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?

a basic tomato based pasta sauce
heat a glug of olive oil in a pan
gentle fry off a chopped onion until they go clear
add some garlic ( 2 cloves fresh) or half teaspoon from a jar

you can add any other Mediterranean veg ( peppers or courgettes, aubergine, mushrooms etc) for a couple of minutes
add salt pepper oregano and basil
add a tin of chopped tomatoes
add a good pinch of sugar.

let it cook without a lid on bubbling slowly until it reduces down.

You can also fry chopped bacons or lardons or chorizo on the pan after the onions and then add veg as before.

the simplest is onion, bacon, tinned tomatoes salt and pepper . My kids enjoy…

No need to be so very rude and unkind @Raincloudsonasunnyday. Not everyone is great at cooking - especially from scratch. 🙄🙄

Learn to cook a white sauce as a base for cheese sauce, lasagne etc.
Melt some butter, add flour until it turns into a paste, slowly add milk while whisking. Add grated cheese etc etc for whatever you want to cook. I never learn this until I was about 25 and it's been so useful!

Hey OP I a basic roux sauce is very versatile.

Melt butter in a pan, add flour to make a paste and cook for a minute.

For a cheese sauce, you can add milk and grated cheese and then any other spices you like; mustard and herbs.
For a sauce for meat or fish you can use stock (boiling water and a stock cube) and add to the flour/butter to make a sauce.
Lots of other variations and things you can add when you get more confidence.
Good luck!

I think Jamie's ministry of food is pretty good for the non-cook.

It kind of conceptually explains how to build e.g. a salad etc etc which is very helpful.

I also like Sam Stern's cookbook.

HelloFresh is pretty good as well but I definitely tweak some of their recipes. It's definitely easier from the POV that you don't have to pick a recipe, go to the supermarket, try to work out what to substitute when they don't have the exact thing you were looking for etc. There's often a good deal after Christmas for new sign ups.

Always have onions in. Morrison’s sell frozen chili, ginger and garlic in big bags of cubes. Recipes I can’t think of right now, but if you can find it Nigel Slater’s book Taste (I think) is excellent and easy. There’s a chicken thigh dish which is perfect comfort food.

Don't forget to look out for recipes in those free supermarket magazines and even on packets, they are often easier/more realistic than recipes in books. I've got 8 or 10 dinner recipes that I reuse frequently, I know what ingredients to get in for them so they are easy to cook now.

I'd recommend hello fresh or Gousto for a few weeks, step by step instructions, ingredients included bar a few basics.

I've posted a promo code on the promo thread

When you eat out imagine you are making whatever it is at home and the method you would use to replicate it. Give it a go at home.

Taste as you cook.

Herbs and spices are vital, rubs and marinades make meat great and are easy to prep in advance, have a good load of basics for example, tinned tomatoes, plain flour, brown sugar, some old wine, kallo veggie stock cubes, brown onions, garlic, yoghurt, good seasalt, carrots, celery, red onions, a range of vinegars, I like apple cider, red wine, sherry and balsamic for different jobs, capers, anchovies, fresh limes and mustard, honey, miso paste and soy sauce can lift flavours.

I learned to cook with a student cookbook, this was great for basics, eggs/ pancakes/ toad in hole/ pasta dishes. I then moved onto a Mary Berry cookbook, really well written recipes. Cooking is trial and error and then it's just confidence once you've made something a few times, you can switch out ingredients or add different herbs / spices.

What about trying some cookbooks from the library?
Building a decent herb amd spice stock is a game changer and using flavour blends like BBQ or peri peri are a simple way to make pork or chicken into a tasty meal.

Another one- search recipetineats for easy recipes from all over the world.

Also, try reading Felicity Cloake’s “perfect” column. It’s a bit waffley but the end recipes are good.

I don't know if this is the type of tip you are after or if you already do this.

But taste as you go. I come from a family of tasters, and mine, my parents and sisters cooking is spot on. Always the right balance of sweet to salty, always right amount of spices and herbs, everything the right texture etc.

Takes time to learn, and you'll make wrong choices on the way, but tasting as you go and trial and error is better than just being able to just replicate set recipes. you'll be able to taste a sauce, curry, broth whatever and think 'hmm not got enough of a punch to it, needs more mustard or Worcester sauce', 'the sauce is too sweet, needs a splash of dry wine or more salt' etc.

My husband has tried to do more cooking recently, he always just follows recipes to a t and doesnt taste it as he goes, it often it comes out meh. His family are the same and I've never enjoyed their cooking. He made a creamy mushroom sauce the other week, I asked him to just glance at a recipe and do it just thinking of the taste palette that he's hoping to achieve, and to try it as he goes, while it could have been better, he did a good job.

Basically just experiment a bit, follow recipes as a guide but try use some intuition with it, spend more time learning flavours, and what combinations make what etc. You'll make mistakes but you'll learn.

Also incase anyone gets grossed out - if I'm cooking for someone other than me and my husband I never double dip a spoon when trying the food as I go!

Pinch of nom cook books have some great healthy recipes and are easy to follow. They have a page on Facebook you can join and will find loads of recipes on there too. You could always get Hello Fresh which has a step by step recipe for each meal and contains most of the ingredients barring things like eggs.

Tray bakes and one pot dishes are so easy.

I did one today with chicken thighs, baby potatoes, red onions, broccoli, and some peas. Things are seasoned and added at different times. I had lots of garlic granules, paprika, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Really simple and delicious.

Another favourite is chicken, cherry tomatoes, courgette, any tinned beans, feta and some herbs and spices.

There are millions of one pot dishes or two pots which is just cooking the rice or pasta separately.

Absolutely second Felicity Cloake's guardian 'cook the perfect' column. She's never let me down.
But the cookbook that taught me the most is the River Cottage Family book. It's supposed to be for kids (so it's a bit 'now put your oven gloves on') but the recipes are simple, easy and totally classic. So delicious.
Also Jamie Oliver 's Italy book, and his Cook book. Brilliant.
For oven easiness Diana Henry Oven To Table.
Hungry now!

I haven’t used one of these for years. Off to get one of these and a whole chicken - roast chicken for my dinner Sunday- thank you!

Any veg you want soup:
1L water. 1 chopped onion and roughly 2 of whatever vegetable you like in the water. 1 potato roughly chopped small in too. 1 stock cube crumbled into the water. Bring to boil and let it boil for 15 mins or until the hardest ingredient is soft. Pour out half the water and add a small carton of cooking cream, salt and pepper. Blend. Makes about 8 potions. Accompany with crusty bread.

Just practice a few simple crowd pleasers.

Skinless chicken breast. Score a few lines about half a centimetre deep across the top. Mix a big spoon of tikka paste with a couple of spoons of full fat plain yoghurt. Cover the chicken and leave for half hour. Pop under a medium grill turning once for about ten mins. Slice to check it's cooked through. Serve with warm pitas and salad

Half a tub Philadelphia. Oiled baking dish. Punnet of ripe cherry tomatoes. Sliced red onion. Peeled garlic clove. Pepper. Bake for twenty mins medium oven. Whilst baking cook pasta following packet guide. Drain. Mush up cheesy tomatoes and stir in pasta. Yum.

When it's brown it's done.......when its black it's buggered. 😏

If you don't want to spend ages cooking you could try the following:

• cook fish in the oven, cook rice / potatoes and vegetables (roast vegetables are easy and delicious)
• roast chicken is very easy, with roast veg as above. You can use leftover chicken in sandwiches or other dishes
• use a slow cooker to cook any highly rated slow cooker recipe (takes a bit longer but easy and you can batch cook and freeze some of it)
• learn how to make a tomato sauce; I use onion, garlic, tinned cherry tomatoes, a bit of chilli, salt, pepper, and sometimes additional grated veg if I feel in need of extra vitamins. This is versatile but nice with cooked pasta, kale or spinach, ricotta and pesto
• learn how to make a white sauce (heat the milk and add it slowly whilst stirring continuously). Also very versatile; I like to add fried mushroom, garlic and parmesan or use to make a simple fish pie with lots of cheddar on the top
• you can microwave more than is obvious - fish (a few minutes between 2 plates with a little bit of water), potatoes (to make jacket potatoes)
• frozen veg are your friend (can also be microwaved)
• freeze extras and eat them at a later date. TV dinners!

Good luck. I think it's a great NY resolution.

My son (14) made us burgers tonight. He watches tik-tok where people are showing him how to do it and it was basically mush the mince up into the pattie shape, sprinkle with salt and pepper and fry - (season the other side when you turn it over). He added the cheese slice while still in the pan then put in buns with lettuce, tomato and onion. That might not be the "healthy" recipe you are thinking of but could be useful if you are catering and want cheap/easy fast food.

I made scrambled egg on toast this morning just whisking up a couple of eggs in a plastic jug with a touch of milk then heated in the microwave. While you are getting the feel for it heat for no more than a minute or so and stir the mixture in between and you will soon learn roughly how long it takes in your microwave. If it's not done just stir it with a fork and put it back in. If you want to make scrambled egg on the hob put the same mix in a little pan and stir with a wooden spoon as it heats.

When I make an omelette I cook the bottom on the hob in the frying pan and then place the pan under the grill to brown the top and make sure it is cooked through.

We bake a piece of salmon by placing on foil in a baking tray loosely wrapped with a little water in the bottom. Or you can wrap chicken breasts in baking paper so it retains moisture as it cooks and then just unwrap towards the end of cooking if you want the outside a little drier. Put a bit of butter or oil and some mixed herbs on your chicken before cooking if you want to. I know you asked about cooking from scratch but we use time savers such as frozen mash (microwave up the pellets), frozen jackets and frozen veg (peas/sweetcorn/green beans which are ok from frozen) to knock up quick meals.

Chop potato, carrot, swede & onion, 2 beef oxo cubes, salt & pepper, gravy granules, a big squirt of brown sauce & diced beef. Cover with water. In the slow cooker or oven cook on really low. Prepare the night before. Switch on in the morning.

Fry chicken cubes in a small amount of oil until cooked. Add a tub if Philly garlic cream cheese and a splash of milk. Heat through slowly. Serve over a microwaved baked potato and a green salad.

Mealime app. The free version is fine. It will meal plan for you or you can choose your own recipes, then it writes the shopping list. All the recipes have simple step by step instructions and take about 30 mins. https://www.mealime.com/