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Flash in the pan

Speed cooking has never been easier or more delicious

Salt and Pepper Shrimp on a bed of coleslaw dressed with lime and soy sauce is ready in 10 minutes.

• Scenario one: You and your significant other both work demanding jobs. At the end of the day, neither of you wants to spend an hour in the kitchen. It's so much easier to let takeout Thai and a glass of wine serve as supper.
  
  
• Scenario two: By the time you get home after picking up the kids from school activities and day-care, everyone's yowling with the low-blood-sugar heebie-jeebies. Wouldn't it just be easier to do drive-through again?
  
  
• Scenario three: You would like to hit the gym on the way home from work, but you don't want to eat dinner at 10 p.m. again. Sounds like cereal for supper.
  
  

What these scenarios have in common is time. Or, to be more precise, a lack of time. Ask around, and you'll find dozens of reasons but one common theme: “There's no time to cook.”

Sometimes that means “I don't have an hour to invest in dinner.” Sometimes it means “I don't have 30 minutes to invest in dinner.”

But sometimes it means “I barely have 10 minutes to invest in dinner.”

We've got you covered, friend. We have a fistful of recipes and menus, two hands' worth of strategies and tips, and a pantry list that can help you get dinner on the table, start to finish, in 10 minutes or less.

“Home cooking is constantly evolving toward ease and speed,” writes Andrew Schloss in “Homemade in a Hurry.” “Twenty years ago, the 60-minute meal was promoted as fast; since then the notion of speed has devolved from 30 minutes to 20 to 15 to instantaneous.”

Takeout food may not be the best answer. If the high cost doesn't trouble you, maybe the nasty nutrition profiles should. Drive-through is easy, to be sure, but it doesn't set a very good example for your children.

Preparing and eating a meal together provides a decompression time for adults and children. It strengthens bonds and helps children develop good table manners.

A 1994 Lou Harris-Reader's Digest poll revealed that kids who eat family meals tend to do better in school, and that high-achieving teens who eat with their families are happier and more optimistic about their futures.

Also, study after study shows that meals shared with someone else bolster health and a sense of well-being. Children in families who eat together get better nutrition and have fewer problems with weight control and substance abuse, a 2004 University of Minnesota study showed.

But it's not just about the kiddies.

Friends who eat together share expenses and save time. They reinforce good nutrition for each other, and teach each other to try new things.

And singles who take a few minutes to prepare meals for themselves remember that they're worth the trouble. Older singles, especially, benefit from a good evening meal.

Those are all pretty good reasons, no? So take a minute to make a plan. And take 10 minutes to put dinner on the table, even on the busiest nights.

SPEEDY STRATEGIES

• 1. Sometimes it's more important to get something on the table than it is to get everything on the table. If your entree needs more than 10 minutes to cook, serve the meal in courses, with soup or a salad first to knock back the hunger pangs. Or set out nibbles like vegetables and dip, nuts or cheese.
  
  
• 2. Figure out what to keep on hand for at least two meals that won't require an extra trip to the store. It might be canned broth and canned beans for a speedy bean soup, or a tube of polenta and some pasta sauce. Then tape those extra-fast recipes inside a cabinet door. You'll always have something in the house for dinner.
  
  
• 3. Although precut vegetables such as onions, celery and peppers are handy, they're also expensive. Make your own, if you wish, and keep them in the fridge for up to two weeks. Just a bit of advance prep can make the difference between eating in minutes and shelling out $20 for pizza.
  
  
• 4. Give yourself a break. You probably won't need to eat like this every night, so forgive yourself for stocking a few convenience ingredients.
  
  
• 5. Step back from the day-to-day and try to think week-to-week. Most of us have busy nights and easy nights. Thinking through a strategy to get everyone fed on a busy night can make easy nights seem like total luxury.
  
  

• 6. Try to involve the family in preparing dinner, even for meals in minutes. The main cook can invest more energy in the main course if someone else washes and dresses the salad.
  
  
• 7. For dessert on weeknights, stick to fresh fruit, perhaps with yogurt or ice cream. Save big-production desserts for weekends and holidays.
  
  
• 8. Remember that the microwave can do more than reheat. It's superfast for sauteing vegetables such as onions, peppers and celery. A few minutes saved at the start of the dish gives you a little more time to fiddle with its flavor later.
  
  
• 9. Strip away the fripperies. Ten-minute menu nights aren't the time to serve your favorite sauce, unless it's bottled or jarred. Keep seasonings simple and cooking methods straightforward.
  
  
• 10. Stopping at the grocery store after work is a time-waster, because everyone else is doing the same thing. Even express lanes move slowly at 5:30 p.m. Think up a couple of faster alternative sources for last-minute items. Does the corner store stock bottled pasta sauces? Is there a bakery on the way home that could provide that loaf of good bread? Could you pick up last-minute items at lunch and keep them in the office fridge until the end of the day?

The Prepared 10-Minute Pantry

Being ready to cook a 10-minute menu means stocking your cupboards wisely. Here are some pantry staples that can help you get dinner on the table in a nanosecond:

Canned items: Beans, tomatoes (diced and whole), broths.

Jarred items: Pasta sauces, salsas, chutneys, relishes.

Precooked or par-cooked items: Heat-and-serve rice and rice blends, couscous, polenta.

Refrigerated items: Mashed potatoes, thick-sliced deli meats, rotisserie chicken, precut vegetables and fruits, citrus fruits and/or juices, salad mixes, eggs, sausages, shredded cheeses.

More "Flash in the pan ideas"

• Flash in the pan
• Piperade (Scrambled Eggs With Tomatoes and Peppers)
  
• Easy Polenta Lasagna
  
• Steamed Salmon With Confetti Vegetables
  
• Salt and Pepper Shrimp
  
• Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
  

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