Hensperger - Not your mothers weeknight cooking: quick and easy wholesome homemade dinners

The Harvard Common Press
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Copyright 2008 by Beth Hensperger
Photographs copyright 2008 by Eskite Photography

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hensperger, Beth.
Not your mother's weeknight cooking : quick and easy wholesome homemade
dinners / Beth Hensperger.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-55832-367-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-55832-368-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Suppers. 2. Quick and easy cookery. I. Title.
TX738.H5785 2008
641.5'38dc22

2008003496

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Book design by Ralph Fowler / rlf design
Cover and interior photographs by Eskite Photography
Food styling by Andrea Lucich; prop styling by Carol Hacker

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Not Your Mother's is a registered trademark of The Harvard Common Press.

To these loyal practitioners (and their wives & associates), who have become kind friends, who have been so extremely supportive, who deserve a special commendation for always answering my questions and making sense of the inner workings with patience and skill:

Dr. Ken Felch and Dr. Bob Culver

Food serves a three-fold purpose, wrote nutritionist turned cookbook author Adele Davis in 1947: to bring delight to the sense of taste, smell, and sight; to produce health; and to provide the opportunity for artistic expression. It is the perennial culinary philosophy of pleasure, efficiency, and economics put into action every single day, whether we are aware of it or not.

I love good food, and I like to cook when I have the time. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it should be easy, nourishing, and comforting, reflecting my daily needs. Cooking is an evolution of sorts, changing from day to day, season to season, and year to year. Some days I don't have the time, but I still need to cook. You might rarely cook, but still have the desire to cook with more confidence at home. Dinner need not be an elaborate meal, yet there needs to be some choice involved. Food choices are very personal; what is a delight for one may not be satisfying to another.

There are two basic methods for choosing what to make for dinner. The first is to shop and look for what appeals to you at that momentthe specials, your mood, what vegetables look the best. Then you go home and figure out what to do with them. The second way is to read a recipe and then go shop for those specific ingredients to prepare that recipe. Both of these ways of deciding what to eat are equal, but each comes from a different perspective. If you have done a big shop on the weekend, you would make your choices out of your freezer, pantry, and refrigerator, and then proceed to prep and cook.

I enjoy the inspiration of finding a new recipe, preparing my favorites on a regular basis, looking for healthy alternatives to my tried-and-true recipes, and planning wholesome meals for friends. With a busy work schedule and family responsibilities, however, I want the food I cook to fit into the available time slot. Even though there can be a great temptation after a hectic day to pick up take-out or eat in a restaurant, in essence, I want a healthy, delicious meal that is budget conscious, is easy and quick to prepare myself, and contains a minimum of processed foods.

Quick means not only a short list of ingredients, but also a minimum amount of cooking time and techniques. Wholesome food from fresh ingredients can take slightly more time than using lots of convenience products, but the payoff in both flavor and nutrition is huge. There are many dishes that fall naturally in the quick-option categorybig salads, stir-fries, quick pan sauts, eggs, and pastas.

The most time-consuming part of preparing a meal is assembling and preparing the food for the cooking process. For most recipes, you will achieve the greatest efficiency in meal prep by having the ingredients ready before you start cooking. You can prepare most recipes in this book from scratch, often with some good-quality prepackaged ingredients readily available in well-stocked supermarkets. If there are convenience products on the supermarket shelf, such as good salsa, condiments, spice blends, ready-made wonton skins and pizza crusts, canned or boxed broths, fresh bread, and fresh or frozen pasta, I will definitely use them rather than making them from scratch. If the frozen food section has some items that I can use later in the week when I don't have time to go to the supermarket for fresh, I will also make use of them.

Cooking has basic fundamentals that are consistent in all recipes, and once you get the hang of those, your speed in the kitchen will improve. That said, if there is a shortcut that will speed preparation and help me create great food when I am pressed for time, I will use it.

Remember that a large kitchen filled with every single tool under the sun is not necessary. Some of the best dishes take advantage of the simplest equipment. Keep in mind, though, that excellent-quality equipment is synonymous with respect for labor-saving tools, so buy the best you can afford. I also take advantage of the latest technology, like an immersion blender (one of my favorite tools) instead of a food mill. Equipment usually has a specific purpose, but no fancy specialized equipment is necessary to make good food (although I depend on my restaurant-style saut pans bought at the local food warehouse). If you cook regularly, you will not have any problem with my recipes and cooking methods. After making a recipe for the first time, you can customize and adjust it to fit your taste.

If you are an inexperienced cook, success is just a few meals away; the recipes within are easier than those in most other cookbooks, since they are designed for ease of preparation and short cooking time. If you are an experienced cook, you will find new recipes that I hope will quickly become old standbys.

You don't need to confine yourself to "health food" to prepare healthy meals. Well-balanced eating need not be complicated or drab. With its cross-section of homey, practical foods, this book will become, I hope, a frequent tool and inspirational companion in your kitchen. Let Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking be your guide for selecting a hearty soup, salad, or entre that suits your palate, and build your meal around it. The book does not adhere to any specific diet, nor does it limit you to certain foods. It follows an "everything in moderation" philosophy, so if you are on a low-sodium, high-protein, low-carb, kosher, or fat-free diet, you will have to make the appropriate adjustments.

Shopping is integral to the process of tasty cooking. Learning to love food shopping is a good idea; it also means taking the time to shop properly. I won't be telling you to buy outrageously expensive or hard-to-find ingredients, or that you must shop organic, but I will advise you to shop using your intelligence. For quality ingredients, first visit the supermarket, then the butcher counter and produce stand. Look for items that are value-priced for simplicity and availability, such as seasonal vegetables and meat specials. Well-stocked supermarkets offer an increasing array of restaurant-quality items beloved by chefs, such as specialty vinegars, high-quality artisan oils, certain cuts of meat, and aseptically packaged broths. Be sure to check out your local farmers' market for fresh, seasonal ingredients. Also take advantage of warehouse shopping if you can, especially for expansive selections of frozen premium items such as ready-to-cook lobster tails, shrimp, chicken breast cutlets, and stuffed pastas. By keeping a freezer, fridge, and pantry full of homey staples, you can create many interesting meals very quickly. With a bit of practice, you just might find yourself becoming more creative in the kitchen.