How Long Do You Need to Prepare Gourmet Meals?

Do you long to be able to cook up incredible gourmet meals, but just don't have the time? The fact of the matter is that gourmet meals don't have to take hours to prepare. You can whip them up quickly and with a little bit of preparation, you can always be ready for guests and to impress your family.

The trick to fast gourmet meals is having a well-stocked pantry. You probably already have the basics, flour, sugar, etc. but if you want to really blow people away, you will need a few extra items. Frozen, peeled shrimp and tins of crab meat, oysters and tuna are a good idea to keep on hand. A couple of fancy vinegars, like balsamic and red wine vinegars can add a flair to dishes as can a good bottle of wine for cooking. Stay away from cooking wines, though since they have salt in them. It's better to just buy the cheap boxed kind instead. No one will know the difference.

Elegant looking pasta is a must-have as well. Avoid plain old macaroni or spaghetti; go for twirls and flat noodles like fettuccine. If you can find the colored spinach and carrot pasta, all the better. Chicken breasts, beef and the like are also good things to keep on hand. You can have them frozen and put them out in the morning to thaw by the time you are ready to prepare dinner.

Gourmet meals can be whipped up in minutes using just a few basic ideas. You will want to make a balanced meal, so you need carbohydrates such as rice or pasta, plus protein, which might be chicken or seafood. Also, you need to include some vegetables. These could be fresh, but a faster way is to thaw out frozen veggies in the microwave.

All you need to add is a sauce and you have a gourmet meal! For example, you might do up a quick pepper stir-fry, with green, red and yellow peppers. Make a bed of white rice or couscous on a plate, top with the peppers and then a chicken breast lightly sautéed with garlic. Drizzle garlic butter over the whole thing and sprinkle with parsley for a truly gourmet look!

Another idea is to make up some pasta and while it is cooking, make up a packet of creamy seafood soup, using half the water called for. Add some of those frozen shrimp or a few smoked oysters and pour over the pasta for a restaurant-style meal. Frozen puff pastry is something else that can make a regular meal gourmet in minutes. Just use it to create seafood puffs, wrapping it around prawns or crab meat and bake. Serve with a simple white garlic sauce to create the illusion of having spent hours preparing the food!

As you can see, this could be very easy once you get the hang of it! There is no need to spend hours and hours on a gourmet meal just to make it look and taste good.