What are your go to recipes? Please share.....

[ELR]

Just wondering what are your top 3 go to recipes you cook all the time, I don't mean your quick pasta and pesto, jacket and bean type ones but the ones you would cook which come from a book/recipe or seen on tv.

Thought it may be useful for everyone else to know these then maybe we could all find a few new recipes.
So please list your top 3 and where they come from it could be a version of something too so if you have adapted a recipe ect.

Mine are:

1. Spicy chicken kebabs with fennel and peppers and pine nut pilau rice. I saw Sophie Grigson make this on tv.
2. Pulled lamb vindaloo, Simon Rimmer.
3. Cod in tomato, pepper and caper sauce. Saw Mary Berry cook this on tv

A chicken, basil, tomato, red pepper and chilli tray bake type think. Based on a Jamie Oliver but my Mum also makes it hers is nothing like mine!

Jamie Olivers slow roast pork, with Nigellas gratin and Delias red cabbage is my go to meal for feeding a load of people with minimum fuss.

My Grandmas Kottbullar (meatballs) in gravy.

Jamie O's curries yes, all of them from Ministry of Food (inc paste)
River Cottage Carrot cake from the Torygraph freebies last year

Other than that it's tried and trusted favourites that are quick and can be adapted to what is lurking in the cupboards.

Carbonara, Delia's
Brined Southern Fried chicken
Pulled meat of some sort, and yes, the Simon Rimmer pulled lamb vindaloo is gorgeous.

1. Acapulco chicken, Ainsley Harriott (Meals in Minutes): chicken thighs and kidney beans in a tomato sauce (the dc have it minus kidney beans and chilli powder)
2. Spicy chicken, Gary Rhodes (Short-cut Rhodes). It's spicy tasty, not spicy hot. Chicken breast in yoghurt, lime juice, turmeric, paprika, garlic and cardamom
3. Bill's Quick Roast Chicken with White Wine and Shallots, Bill Granger (Delicious Magazine March 2012).

ELR, I like the sound of the kebabs. Is the recipe online anywhere? I have had a quick google but not sure that I've found it.

1/ Lamb Byriani from Good Food Magazine
2/ Sausage, Potato and Thyme Bake from Waitrose recipe card
3/ Greek Lamb with Orzo again from Good Food Magazine

In the winter I also regularly make the Chilli from Hairy Bikers Mum Knows Best.

Oh and an authentic, no cream, Carbonara, think it was Jamie's originally that I've fiddled with :)

1/ Lasagne (taught to me by Italian MIL)
2/ Spicy chicken, with rice and veggies
3/ Slow cooked lamb, roasties and veggies

Dhal - recipe from my Indian friend
Chicken souvlaki - Sarah Raven Food for Friends and Family
Chicken curry with black mustard seeds and curry leaves - Nigel Slater Kitchen Diaries

Jamie Oliver's basic curry sauce Here

A cheese and leek pie based on a Lesley Waters recipe

Interesting. That JO curry sauce recipe is nearly exactly the same as Nigel Slaters one.....

Chicken braised with cannelloni beans, tomato & chorizo (cut out from The Times Jan 17)
Jools pregnant pasta (JO's 30 Min Meals)
Twice cooked belly pork based on a Gok Wan recipe

Very very hard to narrow this down to 3!

Multi vegetable paella - Ottolenghi
North African squash and chickpea stew - HFW Veg Every Day
Tunisian Lamb - River Cottage Meat Book
Beef Stew with anchovies and thyme - from How to Eat (Nigella)
Roasted aubergine, tomato and chickpea salad - from Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater

Also have a fab chicken curry feast from an ancient copy of BBC Good Food which is v v good too.

nolda I've googled and looks like its on the uk food website but I can't open the pg for some reason. This is what I've got written down in my little recipe book:
Mix all the below ingredients then marinade chicken pieces then thread onto skewres and I fry them in a griddle pan.
2 cloves garlic,
sprig of tarragon( I've always used dry)
1 fresh red chilli
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp tomato purée but I always use a big dollop
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

The pilau rice is
4 cardamom pods, onion and garlic fried up then add 125g basmati and 300ml stock. Cook then soak a little saffron in milk/water add this with some fresh parsley and toasted pine nuts and a few knobs of butter.

The peppers and fennel is basically a red and yellow pepper and a bilb of fennel sliced and then sautéed with lots of garlic then add a handful of kalamata olives and the juice of half a lemon.

I make this at least once a month and saw the recipe in 2002!! It's also a real good crowd pleaser.

A sweet potato and spinach dahl, nom nom nom
spagetti bolognese which is the only thing my OH can make so we have this weekly when I'm out with the Beaver Scouts

ELR, thanks for the recipe. It looks absolutely yummy. I'm loving smoked paprika at the moment. It's good that you can fry them as the grill is not working in my rented house.

1, hfw veg every day- flatbreads, with baked squash with chilli and thyme- there are better recipes in the book but for some reason this is what I come back to, probably because I always have a rogue squash about.
2, Jamie 30 min meals- chicken pie with French style peas, again better recipes in the book, and, indeed, Jamie himself has a better chicken pie in great Britain, but it's the ease of ingredients and guarantee of family eating it that makes it the pie of choice..

1. The hairy bikers mothers know best, pan haggerty. Now, this is DEFINITELY not the best in the book, but, at the end of the month, when you're on your arse and haven't had meat in a week, it's exceptionally cheap and makes 4 rashers of bacon into a meal for five with those credentials I make it at least once a month.

What do you rate in the HFW book, PP? I have been v v underwhelmed with it so far. The vegetable boulangaire (sp?) thing had far too much liquid, the dahl was insipid and the chard curry was just disgusting (but did teach me that I don't like chard!). I don't need recipes for cheese on toast or omelette and loads of the other recipes include tinned tomatoes, which are the food of Satan. So I'm struggling...

remus my two faves from hfw are the cheesy leeks on toast thing and the pasta and pesto that has green beans and potato in it.
pregnant I too always have a rouge squash hanging around so will make that next time!

I would not do the dhal again, I agree it was bland at best. On the bland note, the penne souffle is to be avoided, its tasteless. I was also tempted by the wild mushroom with orzo, even though I hate mushrooms, it didn't convert me, DC loved it though.

I havent got the book to hand but I know that My Dh loved the north African Stew with barley, and the baby carrot risotto, and the spring soup(but they were fresh from our garden, we may have been biased) the merguez chips are delicious, and I vouch for the bread recipe for flatbread and pizzas. The potato and green bean salad with olives is a nice lunch too. For the idea, the pot noodle is good, but I don't stick to the recipe, but its a cheap work lunch that I didn't have the sense to think of myself.
Others we like do include tinned toms.

Merguez chips, yes - but again they are hardly something you need a recipe for. I suspect it is better for non veggies than for veggies tbh.

Definitely. I have many veggie friends who say the same, one said if your a new veggie it is fine, if you've spent some time cooking and experimenting with veg then its a bit obvious. I like it though.

ELR, I made the chicken kebabs last night and the whole family loved them. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I will definitely be making it again.

The green bean and roasted tomato salad with the tahini dressing is v good from HFW Veg, as is the carrot hoummous (great as part of a mezze board).