Dinner? Just count to three
It’s the latest trend in cookbooks for people who are too busy to even fill a shopping cart with food: The three-ingredient cookbook.
Just one, two, three items (not counting water, salt, oil or butter) and you’ve got dinner.
There are now three-ingredient party cookbooks, three-ingredient dessert books, and three-ingredient cookbooks for every dietary restriction — be it low-fat, low-carb or low-cholesterol.
I’m no statistician, but it seems as if the pool of recipes using only three ingredients has got to run dry at some point.
And, unfortunately, many of these cookbooks rely on a can of this or a jar of that or a bottle of pre-made sauce or marinade.
But that’s not the case with “500 3-Ingredient Recipes, Simple and Sensational Recipes for Everyday Cooking” by Robert Hildebrand and his sister, Carol Hildebrand.
They have managed to come up with 500 recipes — from appetizers, soups, salads, entrees and desserts — that call largely for fresh meats, vegetables, fruits and other items.
These aren’t dishes that make it look as if you didn’t have time to make it to the store, either. You could actually serve just about all of these meals to company (even those finicky, persnickety dinner guests who make you so nervous).
There’s good-china-worthy Watercress, Citrus and Pecan Salad. There’s Chicken Breast Stuffed with Asparagus and Gruyere, Brie-Stuffed Veal Chop with Crumb Crust, and Orange-Ginger Ice Cream Roll.
The Hildebrands have also included recipes for more comforting, down-home foods including Chicken-Fried Steak, Beer Burgers and Tamale Pie (such a hit at my house that it’s already been added to the regular dinner rotation, see recipe below).
When you’re using so few ingredients, you have to find cooking techniques to wring the most flavor out of each one. And the authors have done just that.
In Campanelle with Porcini Cream Sauce (see recipe below), for example, the soaking liquid from the mushrooms is reduced and added to the mascarpone cheese to make a wonderfully creamy, mushroom-infused sauce.
If you don’t want to limit your dishes to just three items, the Hildebrands have thought of that, too. Just about every recipe has an “add it” section at the end with suggestions for other ingredients that can be tossed in.
Roast Pork Loin with Apricot-Ginger Glaze
From “500 3-Ingredient Recipes”
1 boneless center-cut pork loin, about 3 pounds
1 jar (10 ounces) apricot preserves
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place the pork in roasting pan, season with salt and pepper, and place in preheated oven. While pork is cooking, melt the preserves in a small saucepan and mix in the ginger. Allow to simmer briefly, then set aside. After the meat has cooked for about 45 minutes, brush liberally with the apricot mixture. Continue to cook until a meat thermometer registers 150 degrees, about 1 1/4 hours for a roast of this size.
Allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes before carving. While the meat is resting, reheat the apricot glaze. Whisking slowly, whisk in the butter one tablespoon at a time. Pass on the side as a sauce.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving (based on 6): 500 calories, 19 grams fat (8 grams saturated, 36 percent fat calories), 49 grams protein, 30.5 grams carbohydrate, 146 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 144 milligrams sodium.
Campanelle with Porcini Cream Sauce
From “500 3-Ingredient Recipes”
1 box (1 pound) dried campanelle pasta
1 tub (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese
3 to 4 ounces dried porcini mushrooms
Break the dried mushrooms into bite-sized pieces and place in a small bowl. Pour about 2 cups boiling water over them and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes, until the rehydrate.
Set a large covered pot of salted water on to boil. When it boils, put the pasta in. Cover until it returns to a boil and them remove the cover and continue to cook the pasta, for about 10 minutes total. When pasta is cooked through but still slightly firm in the center, drain it in a colander and pour into a wide shallow bowl.
While the pasta is cooking, remove the mushrooms from their liquid with a slotted spoon and set aside in a small bowl. Fit a paper towel into a small sieve and drain the mushroom liquor through it into a small saucepan. Heat the liquid until it boils and reduces by about half. Reduce the heat to low and add the mascarpone cheese. Stir frequently until the cheese melts into the mushroom liquid, creating a semi-thick sauce. Stir the mushrooms into the sauce and pour the sauce over the pasta. Season generously with salt and pepper and toss until the pasta is thoroughly coated with the sauce. Divide among plates and serve.
If you like, add a few teaspoons of fresh chopped tarragon into the mushroom liquid as it reduces and sprinkle a half cup coarsely shaved Parmesan cheese over the sauced pasta at the end.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving: 540 calories, 19.7 grams fat (9.7 grams saturated, 33 percent fat calories), 18.9 grams protein, 71.5 grams carbohydrate, 48 milligrams cholesterol, 5.8 grams dietary fiber, 31 milligrams sodium.
Tamale Pie
From “500 3-Ingredient Recipes”
1 pound ground beef
2 cups fire-roasted tomato and corn salsa, or your favorite variety
1 box (8.5 ounces) corn muffin mix
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat a medium-size sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat and add the burger, breaking it up into small bits and cooking until no longer pink. Add the salsa and cook for 10 minutes at a simmer.
Make the muffing batter following the instructions on the box.
Grease a deep pie pan or 9-inch-square baking dish. Pour the burger mix into the baking pan. Top with the muffin batter, spreading it out to cover the beef. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
Note: You can add a variety of things to this dish, if you like. Try adding chopped green pepper, minced garlic, onions or sliced black olives to the beef mixture. Or stir shredded cheddar cheese into the corn muffin batter.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate due to recipe variables.