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Roasted salmon This is so quick. Season a fillet of salmon (five minutes tops). Put it in the oven (twelve minutes tops). While it's cooking make a sauce, a vegetable, a starter, a dessert, or a phone call. And it comes out really moist and tender.

This is my favorite entree for a big buffet or pot luck. It's possible to make twice or three times this amount in almost the same time. People just dig in.

There are a thousand seasonings and sauce possible, but here's my standard.

Serves 4-6 as a main course, 10-12 as a starter or buffet item.
I like a a warm vinaigrette made by combining 1-2 cloves minced garlic with 4 tablespoons olive oil and lemon juice (salt and pepper), then heating until it the garlic is fragrant (don't burn it!). But there are an infinite number of sauces possible.

with tapenade
with aioli (right)
olive oil, garlic, and lemon

with asparagus
with green beans
with zucchini sliced thinly (right) with shaved Brussels sprouts (right)
Posted by About this blog at 5:28 AM 1 comment: Labels: fish, mains, roasted


Blancs de poulet a la crème et aux champignons I love this recipe from Julia. It's so tender, melt in your mouth. And so so fast--as long as the breast pieces are a reasonable size. In these Tyson days, two breasts will feed four people. (Chicken is sold by the pound but bought by the piece, which means they make the damned chickens as big as possible.)

The big 10 ounce US chicken breasts need to be cut into fifths, to produce 10 two-ounce pieces--and nothing over one and 1/2 inches or they won't cook through properly. I put them into my fait-tout along with the wine, stock, lemon juice, and butter, covered them with waxed paper, and they cook fast enough on medium.

Use creme fraiche or heavy cream. The no-fat sour cream produces a weak sauce, but OK for dieting.

One pound boneless chicken breasts cut into pieces no more than 1 and 1/2 inches thick (about two large breasts)
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon chicken stock or beef stock (or gravy from a chicken or beef stew)
2 tablespoons white wine or dry vermouth
2 tablespoons chopped scallion or 1 tablespoon minced shallot
1/4 cup  heavy cream
(waxed paper) Joyce really liked them. But to me they don't have that perfect consistency of the oven poeled ones Julia does.

Posted by About this blog at 6:28 PM No comments: Labels: 10 minutes flat, chicken, mains


Boeuf a la Mode: Braised Beef with Balsamic Wine Sauce For my brother-in-law's birthday, on a Sunday night, this Sunday roast is fun. It also leaves the morning free for Mass and the Sunday Times.

It also makes a good stock to freeze and use for steaks and so on. And good good leftovers (see below)

5 minutes. Serves 6-12. [MAFC I 309]

3-4 lb beef roast, such as boneless chuck
½ cup red wine
1 packet dry onion soup mix
For a more elegant sauce (another 5 minutes)
For a less elegant sauce Posted by About this blog at 7:45 PM No comments: Labels: beef, mains, slow cooker


3 mousses au chocolat: légère, Julia's & 5-minute

Here is chocolate mousse three ways. I made it for Valentine's day yesterday, and I realized I can make Julia's version in 10 minutes, with some fancy footwork. And I even do a 5-minute version sometimes that feeds a crowd very fast. But my favorite is a light one that was inspired by Julia's. I give all three here. I invented the light version for a dinner party my daughter gave for five of her teenage friends, years ago. She wanted me to make chocolate mousse. And I remembered back 35 years ago when I first made it from Julia. I loved the orange flavor (MAFC I p. 604). And it was this recipe (and TV episode) that taught me to beat and fold in egg whites. I had few of the ingredients and no time. So I made a light version for the girls.

I serve this in little 3-ounce cordial glasses. A fun treat rather than a big chocolate dig-in. Nobody complains except kids. And you can haul out the leftovers and let them fight over them.

Chocolate is always an issue in a small town. The other day, I picked up a bar of Hershey's Special Dark chocolate in the baking chocolate section, then noticed the same bar in the candy section (conveniently placed next to the express lane at Fareway) for almost exactly half the price. It worked fine. Of course you can buy the fanciest chocolate you can. If time is money, then this recipe is a bargain no matter how expensive the chocolate is.

The 5-minute version is heavier because you don't take time to beat the egg whites. But hey, it tastes really good. And it's not all that heavy. The guys at the shelter love it. So here they are: light, Julia's shortened, and 5-minute. (By the way, the Valentine's day menu yesterday was Caviar deviled eggs with Parmesan crisps, rib-eye steaks fry-broiled, roasted winter vegetables (potatoes, parsnips, carrots, Brussels sprouts), Maytag blue cheese with olive oil and pepper)

Mousse au chocolat légère


8 ounces excellent semi-sweet or milk chocolate
1 teaspoon Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur

VARIATION: Mousseline au chocolat; Mayonaise au chocolat; Fondant au chocolat

This is the original recipe from MAFC1 p. 604 speeded up. The ingredients from Julia's recipe are the same. A fast operator can have this ready to chill in 10 minutes, and two hours later, about dessert time, it's ready.


6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips or baking chocolate broken into bits with a kinfe
1/3 cup powdered sugar
4 Tb strong coffee
6 ounces unsalted butter (one and one half sticks)
optional: 1/4 cup finely diced, glazed orange peel (candied)
1 can compressed whipped cream

VARIATION: Blender chocolate mousse in 5 minutes

Here's the one I did for the Emergency Residence Project on 1/14/11. I made it in 5 minutes, with time to chop the pistachios.

1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips (Hershey's Special Dark is good)
1 cup hot cream (160 degrees F/71 degrees C)
1/4 cup strong coffee, heated
[optional] whipped cream pressurized, pistachios

Posted by About this blog at 4:12 PM 2 comments: Labels: 10 minutes flat, 5 minutes, dessert


Eggs cocotte in 5 flat This is a super fast version (5 minutes flat) of a French (and Julia) classic: eggs baked in a ramekin (MAFC I p. 123). This is capable of infinite variations, and a great way to use bits of elegant leftovers. And you can also save those last few tablespoons of some great sauce and substitute it for the cream. The best is an idea I took from The Café here in town: Green Eggs and Ham.

2 persons

cooking spray or butter
crème fraîche OR cream OR sour cream OR no-fat sour cream
salt and fresh ground pepper

Posted by About this blog at 4:42 PM 1 comment: Labels: 5 minutes, egg dishes, hot starters, leftovers

Ramequins fondants au chocolat I always wanted to find an elegant 10 minute chocolate dessert for romantic evenings (Valentine's Day) or big dinner parties when I am too busy with other things to bake one of Julia's French cakes. This is it. The most popular recipe on the most popular French recipe site, Marmiton.org. And very popular with my Valentine (the chocolates Right are from her, the homemade card from our sweet Maddie).

They are a lot like lava cake, which my daughter buys in a mix for her 'bring your own lobster' parties (because as a student she worked in a Boston fish house where they served little lava cakes--where and learned to kill, cook and dismember one with skill and grace, which she justly loves to show off). These can be served hot or warm or cold, molded or unmolded (they have to cool about 10 minutes before they are stable enough to unmold). After they've been baked they can be reheated in a microwave to restore that melty goodness. And the batter can be made ahead or even frozen so you are never without a chocolate dessert.

I used to just use a bar of Hershey's Special Dark, which is much cheaper ($1.19) than the same chocolate in the baking section. It's divided into 16 pieces, so I use 12 for the batter and four (each broken in two) for the chocolate centers). It's not the best chocolate but full of value for money. But now I think what the hell, buy the best on the shelf, which at Fareway turns out to be Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bar.

5 minutes prep. 12 minutes baking [MAFC I 677]

6 ounces dark chocolate, bitter-sweet (the better the chocolate the better the dish)
1 ounce (1/8 stick) butter

Reasonable wines with this are semi-dry Bergerac or Monbazillac.

Posted by About this blog at 2:07 PM 1 comment: 

Aioli light--sauce, dip, garnish, whatever This is an all-purpose sauce and dip. It has almost no calories. It tastes like it will make you fat. It's not the real thing, which has of course real mayonnaise and that deep down fat slip on the tongue (see MAFC I 92). This is a different food, really. But still loaded with garlic--which can be halved or doubled or tripled or whatever your tongue and stomach can stand. I use it all the time.

I use it mostly as a dip for crudites or shrimp, and keep the ingredients for it always in the pantry. If I'm asked to bring appetizers, I'll just pick up some cut vegetables and pre-cooked shrimp, and do this in 5 minutes flat.

But it has many uses because it's so colorful and flavorful (and keeps for weeks). I put it in a squeeze bottle and use it for decorating plates (like baked salmon). I dilute it with stock or drippings or wine to make sauces.

At party we had here recently for one of my wife's colleagues who was retiring, the guest of honor raved about the dip and ate bunches. When she asked me about it and learned it was light, she asked for the recipe.

5 minutes

1 4-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
2 cups no-fat mayonnaise

Posted by About this blog at 8:20 PM No comments: Labels: 5 minutes, cold starters, sauces