RACHAEL Ray promises that every menu in her cookbooks can be prepared, start to finish, raw ingredients to presentation, in 30 minutes.
That pledge is something people want. Her twice-daily show, “30 Minute Meals,” is one of the most popular on the Food Network, and her cookbooks based on the program have been in the Nos. 1, 2 and 4 spots on amazon.com for months.
But is a half-hour feast really possible?
To find out, my husband and I, stopwatch in hand, each set out to make a full menu from Ray’s newest cookbook, “gettogethers.”
“Have a very, very sharp knife,” Ray urges. “Have a huge cutting board and be as close to the stove as possible so you can ‘chop and drop.’ “
To shave seconds from prep, she advises using store-bought items when possible, buying bagged and washed produce, and picking pre-trimmed broccoli florets, carrots and other veggies.
“Don’t start out with the most complicated menu,” she warns. “The whole trick is to build confidence, and with practice you can get these meals done in half an hour.”
We considered her advice carefully – and then decided to throw most of it out the window.
I assigned my husband, John, the most difficult menu: beef tenderloins with individual Yorkshire puddings, two sauces – Madeira and horseradish – buttered peas and onions, and sliced beets. And for a grand finale, cherries jubilee.
Since he never follows a recipe, he was starting at a disadvantage. He didn’t even look at the book until the stopwatch started running.
Before long, he had every burner on the stove alight and two pans in the oven.
Midway through, he realized he had to make a roux, a flour- and butter-based thickener he has never made with any success. “This is a disaster,” he groaned.
By this time, he’d stopped measuring. He was slicing off pats of butter and spooning out mountains of flour into a pan.
I tried to suggest he measure, but his Irish temper was flaring.
When it came time for the Yorkshire pudding, he heaped the flour, eggs, beef broth and other incidentals into a bowl without glancing at the directions.
“Just follow the recipe, would you?” I pleaded.
In the end, it took him 37 minutes and 41 seconds.
The steaks were delicious, as were the cognac-smothered cherries. Both sauces were tasty. The canned beets and frozen peas and onions were fine – but how can you go wrong there? The Yorkshire puddings were rubbery, tasteless disappointments.
“I’m sure if I had read the book myself and picked my own menu, I wouldn’t have picked such a complicated menu with so many sauces,” he huffed. “I felt I got dumped on.”
I spent 33 minutes and 10 seconds on my menu of cod with braised fennel and potatoes, pasta with Italian tuna packed in olive oil, and strawberries with sugar, fresh lemon juice and mint.
Not bad, considering my first move was to split my finger open on a jar of tuna. But, like a race driver at Daytona, I made a pit stop to get bandaged up and kept on moving.
Aside from a few rotten strawberries – thanks, FreshDirect! – and crunchy potatoes that could have used more time in the oven, my meal was respectable, too.
The hit of this menu was the strawberries, enlivened by fresh lemon juice and fresh mint.
The results were better than we expected, but I don’t think we’ll be having quickies every night.
I’d rather relax and take an hour or more to make dinner. And I think John would rather eat it than cook it.
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MAYA’S MENU
Gemelli with tuna and cherry tomatoes; cod with fennel and onion; strawberries with sugar and lemon
Total time: 33 minutes 10 seconds (2 and one-half stars)
JOHN’S MENU
Fillet of beef steaks with horseradish sauce and individual Yorkshire puddings; buttered beets; peas with onions; cherries jubilee
Total time: 37 minutes 41 seconds (two stars)