Dinner in 15

If you’re like me, chances are it’s 15 minutes until dinner and you are scouring the Internet hoping to find inspiration. And like me, your probably getting distracted with things like Pinterest, Twitter, and three little children who are on the verge of a complete and total breakdown caused by hanger (pronounced: hane-ger – It’s what happens when you mix hunger with anger and it’s a common occurrence around here, although not just relegated to the children).

Stop your surfing and cook with me, dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes.

First things first. You’ll need spaghetti, peanut butter (or sesame paste – Tahini – if you have it), soy sauce, rice wine (or a dry white will do), rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, and shallot if you have it.

Put a large pot of water over the stove and crank up the heat. Make the water taste of the sea. Seriously, taste it.

While the water is working on a boil add 4 cloves of garlic and a bit of shallot to a food processor. Pulse until well chopped. To this add 3 tbl peanut butter (or Tahini), ⅓ cup soy sauce, 2 tbl rice wine, 1 ½ tbl rice wine vinegar, and 1 ½ tbl sesame oil. Blend this all together.

As soon as your water is boiling add enough spaghetti to feed four.

Cook the pasta to al dente. Drain then stir in the sauce.

Dinner is ready.

If you have carrots, use a vegetable peeler to create fancy carrot ribbons. I tossed my ribbons with a splash or rice wine vinegar and toasted sesame seeds. I also happened to have a few sad looking scallions so I added those as well. Bean sprouts would also be a nice addition as would steamed or roasted broccoli or napa cabbage perhaps. So many choices.

Fifteen minutes and we’ve created a dinner that is sweet, salty with a bit of a bright bite. Serve the kids first then top your portion with a touch of Sriracha(or your favorite hot sauce).

While there is little I love more than to spend hours on one meal, taking care to plan through every detail. Setting the table to a multi-coursed meal that concludes with something sweet and most likely chocolatey. The truth is more often than not dinner goes from in my head to on the table in under thirty minutes. But that doesn’t mean our dinners have to suffer from my lack of planning. We eat well, if just happens quickly.

Quick Garlicky Pasta

inspired by Nigel Slater, Real Fast Food 3 Tbl peanut butter (or Tahini) ⅓ cup soy sauce 2 Tbl rice wine (or dry white wine) 1 Tbl rice wine vinegar 1 ½ Tbl Sesame oil 4 garlic cloves 1 Tbl chopped shallot Combine the garlic and shallot in the bowl of a food processor. Scrape down the sides of the bowl then stir in the remaining ingredients. Process until well blended. Toss this sauce with enough pasta for four. Top with sesame seeds, carrot, bean sprouts, or whatever strikes your fancy.

Roasted apples

The first taste of apple when its season hits is almost as paramount as a first kiss. There is a longing that builds throughout the Spring and Summer months and, in my opinion, there is no better taste than that first one. It’s a ritual that merits the suspension of time.

This year it was a Gravenstein for me. With great fervor I peeled the chartruese skin away to reveal a flesh as flawless as a newborn. Removing a portion with my knife, I slipped it directly onto my eager tongue, still cool from the already crisp Fall air. The bright bite rang loudly through my head before releasing its tart juice. The gleeful look that already covered my face became more pronounced as I continued to peel and anticipate the first pie of the season.

Since that bite there has been many more pies. Three within a week span, to be perfectly honest. Following those pies we made our traditional trip to our favorite apple orchard, Bellewood Acres. The one in which golf carts are provided for our touring pleasure, and where horses and cows greet us on either side of the property.

We walked away from the orchard with several bags of both Gravensteins and Honeycrisps, caramel apples, cider, and peanut butter made right on the farm. Before we pulled out of the parking lot we broke into the peanut butter and used a camping knife to carve into the large, perfectly tart-sweet Honeycrisp.

There is little to be done to improve upon a well-grown apple. Our load didn’t last much longer than the car ride home and we’ve since made multiple trips to our local produce stand to replenish our cravings. The baker in me almost feels a sense of obligation to stir them into pies and cakes but lately we’ve let them be simply what they are – incredible apples.

Those that have existed beyond the mid-day snack have made there way through our juicer. Most recently they’ve been combined with a few of their closest friends – butter, vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon. This party then meets in a hot oven so as to preserve a slight bite while their crisp edges caramelize.

Roasted apples meet the nostalgic requirements of apple sauce while appearing somehow fancy. Maybe it’s the little vanilla bean specs coating each slice or the floral cinnamon scent that escapes the oven each time you open it in anticipation. Whatever it is it’s no matter just as long as you make them. And while warm, please do me a favor, eat them over vanilla ice cream.

Roasted Apples

Whatever doesn’t end up on ice cream makes a wonderful addition to oatmeal, yogurt or eaten on their own. 4 large apples (2 lbs), peeled and cut in 1” chunks 1 3” cinnamon stick ½ vanilla bean 1-2 Tbl dark brown sugar 2 Tbl butter Pre-heat your 450*. Combine all the ingredients in a roasting pan. Dot the apples with small pieces of the butter. Roast 50-60 minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes until apples are cooked through and golden around the edges.

Dinner in 15

Dinner in 15

Quick Garlicky Pasta

Roasted apples

Roasted Apples

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