Can you give me your basic cooking tips?

[Cloud44]

Early 40s and I’m embarrassed about how rubbish I am in the kitchen to be honest. This year I really want to eat healthier and cook meals from scratch more.
Can you tell me your favourite most basic recipes to help me get started? Meals that take less than 30 minutes after a day at work?

During lockdown my adult son stayed with me. We got Hello Fresh, and he cooked while I helped. He loved it and learned an amazing amount. I think, depending upon budget I’d recommend Gousto or Mindful chef, but they provide all the ingredients and cover a whole meal, which is better than trying to use a standard recipe, and get it all ready together. Really recommend this approach to learning to cook. Good luck.

I leaned to cook a LOT of things from Jamie Oliver's early cookbooks - especially Jamie's Italy. Bread, risotto, fish, grilled meats, pastas, salads, soups. All the recipes are very easy, foolproof and versatile. They teach you basic techniques that you can use as you try other things.

YABU

Tonight I put chicken breasts in a Maggie so juicy cooking bag with its Cajun spices and we ate that with rice and peas

Quick easy and cooked from scratch

I use a sistema microwave rice cooker so it's very quick and easy and painless

BBC good food site is good or Delia Smith learn to cook

Or if you really struggle I can cook...

Saint Delia of Smith is my go to for anything and has been for over 30 years. I can’t remember the titles but she’s done several beginners books. I refer to her Complete Cookery Course and nothing I’ve ever done from any Delia recipe has ever failed

Jamie's ' Ministry of food anyone can learn to cook in 24 hours' is good too

Nigellas marmite spaghetti is lush and super easy. I add sweetcorn for extra crunch.

Yes the Brown book

Also Good Housekeeping cookbook

One tip is to chop everything ready beforehand. I sometimes use small bowls.

Cut a few potatoes into rough cubes. Chop an onion into chunks. Chop a red pepper into chunks. Put this all in a baking dish with a big glug of olive oil, a big glug of balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put some chicken thighs on top and roast in oven at about 180 for about 30-40 minutes (until the chicken is cooked).

You can vary this by adding different vegetables or using sausages / salmon instead of chicken (though if using salmon I'd add that towards the end of cooking time as it doesn't take long to cook). You can also add things like chilli flakes, different spices, or stir some pesto through the veg mixture.

Very easy weeknight tea and you can go and have a bath while it cooks.

There is just no need to be so rude.

always have onion, celery, carrot on hand. Tina of chopped tomatoes, frozen mixed veg, rice, pasta and a jar of lazy garlic. these are foundations of so many different meals.

Another to recommend Gousto - we used them on & off for ages and the only reason we stopped was that we needed carb-light recipes and by that point we had enough favourite recipe cards to be able to adapt specifics to our needs. They are particularly good for trying unusual (to us!) spices/tastes/textures without the expense of purchasing expensive ingredients in larger quantities. We discovered that we enjoyed ras-el-hanout, lemongrass, sesame oil, 5 spice etc. They come with all of the ingredients plus a very comprehensive instruction card (complete with pictures) - so easy for me to follow!
One other particular recipe I'd recommend which is very easy, is take a baking tray, add chopped vegetables & chipolata sausages, season, drizzle with olive oil & balsamic glaze and roast in the oven. Hope this helps!

A very easy and fantastic recipe is Nadiya Hussain's Chicken Shwarma and actually all her recipes are fantastic.

She has a series too I think which shows her cooking in action. Sometimes seeing the dish being made helps you be able to re create it.

Good luck OP.

Buy this- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roasting-Tin-Simple-Dish-Dinners/dp/1910931519/ref=asc_df_1910931519?nodl=1&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310856639426&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18256377547738457706&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-418222817678&psc=1&mcid=dc76d81f3b863b1bb3b53f2c2e5262fc&th=1&psc=1&dplnkId=da7cbecf-76c2-488d-ba55-73ac2735807e

Recipes are all “chop up stuff and bung into one roasting tin”. Anyone can do it.

Easy and quick recipes

Stir fry with tofu and noodles - pack of stir fry, pack of marinated tofu, pack of noodles, soy sauce/other sauce. Stir fry the vegetables in some oil, add the tofu and cook that, then add the sauce and noodles last.

Bean wraps - kidney beans/black beans, refried beans, onion, pepper, sweetcorn. Mexican seasoning, tortilla wraps. Grated cheese, cherry tomatoes and mashed avocado.
Saute the onions and peppers til soft, then add beans, sweetcorn and seasoning - simmer until all heated through. Make wraps as wanted.

Pasta with pesto - saute onions, peppers and mushrooms til soft, add pesto and butter beans. Cook pasta. Combine.

Good luck, OP 🥘

Is there much vegetarian meals in the book?

So rude 😳😳

There’s a veggie one called The Green Roasting Tin @UndertheCedartree

An absolute basic pasta and tomato sauce, I make this for myself a lot.

At the same time as you put your pasta on to boil, put a tin of chopped tomatoes in another pan and let it boil too. I add onion salt, garlic powder and chilli flakes to give it some oomph but you don't really need to. Keep an eye on your tomatoes so they don't catch on the bottom of the pan.

The tomatoes should turn into a nice thick sludge just as the pasta is ready, drain the pasta and put it back in the pan then add as much of the tomatoes as you want, stir to combine, and you're ready to plate up. I grate whatever cheese I have over the top too.

It's not fancy but it's quick and really tomatoey and you can add all sorts of things to it - veg, sausages etc

I second that.

Season your food. Always amazes me that people don't do this.

Helpful.

OP, what kind of stuff are you thinking? You can easily fry or scramble some eggs with butter and seasoning.

Or you can roast a chicken with some herbs, lemon, butter and salt.