pm
No three part meal (protein, veggie, starch) worth eating takes less than one hour.
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post #4 of 23
9/10/07 at 10:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post
No three part meal (protein, veggie, starch) worth eating takes less than one hour.



To the OP, let me direct you to this thread!
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post #5 of 23
9/10/07 at 11:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
What is quick? The better you get with a knife and the better organized you are the more you can do in a short period of time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post
No three part meal (protein, veggie, starch) worth eating takes less than one hour.
AHHH.... the life of luxury. Dudes, I'm a working guy. I cook for myself. My wife is on a different diet. I haven't got the time to search for bones.... We're talking everyday here. BTW, I'm pretty good with a knife.
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post #6 of 23
9/10/07 at 11:33pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GQgeek View Post
To the OP, let me direct you to this thread!
Isn't there anything between that and this?
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post #7 of 23
9/11/07 at 12:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by caelte View Post
Isn't there anything between that and this?

There's a lot of stuff that's very quick to cook, but it's always the prep that takes time. Iammat is essentially right. The best way to cook fast is to improve your knife skills. Mine suck compared to someone that works in a pro kitchen. My knives are super sharp though and i'm scared of cutting off a finger!

When I know I'm gonna be busy I try and cook ahead of time. I'm a big fan of pureed soup. I tend to make enough for the week on the weekends. Slow-cooked dishes work as well because they can usually be kept 2-3 days. You could also do curries, chili, and stir-frys. Another thing I cook when I don't feel like cooking is steak. Steak is about as easy as it gets. I love steak and glazed carrots. And asparagus with lemon butter sauce is probably one of my favorite things to eat. For salads and stuff, I love Keller's book Bouchon. In general the book is the opposite of what you want, but there's some really delicious apetizers in there that if made ahead of time are delicious. Lentils with dijon vinaigrette is one of my favorites. The roasted red beet salad is great too. I haven't really bought any cookbooks devoted to easy cooking...

The french system is actually quite conductive to quick meals because most sauces are variations of something you can prepare in quantity and freeze in meal-sized portions.
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post #8 of 23
9/11/07 at 12:13am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GQgeek View Post
There's a lot of stuff that's very quick to cook, but it's always the prep that takes time. Iammat is essentially right. The best way to cook fast is to improve your knife skills. Mine suck compared to someone that works in a pro kitchen. My knives are super sharp though and i'm scared of cutting off a finger! When I know I'm gonna be busy I try and cook ahead of time. I'm a big fan of pureed soup. I tend to make enough for the week on the weekends. Slow-cooked things work too because they can usually be kept 2-3 days. Curries, chili, stir-frys too. Another thing I cook when I don't feel like cooking is steak. Steak is about as easy as it gets. I love steak and glazed carrots. And asparagus with lemon butter sauce is probably one of my favorite things to eat. The french system is actually quite conductive to quick meals because most sauces are variations of something you can prepare in quantity and freeze in meal-sized portions.
I've sliced off a tip of my finger on a job. There isn't anything like a sharp knife. My knife skills are adequate. When I lived in San Fran, my wife would send me out on search missions for ingredients for dinner parties. It was alot of fun. Susi rice in different grades. Wow, they don't even know what susi rice is where I am now. Sniffing tins of fish eggs. Meats, theme parties, exotic components from all parts of the city.( Oh yeah, I forgot, I drank then. Buying the wine, or should I say tracking it down. I imagine things are a bit easier in this area now.) I understand Matt and Manton's approach. But now, I live in the real world, but a world that has access to fresh fish on the docks and fresh , local grown , organic veggies. So, GQ, what do you actually do with the ingredients to make your meals. You seem pretty much pressed for time. Don't you work doing code and go to school?
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post #9 of 23
9/11/07 at 12:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by caelte View Post
I've sliced off a tip of my finger on a job. There isn't anything like a sharp knife. My knife skills are adequate. When I lived in San Fran, my wife would send me out on search missions for ingredients for dinner parties. It was alot of fun. Susi rice in different grades. Wow, they don't even know what susi rice is where I am now. Sniffing tins of fish eggs. Meats, theme parties, exotic components from all parts of the city. I understand Matt and Manton's approach. But now, I live in the real world, but a world that has access to fresh fish on the docks and fresh , local grown , organic veggies. So, GQ, what do you actually do with the ingredients to make your meals. You seem pretty much pressed for time. Don't you work doing code and go to school?
My approach is different than Manton's. There are things that we eat on a regular basis that I can put together in 10 minutes and things that can take 30 minutes, an hour etc. I consider 30 minutes relatively quick, but not everybody does. A lot of it does have to do with how long things take you. My wife is a very good cook, but I can get done in fifteen minutes what it takes her an hour to do. It is like anything else, you cannot learn to do things fast until you really need to. Going fast is different than being fast. That said, the one book we have that has really good, really fast food is a Mexican Book by Rick Bayless called Everyday Mexican. It is fantastic, fresh food that is quick and easy. A friend of mine wrote a cookbook called Naples at Table which is also excellent and has a lot of dishes that are very fast.
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post #10 of 23
9/11/07 at 12:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
My approach is different than Manton's. There are things that we eat on a regular basis that I can put together in 10 minutes and things that can take 30 minutes, an hour etc. I consider 30 minutes relatively quick, but not everybody does. A lot of it does have to do with how long things take you. My wife is a very good cook, but I can get done in fifteen minutes what it takes her an hour to do. It is like anything else, you cannot learn to do things fast until you really need to. Going fast is different than being fast. That said, the one book we have that has really good, really fast food is a Mexican Book by Rick Bayless called Everyday Mexican. It is fantastic, fresh food that is quick and easy. A friend of mine wrote a cookbook called Naples at Table which is also excellent and has a lot of dishes that are very fast.
30 minutes is fast. What is it that you do in 30 minutes. Rick Bayless is very fast. I'd forgotten about him , thanks. I understand the difference between going fast and being fast. edit (Your friends book looks good, I'll check it out.)
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post #11 of 23
9/11/07 at 12:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by caelte View Post
30 minutes is fast. What is it that you do in 30 minutes. Rick Bayless is very fast. I'd forgotten about him , thanks. I understand the difference between going fast and being fast. edit (Your friends book looks good, I'll check it out.)
I figure that any food that you can cook quickly like scallops, fish filets, a chicken breast, steak etc., I can prepare in 30 minutes. As long as I don't need to build some sort of structure out of the food and it does not need to roast or braise for a long time, cutting vegetables won't take me more than ten to fifteen minutes. I know that isn't very specific, but I think that with good organization just about any one dish meal is doable in 30 minutes. It is harder if you want to have potatoes or something like that, but if you are pressed for time you adapt. For example, this weekend we had Nicoise Salad on Friday night and other than steaming the potatoes and hardboiling the eggs, it took no time at all. On Sunday, we had a pasta with squid, clams and mussels and that took maybe thirty minutes total. Often on weeknights we will have pastas with both vegetables and protein and they take no time at all, or at least almost no time. From the Rick Bayless book in question, the main course salads are all very good. Of special note is the chorizo and spinach salad which we tend to serve with flour tortillas which we either eat along side or use to wrap the salad up. The beef slad in there is quite good as well.
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post #12 of 23
9/11/07 at 12:58am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
I figure that any food that you can cook quickly like scallops, fish filets, a chicken breast, steak etc., I can prepare in 30 minutes. As long as I don't need to build some sort of structure out of the food and it does not need to roast or braise for a long time, cutting vegetables won't take me more than ten to fifteen minutes. I know that isn't very specific, but I think that with good organization just about any one dish meal is doable in 30 minutes. It is harder if you want to have potatoes or something like that, but if you are pressed for time you adapt. For example, this weekend we had Nicoise Salad on Friday night and other than steaming the potatoes and hardboiling the eggs, it took no time at all. On Sunday, we had a pasta with squid, clams and mussels and that took maybe thirty minutes total. Often on weeknights we will have pastas with both vegetables and protein and they take no time at all, or at least almost no time. From the Rick Bayless book in question, the main course salads are all very good. Of special note is the chorizo and spinach salad which we tend to serve with flour tortillas which we either eat along side or use to wrap the salad up. The beef slad in there is quite good as well.
I'm pretty fast. Do you have any of the specifics of the prep that you would like to share: a recipe?
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post #13 of 23
9/11/07 at 1:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by caelte View Post
I'm pretty fast. Do you have any of the specifics of the prep that you would like to share: a recipe?
Do you mean for the dishes I described? I don't have recipes in front of me, but for the pasta we had Sunday night, I cooked a little garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil until the garlic browned. I then removed the garlic and added canned tomatos to the pan (canned tomatos are better for sauce than fresh. you need to get the Italian ones from San Marzano) and broke them up for a minute or two at which point I added some sliced squid and let it simmer for ten or so minutes. I then put some pasta to boil and added mussels and clams to the tomato sauce and some parsley. When the pasta was ready I added a bit of the cooking water to the tomato sauce and then mixed the whole thing up in a serving bowl. Obviously one needs to season with salt and pepper the entire way through.
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post #14 of 23
9/11/07 at 1:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by iammatt View Post
Do you mean for the dishes I described? I don't have recipes in front of me, but for the pasta we had Sunday night, I cooked a little garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil until the garlic browned. I then removed the garlic and added canned tomatos to the pan (canned tomatos are better for sauce than fresh. you need to get the Italian ones from San Marzano) and broke them up for a minute or two at which point I added some sliced squid and let it simmer for ten or so minutes. I then put some pasta to boil and added mussels and clams to the tomato sauce and some parsley. When the pasta was ready I added a bit of the cooking water to the tomato sauce and then mixed the whole thing up in a serving bowl. Obviously one needs to season with salt and pepper the entire way through.
Yes, exactly. I'd like to know what others are preparing, the ingedients and the method: a recipe. Thanks. Sounds good. I'm going to let you slide on the canned tomatoes because your right.
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post #15 of 23
9/11/07 at 7:52am
I can cook one thing in 30 minutes, or less, but not three completely different things. And no, I am not talking about a complex reduction sauce. I am talking about an ordinary meal. Maybe I am just not fast, but I can't get a full dinner done in less than an hour.
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