Recipe: Summer Vegetable Skillet with Peanut Sauce

Skillets Are Great Way to Get Good Food Fast

An earlier post described a friend’s go-to trick for making tasty, healthy food fast:  melanges.  For me, it’s skillet dishes, hands down.

Why Skillets?  Learn to make one and you can vary it a hundred ways, never have to struggle through a recipe, and almost invariably end up with a darn tasty meal.

The Basic Structure  In our summer meal making series we learned the basic structure for a skillet dish:  Saute some aromatics, add and cook some vegetables, add and cook some protein and/or a starch.  Voila! You have a quick, healthy and tasty one dish meal.

The Key to Skillet Speed:  Minimal Instructions  The recipe below is an easy riff on the basic skillet. You might notice the instructions–or lack thereof! Having to wade through long instructions can keep us from trying a new dish. That’s why, in our classes, we learn basic, building block techniques so you don’t have to wade through long instructions. You can cook from your head, easily and naturally with just a few recipe prompts.

Green Bean and Eggplant Skillet with Peanut Sauce

Saute vegetables in order given:

• 1 Tbsp. neutral-tasting oil like safflower
• 1 med. onion (preferably red), diced to ½”
• 1 med, 5-6” globe eggplant (or roughly equivalent amount of smaller eggplant), diced to ½ to ¾”
• ½ to 1 lb. green beans, trimmed and sliced in half on the diagonal
• 4-6 large cloves garlic, minced (fresh or prepared), more or less to taste

Stir in, de-glazing pan with liquid.  Simmer until green beans reach desired tenderness, about 10 minutes:

• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1-2 cups chicken broth (preferably Shelton’s), more or less for a thinner or thicker skillet dish
• ¼ to ½ cup San-J Thai Peanut Sauce, to taste.

Serve over cooked brown rice (basmati is especially good.)

Want to Learn to Make Skillet Dishes?

Want to learn how healthy meal making can be easeful and natural? Join one of our upcoming classes.

Need a Dish That’s Even Faster?

Using leftover chicken, bottled peanut sauce and prepared garlic make this dish super fast.  Of course it’s a given that you also have a pot of rice cooked and waiting in the frig for this kind of dish.

Have A Few Minutes for Creative Fun?

Make your own peanut sauce and/or add some finishing touches:

• Ÿ        Fresh chopped cilantro
• Ÿ        Lime wedges
• Ÿ        Coconut milk
• Ÿ        Chilies flakes or minced jalapeno
• Ÿ        Chopped peanuts