Updated: 9/3/04; 2:00:06 PM.
There's a Chef in My Kitchen
Culinary musings of a passionate gourmand, chef and social sommelier.
        

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Fast. Easy. When it comes to cooking, that's music to anyone’s ear. Add delicious, and well, we may have hit a state of bliss. But, I’m a skeptic. Sad, but true. When I read those "prep time" lead-ins to recipes, I now know better. It should read: prep time (us) 30 minutes; prep time (you) add about 15 to 20 minutes more.

And that’s fine. If I’m going to cook, very rarely do I find myself in a situation where I need to get the entire meal prepped, and served within ½ hour (including time for commercial breaks!). But when I’m hungry, and the list of ingredients is running half a page, I go from skeptic to downright disbeliever. Until last night.

Inspired by the terrific food styling and the photographs of Antonis Achilleos in September’s Food & Wine magazine, I decided to take the fast challenge. Zucchini Pappardelle with Tomatoes and Feta in under 30 minutes. 15 ingredients – including fresh thyme that had to be stripped from its stem? But, okay. I’m game. Besides, I was going to grill some chicken, so, I figured with the grill preheat and cooking times, everything would be ready at the same time. Wrong. There I sat, enjoying a nice glass of wine (I’ll happily add), waiting for my chicken to finish on the grill.

The vinaigrette for the vegetables was effortless to whisk together:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
½ teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
salt and pepper, to taste.

A snap.

Then, the seasoning for the "pappardelle".
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
1 teaspoon coarsely chopped thyme
½ teaspoon coarsely chopped rosemary
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes.

Combine, adjust and just enjoy the herb and garlic aromas coming from the oil. At this point, I’m already thinking – hey, if I heated the olive oil and then added the seasonings (off the heat, of course) and just let it infuse, how much more divine would this oil be.  Ah … but then we’d be well beyond the prescribed 30 minutes.

The zucchini was the biggest surprise of all. Slicing it down on a mandoline to the desired thinness – something between the 1/8" suggested and 1/16" which, was too thin and fell apart under the heat of the broiler – was a breeze. I did, however, use one large zucchini and then cut the strips into the "pappardelle" size. Onto the baking sheet, and a brush with the infused olive oil, and 3 minutes under the broiler. Amazing. And, beautiful.

For fun, I tossed the grape tomatoes in the remaining infused olive oil, and they went under the broiler next. Everything into a bowl, a toss with some of the vinaigrette… and yes, my chicken was still cooking on the grill. No worries, though. In a bowl under a foil tent, the pappardelle and tomatoes did great.

When the chicken was done, sliced and artfully arranged on the side of the mounded pappardelle and tomatoes, I added a small amount of Feta, some chopped Kalamata olives, and drizzled some of the remaining vinaigrette over the chicken.

The whole deal took about an hour, though I do believe the pappardelle is quite capable of being prepared in only 30 minutes. But why? I’d spend all my time rushing, without being able to enjoy the amazing freshness of my garden – the herbs, the tomatoes; the aromas wafting in from the grill… and my glass of wine.

Sure, fast is great. Perhaps the better lesson here is understanding our motives and desire for cooking fast, rather than the actual idea itself.

Yes.  For now, I’ll save my skepticism for that which we think we gain by saving all that time in the kitchen.


2:13:41 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Donna Marie Zotter.
 
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