Got 30 Minutes? Time Enough to Prep and Cook these Special Fork Recipes

By Sandy Hu

At Special Fork, all our recipes take no more than 30 minutes of prep time. Cooking time is extra. But some of our speediest recipes can be prepped AND cooked in about 30 minutes. Occasionally, I’ll be highlighting some of these recipes from the Special Fork mobile recipe database because we all can use some timesaving dinner ideas in our cooking repertoire.

I’m on Twitter @specialforksndy Monday through Friday before dinnertime to tweet recipe ideas to people trying to decide what to cook at the last minute. Here are the usual scenarios when people tweet for help, needing quick and easy suggestions.

NOTE: Because the recipes below are from Special Fork’s mobile site, to print out the complete recipe, you need to email it to yourself first and print the email.

They Forgot to Defrost Something to Cook

Here’s where a well-stocked pantry and fridge really help. You may not have all the ingredients on hand now, but you can stock them when you go to the supermarket, to be prepared the next time you forget to defrost the meat for dinner. Consider these pantry recipes:

• Pizza made with canned ingredients: You could make Chicken-Mediterranean Pizza if you have a refrigerated pizza crust and some cheese in your fridge, canned chicken in your cupboard, and about 20 minutes of time to prep and cook.
• Pastas with canned ingredients: If you have clam juice and canned clams in your pantry, you can make Linguine with White Clam Sauce (about 25 minutes to prep and cook). A can of anchovies, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley and 20 minutes will get you Linguine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Anchovies. The anchovies are minced so they don’t taste fishy – they just add a deep, rich flavor to the pasta. You can view our how-to video to see how easy it is to make this almost-instant pantry recipe.

They’re Hungry NOW When you’re ravenous, it’s good to have 30-minute, quick-cooking recipes like the ones below, at the ready.

• Beef: Beef and Parmesan Pasta is a one-dish, one-pan meal; total time (prep and cook) should be about 35 minutes. (This is the only recipe that takes just a bit more than 30 minutes, but by cooking pasta and sauce in one pan, clean-up is a cinch.)
• Chicken: Korean Stir Fry Chicken takes about 30 minutes in total to prepare and cook. You may need more time to cook the rice, unless you have a rice cooker. (Anyone who wants to eat fast should have an inexpensive electric rice cooker so that one part of the meal cooks by itself, unattended.) Here’s a how-to video for the Korean one-dish meal.
• Fish: Tilapia with Cucumber Radish Relish takes about 10 minutes total time to prep and cook and is a great introductory recipe if you are making tilapia for the first time. Our video gives complete instructions.
• Vegetarian: Baked Mushroom Parmesan takes about 20 minutes total to prep and cook, and uses savory portabella mushrooms instead of meat.
• Vegan: Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Walnuts Tossed with Penne takes about 15 minutes total time. You can make the sauce while you cook the pasta.

They’re at the Supermarket and Don’t Know What to Buy

And finally, for those people who are tweeting that they are in a grocery store or at Walmart, wondering what to make for dinner, we invite them to www.specialfork.com on their iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone where they can find recipes, make shopping lists and solve their dinnertime dilemmas while they are standing right at the meat or produce counter looking for help, deciding what to buy.

Special Fork bloggers blog Monday through Friday. For more recipes and ideas on your smartphone, check us out at www.specialfork.com. Join the conversation on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @specialforksndy.