Food that’s not worth the effort

[BarrelOfOtters]

Crab…picked yourself
Unfilleted fish
globe artichoke all that finiking for some little bites

I would agree with you there. I'm sure his food is delicious, but just, it was never going to happen, and I have a lot of cook books and recipes which I do actually use. Maybe if he makes a "five ingredients or fewer" book. Actually even ten would be a vast improvement.

Moussaka.

Too many pans plus the deep-fat fryer for the potatoes, and frying sliced aubergine takes forever.

Don't get me started on the Bechamel sauce.

I confess that I make one about once every two months because it is so delicious. My home-made one is a million times better than any I've bought in a shop.

@ColonelPuffPuffPuff Delia Smith just puts her shop bought frozen mash straight on top of her cottage pie or whatever and bakes it all together from scratch. I've done it, it works!

I have images of a superMNer briskly rolling out a sheet of home-made pasta, and quickly making little hoops with a teeny-tiny cutter and then using an even teenier-tinier cutter for the hole, boiling it for a nano-second and dunking it in a delicious and nutritious home-made tomato sauce, and popping it in a bowl. So simple and easy!

Meanwhile, there's me ...

And I make fish pie once a fortnight, and although it's a lot of pans, it's worth it.

I defy anyone to make a fish pie better than mine.

I am feeling rather boastful today

Off topic but I've never seen any pasta that would be the 'hoop' variety. Is it a 'real' type?

For me, I love making lasagna. I like cooking, I love how much nicer a home-made one is too.

NOT worth the effort-making baked beans from scratch. I don't eat/like baked beans but I have done it to see if they were any better. They're not cheaper and so much faff, maybe they did taste marginally 'fresher' but not enough for the process to be worth it.

Lentil Tofu-but only because I CANNOT get it right. I love tofu and It's rather expensive. I need more practice at this. On the plus side, whatever I made last time I attempted it was a rather tasty dip for crisps/crudites and quite healthy.

I agree on oranges. I just can't be bothered eating one!

Pistachios. Same as oranges.

Making your own pasta, hmm, satisfying, and I love that I manage to do it pretty well especially pasta bows. Quite a mindful activity that I enjoy though.

Why is bechamel difficult? Am I doing it wrong?! Genuine q!

Whisk butter and flour over heat. Add milk and DO NOT STOP WHISKING, right?

I made cheesecake once. Took hours, ingredients cost a fortune and it wasn’t as nice as a shop bought one.

Then you're not making it right!! Home cooked roast dinner and trimmings any day. Never had as good out anywhere - EVER!

@SlightlygrumpyBettyswaitress Ooh I love M&smousakka!!

I can never get hummus as nice as shop-bought either. I do like my home-made versions, but just nowhere near as nice a texture and flavour-I tell myself It's down to additives and other obscure ingredients that I don't have in my modest kitchen.

This!!

Especially the no bake recipes... What's the point 😅

I do felicity cloake's perfect one but no cornflour, brown sugar and I use a different base.

However the secret is to bake it at 180 until it's a bit jiggley and put it in the fridge overnight. Ridiculously easy, ignore the low temperature cheesecake advocates 😂

How do you make the bows? I make regular spaghetti, tagliatelle, lasagne sheets and ravioli. I'd love to make bows if it's not a faff.

I have the world's easiest ice cream recipe. One can of condensed milk. 2 cups of heavy cream. 1 tbsp vanilla essence. Shove all in a bowl and whisk with a hand mixer for four minutes. Turn into a loaf tin size container and freeze. No need to churn. Infinite variations are possible - currently I have rum and raisin (soak a cup of raisins in half a cup of rum and add before freezing) and chocolate and cherry (add 3tbsp unsweetened chocolate powder at the start and stir through a cup of chocolate chunks and some jarred cherries at the end).

@Hiphopopotamus , I never bother with all that faff for risotto. I fry the rice (and onion if using)in butter and olive oil until the rice crackles, add a good slosh of white wine, cook a few mins for that to be absorbed, and then slosh in a load of stock, bring to boil, turn down to simmer, lid on pan (a big sauté pan) and just give the odd stir.
We had prawn risotto done like this last night.

My mouth is watering. I love oranges but after years of migraines I finally worked out oranges triggered them. Could be worse, it could have been dark chocolate.

Some leg of lamb in red wine recipe I once made when guests were coming. Such a major fiddle and faff, marinating it etc., and TBH plain roast lamb would have been a lot nicer.

@Irequireausername I don't find it a faff, but I've not made any other types for a long time. I'd love to have a go at some lasagne sheets, I've never done that.

To make bows, use your usual pasta recipe as if you were making tagliatelle.

Roll into a flat sheet, not too thin, and then cut into strips approx one inch/inch and a bit wide. Take one strip and cut about an inch down it, repeat until you have lots of little squares.

Pinch the centre of a square to create the bow shape. Using a small knife (or a fork), score a pattern into the edges (similar to what you'd do on the outer edge of a pie).

Repeat until you've done each strip and have your bows.
Voila (if that makes any sort of sense-I am one of those 'make it up as you go along' cooks)!🙂

according to pastafoods yes hoops are a "real pasta" according to pasta evangelist anelli pasta is the hoop

I learned something new.

Personally I find pistachios really satisfying to peel and eat a good orange is worth it but many are not good.

Completely agree with you: because I'm so useless at peeling them, I either take away most of the orange with the peel and am left with grubby little segments, or I leave thick horrible layers of white zest which I find disgusting.

I used to love making fresh pasta but after my bunion op (no chance of standing for the time it takes to pass the sheets through the machine) my DH bought me an automatic pasta maker. Add the flour, it calculates how much liquid to add and voila! Three minutes later and it starts churning out perfect pasta - lots of options on shape from sheets to penne. Magic.

I'm also a make it up chef 😂

Thanks for that, i'll give it a go.

Do you have a pasta maker? Lasagne sheets are so easy using one. You don't have to precook them either.

You can get super cheap second hand ones too, barely used.

@Britinme - I have just screen shotted your icecream recipe 😁

How to Peel an Orange:
Cut in half, from top to bottom.
Cut each half in half again (so you have 4 quarters).
Now peel each quarter, from one end to the other - it's much easier.

Pomegranates:
Cut in half.
Turn half upside down over a bowl and bash hard on the back with something solid like a knife handle.
Seeds should all fall out in the bowl.

Risotto:
Who on earth adds a ladle at a time when no-one's looking??

Globe Artichoke - yeah, OK - I'll give you that one. You have to be seriously mad on the taste to mess about with them, and I'm not!
Ditto Mango, though I understand the Australians have it down to a fine art.