30 –
Minute meals
The problem facing the modern home cook: how to find recipes that are quick and easy to make but at the same time delicious and nutritious here’s the solution
All the recipes are simple and can be prepared and cooked quickly leaving you time to enjoy your life out of the kitchen.
Fast food
tips
There’s no reason why tasty nutritious food can’t also be speedy to prepare. These commonsense hints will help you deliver the meal to the table in fast.
Stock up
Organise your weekly menu then shop for it all at the one time a well-stocked pantry refrigerator and freezer ensure there’s no need to waste time ducking out at the last minute from missing grocery items. Consider using the lists (right) for basic foods used in the recipes in this book. Remember once jars and bottles have been opened, secure lids tightly and keep them refrigerated. Transfer leftover canned food to a non-reactive container.
Half now, half later
Thinking ahead can save you plenty of time later, when you have none to spare. An ideal example: when appropriate, double the ingredient quantities of a recipe so that you can freeze half of the dish for another occasion. Soups, casseroles, stocks, cakes,biscuits, etc, are all well-suited to this suggestion.
Follow these freezing tips:
Let cooked food, such as casseroles,stand,coverd, at room temperature, 1 hour before placing In refrigerator to completely cool, then placing in the freezer. When using rigid containers, leave 2cm to 5cm space for expansion of the food when it freezes.
Remove air from the package to be frozen so that food does not dry out, discolor or absorbs other flavors.
Label all packages and containers by content’s name; date packaged weight and portion size.
The fastest way to defrost is in the microwave oven, but otherwise thaw food in refrigerator for 10 to 24 hours (depending on the quantity of food)
Other time savers
Dried herbs can be used instead of fresh: 1 teaspoon of any dried herb is equivalent to 1 tablespoon of that herb, chopped and fresh.
Buy pricier cuts of meat – they usually require no trimming, and lean meat cooks faster as well as tasting better.
Some fantastically fast accompaniments to meals include instant polenta and couscous, to which you merely add boiling water. A perfect, easy way to fill out a stir-fry is with the addition of rice vermicelli noodles – preparation is a simple matter of pouring boiling water over the noodles in bowl.
Leftover cooked rice and pasta freezes beautifully, and can be reheated in a microwave oven.
When time is of the essence, use bottled crushed garlic, minced ginger, chopped chillies and lemon grass, etc, in place of fresh ingredients.
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