Glorious One-Pot Meals (17 page)
Read Glorious One-Pot Meals Online
Authors: Elizabeth Yarnell
Use your family’s favorite type of sausage to make this recipe a real winner. Our current favorite is an organic chicken-feta sausage that we find in our regular grocer’s freezer. There is no need to thaw frozen sausages; just be sure to separate them before adding them to the Dutch oven.
Try this recipe with toasted buckwheat groats, also called kasha, for a change in flavor.
SERVES 2
Olive oil spray
¾ cup quinoa
1 cup broth (chicken or vegetable) or water
½ to ¾ pound sausage links
½ green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced
½ yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced
½ red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced
Sea salt
4 plum tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Spray the inside and lid of a cast-iron Dutch oven with olive oil.
Pour the quinoa into the pot, add the liquid, and stir to coat the grains and make an even layer.
Add the sausages to the pot in a single layer, if possible. Scatter the bell peppers on top and lightly season with salt. Top with the tomato wedges.
Cover and bake for about 45 minutes, or until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked meal escapes the oven. Fluff the quinoa with a fork when serving. Serve immediately.
Quinoa is not only a complete protein, providing all the essential amino acids, it’s also gluten-free. This light and delicate grain has a delicious nutty flavor that is perfect for summer weather.
The type of chile is up to you. For a milder flavor, choose an Anaheim green chile; pasillas or jalapeños will give more of a bite.
You may use spinach rather than kale or chard. If you find that your greens emerge browner than you’d like, move them down a layer and top with the bell pepper instead.
SERVES 2
Olive oil spray
¾ cup quinoa
1 cup broth (chicken or vegetable) or water
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ to ¾ pound beef or turkey, tenderloin or ground
⅛ teaspoon sea salt
1 scallion, white and green parts, sliced
1 green chile, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1 small summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1-inch pieces
½ red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced
3 or 4 kale or Swiss chard leaves, stemmed and roughly chopped (about 2 cups)
½ cup salsa, optional
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Spray the inside and lid of a cast-iron Dutch oven with olive oil.
Pour in the quinoa. Add the liquid and cumin and stir to dissolve the cumin and evenly coat the grains. Add the meat and sprinkle with the salt, scallion, and chile.
Add the squash in a layer, followed by the bell pepper.
Top with the greens, making certain none hangs over the edge. If using, pour the salsa over all.
Cover and bake for about 35 minutes, or until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked meal escapes the oven. Serve immediately.
For rarer meat, chop the potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower into smaller pieces, as they will cook more quickly that way and become tender before the meat is cooked through. Try this recipe with steak tenderloin or a turkey tenderloin if you don’t want lamb.
Use boneless lamb fillets in this meal as bones just take up precious real estate in your pot. Trim the meat well of fat.
Sun-dried tomatoes come either packed in oil or dry. Either is fine to use here.
SERVES 2
Olive oil spray
½ to ¾ pound boneless lamb fillets, trimmed well
3 sun-dried tomatoes, minced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 russet potato, unpeeled and cubed
2 carrots, sliced into coins
Sea salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups bite-size cauliflower florets
2 cups fresh or frozen cut green beans
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Spray the inside and lid of a cast-iron Dutch oven with olive oil.
Put the lamb in the pot.
Combine the tomatoes and garlic, then spread over the lamb.
Arrange the potato and carrots around the meat and lightly season with salt.
In a small bowl, mix the honey, lemon juice, parsley, and cumin. Pour half the mixture over the carrots and potato, then add the cauliflower.
Fill the rest of the pot with the green beans and then pour the remaining honey mixture over all.
Cover and bake for about 40 minutes, or until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked meal escapes the oven. Serve immediately.
Larb is traditional Thai comfort food. The mint adds a clean jolt of flavor to this casserole-type meal. My cousin Abi lived in Thailand for a time and helped me fine-tune my version of this classic dish. Typically, the meat and rice are served over raw cabbage, but we think this style is pretty tasty as well. You can use serrano, Anaheim, or almost any other kind of chile pepper if you can’t find a jalapeño. Of course, your meal will be as spicy as your chile. Consider adding 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil or cilantro to the mint mixture for a slightly different taste.
SERVES 2
Canola oil spray
1 cup jasmine rice
1 cup broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable) or water
Grated zest of 1 lime (about 1 tablespoon)
Grated zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce or soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1½ teaspoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced jalapeño chile
⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
scallions, white and green parts, chopped
½ red or orange bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
¼ cup chopped fresh mint
½ to ¾ pound ground meat (beef, poultry, or pork)
¼ head green cabbage, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 cup snow peas
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Spray the inside and lid of a cast-iron Dutch oven with canola oil.
Rinse the rice in a strainer under cold water until the water runs clear. Tip the rice into the pot, add the liquid, and stir to make an even layer.
In a medium bowl, combine the lime and lemon zest, lime and lemon juice, fish sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, jalapeño, red pepper flakes, scallions, bell pepper, and mint. Whisk until the sugar dissolves. Add the meat to the mixture and stir with a fork to break up the meat and incorporate the mint mixture throughout.
Drop forkfuls of the meat mixture into the pot, arranging them evenly but without packing them together.
Add a thick layer of cabbage and top with the snow peas.
Cover and bake for 45 minutes, or until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked meal escapes the oven. Serve immediately.
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