How to Make a Gourmet Dinner for Company in Less than 20 Minutes

What better way to spend an evening that in the company of friends and family? The only problem is, you're cooking dinner and they'll be arriving just after you get home from work. Want a quick meal that tastes like you spent some time in the kitchen without actually, well, spending the time? Here's a great idea for a meal that fits the bill. Easy to cook, easy to clean up, and prepared from beginning to end in less than 20 minutes.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Steaks (cut of choice)
• Flavored Couscous (Near East makes a great wild mushroom flavor that is perfect)
• Green Giant Steam in bag green beans with almonds
• Pre-sliced mushrooms
• Butter
• Marjoram
• White wine
• Canadian (Montreal) steak seasoning

1. Stop at the grocery store on your lunch break to save time if you have that much advance notice, or run through on your way home. Make a list and order the items on your list in the same the way the store is laid out, produce first, frozen foods last, etc. (Suggested servings shown at the end of this article under tips.)

2. Once you get home, lay out all the ingredients on the kitchen table. Move the rack in the oven to about 4-6 inches from the broiler and turn on the broiler. Get out your pots and pans. You will need one sauce pan, a frying pan, and a broiler pan.

3. Place steaks on the broiler pan, then season both sides with Canadian steak seasoning and set aside.

4. 
    

   Measure water and olive oil for couscous into saucepan per package directions. Add contents of seasoning packets, stir, and set on back burner.

5. Next, melt butter in the frying pan over high heat, using about two tablespoons of butter per package of pre-sliced mushrooms. Once butter is hot, reduce heat to medium high and add mushrooms stirring occasionally.

6. When broiler is heated, put the steaks in the oven and set timer to 12-14 minutes. A good rule of thumb when broiling steaks is that an average steak, a little less than an inch thick, will cook to medium rare in about 12 minutes. If your like your steaks more well done, increase time accordingly. Keep an eye on the time as you are completing the remaining steps as you will want to flip the steaks half way through their cook time.

7. Continue to sauté the mushrooms until they begin to shrink and have started to give up some of their moisture. Measure about 1 tsp of Marjoram for each container of mushrooms and rub it between your hands, releasing the flakes over the mushrooms. Rubbing dry spices between your hands crushes them and releases more flavor. Add 1/4 cup of white wine per pack of mushrooms if desired. The alcohol will boil away leaving your mushrooms with a fantastic flavor.

8. Once the steaks have cooked halfway through and you have flipped them, turn on the pot with the water for the couscous. Start cooking the green beans in the microwave, especially if you have more than one pack. They will stay hot in the package for a while after they are heated.

9. When the couscous water comes to a boil, add the couscous, cover the pot and remove it from the heat. The couscous will be ready in five minutes.

10. At this point, the mushrooms should be just about done. If they look dark and cooked well, and have absorbed the wine, lower the heat to the warm setting to keep the fats from congealing.

11. Get out serving plates, and tell everyone to get ready for dinner. Everything should be ready to go at just about the same time. Serve the couscous and green beans in large bowls and the steaks on a platter. Your dinner will smell wonderful while it is cooking, will have taken hardly any time or effort, and is sure to earn you rave reviews. Clean up is a snap, too. Leave the boiler pan in the oven to clean it later if you are short on space. Two pots and a wooden spoon should be all the dishes you dirtied cooking dinner, so there should be plenty of room to throw them in the sink and worry about them later!

Tips & Warnings

• Cut of meat is a matter of taste. I prefer a fattier cut such as a T-Bone or Delmonico, but for company I usually choose a NY Strip steak. They are leaner and usually come in smaller cuts so you can buy one for each person.
• To be safe, assume that 1 box of couscous will feed two people comfortably, but may not be enough for three people with larger appetites. If you are having six for dinner, three boxes may be too much, but you can always have leftovers for lunch. Better safe than sorry.
• I always assume one box of green beans will feed two people. That's really about it for the green beans, you would be hard pressed to feed three with one box.
• If you want to add another quick course to your meal, make this flavorful walnut salad: pre-washed baby spinach, a pint of fresh raspberries (if in season), about a cup of walnut or pecan halves, and about 8-12 oz of crumbled feta cheese. Toss and top with Raspberry Walnut Dressing. Ken's Lite Walnut Raspberry Dressing is one of the best I have tried.
• For a quick, but fancy dessert, buy small filo dough pastry cups, pre-made chocolate pudding, Cool Whip or Red i-Whip, mini chocolate chips, and Maraschino cherries. If you don't have time to make ahead, don't worry. This is so quick you can do it while the coffee is brewing. Set the cups out on a nice plate, fill each with chocolate pudding, add a dollop of whipped cream on top (if using Cool Whip, don't forget to leave it out to defrost, or microwave for 10 seconds until warm enough to spoon out), sprinkle on a few miniature chocolate chips and top each dessert with a maraschino cherry.

[sgfgirl]

on 2/21/2009 Great tips - thanks!

[texasparky]

on 2/21/2009 WOW...I'm a fan of anything with mushrooms, so count me in!