Cooking for two is easy with
your microwave oven.
Take today’s recipes as exam
ples. Whether you prefer a light
pasta dish or an old-fashioned
hamburger goulash, you don’t
need to make a huge amount and
eat it all week. Micro-cooking
small amounts of these, and other
pasta dishes, is convenient and
quick.
New-Style Linguine With Clam
Sauce (below) is a light clam
sauce over cooked linguine. The
sauce needs little cooking. Onion
and garlic are cooked covered to
soften them; then other ingre
dients are added and heated. The
sauce is ready in 5 minutes or less.
Cooking linguine or you
could substitute spaghetti, thin
spaghetti, or even noodles isn’t
much faster in the microwave than
on the range-top. And I wouldn’t
recommend it for over 4 servings.
(You’d need a huge cooking dish.
Despite the recent push toward
paperless payments, the vast
majority of consumers still prefer
checks. According to a national
survey of 1,000 adults 18 years of
age or older, nearly three-quarters
(72 percent) chose checks as their
preferred method of payment
Only two percent cited a prefer
ence for electronic payments such
as debit cards and electronic funds
transfer (EFT). Cash was a distant
second as the preferred method of
payment with 21 percent saying
they preferred currency. Credit
cards were third at five percent
Nearly 70 percent of survey
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and the time needed to boil the
water and cook pasta would be
much longer than conventionally.)
But for 2 servings, micro-cooking
long, thin kinds of pasta is conve
nient and easy.
Some microwave cookbooks
give directions that start with ling
uine or spaghetti in cold water, but
I’ve found that doesn’t work well.
Instead, add pasta to boiling water
it’s the best way to prevent a
“pasty” taste and stuck-together
strands. After past* is added, cook
it uncovered to prevent boil-overs.
Old-Time Hamburger Goulash
For Two is a variation of an old
favorite. Here ground beef and
onion are cooked together until
beef is no longer pink. The
remaining ingredients are added,
including raw noodles, and every
thing is cooked together. Total
cooking time is about 13 minutes.
Another plus: there’s only 1 cook
ing dish, and that 1 dish can go
Fads And Figures
respondents like the record keep
ing and receipt advantages of
checks. About 60 percent say they
prefer checks because checks are
convenient and easy to use.
According to the survey, which
was sponsored by the Payment
Systems Education Association
(PSEA), checks are favored
among all demographic groups
but are most popular among
females (7S percent), persons 2S
or older (75 percent), married
individuals (77 percent), those
with an income in the $30,000 to
$50,000 range (80 percent), and
+/ <: v
*
right to the table for serving.
There are several secrets for
success in a recipe like this, where
uncooked noodles are cooked with
other ingredients: Use good
quality medium-thick noodles to
prevent a starchy taste. Use
enough liquid and some fat to
keep noodles from clumping
together and tasting starchy. Add
extra liquid halfway through
cooking time if mixture looks dry.
It still should be very juicy at that
time. Finally, cook noodles until
just barely done and let mixture
stand, tightly covered, for at least
S minutes (10 minutes is best).
During standing time, noodles
will finish cooking and mixture
will thicken.
So go ahead and enjoy cooking
and eating pasta for 2. These
recipes can be doubled to serve 4
as main dishes too. See notes
below each recipe.
Old-Time Hamburger
Goulash For Two
'A pound lean ground beef
'A cup chopped onion or 1 tables
poon minced instant onion
1 can (4 -A ounces) sliced stewed
tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon catsup
'A cup water
Vi teaspoon dried basil
2 cups uncooked cooked noodles
Salt and pepper (optional)
Place ground beef and onion in
microwave-safe 1- to 1-1/2-quart
casserole. Microwave (High)
persons with some education after
high school (75 percent).
Experts in the financial field
have their own views on why
checks check out so well with con
sumers. “Checks are popular
because they meet the needs of
consumers better than any other
form of payment,” explains Peter
Braunfisch, Financial Stationers
president “They are convenient
and easy to use. “The consumer
has spoken,” says David Meyers,
president of PSEA. “Check writ
ing remains die most popular way
to pay.”
See your local
dealer, call or write.
2-1/2 to 3 minutes, stirring once to
break up meat, or until meat is no
longer pink. (If desired, drain off
fat and stir in 2 tablespoons veget
able oil.) Stir in half of tomatoes,
breaking up with a spoon; all of
catsup, water, and basil. Then stir
in noodles. Pour remaining toma
toes atop noodles. Cover with lid
or plastic wrap. Microwave
(High) 8 to 10 minutes, stirring
and pushing noodles into liquid
after 5 minutes. (If mixture is dry,
add another to cup water.) When
done, noodles should be barely
tender. Let stand, covered, 5 to 10
minutes to finish cooking noodles
and to thicken. If desired, season
to taste with salt and pepper.
Makes 2 large servings.
Each serving: 495 calories. 30g
protein, 18g fat, SOg carbohydrate,
S4Bmg sodium, 124 mg
cholesterol.
For 4 to 5 servings: Double
ingredients. Use a 2-quart casser
ole. Microwave ground beef and
onion 4 to 6 minutes, stirring to
break up meat after 3 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients;
microwave, covered, 15 to 18
minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.
Continue as above.
New-Style Linguine
With Clam Sauce
For Two
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 can (10 ounces) whole baby
clams
'A cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
12 ounces linguine or 8 ounces
spaghetti
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Place oil, garlic, and onion in
microwave-safe 1-quart casserole.
Cover with waxed paper. Micro
wave (High) 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or
until onion is tender. Stir in
undrained clams, parsley, and
lemon juice. Cover and let stand
while cooking linguine or
spaghetti.
Fill microwave-safe 2-quart
casserole half full of hot tap water.
If desired, add 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cover with lid or plastic wrap.
Microwave (High) 5 to 7 minutes
or until water boils. Add linguine.
Microwave (High), uncovered, 4
to 7 minutes or until linguine is al
dente. Drain.
Microwave clam sauce 2 to 3
minutes or until hot. Spoon sauce
over cooked linguine in shallow
soup bowls; sprinkle each with
Search For Outdoor
Grill Recipes
SYKESVILLE, MD The
Maryland Beef Council will hold
the Maryland Beef Cook-Off Out
door Barbecue Category Contest,
during the First Annual Maryland
BEEFestival at the 200-acre
“Back Acres Farm” in Mt. Airy,
Sunday, June 25,12 noon - 6 p.m.
The Maryland resident with the
best original beef recipe, cooked
on the grill, will win $lOO and
their recipe will be entered in the
Mid-Atlantic Region Beef Cook-
Off Contest (second and third
prize winners will receive cash
awards). The winner of the Reg
ional Contest will proceed to the
National Beef Cook-Off in Port
land, Oregon, September 17-19,
1989 where they will have the
opportunity to win up to $15,000
in cash and prizes. Margery Fair, a
Rockville, MD resident was the
1988 Mid-Atlantic Region winner
and proceeded to the National
Beef Contest.
“I would like to encourage all
Maryland amateur beef grillers to
UwctKf Farming, Saturday, April 8,1989413
Parmesan cheese as desired. Pro
vide soup spoons and forks for
eating. Makes 2 large servings.
For 4 to 5 servings: Double
ingredients. Cook linguine
according to package directions in
large amount of boiling water on
range-top. While linguine cooks,
microwave sauce. Use a 2-quart
casserole and double cooking
times. Serve as atx>ve.
Each serving: S9B eateries, 27g
protein, 19g fat, 84g carbohydrate,
98mg sodium, 93mg cholesterol.
Questions and answers-
Q. How can I adapt recipes to
my 500-watt microwave?
Recipes from your column and
magazines take longer in my
microwave. Is thqre a way I
could figure out how much more
time to use?
A. To figure approximate
amount of time in a 500-watt
oven, multiply cooking time at
600 to 700 watts by 1.3. For exam
ple, 1 pound of ground beef
microwaves in 4 to 5 minutes in a
higher-wattage oven. Multiplying
4 and 5 minutes by 1.3 (and
rounding off) shows that cooking
may take S-l/4 to 6-3/4 minutes in
your 500-watt microwave.
However, these, like all micro
wave times, are only guides. In
some lower-wattage microwave
ovens, cooking time for quick
cooking foods or small amounts is
almost as fast as in some higher
wattage ovens. So especially for
quick-cooking foods and small
amounts, cook the maximum time
given in a recipe for a higher
wattage microwave: check for
doneness; and add more time
accordingly.
Questions for Joyce?
Do you have a question about
microwave cooking? Send it to
Microwave Minutes, % Extra
Newspaper Features, P.O. Box
6118, Rochester, MN 55903.
Please include a self-addressed,
stamped, business-size envelope.
Recipes in this column are
tested in 600- and 650-watt micro
wave ovens. With an oven of dif
ferent wattage output, timings
may need slight adjustment
Joyce Battcher is an indepen
dent home economist microwave
specialist. She is author of
“Microwave Family Favorites’’
and editor of “A Batch of Ideas"
newsletter.
© 1989 Extra Newspaper
Features
enter their recipes and compete for
the prizes,” said Dr. Emmett Full,
Chairman of The Maryland Beef
Council. ‘The BEEFestival is not
only for Cook-Off contestants
everyone’s *invited. It will be a
full-day of family fun with a coun
try band, arts & crafts, booths,
microwave beef cooking demon
strations, and more.” Beef on the
grill recipes will be judged on
taste, ease of preparation and prac
ticality, originality and appear
ance, and nutritional value. Con
testants’ beef recipe entries must
be submitted to The Maryland
Beef Council, 4928 Carroll Manor
Road, Baldwin, MD 21013, and
postmarked no later than May IS,
1989 to be eligible. Contestants
must be 18 years old or older with
non-professional food status. For
a complete list of contest rules and
regulations, and further informa
tion on The Ist Annual Maryland
BEEFestival, contact Anita L.
Wehrman at 301-592-3940.
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