If you're searching for recipes with very little active cooking time, look for ideas where marinating plays a key role. Throwing together a quick marinade can take less than five minutes and you'll end up with complex flavors and often a ready-made sauce to boot. Fish, chicken, meat, and most veggies will pick up flavors in a half hour to an hour and you can spend that time getting the rest of dinner ready. Plus, for make-ahead meals, marinating is ideal - get your food in the marinade overnight and you'll be ready to hit the grill, pan, or oven the next day!

Marinating 101
Marinating, or steeping foods in flavorful liquids, originated as a way to preserve foods and add flavor. Most cooks today are cooking with fresh ingredients, but still appreciate the flavors even a simple marinade can add, as well as the tenderizing quality of marinades with "acid" ingredients such as citrus juice, wine, or vinegar. This acid component should never make up much more than one quarter of the total marinating liquid or you will actually begin to cook the food.

You can add nearly anything to a marinade from herbs to spices to ready-made sauces to ginger, garlic, and onions. A little oil will also help carry the flavor, although too much will actually coat the food and prevent it from absorbing your marinade. Don't get too fussy about the quantities used in recipes as this is a very forgiving medium and should be modified to suit your tastes.

Because most marinades do contain some sort of acid ingredient, you should avoid using aluminum for cooking or marinating - it may give your food off colors and flavors. Instead, try glass or Pyrex or even hefty plastic bags or containers. Making your marinade directly in a plastic bag lets you squeeze your items into the fridge and makes for very speedy cleanup!

You should always make enough marinade to coat the food well (one to two cups for one and and half to two pounds of meat is a good rule of thumb), but you can also make extra to use as a sauce. Just set some of the marinade aside before adding your meat or boil it for at least five minutes if it's already been in contact with the food.

The marinade doesn't need to be entirely covering the ingredients, but you should turn it or shake it occasionally to make sure all sides get evenly marinated.

How Long to Marinate
There's lots of debate about how long something needs to be marinated and it all depends on the type of food you're using, how you cut it, and what you're using for the marinade itself. Still, because fish and vegetables absorb flavors quickly, they should be finished in 30 to 60 minutes - and any time over about two hours could cause the flavors to become too strong. Chicken can go anywhere from a half hour to overnight and meats such as beef or pork generally require at least one to two hours for the flavors to really develop. Cut your meat into thin strips and you can cut that time back down to a half hour.

Recipes to Try

Marinated Vegetables
Grilled Teriyaki Pork Chops with Pineapple Mango Relish
Cabernet Steak and Mushrooms
Grilled Marinated London Broil
Spicy Pineapple Marinade for Chicken
Annatto Marinade for Fish