Mom's Best One-Dish Suppers

 

Introduction

We all know what “mom’s home cooking” means, even if our own particular moms were disasters in the kitchen. Mom’s home cooking means honest, simple dishes made from scratch from quality ingredients. It is cooking that is heavy in comfort, familiar, and dependable — no weird combinations, no challenging textures, no complicated procedures.

Ah, but your mom didn’t cook the way my mom did. My mother started every single dish she cooked by sautéing an onion in vegetable oil. Her chicken soup with matzoh balls was as foreign to you as your mom’s chicken and dumplings or tom yum soup was to me. Yet it is all instantly recognizable as comforting food, easily made at home.

America, it has been observed, is not really a melting pot. It is actually a huge potluck dinner, in which platters of roasted chicken beckon beside casseroles of pasta, mounds of tortillas, stew pots of gumbo, and skillets filled with pilafs of every imaginable color. And where once all the delicious moussakas and curries and Chinese noodle dishes were enjoyed only within specific immigrant enclaves, sometime within the past 50 years culinary borders between neighborhoods were breached, and home cooks started exploring the foods of other ethnic communities. Many of these dishes were one-pot dishes, easy to make, easy to serve to families that scattered among meetings and work, school and Little League, music lessons and soccer games.

The earliest cooking that American moms did was at the blistering heat of the wide-open kitchen fireplace, where an astonishing number of women met their untimely deaths when their long skirts and aprons caught fire. In those days, cooking was often done in a single pot that hung from a crane, slowly simmering, while Mom went about doing a number of things: raising the children, tending the garden, cleaning the house, sewing the clothes, and attending to the livestock. There was much work to be done, and little time to be spent cooking.

From the Pilgrim hearth to the chuck-wagon fire pit, much of what American cooks made was simmered or baked to perfection in a Dutch oven. The Dutch oven was developed in the early 18th century in England and Holland as a round-bottomed pot with flared sides that rested on three legs directly over live coals. It had a rimmed lid that was designed to hold more live coals and a handle for lifting or suspending the pot from a crane over the fire. When coals were placed on top of the lid, the heat surrounded the pot, and it was suitable for baking, as well as for cooking.

Dutch ovens were variously called “bake ovens,” “bake kettles,” and “camp ovens,” as well as the more common “Dutch oven.” Some historians believe that the name originated with German or Dutch peddlers who sold the cast-iron pots from their wagons. It is likely that the original cast-iron cookware was made in Holland and imported into England in the early 18th century, or it was manufactured in England and named after a Dutch casting technique that was patented in England in 1708.

Skillets, or frying pans, were also first made with legs, but like Dutch ovens, later became flat bottomed and lost the legs as the cook-stove evolved. These were also made of cast iron and could go from stove to tabletop. The skillet was especially useful for frying — and everything from the morning’s eggs to Sunday’s fried chicken and from cornbread to the roux for a gumbo was made in a skillet.

Casseroles were once defined as a dish or pot in which food is baked and, often, served. The word, which may also refer to the food itself, is from the French and was first printed in English in 1708. Cooking in such dishes is rather ubiquitous. The idea of the casserole as a one-dish meal became popular in the United States around World War II, when all sorts of easy-to-prepare foods became popular. The 1943 edition of The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer called Tuna, Noodle and Mushroom Soup Casserole an “excellent emergency dish.” Cookbooks of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s were filled with all manner of canned condensed soup and noodle mixes.

Today, moms — and dads — are just as likely to reach for salad bowls when feeding their families as soup pots or casseroles. Ever since pasta salads replaced tuna–macaroni salads on salad bars, moms have responded by making hearty salads for dinner. Interestingly, many of these salads are based on hot-dish classics. It turns out that rice and beans with the addition of a citrus-based vinaigrette makes a terrific one-dish salad supper. Curried chicken can be served cold with a chutney-based salad dressing. Chinese noodle dishes make excellent pasta salads dressed with soy-based vinaigrettes.

This collection of recipes looks both to the past and the present. It presents one-dish meals suited to today’s busy cooks. Some soups and stews involve long simmering on the back of the stove or in the oven, largely unattended. These are good for weekend meals. The skillet suppers are all quickly made from scratch, most of them in well under an hour. Likewise, the salad suppers can be whipped together quickly. It’s all mom’s good home cooking, with an eye on the clock.

---

Mom’s Best Cooking Advice

Some 30 years ago, when my sister was married, she expected to give all her bridesmaids jewelry as thanks for services rendered, but I coveted a wedding gift she planned to return to the department store — a set of cast-iron skillets. She graciously presented me with the skillets, and I am happy to say both her marriage and my frying pans have endured.

Those skillets have accompanied me cross-country and back. They have been used to sauté shrimp in city apartments and fresh-caught trout over campfires. They were used to test almost every recipe in chapter 2 of this book, and I expect to pass them on to one of my kids when I’m no longer cooking for myself. Good cookware endures and inspires.

We don’t have much extra time these days, so setting up the kitchen with the right cookware can make cooking go easily and smoothly. You don’t need a lot of gadgets; you don’t need a lot of different pots and pans. But do yourself a favor and buy the best that you can afford. If supper can be whipped together in minutes and cleaned up afterward so that you still have time for yourself or for playing with the kids, it will all be worth it.

Cutting Tools

The larger the cutting board, the easier the chopping goes. You won’t have food falling off the cutting board and you may even have the room to leave the prepped food on the board instead of storing it in a bowl, which is just one more dish to clean later.

Sharp knives are a must. A good heavy chef’s knife, a paring knife, a serrated knife for slicing tomatoes and bread, and a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler will cover just about every situation you will encounter. A carving knife is a nice acquisition, but you could get by without it.

Cookware

For soups and stews, you will need a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven. The most versatile ones can go from stovetop to oven. Cast-iron is good, even better is porcelain-clad cast-iron — it has the good heat distribution of cast-iron but won’t react to high-acid foods, such as tomato sauce.

For skillets, I recommend cast-iron. Once properly seasoned, it is reasonably nonstick and virtually impossible to destroy. Don’t buy cast-iron skillets with wooden handles, though; the handles tend to break and then the pan is worthless.

For the oven meals, a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish will cover almost every recipe in this book. The few that won’t fit into a 9 by 13-inch dish require a large roasting pan, but you’ll need that for Thanksgiving anyhow, no?

And that leaves salad suppers, for which you will need a large bowl. Simple.

Stocking the Pantry

Even when you cook from scratch, certain convenience foods can provide shortcuts that make the cooking go faster. The three convenience foods I rely on are canned tomatoes, beans, and broth. Feel free to substitute home-grown or home-cooked ingredients. Use 2 cups of chopped fresh tomatoes for 15 ounces of canned diced tomatoes with juice. Use 2 cups cooked dried beans for 15 ounces of canned. But if you use the canned goods, don’t feel you are sacrificing flavor. Canned tomatoes are better than out-of-season supermarket tomatoes. And there are several commercial broths that are comparable to home-made. Taste several brands before settling on one. Canned beans should be drained and rinsed before they are used.

---

Chapter 1

Soups & Stews

Quick Black Bean Soup

SERVES 6

Black beans, also known as turtle beans, black turtle beans, black Spanish beans, Tampico beans, and Venezuelan beans, are a New World bean, thought to have originated in southern Mexico and Central America more than seven thousand years ago. Black beans are small (about the size of a pea), oval, and jet black. They have cream-colored flesh, a mild, sweet, earthy taste, and a soft texture. Black bean soups and stews are especially common throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States, particularly in Florida and in the Southwest. Using canned black beans makes it possible to whip up this soup at a moment’s notice. The secret ingredient is chipotle chile, a smoked-dried jalapeño, which adds a whisper of smoke and just the right amount of heat. You could substitute 1 to 2 tablespoons minced canned chipotles en adobo. Just be sure to add the cup of water to thin the soup.

1	chipotle chile
1	cup boiling water
2	garlic cloves
3	cans (19 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
2	tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1	onion, diced
1	red bell pepper, diced
1	green chile, seeded and diced (optional)
1–11⁄2	teaspoons ground cumin
1	can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes with juice
	Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1⁄4	cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Combine the chipotle and boiling water in a blender. Let soak for 15 minutes.

2. Add the garlic and one-third of the beans to the blender. Process until puréed.

3. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot. Sauté the onion, bell pepper, fresh chile, if using, and 1 teaspoon cumin in the oil until the vegetables are limp, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, the remaining beans, and the puréed bean mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes to blend the flavors. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, and cumin, if desired.

4. Serve hot, garnishing each bowl with a little cilantro.

Lentil Soup

SERVES 6 TO 8

The most famous lentil soup of all time is the “mess of pottage” for which the biblical Esau sold his birthright. Lentils were probably one of the first food crops to be domesticated, dating back to the beginning of agriculture in the fertile crescent of the Near East. Moms have been making lentil soup ever since.

2	tablespoons extra-virgin olive or canola oil
1	onion, coarsely chopped
2	celery stalks, coarsely chopped
2	carrots, sliced
4	garlic cloves, halved
2	cups dried green or brown lentils, rinsed
6	cups vegetable or chicken broth (see pages 53–54) or water, plus more as needed
2	tablespoons chopped fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
1	can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes with juice
4	cups diced mixed fresh or frozen vegetables (such as green beans, carrots, corn, zucchini, and turnips) Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1⁄4	cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot. Sauté the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic in the oil until the onion is limp, about 3 minutes. Add the lentils, broth, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then skim off any foam that rises to the top. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the lentils are mushy, 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the variety and age of the lentils.

2. Let cool slightly, then purée in a blender. Return to the pot and thin with additional water, if desired. Add the tomatoes and mixed vegetables.

3. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Season generously with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley. Serve hot.

Curried Red Lentil Soup

SERVES 6 TO 8

The beautiful orange color of the red lentils fades to a mustard yellow-green as they cook, which is a pity. But as pottages go, this one is worthy of a birthright.

21⁄2	cups dried red lentils, rinsed
8	cups water
2	onions, chopped
2	carrots, finely chopped
1	piece fresh ginger (1–2 inches long), peeled and sliced
1	tablespoon cumin seeds, toasted (see Note)
11⁄2	teaspoons garam masala or curry powder
1⁄2	teaspoon ground turmeric
	Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2	tablespoons hot pepper sauce, such as Frank’s, or more to taste
1	can (13.5 ounces) coconut milk
1⁄4	cup minced fresh cilantro

1. Combine the lentils, water, onion, carrots, ginger, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, then skim off any foam that rises to the top. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the lentils are very tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Let cool slightly.

2. Process the soup in a blender until smooth; you will have to do this in batches.

3. Return the soup to the soup pot. Stir in the hot sauce and coconut milk. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

4. Just before serving, stir in the cilantro. Serve hot. Do not allow the soup to boil once the coconut milk has been added.

Potato-Leek Soup

SERVES 4

Call it “potato-leek soup,” and it is home-style comfort food. Call it “vichyssoise” and serve it cold, and it becomes an elegant soup first served at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in 1917 and named after the city of Vichy, where Chef Louis Diat, the creator of the recipe, grew up. Substitute scallions for the leeks, and call it “shallot porridge,” as French-speaking Louisianans do.

5	cups chicken broth (see page 54)
21⁄2	pounds russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2	tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or butter
4–6	leeks, trimmed and sliced
1	cup half-and-half
	Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the broth and potatoes in a medium saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool slightly.

2. Purée the potato mixture in a food processor or blender until smooth.

3. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot. Sauté the leeks in the oil until limp, about 4 minutes. Add the puréed potato mixture and half-and-half. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer to blend the flavors, about 10 minutes.

4. Serve hot or cold.

Split Pea Soup

SERVES 4 OR 5

Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old. This good, old-fashioned soup won’t last that long. And when should you serve it? The second week of November has been National Split Pea Soup Week since 1969.

2	cups dried split peas, rinsed
8	cups water
1	smoked ham hock
2	onions, quartered
2	celery stalks, quartered
1	carrot, quartered
1	bay leaf Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the peas, water, and ham hock in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and skim off any foam that rises to the top of the pot. Add the onions, celery, carrot, and bay leaf. Simmer for 1 hour.

2. Remove the soup from the heat to cool slightly. Remove the ham hock and bay leaf. Process the soup in a blender until smooth. Return to the pot.

3. Dice the meat from the ham hock, discarding the skin, bone, and fat. Add the meat to the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Thin the soup with water, if desired. Heat through before serving. The soup improves in flavor and thickens on standing. Thin again with water, if desired.

Tuscan White Bean Soup

With chicken stock on hand and canned beans, you’ll need only about a half hour to make this delicious soup.

2	tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄2	pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed
4	cups chicken broth (see page 54)
2	cans (19 ounces each) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2	carrots, diced
4	garlic cloves, minced
1	teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary, or 1⁄2 teaspoon dried
4	cups chopped fresh spinach, tough stems removed (about 5 ounces) Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the sausage and brown, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the broth, beans, carrots, garlic, and rosemary. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes, until the carrots are tender and the flavors have blended. Stir in the spinach. Simmer until wilted, about 2 minutes.

3. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Pasta e Fagiole

SERVES 6

The famous “pasta fazool” is an American colloquialism for this hearty soup of pasta and beans. Dean Martin immortalized it in his song, “That’s Amore” (“When the stars make you drool just like pasta fazool, that’s amore”). Made all over Italy, it’s a soup with many variations. This version is quite simple, very quick to make, and very satisfying to enjoy.

2	tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1