The point of shortcut cooking is not just to make the main meals of the day. In this chapter, you’ll find shortcuts for smaller fare like snacks and infused teas. These recipes run from nibbles and snacks for when friends drop by to simpler meals when you’re short on time.
You know the rule: Things go faster if you prep before you cook. But it’s not just about cutting and chopping ingredients. There’s nothing worse than fishing for a garlic press in a messy drawer while the shrimp are already on the hot grill. Prepare for the whole job, not just parts of it.
And while we’re at it, shortcut cooking is not just about prepping ingredients, reading the recipe through, and organizing your work space. No doubt about it: No matter how much the recipe or technique has been streamlined, it’s still time-consuming. There are no instant meals. Even microwave-ready frozen dinners take time.
In the end, it’s not how much time you have. It’s about how you spend what you have. There’s no point in cooking even snacks and nibbles if you’re gritting your teeth, wondering why you’re not doing something else.
It may sound like woo, but the best kitchen time-saver is a better attitude. In fact, the best answer to the fewer and fewer minutes we all have is to enjoy them, to relish them in the same way we would a little snack on a winter afternoon when it’s too cold to do much of anything, or a refreshing drink on a summer evening when you just want to lounge on the deck.
We want those moments of simple pleasure, especially when we feel we’re otherwise too busy. So let’s commit to letting the hope of this low-grade pleasure color even the moments before we enjoy what we’ve made. Time can slow down in the kitchen, too, not just in a chair in front of the fire.
The mathematics of minutes and hours are relentless. We can’t get more, no matter how hard we try. But we can savor the ones we have, even while we stand at a cutting board. Take a deep breath as you make one of these snacks or light meals and savor the light of the day—or maybe the gentle rain on the roof. Yes, modern life is all hurry. Even in the rush, you can embrace the passing moment as you prepare a little something to eat.
We promise to get you out of the kitchen quickly. But you do your part, too. You make time slow down as you create something to enjoy on your own or with those you love. We’re doing this time-saving, shortcutting work together, the two of us writing this book and you using it. It’ll actually take this team effort to make any shortcut worth even the small amount of time it requires.