Please tell me your favourite simple dinner dishes?

[lala2221]

Hi, I am really not a very good cook! This is one thing I want to improve for myself next year! How did you teach yourself to be a good cook?! Any recommendations of your nicest go to’s for simple evening meals?

Depends how unconfident you are but if you don't have much cooking skill you could try doing some recipe flavour kits like Simply Cook or meal boxes like Gousto as they provide everything for you and you follow pics on a recipe card.

My quick dishes are Thai curry- if you buy the Mae Ploy paste from oriental shop or large supermarket then it's easy.

Pasta sauces can be quite easy. Jamie Oliver's Jools sausage pasta is popular with children. www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/a500232/jools-oliver-s-pregnant-pasta/ _
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Make your own pesto if you have a mini chopper/blender. I have this one and can make pesto more or less as quickly as opening a jar www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/small-kitchen-appliances/food-and-drink-preparation/food-processors/kenwood-ch180-mini-chopper-white-00939730-pdt.html

What sort of foods do you like eating normally?

I love food and cooking but have a baby and am doing a degree while on mat leave so I'm becoming expert at tasty shortcuts!

Simply cook box for £1 for you if you want to try

simplycook.com/invite/FQX32P

Don't forget to cancel tho!

Can't go wrong with pasta bake.

Also, mince dishes are easy to experiment with. That's how I learnt what works and what doesn't.

The Jamie Oliver ministry of food cook book is a really good starting place for beginners!
It’s designed for especially for beginners and it’s how I started to cook.

I taught myself when I was a kid from two cookbooks of my mum’s. Ou est le garlic by Len Deighton and Great Dishes of the World by Robert Carrier.

Of the two, the first was the most useful. It focussed on basic techniques and basics that could be adapted in a myriad of ways. All set out in cook strips (very chic cartoons).

So I’d start with something like that. Once you grasp that, you have way less need for recipes.

Chicken and chorizo, just get some chicken thighs, chorizo, peppers, onions, and some potatoes, all in one pot, drizzle with olive oil, shove it in the oven and job done. You can also add stuff like mushrooms etc.

Get a cheap copy of Delia Smith‘a complete cookery course and How To Cook online.

Use BBC Good Food and BBC Food recipes - easy to follow, clear and normal ingredients. Cooking is an important life skill. Everyone should be able to do basic, balanced meals.

Our go-to’s in this house:

Macaroni cheese with homemade cheese sauce,
Roast dinner,
Chilli con carne and rice,
Fish (poached or baked) with potatoes either boiled or mashed and boiled broccoli or wilted spinach,
Lasagne,
Risotto,
Chops, gravy, mash and veg,
Casseroles and stews (easy, just brown the meat well and follow a recipe),
Curry (chicken, lamb or veg) and rice,
Spaghetti bolognaise,
Tomato pasta,
Sausage, mash, peas and onion gravy,
Toad in the hole with gravy, mash and peas.

Start with packets and jars if you’re nervous, and slowly build up store cupboard ingredients that you need in cooking, like dried herbs and spices and plain flour, stock cubes too.

The clue in most cooking is timing, and cooking things at the right level of heat- all good recipes include this info. Good luck.

Just cook. Follow recipes at the beginning. Remember that no matter how experience cook you are you will sometimes make something so embarrassing and barely edible it will be remembered for years😁

My favourite one for easy dinner
Non stick pan so I don't use oil really. Pan fry fish (just salt and pepper on it), when you turn it add chopped fresh tomatoes and broccoli sprouts next to it on a pan. Spice as you want to. For example, if you fancy spicy bit of smoked paprika and Tabasco will go down a treat. Couple of minutes before it's done, throw in some mangetout beans. I like my veg crunchy so depends on your preference. You can also change the veg, obviously 😁
Serve with crushed potatoes with some nice fresh herbs. I highly recommend keeping them chopped in a freezer. Much better than dried and you always have them ready. I like to mix in bit of quark too.It can easily be served eith nice rice too.

Bbc website has usually very nice and easy to follow recipes. Blogs are annoying with the waffle but can have nice recipes (if you manage to get to them over the waffle and pop ups) too.

Have you tried the kits like the picture? Good way to learn new flavours and there is so much to choose from in shops now. I like them (never thried this particular brand, it's just for illustration)

"Luxury Pie"
Tin of stewing steak
Tin of carrots and peas
Generous splash of red wine
Some mixed herbs
Instant mash

Chuck the tins in a dish, add wine and herbs and mix. Dump the instant mash on top. Bake for a while (doesn't really matter how long or what temp, within reason).

Eat it out of the dish you cook it in. If you want to make it even classier, serve with small baguette/baton.

Philadelphia tuna pasta bake is an easy staple in our house, as is the gusto chicken Kiev recipe (you make a garlic "butter" using clotted cream, it's amazing!)

Homemade burgers are quite straightforward, and once you nail one, you can mix it up - we make pork and apple, pork and sage, sausage meat, turkey, and beef regularly

Slimming world Diet Coke chicken is a tasty straightforward recipe too

You could learn how to make a cheese sauce from scratch, then that covers you for macaroni cheese, lasagna, etc.

Can you afford hellofresh? I love cooking but I really cba planning and buying ingredients.

I learnt to cook by just being around when my mum cooked.

Easiest meal I do is:

Pan fry onions and pancetta
Finley chop pepper and courgette add to pan.
Pour in passata, add finley chopped garlic.
Add chopped basil stems.

Plate up. Add basil leaves, s and p and parmigiano cheese.

Stick a whole chicken in the oven.
Peel potatoes and chop into half.
Boil for 5 mins
Add to chicken pan.
Boil some veg.
Make some gravy.
Easy roast dinner done.

Wrap salmon in tin foil with lemon juice and s and P.

Steam/boil green beans and broccoli

Steam/boil new potatoes.

Mix green pesto with some mayo, lemon and s and P.

Eat!!

roast dinners. I don't cook much variety. so roasts are nice and easy, or stews. Those are probably what I am best at.

The easiest is anything mince based - bolognese, chilli or cottage pie. They all start off the same (the key is to brown the mince slowly) but then change depending on seasoning and what you serve them with.

Nigella express Spaghetti alla carbonara is easy and gorgeous.

If you learn to make a basic tomato sauce, you can adapt it to make meatballs, Bolognese, tuna pasta bake etc.

Mac and cheese
Baked omelette
Fish bake

I really like the roasting tin series of books, variations on throwing everything in a tin, some interesting flavour combos and quite forgiving recipes.

Making soup is also very easy, especially if you have a stick blender. You generally fry onion, add stock and veg or other ingredients, simmer a bit and blend. Lovely for cold days working from home and you can play about with flavour, adjusting salt and creaminess etc.

The BBC good food app has loads of simple recipes and collections of recipes.

Salmon, spaghetti, peas and pesto are one of my favourites - healthy and incredibly simple. If you don’t like salmon chicken breast with this is also nice.
If you enjoy them then being able to cook chilli, spaghetti bol and shepherds pie from scratch are good. Bbc good food have the best recipes as far as I’ve found.
I also like making home made kebabs - chicken, red onions and peppers on a skewer after being tossed in Nando’s rub. You can then serve with rice or pitta bread or a wrap and with all kinds of dips. Can essentially make it as simple or complicated as you like

I second the chicken and chorizo suggestion - ridiculously easy (just chop up chicken breast, chorizo, peppers and onions and chuck it in the oven for 30 mins or so) and tastes great. I sometimes do that with paprika, chilli and sour cream on top.

Shepherds or cottage pie - mince, chopped veg, mash and cheese on top, oven bake.

Also can't go wrong with an omelette with whatever bits of cheese / mushrooms etc you have in the fridge.

I recently bought the new Jamie Oliver book where everything has max 7 ingredients and it's got some great, easy recipes.

If you're not a very confident cook, then keep it simple whilst you gain experience.
Some simple meals I like to cook are Pasta primavera, beef stroganoff served with buttered noodles, frittata, stir fry vegetables and chicken, mushroom stroganoff with rice.

Top tips are,
read the recipe through before you start so you understand the various steps and methods,
prepare ahead things like chopped vegetables,
at first weigh and measure so you get the proportions correctly balanced.

Clear up as you go.
Use short cuts to help you, eg microwave rice, frozen onion, carrot & celery mix, good quality stock powder.

Traybakes! Put everything in a baking tray and put in the oven at 180 for 45 mins.

Chicken with chorizo, peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and paprika is always a hit.

Sausages with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, mushrooms and sage also good.

You can do loads of combinations of meat, veg, seasoning, and it's just chopping and putting in the oven.

Fish and tomato bake.

Get some white fish, cover with chopped tomatoes and herbs of your choosing (fresh basil is nice or dried mixed italian herbs). Cover with fresh breadcrumbs (eaay to make these, just stick 3 slivea of stale bread in a blender). Cook in oven on 180 for 20-25 mins.

Chorizo pasta bake

Fry fresh basil in pan for 30 seconds
Add tin of tomatoes and simmer for 5 mins
Add to cooked pasta and mix through chopped chorizo
Put in an ovenproof dish, add fresh mozzarella and bake at 200 for 20 minutes

Chicken stir fry.

You can buy ready cooked chicken pieces and froaen stir fry veg in iceland. I fry these up with some chinese five spice and a pinch of chilli, add some noodles and soy sauce and it's done!

Chinese chicken noodle soup: I use my leftover Sunday chicken to make chicken stock and keep this in the fridge/ freezer. Then, when I want to make the soup I fry a lottle spring onion, add the stock, stick in some dried egg noodles, a few dashes of soy sauce and ready cooked diced chicken. Optionally, add frozen sweetcorn or fresh bok choi. It takes about 10 mins!

For a really simple sauce for pasta just cook some pasta and keep a small amount of water in the pan after draining. Then put back on a low heat, add some chopped garlic, fresh herbs, salt and pepper and a generous knob of butter. Swirl around the pasta until the butter has melted.

For amazing rice, microwave a packet of rice, empty into a pan, melt a know of butter and French in soy sauce. Serve with vegetables and a protein

Chicken breast in the slow cooker is delicious. Just add the breasts in whole, cover with water, add a stock cube and some thyme, slightly season. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 and when its done shred with a fork for pulled chicken.