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Food for Thought Friday: I still make this EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. π³
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Hello friends,
Today I am on a one-way flight back east, moving away from my beloved San Francisco ππ! I have a deep, undying love for SF, and I spent a very happy past 10 years here. I tend to get really emotional on plane rides, so as you are reading this, I will probably be crying on the airplane, and then *hopefully* writing the love letter tribute to SF that I haven't had time to write until now (but hope to publish here soon!).
For your FFTF today, I'm re-sharing this guide to the LINCHPIN meal of my intuitive cooking lifestyle: the sautΓ© bowl. I first published this last February, but I've been making versions of this meal for many years. I've taught about them in my courses, and I still make one daily, now for me and my husband. He loves them just as much as me, and - in fact - requests them if I haven't made one in a while, or if we've been traveling.
I originally moved to SF for my first job working in food, and I would say the saut Γ© bowl tops the chart as my number one food creation, so it feels fitting to reshare this today!
S autΓ© bowls are essential to my easy-breezy, use-what-you-have, creative way of cooking, not to mention they're FAST, flexible, and totally delicious.
Letβs go over the basics / get you the GUIDE to making this meal a regular part of your life...
SautΓ©ing is an essential cooking technique defined as: " a method of cooking that uses a relatively small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat" (from wikipedia, more here).
A sautΓ© bowl is my full-meal application of this technique that most often includes a heaping pile of veggies, greens on top, a protein on the side, and some *toppings* for contrasting texture (the toppings are KEY to making this meal special, and unique every time!). A sautΓ© bowl is best for ~1-3 people, just because you need a lot of pan space/surface area to properly sautΓ© all this veg!
GPJ Intuitive Guide to SautΓ© Bowls:
Key tasks:
- Manage cooking times of different foods (which cook at different speeds) so they finish cooking around the same time
- Use a combination of browning (lid off) and steaming (lid on) to get caramelization and browning on the outside AND ensure food is cooked through on the inside
- Add longer-cooking-time veggies to the pan first, quicker-cooking veggies later; greens at the end
- If desired, towards the end of cooking, you can add a dash of water, then quickly put the lid on to steam the greens/finish cooking everything
- If sautΓ©ing both proteins and veggies, I find it's generally best to do them in separate pans to better manage cooking times and speeds
Factors to consider:
- surface area: if the pan is crowded with veggies, and/or if you stir it around too much, there wonβt be as much browning/crispiness; make sure you use large enough pans or multiple pans so veggies can spread out
- number of pans: especially if youβre cooking for more than one person, I recommend cooking proteins and veggies in separate pans so you can manage the different speeds at which they cook. If cooking for larger groups, make sure to use big enough pans to hold all the food. I recommend using a 12-inch cast iron pan for 1-2 people, plus a smaller pan for protein as needed (this is what I do daily).
- cooking fat: since this is medium-/high heat cooking, a fat with a high smoke point is best. For more variety in flavor, consider using a mix of fats and/or adding a small amount of a more flavorful fat that goes with the flavors youβre working with; for example - a dash of sesame oil is great with East Asian inspired dishes, etc. If you combine a higher heat fat (like avocado oil) with a more heat-sensitive fat (like butter), that can help prevent the fat from burning or smoking too much. PS. Butter can burn more quickly so keep an eye on it, but make sure to try mushrooms sautΓ©ed in butter - one of my favorite foods!
Key Steps of this dish:
- Step 1: heat pan; add cooking fat
- Step 2: when pan + fat are hot, add veggies (it should sizzle when you add them; if not, it wasnβt quite hot enough); give them a quick stir to make sure all are coated in fat and spread them around in the pan; then leave to brown for a minute or two without touching them
- Step 3: Add veggies in order of longest-cooking-time to shortest-cooking-time, chopping and adding as you go. Chop longer cooking veggies smaller to decrease cooking time.
- Step 4: add a small sprinkle of salt to the veg, generally, after initial browning (but skip this if you are using soy sauce or something else salty)
- Step 5: stir occasionally and/or put lid on periodically until veggies are cooked through to your liking
- Step 6: add greens and any sauces at the end, cook for one more minute or two; add a dash of water + put the lid on to steam greens at the end if you prefer, or just stir them in for more browning. (A clear glass lid is preferable so you can SEE when the greens are done.)
- Step 7: plate your dish and add toppings; get creative with it (see below for ideas)!
Make it your own! - Think about sauteΜ bowls as a perfect place to mix and match your favorite ingredients and flavor families into on-the-fly combinations. To help you out, consider the following...
Elements of a sauteΜ bowl:
- Veggies - veggies that you are going to sauteΜ freshly; my favorites and most commonly sautΓ©ed combos include:
- mushrooms in butter, with bok choi + dash of soy sauce (topped with kimchi + avocado)
- cabbage (awesome with extra caesar salad dressing as a topping)
- onions and peppers
- broccoli (with Sichuan peppercorns)
- cauliflower
- green beans
- in the summer: zucchini, eggplant sliced very thin, peppers, all the summer veg
- Greens - I always add greens on top of my sauteΜ bowl, but up to you!
- Protein - quick cooking proteins are the best here; my favorites are eggs, sausages, tempeh/tofu, and throwing in a pre-cooked meat mid-way through to warm it up
- Extras - anything you want! This is a great way to eat up leftovers or use up already-cooked foods, like:
- cooked rice
- half of an onion, lingering veggies
- beans - just try not to put too much bean liquid in the sautΓ©
- already-roasted veggies - throw them in!
- toast/bread/pita on the side
- Toppings - this is where the INTUITIVE MAGIC HAPPENS!
- sauces (homemade or pre-bought!), always a win!
- spices / chili flakes - spice mixes like zaβatar, dukkah, or chaat masala are a favorite of mine
- creamy things: yogurt, cheese, sour cream, coconut yogurt
- raw veg like tomato, avocado, fresh herbs, etc
- fermented veg: pickled onions, kimchee, sauerkraut, etc
- other: nuts, toasted spices or seeds, really the sky's the limit!
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I always have more to say about sautΓ© bowls, but that's enough for today. I hope you make some with whatever you have on hand! For more inspiration, see a video of me making a different iteration here.
Happy sautΓ©ing!
Love,
Jess
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Hi, I'm Jess! I help health-conscious, busy people transform their cooking from chore to lifestyle through intuitive cooking, which I teach through online classes, free content, coaching and more. This is my newsletter, Food for Thought Fridays, where I share highly actionable tips and inspiration to help you cook more intuitively (which makes cooking feel easier and SO much more fun!). Once a month, I share a recipe that's really worth making, and I only share those with my email subscribers.
I currently work + live on land that is the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone. And I can't wait to eat at Cafe Ohlone when they reopen someday! Check out this article about them.
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