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Dinner in a hurry – or – what we ate last night and a healthy recipe for dinner on the table in ten minutes
I was overwhelmed with work and running late. My husband was also working hard and running. And I didn’t even think about dinner until 10 minutes before he got home.
And I knew he was going to be hungry.
So this is what I did. I call it my last minute meal. It was fast and easy and elegant and delicious and incredibly filling. If I do say so myself.
Asparagus with fried eggs and Parmigiano-Reggiano
serves two hard-working people
1 bunch of asparagus, washed with the tough ends snapped off
1 large handful of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
5 (or more) eggs (3 for him, 2 for me)
dash olive oil
two lemon wedges
Salt, pepper, red pepper, and Dijon mustard to taste
Place a sauté pan over a medium-high to high heat, add a generous splash of olive oil (you want the bottom of the pan to be coated, but you don’t want the asparagus to be swimming), and add the asparagus spears. I add a good pinch of red pepper flakes (which always make me cough, but which are divine), a healthy sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper, and a healthy sprinkle of sea salt (feel free to use whatever spice you like, such as fresh rosemary or a dash of thyme).
Once they are almost soft (we like a bit of crunch), with the occasional charred bit, put them on your plates. I lay them in a straight line, right down the middle of the plate.
Top them with your Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Add a bit more olive oil to your pan (if needed) and fry the five eggs until the whites are cooked through but the yolks are still runny. Remove and place on top of the asparagus stalks.
Serve with a dollop of Dijon mustard and a lemon wedge on one side of the plate and a hunk of whatever bread is around on the other. Alternatively, if you can stand all the fat, you can make a hollandaise sauce. I think it would be delicious, but then anything with all that butter generally is!
So what do you make?
What do you make when you’ve got 10 minutes to get something on the table (and I don’t mean cereal, because we’ve all done that!). I sure could use all the ideas I could get because it doesn’t look like life will be slowing down anytime soon.
Comments
5 Responses to “Dinner in a hurry – or – what we ate last night and a healthy recipe for dinner on the table in ten minutes”
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November 15th, 2007 @ 9:33 pm
If I had 10 minutes to get something on the table, I would either spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, a can of artichoke hearts, and fresh baby spinach, OR fruit smoothies and frozen waffles.
Or maybe grilled cheese and boxed soup.
November 16th, 2007 @ 8:47 am
When I have 10 minutes, I usually pop in a frozen dinner LOL i don’t have to worry about cooking for anybody else (except maybe my parents at home, but then I know ahead of time to prepare).
November 16th, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
I do something similar to tiny morsels that we call ‘Popeye pasta.’
Pasta (of course) with spinach sauteed with garlic, crushed red pepper and cannelini beans.
One of my go-to dishes.
Lisa
November 26th, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
The vegetarian cheese thing is a tricky one. While there is no meat in the cheese per se, many vegetarians consider cheeses made with animal rennet (ostensibly, from calves’ stomachs–the calves that are slaughtered so that they don’t drink the milk) to be vegetarian. You know, because an animal had to die for it. There are a lot of non-animal rennet cheeses (Sargento and Tillamook to name two), but I have read that it’s darn near impossible to make a hard cheese with anything other than animal rennet.
There’s still some controversy over the label of “vegetarian” and there have been many discussions. Many restaurants seem to think that animal broth is vegetarian since it’s not meat. Oh, and then there’s white sugar refined with bone char…the list goes on. Don’t even get me started on how many people think fish and chickens are vegetables (”but you eat fish, right?”). If not for my love of cheese, leather shoes and wool sweaters, I’d be a vegan just so it’d be simpler to explain what I eat and what I don’t!
November 8th, 2009 @ 6:28 pm
When I have 10 minutes, I usually pop in a frozen dinner LOL i don't have to worry about cooking for anybody else (except maybe my parents at home, but then I know ahead of time to prepare).