15-minute-or-less recipes?

[Yummychef]

I found this site very useful:

www.search-for-quick-recipes.com

It has quick recipes that take 15 minutes or less to make - very convenient for me, as I am always in a hurry.

...And I love fast recipes that look like they take all day to make!!! :)

All the best

Yummychef

[Malawry]

If I cook anything at all on a work night, it's usually something that's done in 15 minutes or less. Yet I always feel a little weird about admitting to these quick meals. Normally, the goal of cooking is not to slam in and out of the kitchen rapidly...but some nights I just want something small and quick so I can come hang out on eGullet already.

A quick meal for me is a Hebrew National hot dog with Maille mustard, or a salad with some sort of meat thrown on top, or perhaps eggs. What do you eat that's ready in 15 minutes?

[Suzanne F]

Some of those recipes are fine, but they lost me with:

Creamy Rice & Broccoli

Total time. 11 minutes Servings: 6

Ingredients 1 (10-oz.) package frozen chopped broccoli 3/4 cup water 1/2 pound process cheese cubed 1 1/2 cups instant rice uncooked

Directions: In medium saucepan over medium heat add broccoli to water; bring to a boil, separating broccoli with fork; stir in cheese. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in rice; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir before serving.

We choose these quick vegetarian recipes for you to really experience the joy that comes from superb-cooking. We hope we succeeded.

Yummychef, you have to understand that some folks here pride themselves on taking the longest time possible to make dinner. Stick around, you'll see. AND you'll find that we can give that site a run for its money when it comes to great food with little effort (check the eGullet Recipe Archive for the famous Roasted Cauliflower; less than 3 minutes prep time, and no watching while it cooks. Now THAT's good.)

[therdogg]

What do you eat that's ready in 15 minutes?

Fried egg sandwiches with green and red sauteed bell pepper strips on a baguette.

Salad with chicken breast strips on top.

Spaghetti carbonara. (although time to boil water makes it a bit longer than 15 minutes; does that count?)

BLTs.

Burgers.

stir-fry (ack, but even the rice takes longer than 15)

Actually I guess it's hard to make something fabulous in 15 minutes which is why I'm mostly listing American fast-foods. What about meals that only take 15 minutes of _work_ but might require downtime?

Like roast chicken, baked potatoes, braised pork

Roast veggies (peppers, eggplant, summer squash) with fresh mozzarella and pesto on olive bread

Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Latkes when grated with a food processor.

[22tango]

In 15 minutes??

Usually something pasta-ish. If you have some leftovers to work with it can be even better -- ie. leftover baked squash or sweet potato can be tossed with pasta, feta & browned butter! YUM!

I also like a nice omelet (so quick & adaptable) with a green salad.

Leftover rice from chinese takeout?? Put it in the freezer to reheat another night in your microwave while you sear some fresh fish & dice up a tropical salsa (mango, red onion, lime juice & rind, cilantro, jalapeno).

Sides of broccoli or asparagus steam oh-so-quickly in a microwave too!

Salads, soups (from a can -- sorry! ), & sandwiches can all be pretty quick.

[Jaymes]

Actually, I make a very authentic, very quick, very delicious Mexican tomato-based salsa containing lots of roasted chile peppers -- whichever kind you personally find most authentic.

After I make the salsa, I put a little authentic Mexican white cheese into an authentic Mexican tortilla, fold over and fry in a little authentic aciete, and top with some of my quick authentic salsa. It's also wonderful over scrambled eggs, or a cheese omlette. Serve it up with a couple of slices of authentic avocado, and you've got a great quick authentic little meal.

[JPW]

Tex-Mex is my 15 minute salvation

"Leftover" quesadillas - this week the meat will be the left over pork kebobs from last night. Hack up some toms, onions, and whatever other veggies I have in the bin, top with cheese and Tabasco. Throw in saute pan.

Enchiladas - about the same as above, but roll like a burrito, throw in a small casserole, top with whatever sauce is around, sprinkle with cheese and throw in oven.

[achevres]

May I suggest the oldie but goodie: French Cooking in Ten Minutes, by Edouard de Pomiane. Real food and with no microwave! I remember reading that the author was a physician and, I guess, busy.

My emergency meals that have some semblance of cooking (i.e. I'm not including convenience foods such as the frozen mozzarella sticks that are my daughter's latest favorites):

Eggs in any guise, such as omelettes and fried.

Nachos, including chicken nachos made with leftover cooked chicken meat that I add to sauteed chopped onions.

Spaguetti with my own frozen pesto (this is slightly over the 15 minutes but so easy).

And with no cooking:

Peanut butter and jelly (toasted whole wheat bread, natural peanut butter with just peanuts and salt and some fancy jam, such as guava and skim milk on the side).

Cottage cheese with fruit and chopped walnuts

p.s. The comment about the broccoli cheese casserole brought back memories of my college days and the awful food served. Believe it or not, the broccoli cheese casserole was one dishes I liked most, and I missed when I left. I'm sure it was made with processed cheese and leftover rice. I had never had it before that. The fried chicken was the best entree.

[lala]

Yummychef, you have to understand that some folks here pride themselves on taking the longest time possible to make dinner.    Stick around, you'll see.

Absolutely, Suzanne. But while I definitely enjoy making those braised, slow cooking, long preparation dishes (homemade puff pastry, anyone?), I think that we need to give those 15 minute dishes their due. Sure, one can heat anything out of a can in 15 minutes, but to my mind it takes real skill to produce a tasty, not-canned dinner in that short a time.

Here are some dishes that I often make in 15 minutes:

Omlettes

Grilled veggies with meats (indoor electric grill, sometimes marinate the meats while I'm at work, more often use a rub for quick flavor.)

Any quick sauté - meat, fish etc. Many veggies benefit from a quicker sauté than not. Here's one: chop some garlic and ginger, sauté to your liking, add pre-bagged baby spinach, and soy if you like. Turn spinach with tongs Just until it's all softened, not even wilted.

Pasta, either with sauce, pesto, or a quick sauce made in the sauté pan.

For me, the key for quick cooking is to have appropriate flavoring agents at the ready - herb/spices and blends (rubs, etc.), flavored oils and vinegars, etc. For instance, pasta tossed in herb flavored oil with fresh tomatoes, olives and prosciutto. For grilled, or oven roasted veggies, use the herbed oils and vinegar to make a quick 'marinade', and baste them with it. Lots of flavor in no time at all.

Grilled cheese sandwich - or any grilled sandwich

Sautéed or grilled sausages with veggies

Then there's salads...

And my favorite, if a little of a cheat: a simple plate of fruits, cheese/s and good bread! Oh, and proscuitto and melon...

Edited May 3, 2004 by lala (log)

[Carlovski]

There are lots of meals that are all in the shopping - bread, cheese, cured meats.

As has been mentioned, Omelettes take minutes. Never underestimate a good sandwich either - 15 minutes is plenty of time to cook some bacon - always improves any sandwich!

Supermarket bags of salad are a godsend (One prepackaged food item I am happy to use). You can make it heartier by frying up some lardons of bacon/pancetta, or even cubes of chorizo, crunmble some goats cheese or blue cheese, chicken livers, add a poached egg etc.

Pasta - lots of options, with oil,garlic and chilli (Maybe with Broccoli/greens/whatever is in season) simply with butter and parmesan, and you can knock up a quick tomoato sauce in ten minutes with tinned tomatoes.

Also - Here is what I had last night - Chicken stock (From a cube ) with Thai Tom Yam paste, some shredded greens, coconut milk, salmon (skinned, boneless, filleted from the supermarket - I was in a hurry!), chillies and lime juice along with some fine noodles - all in one pan, took less than ten minutes.

Inauthentic as hell I'm sure, but tasty, and quick all the same.