300 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes (18 page)

Shortcut Buffalo Wings

Here's a bonus recipe!

Make your wings according to the method in
The Only 15 Minute Wings I Could Work Out
(See
page 100
). While they're cooking, make the Buffalo Wing sauce in the recipe above—1/4 cup (55 g) butter melted with 1/4 cup (60 ml) Louisiana-style hot sauce. When the wings are done, toss them with the sauce and serve with blue cheese dressing.

The Only 15-Minute Wings I Could Figure Out

Because I love chicken wings and know that lots of other folks do, too, I tried several ways of cooking them, trying to come up with a way to cook a halfway decent wing within our 15-minute time frame. I'm here to tell you it ain't easy. Frying them took too long and left a big mess. Baked wings were done within 15 minutes if I cranked my oven all the way to 500°F (240°C, or gas mark 9)—but preheating the oven that hot added extra 15 minutes to the process.

Finally I hit on cooking them in my electric tabletop grill, and it worked! My wings were done through, and while they weren't as wonderfully crunchy as oven-baked wings, they were acceptably crisp.

Chicken wings—as many as will fit in your grill (Mine fits about 8 whole wings.)

Sprinkle-on seasoning of your choice (dry rub barbecue seasoning, jerk seasoning, lemon pepper, Cajun seasoning, Creole seasoning—or just salt and pepper, if you prefer)

Plug your grill in. Do not wait for it to heat up—you need every second of cooking time you can get. Arrange the wings on the grill, pulling them open (extending them at the joints) so they lay as flat as possible on the grill. (Obviously, if you're using cut-up wing “drummettes” this won't be necessary.) Fit as many on the grill as you can. Then sprinkle them with your chosen seasoning and close the grill. Press down gently on the top of the grill, to make sure that the grill is in firm contact with as much of the surface of the wings as possible. Cook for 13 to 15 minutes and serve.

Yield:
How many servings you get will depend on the size of your grill. Each wing will have a negligible amount of carbs, no fiber, and 9 grams of protein. (That's for whole wings; figure roughly half that for each “drummette.”)

Lettuce Wraps

These are currently a hot appetizer at Asian restaurants, and they're delicious—but the restaurant version usually contains an unacceptable amount of sugar. Serve these as an appetizer if you like, but I like them as a light supper. Even if you have to make the
Asian Dipping Sauce
(see
page 291
), too, this comes in under the 15-minute time limit.

1 can (8 ounces, or 225 g) water chestnuts, drained

1 cup (70 g) sliced mushrooms

5 scallions, roots and limp shoot removed, cut into 2 or 3 pieces each

3 tablespoons (45 ml) soy sauce

2 tablespoons (3 g) Splenda

1/2 teaspoon blackstrap molasses

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic or 3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons (45 ml) oil

1 pound (455 g) ground chicken

Guar or xanthan

Iceberg or leaf lettuce

Asian Dipping Sauce
(see
page 291
)

Place the water chestnuts, mushrooms, and scallions in your food processor with the
S
-blade in place. Pulse just enough to chop everything to a medium consistency.

Combine the soy sauce, Splenda, blackstrap molasses, garlic, and rice vinegar. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over highest heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry, breaking it up as it cooks. When about half of the pink is gone from the chicken, add the chopped vegetables and stir-fry everything together for a few more minutes. When the chicken is cooked through, stir in the seasoning mixture and let everything cook together for just another minute or so. Thicken the pan juices just a little with guar or xanthan and serve.

To eat this, you wrap spoonfuls of the meat mixture in lettuce leaves, dip the rolls in the
Asian Dipping Sauce
, and then eat them by hand. The tidiest way to do this is to take a whole, firm head of iceberg lettuce and slice a good 2-inch thick (5 cm thick) slab off the side, making lettuce cups—you can do this all over the head, leaving the
inside of the head for salad. However, there's no reason not to use leaf lettuce if you prefer it.

Yield:
Figure this is 6 servings as an appetizer, each with 10 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 8 grams of usable carbs (exclusive of the dipping sauce) and 25 grams of protein, which is a pretty filling appetizer!

Figure this is 4 servings as a main course, each with 15 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber, for a total of 12 grams of usable carbs (again, exclusive of the dipping sauce) and 37 grams of protein.

Easy Mexicali Chicken

How simple this is! Yet you know the whole family will like it. Just remember to read the labels to get the lowest-carb salsa.

1 1/2 pounds (680 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 tablespoons (28 ml) oil

4 ounces (115 g) Monterey Jack, pepper Jack, or shredded Mexican cheese

blend, as you prefer

1/2 cup (130 g) mild, medium, or hot salsa, as you prefer

Pound the chicken breasts to 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) thick and divide into portions, if needed.

Place your large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil, and sauté the chicken breasts for about 5 minutes or until the bottom is golden. Turn and sauté for another 3 to 4 minutes. Top the chicken with the cheese, turn the heat down to medium-low, cover the skillet, and let the whole thing cook for another 3 to 4 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

While the cheese is melting, put the salsa in a microwaveable dish and nuke it for a minute at 50 percent power.

Remove the chicken to serving plates, top with the salsa, and serve. You could add a dollop of sour cream if you like or maybe some chopped fresh cilantro, but it's not really necessary.

Yield:
4 or 5 servings. Assuming 4 servings, each will have 2 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 1 gram of usable carbs and 45 grams of protein.

Chicken Liver Sauté

The worst possible thing you can do to liver of any kind is overcook it, which makes chicken livers an ideal candidate for a super-fast gourmet supper. The cauliflower rice is optional with this, but it takes very little extra time, adds only 1 gram of extra carbs to a serving, and makes this seem more like a meal.

1/2 head cauliflower (optional)

8 ounces (225 g) chicken livers

4 ounces (115 g) sliced mushrooms

1/4 medium onion

1 tablespoon (14 g) butter

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic or 1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon ground rosemary*

1/4 cup (60 ml) dry sherry

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Guar or xanthan

* You can use a teaspoon of dried rosemary needles instead, and it will taste good, but you'll have little tough needles in your food.

If you want cauliflower rice to serve the chicken livers on, make that first. Run the cauliflower through the shredding blade of your food processor, put it in a microwaveable casserole with a lid, add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, cover it, and microwave it on High for 7 minutes. If the cauliflower is done cooking before you're quite done with your livers,
remove the lid.
This will let the steam out and stop the cooking. Otherwise you'll get a white mush that bears little resemblance to rice or even cauliflower.

Okay, you're ready to deal with the livers. Cut each liver into 3 or 4 chunks. We're assuming you bought presliced mushrooms, but if you didn't, slice them now. Take the onion quarter, cut it in half again (making two eighths), and then slice it as thin as you can.

Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the livers, mushrooms, onions, and garlic and stir-fry until the mushrooms are starting to change color and most of the pink is gone from the livers. Add the rosemary, sherry,
lemon juice, and a little salt and pepper and let it all simmer for just 1 to 2 minutes. Thicken the pan liquid slightly with guar or xanthan and serve, with or without cauliflower rice.

Yield:
2 servings. Without the cauliflower rice, each serving will have 8 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 7 grams of usable carbs and 22 grams of protein.

If you serve it with the cauliflower rice, each serving will have 10 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 8 grams of usable carbs and 22 grams of protein.

Lemon~Glazed Turkey Cutlets