When I first got married I felt completely inept in the kitchen. I began on one end of the spectrum, relying on pre-packaged meals like hamburger helper and Kraft Dinner. Well, I learned quickly that this kind of cuisine left us feeling sick and heavy so I decided to school myself in the world of home cooking. I started making all the recipes I could find online with hundreds of 5 star reviews, just anything that made me really excited to eat it. It was a lot of fun. I fell in love with the rewards of home cooking and I began to gain confidence in the kitchen. Now, back in these days before we had children, I used to enjoy making several course meals with many moving parts and fussy procedures. When we jumped into parenting, boy was I in for a shock. Suddenly it became very clear to me that I would need to figure out how to streamline my ways into as few steps and minutes as possible or we would be destined to eat smokies and potato chips for the rest of time.
Do you feel flustered in the kitchen putting meals together? Do you feel like you put in a ton of work only to have a meal with one note not go over well? Do you get frustrated figuring out how to time different parts of a meal to end up all coming together at the same time? Let me share with you the tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way to get a fantastic meal on the table without spending hours in the kitchen or losing your sanity. For the purpose of today’s topic I’ve chosen one of my go to meals that is quick and easy, but also really delicious and could easily be served for company. We’ve got Sole Meuniere with rice pilaf and roasted broccoli. Now, don’t be intimidated by the French name. Sole Meuniere is just pan seared sole (which I buy frozen!) with a quick lemon butter sauce, finished with parsley. Simple, incredibly quick, and delicious! I make my rice pilaf in the Instant Pot, but I’ll provide stovetop instructions as well. Roasted broccoli is a no brainer and I defy anyone to say they don’t like broccoli cooked this way.
Ok, let’s do this!
Plan your meals to have only one hands-on component. The Sole Meuniere comes together very quickly but you will be working hands-on for the 7 or so minutes it takes to make it. We’re not going to pair it with risotto and shaved asparagus. Too fussy, too many moving parts. Knowing the sole cooks quickly and will need most of my attention for those final few minutes, I’ve gone with rice pilaf (made in the Instant Pot – practically magic!), and roasted broccoli, which can be prepped quickly ahead of time and thrown in the oven to roast while I make the fish. While I used to worry about making every single component from scratch, I’ve learned to allow shortcuts here and there to save my sanity. If I’m making homemade naan bread, I might just go ahead and use my bottled Olive Garden dressing for the salad. If I’m making homemade tzatziki and grilled meat, I’ll probably opt for store-bought naan in the freezer. And for goodness sake, if you have guests coming over and they offer to bring something, let them bring a salad, a dessert, whatever it is they are offering! Don’t be your own saboteur – it’s not fun for anyone when the cook is in the kitchen in a tizzy trying to pull off an elaborate meal plan. Help yourself out and make this a managable, enjoyable experience. One hands on component, no more. The rest should either be able to be made ahead or made simultaneously in a hands off method.
Chose balanced components. You want to even out heavier, high fat or high carb options with light, fresh, acidic components. Some examples – I want a nice juicy steak and baked potato, I’m not going to pair it with creamy cheesy baked veg, I’ll opt for a lemony green salad with radishes and pumpkin seeds. If I want to make a creamy pasta dish, I won’t pair it with a loaf of bread, I’ll incorporate some fresh roasted veggies and grilled chicken, or a nice fresh salad on the side. For our Sole Meuniere, which is quite rich in it’s buttery sauce, I’ve gone with a nice crunchy green veg (roasted broccoli) and rice pilaf, a hearty wholesome carb to fill out the meal. When visualizing an individual plate, a good rule of thumb I like to keep in mind is to have 1/2 of the plate be filled with veggies, 1/4 with a protein source, and 1/4 with a carb source.
Choose a variety of colours/textures. “Eat the Rainbow’, have you heard this phrase? Not only is eating a variety of colourful foods visually appealing, it is also beneficial to our health. In the variety of colours of food there is also a variety of nutritional benefits, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. Eating the rainbow ensures we get a range of these vitamins and minerals in our diet, which is sure to make our bellies and bodies happier! It’s a double bonus because when our food is visually appealing, we are more appetized to eat it. Let’s take our meal tonight for example – the Sole and the rice both kind of take on a, orange-y beige colour. I wouldn’t serve it with a side of carrots or butternut squash- we needed a bright green veg to round out the meal. The garnish of parsley also bring some fresh colour. I’ve also gone with roasted broccoli to bring some crunchy texture to this meal. Steamed veg would’ve been too much of the same soft textures. Variety of texture is pleasing to the palette and brings interest to the eating experience.
Plan and prep ahead. Think through your meal components, make a mental plan by arranging the longest cook time component to the shortest. Before you start cooking anything, start with all the prep the meal will involve – chopping the veggies, patting dry and seasoning the meat, etc. This takes lot of the pressure off when you’re in the middle of cooking a meal and realize you need to dice a bunch of veggies while your meat needs to be flipped and something else needs to be stirred – you’ve been there right?! Having it all ready to go ahead of time makes the cooking experience so much more enjoyable. For our Sole Meuniere, I chopped the veggies for the rice pilaf and the broccoli before beginning to cook. The pilaf takes the longest so I began with that, then I focused my attention on the Sole Meuniere and just threw the broccoli in the oven when the time was right.
Double and freeze. Another kindness to your home chef self is to double the portions of things, when it makes sense, and freeze half of it for a later time. Making some burger patties, meatballs, or skewers? Double them and freeze – it’s much less work to add a bit more on now then to make them from scratch another time. You will be so glad to find them in your freezer on a busy day! Meat sauce, double stuffed potatoes, marinated meats, chilli, casseroles, biscuits, flatbreads, buns – all these things freeze beautifully!
I hope these tips help to make your home cooking experience more fruitful and enjoyable. If you have more tips or questions, leave the down below in the comment section! I’ll leave you with not one but THREE recipes below. Enjoy!! 🙂
Sole Meuniere
Ingredients
- 8 sole filets boneless, skinless
- 1/3 cup cornstarch traditionally flour is used but I've subbed cornstarch to make it GF – didn't notice the difference!!
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
- 10 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp parlsey, chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced plus more for serving if desired
Instructions
- Pat dry the sole filets with paper towel. Using a fork, whisk together the cornstarch, salt and pepper on a plate or shallow dish.
- Heat a large skillet (I use my well seasoned cast iron pan) on medium heat.
- Dredge the sole filets in the flour mixture to coat each side. Shake off the excess. Add a tbsp or so of butter to the pan and cook the sole in batches – I do two batches of 4 filets. You do not want to crowd the pan! Be sure your pan is nice and hot and the butter is melted before adding the sole. Let the filets cook 2/3 of the way through before flipping, you will only turn them once (about 4 minutes on one side and 2 on the other). Transfer sole to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm while you cook the other batch.
- Once all the sole is cooked, add the remaining 8 or so tbsp of butter to the pan and swril until melted and beginning to brown. Add the juice of a lemon and stir for another minute or so. Pour pan sauce over the platter of sole. Garnish with parsley and serve with fresh lemon wedges, if desired.
Instant Pot Rice Pilaf (stovetop instructions included)
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter divided
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, small diced add other chopped veggies like celery or mushrooms if desired
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- fresh ground pepper to taste
- 1 1/4 cups jasmin or basmati rice not quick cooking
- 2 1/4 cups chicken broth
- 1-2 tbsp liquid aminos coconut aminos, tamari, or soy sauce work as well
- few sprigs parsley or chives, chopped optional garnish
Instructions
Instant Pot:
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute mode. Melt 1 tbsp of the butter. Add the onions and carrots (and any other veggies you desire to add) and saute until the onions begin to turn translucent, about 5-8 minutes.
- Add the mincecd garlic and season with salt and pepper, turn off saute mode.
- Add the rice and stir for a minute or so until it turns bright white from the risidual heat in the pot.
- Add chicken broth and give it a stir.
- Secure the lid and set the vent to the sealing position. Set the Instant pot to the Rice mode (mine is 9 minutes).
- When the timer goes off, do a quick pressure release by rotating the vent to the venting position. I like to throw a kitchen towel over the vent first, then tap it over with the tip of a knife to be extra careful not to burn myself and avoid any hot sputtery liquid coming out of the vent. Leave it be until you hear the pressure hissing come to an end. Remove the tea towel and once the pressure button has released (gone down), remove the lid.
- Add the second tablespoon of butter and a drizzle of liquid aminos. Fluff with a fork and season to taste if necessary. Put the lid back on with the Instant Pot turned off until ready to serve to keep warm. Garnish with fresh parsley or chives if desired, and serve.
Stovetop:
- Follow steps 1-4 in a medium-large size pot over medium-low heat.
- Bring the chicken broth and rice to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 18 minutes (or however long the package directions speficy for your rice). Lift the lid a few times in the firt minute or two to release the steam and avoid boiling over.
- Remove from heat and let sit covered for an additional 5-10 minutes. Add the second tablespoon of butter and a drizzle of liquid aminos. Fluff with a fork and season to taste if necessary. Put the lid back on until ready to serve to keep warm. Garnish with fresh parsley or chives if desired, and serve.
Roasted Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs broccoli I've fallen in love with the price and convenience of the pre chopped bag of florets at Costco
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2-1 tsp sea salt I just eyeball a few good pinches
- 1/4-1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper eyeball it
Optional Garnishes:
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425F.
- Chop your broccoli through the stems into the size of florets you want to eat. If you have extra stem pieces you can peel the tough outer layer and chop the remaining stem into bite size chunks – they taste awesome roasted as well!
- Toss on a large sheet pan with the olive oil, salt and pepper until all the florets are well coated and seasoned. Use two sheet pans if necessary, do not crowd the pan or the broccoli will steam (soft) instead of roast (crispy).
- Roast for 20 minutes or until the florets have crisped up nicely and the broccoli is cooked to your liking.
- For a little extra pizazz, toss with the optional garnishes or serve as is, it will be delicious either way!
Fantastic!
Thanks so much!!
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Thanks! I just designed it myself, it’s a simple layout for sure 🙂
Thanks Kala! I designed it myself using a theme on wordpress. It’s pretty basic but it works!
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