Dinner in 30 thanks to 'Steamers in 5'

You’ve just gotta love a healthy dinner that goes together in under 30 minutes, with just a few dishes to clean up, and a minimum of ingredients. That’s where ‘Steamers in 5’ come in so handy.

Steamers in 5 is one of those quickie products that you really ought to have in the freezer for a fast meal on those weeknights when time and patience is short.

Tonight, I made a whole wheat spaghetti with my own homegrown tomatoes and squash, with locally grown spinach from Hungry Mother down in Carson City, Nevada, and these nice small steamer clams.

First I got the pot of water on the boil for the whole wheat spaghetti. Then went on to prep all the tomatoes and squash into nice bite-sized chunks. When that was ready, I put the spaghetti into the boiling water with a stir and set the timer to 10 minutes - which is what it takes for al dente pasta here at 4,200 ft. Then I put the steamers into the microwave with one hole in the plastic cover, for microwaving.

While the spaghetti and steamers were doing their thing, I started sauteing the veggies in a nice big aluminum chef skillet. It was already warm and had the olive oil in it.  Now really, you could take so many different vegetables - whatever you have on hand - and work it into this dish. In that sense, it’s really thrifty, using up what you have. As the veggies start to saute, I begin braising them by adding some white wine. What kind of white wine, you ask? Whatever I’m drinking. In this case, pinot grigio. I also took a ladle of the boiling pasta water and put that in, too.

In order to add depth and round out the flavors, I put in about a tablespoon each of the mushroom demi glace and the fish base that I’ve talked about in other posts. Seasoning is simple: salt, pepper and a dash of italian seasoning blend (no salt).  A squeeze of fresh lemon juice is nice, too.

When the pasta was ready, I drained it and added it into the skillet - with the hot clams and the sauce on them. Oh, my the aroma is getting really good now. It’s just a matter of reducing the heat to barely a simmer, put a lid on and let it cook for about 5 minutes while I set the table.

The Steamers in 5 has ingredients a grandmother could love - she’d recognize them all. And the sodium content in negligible - about 3%. These folks ‘get it’.

So, how did it all turn out? Mr. Maven was enthusiastic and nosing around for a second helping. That speaks volumes.

Actually, dinner was ready in about 20 minutes - which gave me time to sit and watch some news and sip a bit of wine before we got to it. Yum.

You might want to read about the folks who create the Steamers in 5 product, they have a nice website, with recipes and a whole lot of information about the sustainable cultivation and harvesting of their oysters, and about a new ‘fresher under pressure’ technique which allows your to serve and consume really safe, pathogen free oysters.