Five Ingredient (Mostly Lent-Friendly) Recipes

A cooking and housekeeping tips website that I frequent (www.hillbillyhousewife.com) is asking for five-ingredient recipes for a new cookbook, so I submitted these that I created. I thought I'd share them here for the pleasure of anyone who might still check my blog.


Salmon and Peppers

1 large onion, sliced into medium thickness rings
1 large green (or other color) pepper, sliced into rings
6 small to medium salmon fillets (can be frozen--I cook this from frozen)
spice mix (seasoned salt, homemade spice rub, italian seasoning, you can experiment)

Heat a little oil, and saute onions and peppers in a deep skillet or large pot. When these are about half cooked, place (frozen) salmon fillets on top of veggies in skillet. Season fillets with spice mix. (You can let the fillets defrost slightly and then sprinkle on both sides, or as one side defrosts, you can flip and season... or just make it simple and sprinkle the whole thing liberally.) Cook until fish is done. Makes a yummy sauce. Serve over rice or potatoes.


Coconut-Tomato Curry
(Lent-friendly if made with garbanzos instead of chicken)

1 med-large onion, large diced (may add garlic, if desired)
curry powder (and other Indian spices to taste, if desired)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can coconut milk
2 med-large tomatoes, large diced (canned are fine)
2 large chicken breasts, whole or large chunks (or 1 can garbanzos, or add both, or a combination)

Saute onions in oil (and garlic if you want). Add curry (and other spices if desired) to onions. Once curry is mixed in thoroughly, add tomato sauce and coconut milk. Stir to combine.

Add chicken pieces (and/or garbanzo beans) and let simmer until chicken is cooked through. Add tomato chunks and simmer again until tomatoes are done to your liking. Adjust seasonings as necessary.

Serve over rice or noodles--good with green peas or green beans on the side.

[OK, I know, this has six ingredients, but two or more just involve opening cans! If you need this to have five ingredients, then you could probably substitute a can of diced tomatoes (maybe something seasoned?) or stewed tomatoes for the tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes. Other veggies can be added too, like zucchini or eggplant.]


1-2-3 Stew

1 can red kidney beans (or white cannelini, or great northern, or garbanzos)
2 cans zucchini in Italian tomato sauce
3 russet potatoes, large diced

Micro-cook potatoes in a covered dish (or boil on the stove) until soft. Heat oil in a large pot and saute for a minute or two. Add remaining ingredients (beans and zucchini). Stir and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve--good with green beans on the side.

(Probably could substitute a couple of small to medium fresh zucchini and a can of tomato sauce with some Italian seasoning for the zucchini in Italian tomato sauce. Someone gave me the cans of zucchini, so I developed this recipe. It's not something I usually buy.)