orichalcum

I'm sitting here half-watching the Emmys and remembering how much more fun it was to watch award shows with you. I miss your expertise and snark. May your next year be much more relaxing and gentle than the last.

So, I've been getting back into cooking real food again, after a moving-induced hiatus of frozen dinners and some takeout. However, between the baby's limited patience and A's 40-minute indefinitely timed window for dinner, I don't often have the chance to make a full dinner from scratch. So I've been doing a lot of meals where I take some mix or partially cooked food and then doctor it. For instance, for dinner on Friday with julianyap, I smoked three duck breasts in our stovetop smoker and then made a red wine reduction and raspberry-acai-preserve sauce with wild mushrooms. I then took Alessi Risotto-in-a-bag, simmered it for 18 minutes in chicken stock rather than just water, and then added a combination of rehydrated dried Italian mushrooms and fresh wild chopped sauteed mushrooms to it, along with some parmesan cheese. It turned out very well. When it's just the three of us, I'll usually go even simpler and add veggies and/or fresh cheese to a frozen pasta from Trader Joe's or the supermarket.

Making this recipe, it struck me how much easier the partially-cooked risotto was than real risotto, where you have to watch it carefully and add stock every few minutes to keep it from burning. The results seemed to me roughly equivalent, although I'm willing to hear a defense of the true risotto.

So my question is, what's your favorite mix or shortcut for a meal? I really like the Alessi Risotto, as mentioned. What's your secret to getting a meal that still feels home-cooked onto the table in 20 minutes?