Recipe 30 Minute Meals

Perhaps of the Rachael Ray variety, perhaps not.

I thought this thread could be helpful to @ralphie250 and others looking to get dinner on the table quickly at the end of a busy day. I'll be using this thread to bring together some of the resources, tips, and tricks that I have. Feel free to do the same.

Here is a piece from The Kitchn with 15 dinners that take 30 minutes or less. Some of these are ones I'm looking forward to trying out. 15 Dinners You Can Make in 30 Minutes Quick Dinners from The Kitchn | The Kitchn

Additionally, a number of these recipes look like great blueprints, such as
Dinner Quick: Arugula with Orzo and Garden Tomatoes Recipes from The Kitchn | The Kitchn There are lots of different ways to go with this recipe--spinach instead of arugula, for example. I'll probably be making this tonight, as I have goat cheese languishing in my fridge. I'll probably swap the fresh tomatoes (out of season) for sundried (already in the fridge). Personally, this recipe will be a great way to use produce from my garden once things start growing. There are some other recipes here that I'll likely take the meat out of, such as Weeknight Recipe: Southwest Skillet Ragu Recipes from The Kitchn | The Kitchn (subbing in black beans), Recipe For One: Chickpeas, Kale, and Sausage with Oven-Baked Egg Recipes from The Kitchn | The Kitchn, and Quick Dinner Recipe: Greek Pasta with Lamb, Zucchini, and Feta Recipes from The Kitchn | The Kitchn.

What do you do to get dinner on the table quickly?

 

Here's what I'm making tonight. It has very little prep. It takes 2 minutes to combine the ingredients in the slow cooker (roux cubes, frozen veggies, 1/2 cup water) and another minute to put the rice in the rice cooker. I let the slow cooker cook everything until the roux cubes are completely dissolved (about 1-2 hours).



plus



= delicious

It's not true curry rice, but it's pretty good nonetheless.

 

840mg a serving. S&B Golden Curry (more common) is a little less at 820mg a serving.

 

You can also make it from scratch: Japanese Curry Rice | Serious Eats : Recipes

 

Cheat like an Indian: Blended Spices - Products - Everest Spices When our buddy, who is originally from Andhra Pradesh, left town, he loaded us up with unopened boxes of spices from Everest. They're awesome.

 

Love Penzeys. I need to stock up next time I'm in Portland.
--- merged: Mar 19, 2014 at 9:07 PM ---
Some fiberful easy meals: Budget, But Not Boring: 8 Fresh Ways to Eat Beans & Rice for Dinner | The Kitchn

 

Jamie Oliver has a show about thirty minute meals, but the tricky bit is those are his thirty minutes. Had I his skill I wouldn't need recipe ideas off the TV.

Beans and rice are one of my favourite go-to meals when I'm feeling lazy. They're cheap, easy to make, tasty, and nutritious. If it's not that, I'll probably do an alfredo for a quick dinner. I can whip that together in about fifteen minutes but it's not nearly as healthy.

I don't really do recipes in the strictest sense of it. I could list the ingredients I need, but amounts, seasonings, all of that stuff I just make up as I go along. Usually it turns out okay.

I'd hardly call myself a gourmet chef but a few TFPers have eaten my cooking and none of them have died, so I can't be that terrible.

 

Mmmm carbonara.

 

On the other hand, if you practice your knife and prep skills, it does become possible to make those meals in 30 minutes, or you can recruit help. My husband often acts as my sous chef. That allows me to be at the stove doing one thing while he preps stuff. His knife skills aren't as good as mine, but he's getting there.

I usually modify existing recipes to use a chop-and-drop method if they aren't written that way already. Mise en place is great for some things, especially when you need to add several ingredients to the pan at once, but chop-and-drop can be a huge timesaver. For example, we often make veggie tacos in about 15 minutes, and it's all about the chop-and-drop. While the pan is heating, I chop the onion. While the onion sautes, I chop the mushrooms and rehydrate some TVP in the microwave. Once the onion is translucent, I add the mushrooms and continue cooking while I chop the pepper. Once that's done and added to the pan, I add the TVP and season everything.

 

Magpie helps me by staying out of my way. I offer her the same courtesy.

Our kitchen isn't big enough for that.