Sherry Spaghetti
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
I 'd planned on posting this over the weekend, but missed the deadline for the Carnival of Recipes, so I'll post it now.
Unlike the other recipes I've posted from time to time, this one is not my own, although it's an old favorite. Until a couple of weeks ago, I'd always assumed it was my mother's, but I learned otherwise when I asked her whether it would be alright to post it. As it turns out, she got it from a family friend.
In any event, this has three virtues and a vice. The virtues are that (1) it's tasty, (2) it's easy to make, and (3) it doesn't take very long to prepare. Its vice is that my wife doesn't care for it.
That vice poses a slight problem for me since I'm interested in collecting comparably simple recipes as a means of saving time and money by cooking at home more often.
So, I offer it here in exchange to any passer-by who might want to try it in return for passing along to me something he knows about that is good and easy. If so, post a comment or email me....
1. Brown and drain:
- 1-1.5 lbs ground beef.
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can cream of celery soup
- 1/2 soup can water
- garlic salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup cooking sherry
4. Serve over 12 oz. cooked spaghetti.
Serves four.
Funky. I just flipped this card over to find a recipe for a chicken gumbo I don't recognize or remember ever making. I'll have to whip that up and post it some other time if it's good. It has the merit of being quicker than my own gumbo, but probably needs some tinkering.
-- CAV
2 comments:
Here are my suggstions for "simple recipes as a means of saving time and money by cooking at home."
1. A diet is a regular plan of eating. Looking at your diet, identify the categories. For me, for medical reasons (www.aristotleadventure.com/anti-itis/), there are only three categories: fruit, vegs, starch.
2. For each meal, pick one particular food (preferably "whole") within each category. E.g., for fruit pick an orange. And so forth.
3. Prepare them in the simplest ways: Peel an orange and assemble utensils while your rice cooker is steaming rice (in one tray) and spinach (for example) in the higher tray.
4. Place on a plate and eat.
5. Rinse rice-cooker and wash utensils.
Simple, quick (in terms of both labor time and clock time), healthily nutritious, and cheap.
The key is to strive for simplicity. It is a minor art in itself.
Another approach, of course, is to make large batches of "multi's" -- combinations of foods, as in a stew of potatoes, vegs, and even dried fruit such as cherries. Store in meal-sized containers. Reheat and eat during the following days.
Thanks for the tips, Burgess.
As I am fortunate enough not to be restricted from anything for medical reasons, a variant of the approach you outline in the last paragraph is what I am striving for, with the occasional needlessly complicated dish thrown in from time to time because I do enjoy tinkering around with recipes.
This variant entails sometimes cooking ingredients common to more than one entree ahead of time and storing those, enabling faster preparation than normal for mid-week meals, which is when I'm always in a time crunch of some kind. (e.g., Cook the beef for more than one meal all at once, finish making a meal with part and microwave a reserved portion of meat for a later meal.) I am concerned that this could adversely affect flavor, but I need to try it first....
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