01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 12, 2004

BY GAIL CIAMPA
Journal Food Editor

Do we have any votes for making cooking easier, faster and healthier? Would you like that to taste good, too?

If so, let's turn to Silvia Bianco, author of Simply Sauté, chef and owner of a former Connecticut restaurant called Biscotti and a cooking teacher.

She's no flash in the pan. Rather, she is an educator on a mission -- to teach home cooks how to whip up meals in a single skillet using sauté.

This technique is used in restaurants across America every day, Bianco said during a recent interview. But home cooks think it means stir-frying vegetables.

It's so much more.

Bianco explains that "sauté" means to add any ingredient -- meat, fish or vegetable -- to a small amount of hot oil, to brown or cook it along with flavorings in a sauté, or frying pan.

It answers the age-old dilemma of what to do when you have a fridge full of chicken and a cabinet of spices.

Unlike frying, which uses lots of oil that you want to keep out of your food, sautéing uses a little bit of oil, which becomes part of a sauce.

To succeed requires that you try it, she said.

"You know how baking is like chemistry?" she asks. "Well, cooking is an art, not a science. The only thing that makes a food good or not is how it tastes, not how you go about it."

You won't hear this native of Calabria, Italy, preaching "Mangia"; rather her plea is, "Try it, you'll like it."

"So many people are so afraid they can't do it right, they don't even try," she said.

Understanding people's need to have recipes, she penned them in her book but hopes cooks will expand beyond them.

Bianco will visit Providence on Saturday. She'll be at Venda Ravioli, 265 Atwells Ave., Providence, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., where she will chat with customers and autograph copies of Simply Sauté (Marlowe & Co., $16.95), which will be given free to the first 100 customers who make at least a $10 purchase in the store.

She may share the story of how, as a young widow with two children, she left the corporate world to become a chef and opened Biscotti, a restaurant in Ridgefield, Conn. Now that she has closed that spot, she has turned to writing this cookbook and plans a second for teen cooks.

"I started writing this book because this is what I do," she said.

And while it may seem simple to her, it's a mystery to most that prep to cut up all the meats and vegetables in a sauté dinner takes only 15 or 20 minutes, and the cooking takes 5 minutes.

You'll find that the secret to sauté magic begins with Bianco's white wine sauce.

"It picks up the flavors of whatever ingredients are in your pan -- meat, fish or vegetables," she writes. "Best of all, the sauce is just the background. It never dominates the flavor, instead enhancing it and adding a creamy texture to whatever you are cooking."

It's a simple blend of wine, flour and chicken broth. She makes it in large quantities and simply adds a little to the ingredients in her sauté pan.

Another sautéing secret is to deglaze. It is simple, meaning to add a liquid, usually a wine or liquor, to a pan to lift the browned pieces that have stuck to the pan. It adds flavor to any dish.

Dredging, too, can help add flavor. Dredging an ingredient means coating it in something -- usually flour, but it could be breadcrumbs or cornmeal -- before you sauté. The even coating browns in lovely way.

Bianco preaches the uniform code. Always cut the ingredients you plan to use into equal sizes so they cook evenly. Cut or pound chicken into relatively thin pieces so they cook thoroughly in a few minutes without overcooking.

Being gentle with garlic is another tip. If a recipe calls for minced garlic, add it just before you add a cold or room-temperature ingredient such as tomatoes, wine or broth. It can burn in less than a minute in hot oil and ruin a dish.

Par-boil dense vegetables such as broccoli or asparagus before you sauté. Then quickly dunk them in cold water to prevent overcooking.

Here are two recipes from her book to get you started in the world of sauté.

WHITE WINE SAUCE

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup dry white wine

4 cups chicken broth

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (see note)

Pour the olive oil into a 4- to 5-quart saucepan over medium heat, then add the flour and stir with a wire whisk until all the flour is dissolved and the mixture looks like a paste. Reduce the heat and slowly add the wine; the mixture will start to thicken quickly. Continue to stir and remove from the heat, if necessary, until all the wine has been mixed in. Slowly pour in the chicken broth while you continue to stir.

Simmer, uncovered, for approximately 1 hour, or until the taste of alcohol is no longer present in the sauce.

QUICK SAUCE VARIATION: You can make a quick White Wine Sauce right in the sauté pan while you cook the other ingredients. Simply add 1/4 cup of white wine and 2 tablespoons of flour to the pan juices and stir until you have a smooth paste. Slowly add 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken broth, depending on how thick you want the sauce to be, and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes.

SAUTEED PEACHES IN PEACH SCHNAPPS

2 tablespoons butter

2 fresh or frozen peaches, sliced

1/4 cup peach Schnapps

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Whipped cream

2 sprigs mint (optional garnish)

Ice cream (optional)

This is a wonderfully delicious twist on the elegantly simple peaches-and-cream dessert.

Melt the butter in a small or medium sauté pan over medium-low heat. Sauté the peach slices in the melted butter for about 1 minute, or until they begin to turn golden brown. Turn off the heat and carefully add the schnapps, being aware that a flame will probably result. Turn the heat on again, cook the sauce for about 1 minute, and add the cream. Remove from the heat. Serve warm with whipped cream and a sprig of mint, or refrigerate for about 5 minutes until the sauce is the thickness of caramel, and serve over ice cream. Makes 2 servings.

MARINARA SAUCE

3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 anchovy fillets, chopped

1 medium clove garlic, minced

3 cans (28 ounces each) whole peeled plum tomatoes (or crushed or diced tomatoes) in their own juice, coarsely chopped or broken up by hand (do not put through a food processor, which will affect taste and color), hard cores removed and discarded

2 or 3 whole basil leaves

1 cup water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a 4- to 5-quart saucepan over medium heat for about 30 seconds. Cook the onion and anchovies in the hot oil for about 2 minutes, until they are soft.

Sauté the garlic for about 30 seconds, or until it begins to brown. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tomatoes and basil leaves. Bring to a boil, pour in the water (the sauce will lose a lot of liquid during cooking), and reduce the heat to low.

Partially cover the pan to allow steam to escape, and cook for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until you have a thick, rich sauce. Stir occasionally to prevent bits of the tomatoes from sinking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Season with salt and pepper.

Makes 7 cups.