Glorious One-Pot Meals

November 3, 2008
Sometimes the simplest-seeming cookbooks yield the most surprising revelations, as in nutritionist Yarnell's guide to one-pot cooking. Yarnell's signature “infusion” method, cooking in a dutch oven at a very hot temperature renders layered vegetables, starches and proteins like tandoori salmon and kale with butternut squash over basmati rice, into a surprisingly well-textured, hearty meal. (It's also foolproof: when you smell the aroma of dinner, you're three minutes from the end of the cooking time.) Dishes like citrus ginger chicken with root vegetables; penne puttanesca; and fiesta steak are simple choices for busy weeknight dinners. The real genius, of course, is the single pot—Yarnell's all-inclusive meals don't require the usual juggling of oven times to coordinate complementary dishes, and cleanup is simplified even further by a preliminary canola oil spritz on the pot. Her emphasis on whole foods, abundant servings of vegetables, moderate amounts of protein and the incorporation of whole grains like amaranth and quinoa justifies her health claims. Yarnell also guides readers in creating their own custom versions of the one-pot meal, even offering a one-pot meal weekly grocery list.