I’m not sure our staples are any more exciting than yours but here are some of the things we do:
- Salmon baked in foil parcels with chilli, ginger, soy, lime, some finely sliced spring onion and coriander, sometimes add honey. Served with stir fry veg and noodles.
- Paneer tikka type thing - chop paneer into cubes and marinate in curry paste (I like the pataks paste pots, you can usually get them for a pound in Lidl) with whatever veg you like e.g. mushrooms, red onion, pepper, cherry tomatoes. Cook in a hot griddle pan, I serve with rice or naan bread and make a yoghurt dressing either mint yoghurt or just stir a bit of the curry paste through it.
Toad in the hole or sausage casserole- we use cauldron veggie sausages but you could obviously use ‘proper’ ones. There’s a gorgeous meat free sausage casserole recipe from Tesco but would work just as well if you did it with meaty ones.
Risotto - using whatever veg we have, you can of course add chicken or fish etc. Prawn pea and lemon has gone down really well when I’ve made it for others (I’m a weirdo who picks the prawns out!)
‘Pink pasta’ - finely chop onion and sweat for a really long time. John Torrode who I got this from says you don’t need garlic but I like to add it anyway. Chop a load of fresh tomatoes - good for using up older ones - and add those in, continue to cook down. Add whatever flavourings you like - chopped anchovies, capers, olives, fresh herbs, chilli etc. Cook your spaghetti and then add it to the sauce and stir through. Lots of grated cheese on top!
Homemade pizzas - you need to prep the dough a bit in advance but not time consuming apart from that. These tend to be DH’s responsibility in this house as he does them better than me!
Roast a load of veg -(peppers, aubergine, courgette, butternut squash, sweet potato - whatever floats your boat) in olive oil with garlic and some herbs and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Add cherry tomatoes for last few minutes of roasting time. Stir through cooked pasta and crumble in a block of feta. This is so simple but one of my all time favourites.
Creamy smoked salmon pasta.
Fish curry - I tend to just make it up/ use a paste pot and some coconut milk, but there’s a cod and spinach yellow curry recipe on bbc food that’s nice.
Veggie/ black bean fajitas or enchiladas.
Would DS eat falafel? They make a good snack.