One-pot wonders for the holidays
Between holiday shopping, work, your son's band concert and your spouse's Christmas party you realize your cousin and his family are in town and you promised them dinner at the house.
Don't panic, pick a pan.
Grab one pan from your cabinet a roasting pan, a Dutch oven, maybe even a wok and you're on your way to a memorable meal.
“I think the hardest part of entertaining aside from feeling like you need to clean your house is juggling all of the components,” says cookbook author Pam Anderson. “Put all your energy into one dish and the rest can be real simple.”
Anderson's new book, “Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers,” has plenty of recipes to get you started. Recipes like tamale pie, balsamic-glazed chicken and aromatic beef, beans and peppers.
“I've never been one to ‘entertain,'” says Anderson, mother of two grown daughters. “I have people over; have casual gatherings.”
During the holidays our tendency is to pull out all the stops. But especially during the hustle and bustle of the season we should simplify the menu, she says.
Yet, casual doesn't mean taking a cheater's approach (like, gasp! ordering out) but cutting corners to make a hearty main course that will be the “star at the center of the table,” Anderson says.
She lays out simple menus that will work for special weekend dinners just as easily as they will for weeknight meals when friends drop by.
Celebrity chef Ming Tsai gives us his take on the topic with “Simply Ming: One-Pot Meals” (Kyle Books). In the book Tsai shares recipes including Scallop and Bacon Fettucine, Chili Pork Fillets with Garlic Brussels Sprouts and Five-Vegetable Miso Stew that can all be cooked in one vessel, be it wok, soup pot or saute pan.
I don't want to mislead you into thinking that one-pot means fast or easy. Yes, there's some chopping, measuring and other prep with all these recipes and braises can take an hour-plus. So it may be a bit more time on the front end, but think of the time you'll save without pots and pans to wash.