Monday-to-Friday Cookbook

by Michele Urvater, Simms Taback (Illustrator)

Overview

Winner of a James Beard award, The Monday-To-Friday Cookbook is the cookbook for working people. A professional chef and "excellent teacher" (New York Times) who faces the same problem we all face in coming home to feed her family, Michele Urvater has developed an inspired system of weeknight cuisine that really works. It provides a complete blueprint: pantry, equipment, techniques, dining strategies-and over 300 superb recipes. And special skills are definitely not required.

First, no more Mother Hubbard syndrome. A manageable list of basic ingredients-pastas, grains, canned fish, vegetables, and more-creates the foundation, and emergency pantry-only recipes mean you'll always have dinner in the house. Learn how to build meals around a focus, from the season's first asparagus to family members home at different times. And recycle-the roast you prepare on Sunday will help dress pasta on Tuesday.

Then there are the recipes themselves: delicious, undemanding, nutritious, and economical dishes that allow for the utmost adaptability. Salmon Chowder. Pasta with Tuna and Black Olives. Twelve versions of sauteed chicken breasts. Gingered Lamb Stew. Seafood Risotto with Greens. Instant Chocolate and Whipped Cream Cake.

With menu planner, glossary of techniques, professional tips throughout, clean-up hints, and Monday to Friday appendices-including the best recipes for children, entertaining, singles, and for cooking in 30 minutes or less, The Monday-To-Friday Cookbook is indispensable. Michele Urvater is also the host of her own TV series on The Television Food Network.

Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club's Good Cook Book Club and the Better Homes & Gardens Family Book Service. 198,000 copies in print.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761179030
Publisher:	Workman Publishing Company
Publication date:	06/01/1995
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	997,116
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

An "excellent teacher" is the New York Times's praise for Michele Urvater. The star of the Television Food Network series Cooking Monday-to-Friday,her books include the award-winning Monday-to-Friday Cookbook and Monday-to-Friday Chicken. Her 20-year cooking career includes catering, teaching, writing, consulting, and working as a corporate chef.

Read an Excerpt

Chicken Breasts Italian Style

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 20 to 25 minutes

Use this as a working model for the Blueprint Recipe for Sauteed Chicken Breasts (page 148). All the variations that follow it are based on 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

1 pound or 2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Separate the tenderloins from the breasts. If the chicken breasts are whole, cut them in half.

2. Mince the garlic. Rinse and chop the parsley.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat until shimmering. Add the chicken breasts and tenderloins and reduce the heat to medium-high. Saute the chicken without disturbing the pieces for 3 to 4 minutes. You'll know to turn the chicken over when the top looks opaque (tenderloins may take only 2 to 3 minutes per side).

4. With tongs, flip the chicken over to the other side. Saute, undisturbed again, until the chicken is cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes longer. You can tell by poking the center with the tip of a knife; it should look white with only a hint of pink. Remove the chicken to a plate (that you'll reuse for dinner) and set aside.

5. Reduce the heat to medium, add the minced garlic to the skillet, and stir-fry for about 15 seconds until you get a whiff of its aroma. Add the wine and oregano and simmer until the wine has evaporated some, about 10 seconds. Add the spaghetti sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Swish in the minced parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

6. Reduce the heat to low and return the chicken breasts to the skillet. Turn them over a couple of times to coat them with the sauce, then remove the chicken to dinner plates and spoon some sauce over top.

Ten-Minute Chili

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

When my daughter was 6 years old, she was not only a picky eater whose intake of food was limited to 10 items--chili among them--but also the kind of kid who might not feel hungry at 6:00 but two minutes later was ravenous. And so I came up with this incredibly easy recipe.

Serve with boiled white rice, couscous, or pasta.

1 can (16 ounces) pink or small red kidney beans

1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil

1/2 pound ground lean beef round

1 to 2 tablespoons chili powder, or to taste

1/2 to 1 tablespoon ground cumin, or to taste

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnishes (optional): sliced scallions (green onions) and sour cream, plain nonfat yogurt, or shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Drain and rinse the beans. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Crumble the meat into the skillet and saute until the meat is somewhat brown, about 3 minutes.

2. Add the chili powder and cumin and cook, stirring frequently, about 1 minute, then stir in the beans and spaghetti sauce. Cover and simmer until heated through, 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Ladle the chili into bowls and top with scallions and a dollop of sour cream.

Winter Seafood Stew

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 45 minutes

This is a quick and light dinner, suffused with the sturdy flavor of fresh sage and potatoes..

1 small onion

1 red bell pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 pound fresh mushrooms

1 bottle (8 ounces) clam juice

or 2 cups water or chicken broth

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) Italian-style stewed tomatoes

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest or 1/2 teaspoon dried lemon peel

3 or 4 fresh sage leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1 pound new potatoes

1 pound monkfish or sea scallops or combination or the two

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Finely chop the onion. Core, seed, and chop the pepper.

2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep, large skillet over medium heat. Ad the onion and bell pepper and stir-fry for a moment until you hear them sizzle. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile rinse, stem, and thinly slice the mushroom caps (save the stems for soup).

4. Add the mushrooms, clam juice, white wine, tomatoes, lemon zest, and sage to the pan. Using a wooden spoon, gently break the tomatoes into pieces right in the skillet. Simmer covered for a few minutes while you prepare the potatoes.

5. Scrub the potatoes and cut into 3/4-inch cubes. Add them to the skillet and simmer covered until tender, about 30 minutes.

6. Meanwhile cut the monkfish into 1-inch pieces or remove the tough, rubbery appendage from each scallop and slice them in half if they're big.

7. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the seafood; simmer covered until just cooked through, about 3 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and lots of pepper.

Excerpted from Monday-to-Friday Cookbook. Copyright c 1995 by Michele Urvater. Reprinted with permission by Workman Publishing.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One: The Monday-to Friday System

Setting up the Pantry: The Monday-to-Friday Key

The Monday-to-Friday Kitchen

Monday-to-Friday Strategies

Part Two: The Monday-to Friday Recipes

Pure Pantry

Soups

Pasta

Seafood

Poultry

Meat

One-Pot Meals

Grain & Bean Dishes

Vegetable Asides

Salads: Monday-to-Friday No-Fuss Quick Fixes

Ominum Gatherum: A Hodgepodge of Lovely Recipes for Guilt-Free Dinners

Desserts: Special Ways to End a Meal Monday-to-Friday Style

Part Three: The Monday-to-Friday Appenixes

Quick-Reference Recipe Listings

A Monday-to-Friday Menu Sampler

Index