Cooking with Books: Just Four Ingredients Fast!

 

While established cooks might scoff, cooking with recipes is the best way you can learn how to cook.  All you have to do is find a recipe and follow the directions.  Yes, you will make mistakes, but each time you work your way through a recipe, you learn more about cooking.  It is a hands-on approach that I find fun, and the results can be impressive.

Each installment of Cooking with Books will feature a different cookbook from my collection.  I select several recipes—preferably one from each chapter—to prepare, then feature them here along with my thoughts.  The recipes I provide are not necessarily the same as the one you will find in the book.  The recipes here reflect how I prepared the recipe in my own words.  Think of this as an in-depth review of the featured cookbook.

If you like what you see in this post, be sure to pick up the book Just Four Ingredients Fast! for much, much more.

 

Brunch: scrambled eggs with asparagus

Ingredients:

1. 6 oz asparagus
2. 4 eggs
3. 2 tbsp milk
4. One small tomato, chopped

Directions:

Boil asparagus.  Scramble eggs with milk in a hot skillet.  Top eggs with asparagus and tomato.

My Thoughts:

This dish is a little too light and over-simple for my tastes.  I can’t foresee myself making this again mainly because I don’t enjoy asparagus prepared this way.

Rating: 6/10

 

Lunch on the run: ricotta, zucchini, and ham wrap

Ingredients:

1. Two small zucchini
2. 0.25 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
3. Three sprouted wheat wraps
4. 3 ounces shaved ham

Directions:

Slice zucchini lengthwise into ribbons.  Spread cheese on wraps.  Place zucchini and ham on top.  Roll them up, place under the broiler for a couple of minutes, halve, and serve.

My Thoughts:

Slicing the zucchini is a pain, and I don’t even like zucchini.  However, the wraps tasted much better than I expected.

My Rating: 7/10

 

Weeknight standbys: Italian-braised sausages with beans

Ingredients:

1. Three packages of kielbasa, sliced
2. 28oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
3. 7 oz marinated antipasto vegetables (sundried tomatoes, artichokes, roasted red peppers)
4. 14 oz can of cannellini beans

Directions:

In a big pot, cook the kielbasa a little.  Add tomatoes and veggies with 1/3 cup water.  Bring to boil.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.  Add beans.  Simmer uncovered 10 minutes.

My Thoughts:

I cooked a big pot and shared it with the family.  It was delicious and fulfilling.  The kids especially enjoyed the beans.

My Rating: 8/10

 

From the veggie patch: spinach, bacon, and poached egg salad

Ingredients:

1. 4 eggs
2. Eight strips bacon
3. 4 oz baby spinach leaves
4. Italian dressing
5. Italian parsley

Directions:

Cook the bacon in a skillet.  Poach the eggs.   Chop the bacon and sprinkle on top of spinach leaves.  Place poached eggs on salad.  Sprinkle dressing and parsley on top.

My Thoughts:

If you’ve never made poached eggs before, it might be a bit tricky.  The bacon and eggs in this salad made it very tasty.

My Rating: 8/10

 

Dinner with friends: prosciutto and sage pork fillets

Ingredients:

1. 1 pound pork fillet, four slices
2. 12 fresh sage leaves
3. Eight slices prosciutto
4. 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven 425 degrees.  Place three sage leaves on top each pork fillet, then wrap it all up with two slices prosciutto.  Brown pork fillets in oil in a frying pan.  Line a baking sheet with parchment, place pork on it, and roast in oven 10 minutes.

My Thoughts:

They might have committed a cardinal sin in cooking here by cooking the prosciutto, but whatever, I don’t care about that debate.  This dish didn’t seem to be worth the trouble, as it didn’t taste any better than simply pan-frying the pork with salt and pepper.

My Rating: 6/10

 

Hot off the grill: pesto chicken with grilled zucchini

Ingredients:

1. Six medium zucchini
2. 1tsp lemon rind
3. 0.33 cup sun-dried tomato pesto
4. Four boneless skinless chicken thighs

Directions:

Slice the zucchini, spray each side with cooking spray, and sprinkle some lemon peel.  Cook the zucchini in a grill-pan.  Cook the chicken thighs in a grill-pan and brush with tomato pesto sauce.  Serve chicken on top of zucchini.

My Thoughts:

This dish was good enough to go into our home dinner rotation.  The tomato pesto sauce can be bought in the store and is excellent on chicken thighs.

My Rating: 9/10

 

Coffee almond cookies

Instructions:

1. 1 tbsp instant coffee granules
2. 3 cups ground almond flour
3. 1 cup superfine sugar
4. Three egg whites

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Stir together coffee granules, ground almond meal, and sugar.  Stir in egg whites until forms a paste.  Grab one-tablespoon balls of paste, roll, and smash onto a baking parchment.  Wet fingers to keep from sticking.  Bake 15 minutes.

My Thoughts:

These cookies came out with great soft and moist texture.

My Rating: 8/10

 

Just for kids: pea and bacon soup

Ingredients:

1. One medium leek, chopped coarsely
2. 1 pound frozen baby peas
3. 1.25 cups cream
4. Two strips bacon

Directions:

Cook leeks, peas, cream, and 2.5 cups water in a pot until boiling.  Simmer 10 minutes.  Blend mixture until smooth.  Cook bacon, chop and sprinkle on top.

My Thoughts:

Surprisingly good!  The bacon is a nice touch for flavor.  Ironically, the kids didn’t care for it, but the adults loved it.

My Rating: 8/10

 

Disclosure: Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. If you click one of them, you pay the same low Amazon price, but I get a few more coins to save up toward an exquisite McDonald’s lunch.