Hands-off Cooking with ChefsLine

Hands-Off Cooking, Hats-Off to You!

Hands-Off cooking is unattended cooking; that is, you don't have to watch the pot or stir or add ingredients halfway through. Just put it all together, set a timer, and walk away until it's done. And this isn’t really a new concept—people around the world have practiced it for centuries. From spit-roasted meats to slow-simmered stews, our ancestors have counted on dishes that can cook unattended while they deal with the other necessities of life. Unlike slow cooking in a Crockpot, Hands-Off cooking is quicker and you can make a huge variety of recipes—from roasts to salads to desserts and savory pies.

Most of us today use recipes that assume your full attention, so I spent two years perfecting easy techniques and creating enticing recipes as diverse as Pan-Seared Salmon with Lemonade Sauce, Lamb Tagine, and Nutty Pumpkin Lasagna so busy families can cook "hands-off" more often. My just-released cookbook has everything from appetizers and sides to breads and desserts. Each of the recipes indicates the hands-off (unattended) time—including any marinating, cooking, and resting periods—that you’ll have to do other things like relax!

You may notice that Hands-Off cooking techniques are slightly different than usual. In order to ensure real hands-off cooking, I developed ways of making recipes so that you don’t have to saute, stir constantly, or otherwise watch over the food as it cooks. For instance, many of my stove-top recipes begin at a low temperature and cook for a bit longer than if you brought them to a boil and then reduced the temperature, as you might normally. Likewise, several meat recipes begin with heating a pan with oil until it is shimmering, then adding the meat and leaving it to brown while you prepare the other ingredients. When you add the remaining ingredients, you reduce the heat so that the food cooks unattended from then on.

Often times, we consider packaged foods (you know—the ones that come in boxes and have preservatives!) as the time-saving means to get dinner on the table quickly. Not with hands-off cooking. Just take advantage of the multitude of partially prepared whole foods now available at our local grocer. Look at the refrigerated section of your grocery’s produce department: You’ll find shredded carrots, diced onions, and peeled cubes of squash. The meat department has precooked chicken and precut beef for stir-fry. There are also shredded cheeses, freshly canned fruits and vegetables, and dozens of frozen ingredients ready to use. Instead of saving time by using prepackaged foods, you can save dollars and enhance your dinner's nutritional value by learning some new, hands-off, cooking techniques.

Keep in mind that the prep time for any recipe you make varies significantly, depending on your swiftness in the kitchen, your organization of equipment, and whether or not you use partially prepared ingredients. Make use of those prechopped and frozen vegetables; gather all of your ingredients so they’re ready to add; and have the cooking implements you need close at hand. Even if you just have a few basic ingredients—I always have onions, minced garlic, and canned tomatoes on hand—you can make many of the recipes in this book. The choice is yours whether to buy things like prediced onions or to buy whole onions and dice them yourself. The deciding factor may be cost (the whole will be cheaper) versus time (the prediced will be faster to use). I tend to use a combination of prepared ingredients and fresh whole additions. And, once you’ve made a recipe, you’ll find that it goes faster the next time you put it together.

You’ll also save yourself some time by doing large batches of some prep and storing the rest. For example, when toasting nuts, toast a whole pound and then store them in the freezer to prevent them from getting rancid. Similarly, you can grind up several stale heels of bread and store them in a heavy-duty plastic bag in the freezer for bread crumbs whenever you need them. I even use a food processor to chop up several onions at a time if I’m going to be doing a lot of cooking in a day or two (perfect for holiday time!).

Hands-off cooking is ideal when you are entertaining. Because the dishes need little attention while cooking, you won’t be answering your door with spatula in hand and food-spattered party clothes. What an enviable host you’ll be when your guests arrive to find you calmly sipping a glass of wine with your feet propped up!

The Cookbook

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Recipe

Pan-Seared Salmon with Lemonade Sauce

Hands Off: 20 minutes

This is a unique recipe in that you cook the salmon directly from the freezer. I learned the technique from working with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and it’s an amazing discovery! A spatter screen is very helpful when adding the fish to the pan. Keep in mind that the thinner tail sections will cook more quickly; check them for doneness after 15 minutes. Serve this with couscous or bread salad for a summertime treat.

Serves 2 to 4

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Two 6- to 8-ounce frozen Alaska salmon fillets, skin on
Salt
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp lemonade concentrate

1. In a medium nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.

2. Meanwhile, rinse any ice off the salmon with cold water and pat it dry. Sprinkle the flesh side with salt. Add the fillets to the pan, flesh side down and at least 1 inch apart to allow for even cooking. Use the spatter screen now if you have one.

3. Add the butter and pepper to the pan, then the broth and lemonade. Tear off a strip of aluminum foil just wide enough to loosely cover the fish.

4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the salmon for about 20 minutes, or until it is still slightly translucent in the center. Turn the salmon over in the sauce to coat the other side, then cut each fillet in half for small portions or leave whole for larger portions. Spoon the sauce over each serving.