One Dish Dinners

You may remember me mentioning Pam Anderson and one of her cookbooks, Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great. Pam’s newest cookbook, Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need For Easy Get-Togethers is now on the shelves ready to make taste buds all across the land dance with joy.

What I like about Pam’s recipes in all of her books, is that they are approachable, tested, tried, and true. And Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need For Easy Get-Togethers is no exception. The recipes that Pam offers in this cookbook enable you to get a scrumptious meal for a group going, and still have time to primp, wash the dog or hide all the unfolded clothes in your closet before company arrives. And even better, Pam pairs appetizers, salads, desserts, and even wine suggestions with each main dish recipe. How cool is that?

Yesterday, for our Sunday dinner, I tried the Rioja Beef, with Chickpeas, Peppers, and Saffron. And I’m glad I did.

It was tempting me, and no wonder. Who could pass up a rich beef stew, accented with a combination of savory seasonings, and colorful peppers? Seriously yum. And seriously simple. Seriously.

As an appetizer we had the Sautéed Chorizo Bites with Sweet and Sour Fig Sauce.  A tad bit of improvisation was called for since I didn’t purchase the dried chorizo (which Pam clearly noted), but instead the refrigerated kind. That didn’t work so well. It kinda fell apart and is now waiting to be used in another dish. But all was not lost! I was able to sauté regular smoked sausage in the chorizo renderings.

It was a tasty bite that didn’t last long around here.

On to the dessert… I have to coo and ahh and little here, so please forgive me. The recommended sweet ending to this meal was a Creamy Flan. Before yesterday, I’d never made flan before. And I have to admit, I was more than a little apprehensive that the flan would flop. And floppy flan is no good.

But it worked. I can’t believe it. I can make flan. I can make flan that actually looks like flan, and tastes like flan. Or at least, I think that’s what it’s supposed to look like. If not, don’t tell me. Let me go on living in my flan happy world.

You can get flan happy too. Below is the Pam’s recipe for the Creamy Flan. The original recipe called for one large flan, but I made individual flans in ramekins. It’s pretty simple y’all. So give it a go the next time you’re feeling freaky for flan. And don’t forget to check out the rest of the delectable dishes in Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need For Easy Get-Togethers.

Creamy Flan Recipe
(Serves 8 )
Adapted from Pam Anderson’s Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need For Easy Get-Togethers

Ingredients:

1 quart + 1/4 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 package (8 oz.) light cream cheese, softened

4 large eggs

1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil.

In a saucepan, whisk together constantly 1/4 cup water and sugar and bring to a boil. As soon as mixture begins to boil, stop whisking, lower temperature to medium and let simmer until it turns golden brown, 10-15 minutes. Pour mixture into a 9″ deep dish pie pan (or individual oven safe ramekins), set in a roasting pan or deep baking pan large enough to accommodate the dish(es).

While the water/sugar mixture is simmering, beat the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl until smooth.

Add eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl after each egg is added.

Add evaporated and condensed milk, and vanilla and mix until combined well.

Put roasting pan in oven and pour cream cheese mixture into pie plate (or individual ramekins). Pour hot water in the bottom of the roasting pan to reach about halfway up the pie plate (or ramekins). Bake until flan is jiggly but not watery, about 1 hour. (Reduce baking time to about 45-50 if using the individual ramekins.)

Remove from oven, cool and refrigerate until ready to serve. Run a small knife around perimeter of the pie plate to loosen sides and invert onto a rimmed platter or plate. Cut into pieces and serve.

Enjoy!

To take a peek at some other recipes from Pam’s book check out these links…

DadCooksDinner.com
RecipeGirl.com
ArtofGlutenFreeBaking.com
KitchenGadgetGirl.com
MyBakingAddiction.com
Wenderly.com
BluebonnetsandBrownies.com
TheSensitivePantry.com
WhatsCookingBlog.com
TwoPeasandTheirPod.com
WhatsGabyCooking.com
Bellalimento.com
SmithBites.com
MyFavoriteEverything.com
FoodForMyFamily.com
SavorTheThyme.com
Ivoryhut.com
DineAndDish.net
GlutenFreeGirl
Picky-Palate.com
TickledRed
SheWearsManyHats.com
WhatWereEating.com
ThisWeekForDinner.com
SugarCrafter.net
GoodLifeEats.com