A Few of Our Favorite (Fast) Foods

Around 1750 the Earl of Sandwich put some meat between two slices of bread and gave fast food a good name. It was several hundred years before American ingenuity came along to ruin its reputation.

But fast food doesn’t have to mean a hapless piece of meat or produce that’s been fried to a frazzle, wrapped in layers of paper and plastic and sold for the cheapest possible price. Fast food can be made from scratch, served with pride and consumed with pleasure. The following recipes, a few of our favorites, prove the point.

Four Food Groups

Nutrition-conscious mothers are supposed to have lots of recipes for getting dinner on the table lickety-split. Not this one. I don’t have time for elaborate meal planning. Still, I want to make sure my children eat the right foods--I especially don’t want to feed them any of that flash-frozen food.

That’s why this chicken and spinach dish works so well. It’s ready in about the time it takes to cook pasta. And the onion, garlic and Parmesan cheese give the spinach so much flavor the kids don’t even know it’s good for them.

CHICKEN AND PASTA FLORENTINE

1 tablespoon butter

4 chicken breast halves, boned

Salt, pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion, chopped

1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach leaves, thawed

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Hot cooked fettuccine or linguine

Heat butter in skillet until hot. Season chicken breasts to taste with salt and pepper, then cook in butter on both sides until golden. Remove from skillet. Add garlic and onion to drippings in pan and saute, scraping up browned bits, until onion is tender. Add thawed spinach to skillet, season to taste with salt and pepper and stir to mix.

Place chicken on top of spinach in pan. Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Do not overcook or spinach will become mushy. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Serve with hot cooked fettuccine and additional cheese. Makes 2 to 4 servings.