I want your kitchen tricks I will share some of mine

[stopbeeping]

I am looking for tips for things you didn't do until recently that changed your cooking

Some of my faves atm are

II microwave small potatoes that I've hassle backed for about 10 mins then I put them into a baking tray with oil and seasoning of my choice, I paint them with a silicone brush it really gets in there it's changed our potato love in this house and then into oven for around 40 mins it's like having par boiled potato but less mess before roasting, can also squash them when cooked in microwave instead of cutting them into a hassle back

Also I make fajitas but now I put them into a baking dish put some salsa and cheese and herbs into them kind of in a taco shape with all the fillings into each one and then I put that in the oven for about 15 mins and it's so so much tastier then normal fajitas, also stops my kids from making such a mess!

Any tricks I can steal?

Adding a tin of anchovies to a bog-standard bolognaise sauce is a game-changer. They turn to mush, so can’t be identified, but add an extra umami flavour to the sauce…

If we're having jacket spuds I always cook extra, scoop out the flesh and freeze for mash on another day, and save the skins to have the next day loaded with whatever fillings we fancy.
Leftover tomato based pasta gets mixed with beaten egg and fried.
Ditto bubble and squeak, mix beaten egg into it before frying makes it extra crispy.

Fridge bottom soup in the slow cooker.
Whatever veg is about to go bad in the bottom of my fridge gets chopped and chucked into my slow cooker with half a cup of dried lentils and a veggie stock cube, smoked paprika.
At the end I mash it up a bit, I love chunky soup and add some bistro vegetable gravy granules to thicken up.
It makes about 8 portions to freeze. Great lunches with bread & butter.

I do jacket potatoes in my slow cooker too. Oven is too expensive, microwave is too faffy.

A knorr rich beef stock pot in your lasagne will blow your mind... its delicious

Before poaching eggs I crack them into a little tea strainer (like a mini sieve) and sit it over a mug - the flobby stuff that causes white scum drains off. It's especially helpful with older eggs.

@Slimjimtobe ooh do you put everything in a tray, baby potatoes, veg and chicken and do it all in one go? That sounds awesome… but you are being unreasonable for making me hungry! 🤭

Add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar / ape cider vinegar/ sherry vinegar to a tray bake at the end of cooking (toss through the ingredients).

Add a tablespoon of balsamic to bolognaise.

When making enchiladas put each one in a sort of baking paper taco so you can lift it out without disintegrating (a real problem with gluten free wraps).

Raw courgette is lovely in salads. I use a potato peeler to slice off ribbons.

We soak garlic into oil and then drizzle oil over potatoes.

I fry onions and pancetta/bacon lardons to add to shaken boiled potatoes, then fry together. Delicious side dish.

I like the tea strainer egg idea!
May MIL roast chicken makes the gravy at the same time- and is really moist. Put chicken into baking tray pour in chicken stock until about an inch at bottom of tray. Wrap tray in foil and cook 180 for an hour. Take off foil and pour stock into saucepan- put chicken back unwrapped for half an hour to brown and finish cooking. Add cornflour to cold water and pour into stock, leave to bubble away as chicken finishes cooking.

Frozen sandwiches for packed lunch advice from here changed my life in a small but pleasing way. Use ciabatta type rolls - Lidl square ones are good. Cheese or ham fillings work well. Rolls defrost in lunch box .

Tofu or paneer chopped into squares into Tupperware with lid and shaken in cornflour with spices of choice until coated. Then add drizzle of oil, shake again. baked until crispy. When added to curry or sticky Asian style sauce makes something bland very lovely.

Best home made salad dressing - tbsp of almond butter, 1/2tbsp white wine vinegar, 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp honey (maybe a bit more), oregano. Mix together.

Miso works too

Actually, miso is great mixed with soy sauce &/or sweet chilli for a stir fry sauce.
I use it for so many things

When I roast chicken I turn the heat up high (220c) for the first 20 minutes to get it nice and golden brown, then add some boiling water to the tray and cover. Turn down the heat (180c) for an hour.
Beautiful succulent roast every time.

When I’m entertaining I put my sauces, coulis etc into piping bags, and drizzle over canapés and desserts at the last minute. Easy way to elevate a relatively simple dessert or starter.

I always expect to get at least a second meal if I’m going to the bother of really cooking - either make double and freeze or think of the second meal that comes from the first, eg a boiled ham in our house is always followed by croque monsieurs the next day.

While your egg is poaching, turn the heat really low and place your plate over the pan. Then you can put your toast, spinach, egg on a hot plate and it’s still hot when you eat it.

Microwaving frozen peas is even quicker, takes 2-3 minutes on high.

You can put plates in the microwave to heat them.

I make a small cup of a mix of coffee and cocoa to add to my veggie chilli. Makes it rich and loses the tomato tang. Even better with a small bottle of beer added too.

I do this but with sun dried tomato pesto, then eat with melted cheese on top. Yum.

You can also stir fry peas direct from frozen - a bit of oil in the wok, heat, add peas, stir, maybe a bit of soya sauce and water.

Store tins of baked beans upside down. When emptied into the saucepan, the sauce comes out first saving all the scraping of the tin.

Instead of frying aubergine slices (which uses up a lot of oil), cook them in the sandwich toaster. Nice for aubergine burgers.

Hear me out- I'm the world's laziest cook and my particular hate is making mashed potatoes but they're my favourite veg dish. My SIL put me into this, and honestly, we have them all the time idahoan.co.uk/

I broke an expensive pasta dish doing that- put a bit of water on the plates before you put into the microwave to prevent cracking.

If making e.g. onion bhajis or anything with a lot of dried ingredients like herbs and spices, make extra in plastic containers and write on the lid with a Sharpie what needs to be added. Less faff when you need to make again but really can't be bothered.

Agreed, I tell so many people about this and everyone turns their nose up but when they try it, they are converted! I live on my own so making mash is more effort than I want to make most of the time so these are always handy to keep in.

I have a list on my phone of what’s in my freezer and split by each of the three drawers. It’s useful when I’m checking if I have something in, good if I need a starting point for meal planning, and more importantly I can find what I need quickly, avoiding the frozen hand dance.