Jackson Heights Life

I raised a fairly large family and learned how to cook for armies! Now that I live alone (except for 2 furballs), I find that I haven't stopped cooking in large quantities. Every time I want something that needs hours to make, I put it off until I can get some friends over to share. Would anyone please share some really fast recipes, that don't require hours of prep and cooking time, for me?

BTW, I am an omnivore!

Here's a quickie, but a goodie.

Pasta with Garlic Sauteed Mushrooms and Chicken


Pasta (I use Barilla Plus Rotini) -- cook enough for one or two portions
1 small boneless chicken breast cut into strips
Baby bella mushrooms or white cap mushrooms (sliced)
1 small sweet roasted red pepper (from jar) -- cut into thin strips
Fresh garlic -- sliced, not chopped (I use 4 large cloves for 2 portions)
Olive Oil
Dab of butter
Low sodium chicken broth and/or Marsala wine (from liquor store, not the one from the supermarket) -- Use your judgment on how much liquid to add.  The amount really depends on how much pasta you cook.
Salt
Red pepper flakes

Season the chicken breast with salt
In a large sautee pan, melt the dab of butter in the olive oil
Add the garlic and sautee at low heat being careful not to let the garlic burn
Add the mushrooms and cook until tender then remove from pan and set aside
In the same pan you cooked the mushrooms, increase the heat to medium high and add the chicken strips to brown
Once the chicken is browned, return the cooked mushrooms, add the chicken broth and/or wine, cover and let the flavors infuse.
Once the alcohol from the wine is evaporated, add the mixture to the cooked pasta
Add the sweet red pepper strips and toss everything together
Sprinkle with red pepper flakes and freshly grated cheese
Enjoy!

This preparation is quite simple, and I've also mixed up the ingredients on occasion to include veggies such as asparagus and zucchini. :smitten:

I have one more that is kind of unusual and is not exactly a meal - but it's great if you're on a diet or just need a healthy snack.  It's a 'pancake'

1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup oatmeal
3-4 egg whites or 1 egg and 1 eggwhite
vanilla extract
2 packets splenda

put all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Cook in a pan like a regular pancake. Super healthy and just as good as regular pancakes (in my opinion).  This is from the Body for Life eating plan.  (the actual recipe is a bit more exact than mine.)

Sometimes I add cocoa powder if I want chocolate pancakes.

Trader Joe's sells a rice that is fully cooked and is packaged in a clear plastic envelope.  They have a couple of varieties available...Jasmin rice, mushroom rice and a another one I can't remember right now.  Anyway, what's great about this rice is that it's super convenient.  It heats in your microwave in all of 2 minutes.  All you have to do is massage the envelope to break up any clumps, tear open one corner of the envelope, and microwave for 2 minutes to heat it through.  I prefer the mushroom flavored rice.  It's quick and comes in handy when I'm feeling lazy about cooking.  I'll serve this as a side dish alongside fish, chicken breast, etc.  The portion is enough for 2, so you can refrigerate the leftover rice for the next day.  Price = $1.99.

Have any of you ever used a can of soup as a base for a recipe? Frankly, I don't think I have ever even bought soup in a can. Someone sent me a recipe that calls for a can of condensed cheddar cheese soup. I am going to look in the supermarket to see if they carry it. Then I will probably read the ingredients label and have a heart attack!

This is more like cooking for 6, but here's a recipe from Jackson Heights' own food writer Anya Von Bremzen.
On Valentine's Day last week The Miami Herald finds her a a party: ''One of the joys of writing about world foods is to feel you belong to a global community,'' says Anya von Bremzen, a well-traveled, Russian-born food writer who keeps homes in Jackson Heights, N.Y., and Istanbul, Turkey."

Here are two of her recipes from one of her cookbooks, and published in the NY Daily News.  And a longer article about her appears here

Spiced Orange Shrimp Ceviche

Serves 5 to 6

Make sure not to overcook, and don't frown on using ketchup, which is an authentic ceviche ingredient in Ecuador, Von Bremzen says.

1 pound extra-large shrimp in their shells

1/2 cup ketchup

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons fresh lime juice or more to taste

2 large garlic cloves, crushed through a press

1 small jalapeño chili, cored, seeded and thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Large pinch of ground cumin

Small pinch of ground cinnamon

Small pinch of ground cloves

Salt

Dash of Tabasco sauce

1 medium red onion, quartered and thinly sliced

1 medium tomato, seeded and diced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves, plus a handful of leaves for garnish

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 Belgian endive, for garnish

In large saucepan, bring 3 quarts of salted water to simmer. Have a large bowl of ice water ready. Add shrimp to boiling water, remove from heat immediately and let stand for exactly 11/2 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain the shrimp and dump them into the ice water to cool. Drain shrimp again, pat dry with paper towels, peel and devein.

Place ketchup in a large bowl and gradually whisk in orange juice until the mixture is completely homogenous. Whisk in lemon and lime juices, and add the garlic, jalapeño, oregano, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, salt and Tabasco to taste. Taste the mixture and adjust lime juice to taste. The marinade should be sweet, tart and spicy.

In large nonreactive bowl, toss shrimp with onion, tomato and cilantro. Pour marinade over shrimp, toss, then toss in the oil. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight, tossing the mixture once or twice as it marinates.

Serve the ceviche in martini glasses, garnished with cilantro and endive spears.


Classic Andalusian Gazpacho

Serves 6

Use a fruity Spanish olive oil and the best sherry vinegar you can find, says Von Bremzen. Tienda carries excellent Spanish olive oils and vinegars. To order, call 1-888-472-1022 or visit www.tienda.com.

4 (1-inch-thick) slices day-old coarse country bread from a round loaf, crusts removed, torn into small pieces

3 pounds ripest, most flavorful tomatoes possible, washed and quartered

4 tablespoons sherry vinegar, preferably aged

3 medium garlic cloves

Small pinch cumin seeds or ground cumin

Coarse sea salt

2 firm medium-size Kirby (pickling) cucumbers

1 medium green bell pepper, cored and seeded

1/4 medium red onion, peeled

1/2 cup fragrant, fruity extra-virgin Spanish olive oil, preferably from Andalusia

1/2 cup bottled spring water or more to taste

2 to 3 tablespoons each finely diced cucumbers, peeled green apples, slightly underripe tomatoes and green bell peppers, for garnish

Slivered basil leaves, for garnish

Place bread in large bowl and squeeze out seeds and some of the juice from the tomatoes over it. Crumble bread. Add 1 tablespoon of the vinegar and let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic to a paste with the cumin and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Transfer the bread mixture to a food processor along with the garlic paste, and process until completely smooth. Leave this mixture in the food processor while preparing the next step. Chop the tomatoes, cucumbers, red and green peppers and onion into medium dice. Place vegetables in bowl, stir in 3 large pinches of salt, and let stand for 15 minutes so that the tomatoes throw off some liquid.

Working in 3 batches, process vegetable mixture in food processor until as smooth as possible, adding a third of the olive oil to each batch. The first batch will be processed with the bread mixture. Transfer each finished batch to a sieve set over a large bowl.

Pass gazpacho through a sieve, pressing on it with the back of a wooden spoon Whisk in remaining 3 tablespoons vinegar and the water. Adjust salt to taste. Chill gazpacho for at least 3 hours before serving. (If you are making the gazpacho a day ahead, add the garlic 2 to 3 hours before serving, lest it overwhelm the other flavors.) Serve in glass bowls or wineglasses with the suggested garnishes.

If you want easy easy easy, jarred salsa is your friend. Brown a chicken breast and then, right in the same pan, dump some jarred salsa right on top. Cook until the chicken is cooked through. Serve the whole thing over rice. Want to change up the flavor? Try a new salsa. I love peach salsa over chicken.

Or, for quickie (and healthy) fried rice -- cook  up an egg white or two. Remove from pan. Put some leftover rice -- I like brown rice for it -- into the pan, add whatever veggies and/or protein you're up for, then some soy sauce or jarred black bean sauce. (Pieces of chicken pulled from a rotisserie chicken works really well for this.) Stir that all together and let it heat through. Then add the egg whites back in and mix into everything else. I like to leave it for a moment or two over high heat so a bit of a crust forms on the bottom but it's not necessary. Then...eat up.

I do a lot of cooking but, when feeling lazy or rushed or whatever, do rely quite a bit on some of the prepared sauces/salsa/and so on out there in the world. Trader Joe's has tons of good ones. If you stock up on stuff like that and keep some individual portions of chicken, salmon, and so on, in your freezer, you'll always be good to go right quick.

Korean Kalbi / Galbi

1 pound Short ribs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 green onion
Pinch of black pepper
1/4 kiwi, juiced

Put all ingredients together and let it marinade for 2 hours in refrigerator.

Cook on fry pan, grill, or broil.

Serve with rice.