# Five Ingredients or Less



## shel (Dec 20, 2006)

In keeping with the theme of simple and easy to prepare meals in another thread, I've been thinking about recipes that contain five or less ingredients, not counting salt, pepper, and seasoning. There are a number of soup recipes that I've put together over the years that fit this requirement, and a couple of stews and pasta dishes, as well as a few salads.

So, do you have any recipes that fit this requirement, especially those that might make hearty, filling dishes for cold and dark winter days?

shel


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## fr33_mason (Jan 9, 2008)

Smoked black cod With tomato and onion. 4 ounce per serving. take smoked fish and sprinkle Ground pepper all over. Coat With flour. slice up tomato and onion fairly thin. in a deep skillet put a tablespoon of butter and set heat to medium high. put fish in and brown. turn heat to med. low put tomato and onion over top cover and let cook Untill tomato and onion are just about stewed which is just around 20 min.


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## tessa (Sep 9, 2007)

this is a great one to make either small or for large crowds
so for each person 2 cups of gratedcarrot
1chopped onion 
2cups canned tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/4-1/2 tsp chopped chilli
handful of fresh chopped parsely
S and P to taste
water to cover

boil the whole lot together for about 10 - 15 mins , let cool slightly then blitz and garnish with more chopped fresh parsley , a drizzle of cream if you wish and eat with crusty bread. will keep fine in the fridge for about 4 days or so , that is if you can resist eating it


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## bubbamom (Jan 30, 2002)

I think there's a whole cookbook devoted to this concept also one for three items. In fact, I've given them to my nieces. Having said that, one of my <5 ingredient recipes is

Glazed Pork Chops

4 pork loin chops (3/4 inch thick, bone in)
1/3 C plus 1 T cider vinegar, divided
3 T soy sauce
3 cloves minced garlic
1-1/2 tsp cornstarch

Brown chops in a nonstick skilled over medium heat. In a bowl, combine 1/3 C vinegar, soy sauce and garlic. Pour over the chops, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes (or until meat is no longer pink). In a bowl, combine the cornstarch and remaining vinegar until smooth and stir into the skillet. Bring to a boil, cooking and stirring for about a minute until thickened. Yield: 4 servings.

Enjoy


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## cat man (May 7, 2007)

Pot Roast 
Brussel sprouts w/cheese sauce (just heavy cream and sharp cheddar)
Roasted Fingerling potatoes

That's a typical sunday meal in my house

Cat Man


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

I've got the book too but my favourite is 1.Tomato juice 2. splash of lea & perrins 3.oodles ofTabasco 4. wee shot of dry sherry 5. Decent glug of vodka:beer:


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## andyg (Aug 27, 2007)

flour, milk, eggs, cream cheese, and fresh fruit

(crepes with cream cheese inside and fruit on top)


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## bubbamom (Jan 30, 2002)

PROSIT! And besides the good taste, think of all the vitamins and the health benefits?!?!?!?!?!:roll:


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

I must be missing something. If you back out salt, pepper, and other seasonings (which is what Shel set up as the criteria), most recipes have five or fewer ingredients. Or, if not most, certainly a great percentage of them.

F'rinstance, last night I made broiled mahi mahi in a papaya port sauce. Not counting seasonings all it called for was the fish, papaya, butter, and port. 

I just pulled some of my recipe cards at random. Three out of four were 5 ingredients or less, plus seasoning. Among them:

Morracan Tagine of Chicken with Prunes (chicken, onions, prunes, fresh ginger, seasoning)

Southern Style Smothered Pork Chops: Pork chops, onion, applie juice, chicken broth, oil, seasonings.

Bubble & Squeak: Boiled beef, cabbage, vinegar, seasonings.

Herbed Lamb Rounds: Bulgur, ground lamb, garlic, olive oil, seasonings.

Tandori Chicken Kababa: Yogurt, lemon juice, chicken, cauliflower, bell peppers, seasonings.

Etc. etc. etc. 

If you stretch the definiation of "seasonings" to include garlic, citrus juices, and other elements there just for flavor (such as fresh ginger) many recipes call for only two or three ingredients. 

On the other hand, many of my recipes, which include 6, 8, 10 or more ingredients, are not particularly complex to make. So I don't think the number of ingredients really has much to do with simple & easy to prepare. 

Indeed, going through Alice Waters' new book, "The Art of Simple Food" there are many recipes with more than five ingredients. Even something as easy as her Cranberry Bean Gratin, has 8 ingredients, plus seasonings. But it's a fairly simple dish.


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## tasty thoughts (Oct 1, 2007)

I agree that there are many 5 ingredients or less recipes. A few from this week:

Pulled pork: pork loin roast & 1 bottle barbecue sauce in crockpot on low for 8 - 10 hours. Serve on potato rolls

Beef soup: stew beef, beef broth, carrots, onion, tomato juice, broccoli (ok, this one has 6 ingredients)

Veggie quesadillas: flour tortillas, frozen spinach, onions, mushrooms, shredded cheddar


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## foodnfoto (Jan 1, 2001)

As a southerner and true barbecue lover, I find this an absolute outrage! That people pass this sticky sweet gunk off as pulled pork has my kitchen god jumping off his perch above the cabinet.

Smoke the a bone in pork shoulder on a Weber or smoker with natural wood charcoal and hickory chips. Make a real sauce with chilies, garlic, vinegar and spices and simmer it all day. Pull the tender strips with two forks and serve it on a simple white fluffy bun with slaw.

Dumbing down our regional culinary traditions is killing our cultural heritage. 
Might as well open a blue box of mac and cheese, add a can of tomatoes and some ground beef and call it bolognese!
Fuh!


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## allie (Jul 21, 2006)

Food, I have to agree with you! lol We have a Brinkman Smoking Pit Pro and nothing beats pulled pork that is slow smoked using hickory. I don't do the vinegar based sauce because I don't like it. Instead I do the type of sauce that is very common in the area of Georgia where I grew up.....ketchup based and make it myself. My next venture is to start with my fresh tomato sauce and work my way up to a kind of sweet sauce. 

Anyway, I got a pork picnic for 67 cents per pound over the weekend so decided to try the slow cooker bbq I've heard so much about. I put the 10 lb picnic in the night before with just salt and pepper and let it cook until about 4 pm the following day. Then made up a simple bbq sauce - ketchup, worcestershire, minded onion sauted in about a tablespoon of butter, yellow mustard, cane syrup, and a bit of brown sugar along with cracked black pepper and some cayenne pepper. I know sugar overload and definitely not the healthiest meal! I cooked it for about 30 minutes until it started to thicken a bit and poured it over the pulled pork from the slow cooker.

It was decent but nothing like the low and slow smoked meats we prepare in summer. One day, we'll have a place to put our smoker out of the wind so we can use it in winter. Right now, we just can't keep the temps up on it when it's cold and windy outdoors which is daily in northeastern Indiana winters. lol

I make lots of different recipes which have 5 or less ingredients, especially when you leave out salt, pepper, and other seasonings. I just hop in the kitchen and throw them together when it's time to cook.


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## tasty thoughts (Oct 1, 2007)

As a southerner and true barbecue lover, I find this an absolute outrage! That people pass this sticky sweet gunk off as pulled pork has my kitchen god jumping off his perch above the cabinet.

Sorry to have caused an outrage. I understand that this is not the true recipe for pulled pork. However, the thread is 5 ingredients or less, so that is why I posted this meal. I guess I could have given the recipe a different name to avoid offending others.

I do feel the need to defend my cooking. All of the recipes that I posted for this thread were simple, quick meals. However, a typical meal in my house consists of many ingredients and is made from scratch. My kids can attest to that; they didn't know that waffles came frozen in a box until at a friend's house when they were elementary school aged.


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