So what is a default dinner you ask? Here is a hint: another default dinner is the Buttermilk Parmesan Chicken.

Here is the answer: a cheesy way for me to say: ‘even a kid could make it,’ or ‘5 minutes of effort for 50 minutes of praise,’ or ‘meals that make themselves,’ or my favorite: ‘weak-night’ meals—for nights when you are out of time, energy and ideas to answer ‘what’s for dinner?’

Default dinners are how I describe the 10 [or so] meals that I—or you, or anyone else—come back to time and again, week after week, night after night. It is a standard list of entrees that I keep making because I already know they are fail-proof meals for my family.

I was taken with the idea that my 10 are different from your 10 are different from your neighbors or sister’s or friend’s 10. It made me realize there are a lot of delicious standbys—defaults if you will—that grace the tabletops of people like you and I: people in a hurry, with a full schedule, trying to balance everything, perhaps raising children, working too many hours and maybe playing too few. Some nights we may be inspired to pull 25 ingredients together to perform a masterpiece meal. But probably not every night, in fact I am thrilled if that happens once a week (most likely for a dinner party).

So when I am not performing a chef-worthy marathon or aiming for an ‘honorary mention,’ I am cooking one of my favorite, easy, brainless, faultless meals. (Thanks to this blog and my perpetual curiosity, I am always pushing myself to try to lengthen, add to and adjust my default dinner list: by trying new recipes and asking friends for theirs).

Entrees that make the cut become default dinners. Honestly: I probably make anywhere from 2-6 new recipes for every one that appears on this blog. No, I don’t blog about all my mishaps or what this recipe ‘could have been.’ I post recipes that are worthy of my table, make the grade and gain small-time notoriety on my own humble default list.

In fact, this recent addition to my default list sort of came as a surprise. It turned out great, much better than I could have hoped for. AND of course, it meets the default requirements of taking little to no time, little to no thinking, and minimal ingredients:

Sausages & Sweet Roasted Peppers
Italian sausages
6 oz. - 1 lb baby bell peppers
Olive oil
Kosher salt

Cut sausages in half lengthwise. Slice baby bells into halves or thirds. Place on cookie sheet; lube all with olive oil, sprinkle with salt. Place sausages cut side up. Roast at 450 for 35 minutes.

Note: baby bells are mini sweet bell peppers, and now come in a small container with mixed red, orange and yellow baby bells. They are so sweet and yummy when roasted! Pull out a bottle of fruity red wine, maybe add in a green salad and a lovely baguette.

Default disclaimer: sometimes the 5 minutes will mean the macaroni and cheese or sausage lasagna are already made and waiting in my freezer. Though at one point it took a little extra time and more than a few ingredients, it maintains its safe spot on my default list because 1. I usually make multiple at a time (so I can eat one and freeze a few), 2. when it is time for dinner, the work is already done (no thought, no time required), and 3. my family loves it.

Aha! I have your attention. You already know that I am a sucker for impressing palates at a dinner party, and my top secret is that I love doing so with minimal effort: implementing short-cuts and kitchen secrets. I feel like a criminal skulking through the shadows, knowing I am about to pounce—with well-accorded flavors—on the unsuspecting bystander. I feel spy-like in my guarded [and incomplete but painfully curious] knowledge of gastronomic short-cutting. It feels almost dishonest to impress guests with food that appears to have taken strategic planning, special imports or secret—kitchen—weaponry.

But my kitchen-wide operation is to keep things more simple than suspected, to trounce with culinary surprises (and an occasional sabotage) to deliver bigger than expected flavors to otherwise innocent palates. I am stealth in my preparations, laying plans as far in advance as possible. I am always on the lookout for secret tips, tools of the trade and the next best recipe.

In a recent feast with guests, I piled on the ammunition:

MENU a la AMMO
Terra Beet & Sweet Potato Chips
Mixed Olives
Mixed Greens & Goat Cheese Rounds
Dipping Sauce & Artisan Bread
Roasted Potatoes and Squash
Malabar Hanger Steak & Gingered Carrot Puree
Homemade Orange Vanilla Ice Cream
with Orange Chocolate Brownies

The menu inspiration is this: I am increasingly impressed with the new trend in chips, my current new favorite being Terra’s Sweet Potato and Beet Chips. Move over trans fats, hello low sodium, plus iron, fiber, calcium, Vitamins A & C. These are SO going in my children’s lunch—and are worthy to tip off the front end of an American Bistro meal, simultaneously negating the singular place holder at Mexican meals of the classic chips and salsa. Add in some mixed olives and red wine and the meal has started. News from the bunker: I was sitting enjoying the food, too.

The salad is one of my better kept, well-filed secrets: easy to make, lending itself to multiple lunches in the days that follow (the recipe will be coming soon to a blog near you). I was craving the steak and carrot puree, having made it just a few weeks ago, and knew that it was kid-friendly (considering: my kids and guests with kids) while at the same time guest-worthy.

The dipping sauce that I pair with the bread is my secret handshake t0 taking the bread experience up a notch; during the meal we refilled the dipping bowl four times—bread loves to be noticed as would any four star general.

I love roasted vegetables, and had potatoes and squash on hand. I lubed them with olive oil, salted them and threw them in the oven for half an hour at 400. Caramelized and delicious.

The dessert was ice cream I made in my humble little Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, and the orange brownies were compliments of a bake-it-yourself box from Trader Joes. A perfect vehicle for orange flavored ice cream.

Menu inspiration is a strategic operation, involving selections that are complimentary yet personal, a consideration of color, balance of food [group] factions, food & drink alliances, and ideally balanced in preparation time and effort. A well planned menu packs a serious punch.

I will not pretend to be an undercover five star chef, nor even a contender for Top Chef, and in fact so many bloggers blow me away with their regular portrayals of all things food. But I will say, I am happily armed if I have a spy-chest full of mouthwatering recipes, cocktail concoctions, unusual desserts and appetizers and families to come over who are ready to feast. Families whose life is commonly frantic and mission-oriented, who tend to eat food in the trenches: and whom adore slowing down if just for an evening, nestling into a meal that has been prepared just for them. And I myself rounding up the food, massaging miles of flavor, flirting with menus, making a lineup of my favorites and sitting back watching all my usual suspects enjoy a captain’s table full of good food.

Beware of skulking, self-proclaimed, undercover gourmands armed with hand-selected and adored recipes secretly lined up in soldier style to march upon your palate.

“You do the hokey-pokey and you shake it all around— that’s what it’s all about!” Who danced to this wearing roller-skates? If you are going to shake it all around in your kitchen, by all means turn up the music (probably skip the wheeled shoes, though; no doubt bruises today would take longer to heal than when you and I were 12).

Cooking smarter is a mantra with me, and every time I add in a shortcut, skip a long process (without compromising the final result) or learn another bake-ahead, freeze-ahead trick, it is all I can do not to dance the post-touchdown dance.

I do the hokey pokey when I avoid cleaning up extra dishes or blenders, and skip the extra time to ’slowly add oil,’ when I make salad dressing. I am a sucker for making my own dressing, and for streamlining the process. And I do shake it all around: literally. I pour all ingredients into a screw-top jar and shake it like mad. (Usually I use a jar that I previously used for canning; the little disk that once sealed a jar can be re-used for making dressing. It doesn’t need to seal it for pantry storage, just for shaking and storing in the fridge). My typical oil and vinegar dressing lasts a week in the fridge:

Balsamic Vinaigrette
2/3 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (I use the handy, quick garlic press)
2 T minced fresh herbs OR 1 T dried italian herbs
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 T either balsamic, port or sherry vinegar

Place all in jar, screw on top, shake it all around. Music is optional, but encouraged.

Want more on jars? Find jar uses and re-uses, read books on jars, or buy your own jars.

 

More soup please! I realize my recipe archive is slim, slim, slim in the realm of soup so I decided it is time to start sharing some of my favorite, soothing, bowls full of goodness. Soup is comforting, and can be just the perfect lift-me-up midday or otherwise. A bowl full of love for Valentine’s Day, perhaps.

My kiddos aren’t in love with soup, though, and in fact the word ’soup’ typically brings on that nervous, doubtful wince that says: I hope there is more than soup for dinner. Most of the time they associate soup with chunky pieces of who-knows what, a concoction of hidden vegetables and unrecognizable pieces of fish, meat or potatoes.

Because I want to change their orientation toward soup, I have decided to find recipes for pureed soups. And, I figure instead of answering “soup is for dinner,” I should try something a little more mysterious—perhaps in Halloween style—like puree of purple people eater for beet soup or cream of weeds for that time I made watercress and cauliflower pureed soup. Or maybe, if I am lucky, out of the many bowls of pureed warm, soothing spoonfuls I serve them, their taste buds will be convinced without trickery. And soup, in Halloween style (wait—isn’t it Valentine’s Day?!) will turn from tricks to treats.

This friendly soup will warm your soul. I have served it with Thanksgiving dinner (another wrong-time-of-year holiday?), as a starter for a special roasted pork dinner and by itself for lunch. It is so easy it almost isn’t fair. Oh, and of course the simple color and texture are kid friendly—plus it is healthy! I heart this holiday style, immersion blender (my true hidden agenda for finding pureed soup recipes) soup:

Curry Carrot Soup
4 T butter
1 cup chopped green onions (white and light green parts)
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 T flour
1 T curry powder
1 quart chicken broth (4 cups)
4 ½ cups carrots, diced
2 ½ cups whole milk
Kosher Salt Coarse Pepper (KSCP)

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté 3 minutes. Sprinkle flour and curry over onion mix, stir to coat for 1 minute. Stir in broth and carrots. Bring to boil over medium high heat; reduce to low, cover and simmer 20 minutes until carrots are tender. Remove from heat. Puree—with immersion blender if you have one— until smooth and return to saucepan. Add milk, then salt and pepper to taste. Gently heat and serve. I drizzle with olive oil and top with ground pepper.

I am all about finding little helpful tricks in the kitchen, if only to make me feel ’smart.’ Tricks sometimes save you time, but there are those that don’t. With a lot of kitchen ideas and doo-dads out there, it is essential to wade through all the ‘good things’ to find what works for you and what doesn’t. I am increasingly fond of ice cube trays. Not necessarily if they are blue or red or silicone or heart-shaped. So what is the attraction? Ice cube trays:

1. Save me time: I make pesto from scratch and freeze them in ice cube size portions. Later I can pop pesto into soups, risottos or on top of focaccia for a quick, easy appetizer. If I have lemons and limes that might go bad, I take the liberty of squeezing out all that yummy citrus juice and freezing it—in trays—for later.

2. Make drinks look good: On Top Chef’s first season, one of the candidates served up a drink with one, huge square ice cube (instead of a pile of little ones). It looked very savvy and makes the drinker feel special. Change up the size and style of your ice cubes to add interest. Also, feel free to freeze cranberries or citrus wedges inside ice cubes to include some artistic effects in your cocktails.

3. Are great for centerpiece-making: This centerpiece would be a punch bowl. Use a bundt pan as a circle or ‘wreath’ of ice. Fill with rosemary sprigs and cranberries for Christmas, cherries for Valentines or any other colorful items that fit a given party-theme. In fact items don’t HAVE to be edible to freeze in a ring and serve up in a bowl of punch: for Halloween try a bunch of wiggly worms, plastic spiders and flies. A birthday punch bowl could be filled with all sorts of plastic toys and goodies. But let’s talk Valentines Day: heart shaped candy, a necklace, or some sort of message in a bottle.

Let me clarify: I feel smart in the kitchen when I am saving myself time, as with the citrus or pesto cubes. I feel smart in the kitchen when I appear savvy, artistic and clever as with decorating drinks and punch bowls. I don’t feel so smart when my attempts backfire like the time I tried to freeze red hot candies in ice cubes to create a bloodletting, red hot flavored drink for Halloween. The candies all sunk to the bottom of the ice cube trays and the red dye came off. And it tasted, well, nasty. That wasn’t so smart, but alas the pathway to success is often many rounds of failure: and recognizing that is smart indeed.

Here are more interesting ice cube trays:

• Lego ice cube trays
• A variety of molds
• Light up ice cubes
• History of ice cube trays