Please share your easy recipes that make you seem like a superstar chef

[benkenobi]

Hello All, I have recently made a big move out of London and within a few months was enveloped by a lovely group of like minded women who made me feel so welcome and accepted. After nearly two years we are finally settled in our new home and I would love to invite my new friends round for a meal. The trouble is, I can’t cook. I mean I can do simple and basic things but they always look and taste simple and basic. My DP is the cook in the family. I’ve had dinner dates with my friends before and we’ve also ordered in Deliveroos. I know they wouldn’t be fussed with whatever I did but I would like to do something nice. To say thank you. So, my question is can you recommend any easy recipes that make you look like a good (maybe even great) cook? Also with a vegetarian option please. Thanks in advance.

I do a lovely salmon creamy pasta with chilli in that's always a favourite with friends! Takes 30minutes, serve with homemade focaccia garlic bread (the easiest bread I've found to make! You can use a packet mix too to make it even easier) and sautéed vegetables (asparagus, tender stem broccoli or similar works well). The BBC creamy salmon pasta recipe is a good starting point with some fresh chopped chillies added in with the cream. I also poach the salmon in vegetable stock to cook it, then flake it in - it really adds to the flavour.

For a veggie option just before you add the salmon back in, take a portion off to the side for the vegetarian add in some petit pois and oven roasted baby tomatoes 🍅

Not quite superstar chef level, but tasty, filling and if you home make the garlic focaccia then everyone is mega impressed!

Ha ha, I'm in the sane boat. My attempt at a fancy dish would be mince and instant mash. Like you OH is the cook so if we're having anyone around he cooks I do the meet and greet.

If you're having your friends and want to exclude him could you get him to prepare a meal that you could present?

Fortunately for the girls families OH taught them both how to cook and bake so they're good cooks. It's just me that struggles.

You can get a lot of decent cook in sauces. Maybe a curry? Slow cookers are pretty forgiving with timings and will make the meat super tender. I think that you'll find a bit of confidence will add to your skills enormously. Even a simple roast with veg should be straightforward. Time to think I've got this, I can do it rather than think it's difficult. Try practicing by doing a Sunday lunch for the family.

most people don't care about fancy cooking they care about yumminess.

I would do baked Camembert with garlic/ rosemary/ black pepper/ olive oil etc on top. 1 Camembert per person

serve with really lovely bread of varying types, olives, nice chipolata sausages (+ veggie version) cooked in honey and mustard, crudities, herby potato wedges, a few bits of salami, stuffed mini peppers/artichoke, perhaps some crispy roasted cauliflower - basically raid a deli counter.

plenty of wine

jobs a goodun'

That sounds so nice I'm going to make it tomorrow!

Oooh yes. Thanks for these options. They sound great.
And I agree I am all about yumminess too but would like to do something special.
I have seriously considered asking DP to cook something but it'll probably be a mid week thing, he gets back from work much later than me and then will have to do DC bedtime as I'll be downstairs entertaining so asking him to cook for me might be a step too far!

Fry some asparagus with garlic and lemon zest.
Add cheese - whichever kind you like best.
Mix with tortelloni - whichever kind you like best.
Could fry bacon bits with the asaparagus, or microwave proscuitto for 4 mins or so and crumble over the top.

Focused on yumminess rather than star quality, I made this sausage pasta last week and it was very easy and delicious. Going to make it for friends next week

Check out this Ocado recipe: Spicy Sausage, Tomato and Mascarpone Pasta www.ocado.com/recipe?recipeId=227357

Gousto have a few recipes for basically cooked gnocchi mixed with bolognese, covered in hard Italian cheese and cooked in the oven. Easy to do veggie and soooo yummy with salad and garlic bread.

Sainsburys cheapest frozen Mac and cheese

(Bear with me)

Microwave it as per instructions but then decant into a ceramic dish, grate copious amounts of Red Leicester into it leaving some aside to sprinkle on top. Also stir a generous amount of black pepper and Aromat in it. Top with the rest of the grated cheese and Then top with breadcrumbs. Finally Drizzle with truffle oil.

Bake until golden and crispy

Trust me it is better than ANY posh Mac n cheese I've ever had and is my go to treat 😆

This cauliflowers soup is amazing and super quick and easy. Eat it with either home made croutons, bits of bacon on fresh baguette.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/creamy-cauliflower-soup

And this

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-milanese with yummy creamy mash.

or fresh baguette.

If you use alcohol, what about a one pot beef bourgignon in the slow cooker? Do the prep day before, leave meat cubes to marinade in a bit of the red wine, fry it off for a bit with the bacon etc. shove it in the slow cooker and walk away. Serve with rice or baby/mashed potatoes. The recipes for stove tops will work in the slow cooker, although you might have to thicken the sauce with a bit of cornflour towards the end of cooking or a roux type thing at the beginning.

Buy a good cheesecake for dessert or make dead easy banoffee pie the day before. The cream on top will keep the bananas from going brown, but toss in a bit of lemon juice anyway.

These sound so good. Thank you so much.
Whatever I decide I'm going to try and make focaccia bread 🤞🏿 and asparagus will feature somewhere as I love it!

A simple yet delicious family fav in our house is Pesto pasta it can be as basic or as fancy as you like but the flavours just work. Roast a couple of chicken breasts in the oven, at the same time also roast cherry tomatos with a dash of balsamic vinegar and seasoning (salt & pepper) boil some pasta (if being fancy we get the lovely fresh egg pasta) and some green beans. Add plenty of green pesto to a bowl and mix everything together (pasta, pesto, green beans, roasted tomatos) and either slice and mix in the chicken breast or slice and fan it out on top of the dish fancy chef style. Serve with parmesan shavings, a good wine and crusty home made garlic bread (French baguette, cut into slices, mix decent butter with chopped garlic and mixed herbs, slather the slices with garlic butter mix and sandwich baguette back together, wrap in tin foil and bake till butter melted and bread crisp)

www.mob.co.uk/recipes/aubergine-and-mascarpone-gnocchi-traybake

This is lovely. Don't used quite as much lemon juice as they say though...

😋
Thank you

Your new friends sound fab OP, how lovely.

Loving the salmon recipe and also the Mac cheese sounds genius.

I’ve passed off a couple of Cook dishes as my own if you are near one. Beef bourguignon orchicken dishes decanted into your own ceramic serving dishes.

Nigella's chard and anchovy spaghetti is really lovely and quite unexpected. If you have a veggie then you could use a teaspoon of marmite instead of anchovies (although it isn't as good then).

Pm