Tell me your simple, delicious meals because I am totally useless at cooking a decent meal

[Urghears]

I'm basically atrocious. I buy crap such as breaded chicken, fish fingers and chicken nuggets. Usually with either baked beans or steamed veg. I just can't seem to get the energy or enthusiasm to get a decent meal. I don't like spicy food. Hate rice. Mash spuds are all I can do.

Tray bakes every time. You dont say how many you're cooking for, I assume you have a freezer?

So you get a oven dish/roasting tray as big as you need. You put on your combination of veg/herbs/flavourings/oil and put whatever protein on top, you can make enough to have a packed lunch of it the day after and also freeze the left overs. I freeze virtually everything

Im watching repeats of Nigella at the moment, she does one with a bag of frozen peas, sliced leeks, olive oil, chucks some chicken thighs on top and shoves it in the oven. Im going to try that one

I haven't read the full thread so apologies if these have been mentioned.

I LOVE cooking from scratch, it's my recent (since Covid) love language.

HOWEVER. There are always a few days a week I literally cannot be arsed so these are my suggestions:

Chicken legs (I marinate in rice wine, honey, paprika, garlic etc but you don't have to)
Corn on the cob
Jacket potatoes
Coleslaw

Traybake
Chicken boneless thighs
Red pepper
Red onion
Carrot
Paprika
Garlic
Salt and pepper
Baby potatoes
Mix together in olive oil,serve with salad

Chicken kiev (I know these are breaded)
Mash
Mixed veg

Sausage
Egg
Home made chips
Chop your potatoes, boil for a few mins until tender
Heat some oil in the oven, once bubbling add the drained poatoes
Serve with beans or peas

Any other variation of prepped meat, add veg or salad and one carb, be it pasta, rice or potato. The rice microwave pouches are brilliant

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-spaghetti-carbonara-recipe

Also if you're good at mash, sausage a mash but with heaps of veggies!

ALSO! Sorry.

I have Discaculia and I found it really difficult to follow a recipe until I was nearly 40 years old.

Now I mainly wing it!

We just had (my own recipe) slow cooked sugared pork in bao buns with salad. Delicious!

Pork shoulder joint, marinated and cooked in my own special recipe.
Rough quantities... I rarely measure!
About 5 heaped tablespoons soft brown sugar
A good tablespoon of garlic puree
A dessertspoon of tomato puree
A tablespoon of honey
About 1/3 bottle (not the big bottle) of Worcestershire sauce

Marinated for at least 4 hours and then slow cooked for 6 hours in the marinade. Take out of the sauce when cooked and shred. Once shredded mix in a little of the sauce. Serve with whatever you like!

It's not particularly healthy as it is, but not too bad if you serve it with lots of salad or veg.

Super easy one I've mentioned a few times on here... chop peppers, courgette and red onion, roast with olive oil, cajun seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder. Then boil sweet pots, when done mash with a veg stock pot, put on top of the veg and sprinkle feta, barely any prep work or actual cooking but so tasty. It also reheats well so I often batch cook.

We absolutely love simply cook too, I do at least 2 a week.

I haven’t read the whole thread but could you try a Hello Fresh or Gousto meal box - first timers can usually get great discounts. You could just order say, 2 dishes for your first week to get your head round it. Start small and simple.
Everything is portioned but there is some prep work involved with chopping meat/veg, measuring out liquid etc.
The instructions are really easy to follow and the pre portioned packets save so much time. Choose really easy dishes for your first time and stick to your usual meals the rest of the week. You might find you want to order more boxes for following weeks, or it gives you some knowledge/inspiration for pimping up the meals you already make.
I have seen a couple of posts mention Jamie Oliver’s 5 ingredient recipe book - I agree, again it’s building up your knowledge and skills slowly rather than going straight into complicated dishes with ingredients you’ve never used!

With omelettes you need a completely non stick pan. Mix the eggs and any other ingredients, for an average size pan I use 7-8 eggs. Put a bit of oil in. Add mixture cook until you can peel the sides back. To flip the omelette over put a plate over the un cooked side and tip the frying pan over then back over again and gently slide back on the pan from the plate. This does take practice though and I’d advice doing it over a sink first.

Really simple pasta in a creamy sauce.

Pasta any type, I like tagliatelle because it comes in 'baskets' so one or two per person.

Philadelphia cream cheese or the supermarket version.

salt and pepper.

Put on a pan of boiling water, add the pasta and cook for as long as it says on the packet.

Once it is cooked turn off the heat but leave the pasta in the pan in the water.

Get a frying pan, put on the heat and add 2 dessert spoons of the cream cheese.

It will start to melt.

Add two dessert spoons of the pasta cooking water.

Drain the pasta and add to the frying pan, season with salt and pepper,

Once the pasta is coated serve.

Once you have done this you can build on it.

Fry mushroom slices in butter before adding the cream cheese,

Or mushroom and bacon.

Or peas, or garlic or all of the above.

You can finish it with a grating of parmesan or some torn basil leaves.

It's a good thing to experiment with it.

Doesn’t it stick to the pan? Mine always do.

Honestly @Locusteater watch the Delia link. I specifically don't use a nonstick pan any more and mine don't stick.

Pasta, bacon, creme fraiche, parmesan cheese. Optional frozen peas. Really hits the spot. The bacon, wedge of parmesan and pot of full fat creme fraiche all keep in the fridge for a few weeks

"Ministry of food" is a great beginner cookbook, decent recipes and clearly explained.

I have a tiny Le Crueset cast iron pan which is perfect for two egg omelettes. Got it off eBay.

Locusteater, the pan must be totally non stick, a non stick pan needs to be changed quite regularly as it looses the non stick element quite quickly. Not putting it in the dishwasher and only using wooden utensils will make it last longer.

Tortilla burgers!!! Burger mince pressed into flour tortilla (or flatbreads), fried mince side down then flipped when nearly cooked. Dress them as burgers with lettuce, tomatoes, gherkins etc etc, goes down a treat and cooks much more quickly than whole burger patties. I found a video on the internet demonstrating this, and was rather surprised at how delicious it was. You won’t miss the burger bun because the greasy fried tortilla/flatbread more than makes up for that. Went down a treat even with the staunch burger fans.

What do you like to eat? Find a beginner recipe or video for your favourite dish to motivate you.

I use a stainless steel frying pan (with heavy base) to cook omelettes. They don't stick. Just get the oil reasonably hot - not smoking - before tipping in the beaten eggs. Then work quickly, using a fork to pull the egg mixture from sides of pan towards the middle as it begins to cook and set. If you like omelettes fried both sides, then just flip over using a fork or a fish-slice. I find it much easier to cook small omelettes (2 or 3 eggs) than large ones.

Delia's omelette instructions are excellent. So is her 'how to cook' website; it has many, many recipes: www.deliaonline.com/recipes/books/delias-complete-how-to-cook

Very simple one-pot dish. Vegan, FWIW. I use a cast-iron casserole, but a stainless steel saucepan with heavy base would do.

1. Put a good glug of oil (approx 3 tablespoons) - I use olive - in the casserole
2. Chop medium aubergine, medium courgette, large onion, large red pepper (remove seeds) - or you can use a jar of ready-grilled red peppers - and a few cloves of garlic. If liked you can add some chopped celery and/or chopped carrot or sweet potato as well.
3. Tip all veg into the casserole. Cover with lid and simmer v. gently for about 20 mins until veg are soft. (Test with tip of sharp knife.) Stir from time to time to stop them sticking.
4. Add good heaped teaspoonful of dried oregano or marjoram and a dessertspoonful of paprika (or more to taste), and some salt and pepper. Stir.
5. Add a couple of mugfuls (approx) of water and approx one-third of a tube of tomato puree plus a tin (drained) of beans. (Butter beans or mixed- beans-in-water are particularly good.) Stir gently, and simmer for approx another 20 mins or so until everything is hot and gently bubbling. You should end up with veg and beans in a fairly thick sauce (around the same ratio of beans to sauce as in a tin of baked beans).
6. Serve with pasta or potatoes and lots of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, kale/ spring greens etc .
7. Even better if sprinkled just before serving with some fresh mint or basil leaves. Or perhaps some chopped, stoned black olives.
8. Non-vegans can sprinkle grated cheese.
9. People who like hot spicy food can add chilli flakes or cayenne pepper at stage 4 above.
10. It's not elegant or refined but nutritious, filling and very, very forgiving. You can vary the ingredients and also vary the cooking time at stage 5 above to suit yourself. Ten minutes extra or even longer is not going to hurt at all. Just keep the heat low and don't let the mixture stick and burn or get too dry.

Fry some chopped up chicken breast with onions, green peppers and tenderstem broccoli in a little olive oil - then add a sauce made of a tablespoon of peanut butter, tablespoon of honey, tablespoon of soy sauce and some minced garlic - add some water as well. I add chilli flakes as well, but you don't have to. It's amazing.

Fish, potato and veg is almost as easy as putting beige things in the oven.

Get some nice new potatoes - not expensive - or salad potatoes. Usually £1-2 for a bag. Just boil on the hob for 15 to 20 minutes depending on their size.

Have salmon fillets instead of beige frozen protein. Put each fillet into a foil parcel and add a small splash of milk so they don’t dry out. Close the foil parcels and bake for 15 minutes.

Slways have frozen veg in the freezer so there’s no excuse. Frozen peas or whole leaf spinach. Only takes a short time and you’ve got a lovely healthy, simple meal.

https://www.mob.co.uk/recipes/chicken-pepper-cucumber-chopped-salad

Lunch yesterday. Added baratta instead of cottage cheese. Really simple and delicious.

Pasta dishes are very easy. I make a nice Harissa pasta, with spinach, also a nice Tuscan prawn tagliatelle and very simple, pasta with chicken, pine nuts and pesto (plus spinach and cream). Very quick and easy. My son loves pasta so I have a variety of home made dishes I make him. He then takes the left overs to work.

My son loves this recipe. You don’t need to add the bacon I find, nice enough without it. Carbonara is very easy to make

realfood.tesco.com/recipes/salmon-carbonara.html

@Fightthepower I'm wondering the same as haven't seen them in Sainsbury's (I buy a roll). Have read entire thread without finding the answer