SAM ON THE RADIO:
Cooking to Beat the Clock on A Chef's Table

Designing Your Kitchen for Speed/
Sherried Chicken with Sweet Peppers and Saffron Rice

Years ago when I was a student at the Restaurant School in Philadelphia, one of our assignments was to observe a restaurant kitchen in action. I chose Friday Saturday Sunday, a restaurant in Center City that’s still in operation. Two things made a big impression on me during that visit. One was how small the kitchen was. In fact, many home kitchens today are larger. The second was how many dinners were turned out that night, well over 100.

How did they do it? Well, the fact that the kitchen was small actually helped. By not having wasted motion, meals were prepared faster. One man cooked virtually all the hot food while two made cold dishes and served desserts. That’s important to keep in mind when planning your kitchen for speed. Lots of room may look impressive, but it slows down meal preparation.

My new kitchen has the same floor plan as the old one mostly because my wife and I didn’t want to spend the money to do much else. But that is an advantage because my small kitchen works almost as effectively as Friday Saturday Sunday.

Essentially my contractor is taking out the old cabinets and appliances and putting new ones in their place. The cabinets are more efficiently designed with, for example, three large lazy Susans to make getting ingredients easier.

New appliances are being put in the same place as the old ones. And none of them are the kind one sees in fancy magazines like Architectural Digest. The refrigerator and dishwasher are mainstream models. I couldn’t have gotten a commercial style range even if I wanted to because my exhaust is under the floor. And only two ranges are built with “down draft” exhausts.

Since I’ve never worked with more than average home equipment in testing recipes for four books and hundreds of food articles, I don’t consider not having a Viking stove or a Subzero refrigerator to be a handicap. I’ve always believed that if I can cook a dish in my kitchen, my readers (many of whom have better kitchens than I do) can do the same in theirs.

More important is efficient use of space. My kitchen has a triangle concept that most kitchen designers recommend for effective meal preparation. That means the stove, sink, and refrigerator are at the three points of the triangle. And the triangle isn’t a large one. In fact, I can stretch out my arms and touch any two of these appliances. That means no unnecessary motion and faster meal preparation.

See how efficient your kitchen is in preparing the following recipe.

Sherried Chicken with Sweet Peppers and Saffron Rice

• 1 cup basmati rice

• 1 teaspoon salt plus additional salt for seasoning

• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads or 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 4 boneless and skinless chicken breast halves, each about 6 ounces, pounded evenly to about half their original thickness (by the butcher, if possible)

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 medium onion, about 8 ounces

• 3 medium bell peppers, preferably red, green, and yellow

• 2 cloves garlic

• 3 or 4 sprigs fresh thyme (enough for 2 teaspoons when chopped) or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1/2 cup pitted green olives (or pimento-stuffed green olives)

• 1/2 cup dry sherry

• 1/2 cup fat-free, reduced sodium chicken stock

• Hot pepper flakes (optional)

 1)While the hot-water tap runs, put the rice in a 2-quart saucepan. Add 2 cups hot tap water and 1 teaspoon salt and the saffron (crushed between your fingers) or turmeric. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and keep covered until ready to serve. (Or put the rice, 2 cups hot water, and 1 teaspoon salt in a 2-quart microwave-safe container. Cover and put in a microwave oven on high power for 10 minutes. Keep covered until ready to serve.)

 2)Meanwhile, put the olive oil in 12-inch sauté pan (or other large deep skillet) and turn heat to high. Season one side of the chicken with salt and pepper. (If the butcher hasn’t done so, pound the chicken between two sheets of aluminum foil or wax paper with the side of a cleaver or a meat pounder before seasoning.)  Add the chicken to the pan, seasoned side down. Season the other side of the chicken. Brown the chicken for 2 minutes on each side.

 3)Meanwhile, cut off a thin slice from the top and bottom of the onion, halve lengthwise, peel each half, and cut them crosswise into thin half moon slices. Cut the top from one of the bell peppers. Stand it upright and cut down inside the four walls, separating the walls from the center core and seeds. Then cut the walls into thin strips. Repeat with the other 2 peppers. Add the onion and pepper to the sauté pan. Cover and shake the pan back and forth a few times to mix vegetables with chicken.

 4)Peel and chop the garlic. Chop the thyme leaves if using fresh. Coarsely chop the olives. Add the garlic, thyme, olives, sherry, stock, and salt and pepper to the pan with the chicken. If desired, add a healthy pinch of hot pepper flakes.

 5)Cover and shake the pan back and forth to mix evenly. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook, covered for 6 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and no pink remains inside. (Cut through a piece with a paring knife if you’re not sure.) Uncover and stir once or twice while the mixture cooks. Serve the chicken and vegetables with the rice.

 Serves 4

Per serving: 532 calories, 46 grams protein, 46 grams carbohydrate, 16 grams fat, 2.3 grams saturated fat, 28 percent calories from fat, 99 mg cholesterol, 1176 mg sodium.