Recipes for holiday cottage

[fruitstick]

I'm going to France. 4 adults, 4 children under 5.

We are probably going to be cooking about half the time.

Apart from roast chicken, spag bol and spinach pasta bake, what can we cook that will be relatively easy and that we can all eat.

Maybe some nice casserole recipes.

Ideally I would like to be able to print out a couple of recipes and sneak them in my suitcase so that I can consult them surrepticiously and pretend I can always just whip this stuff up!

If you're near a market and have a bbq I'd go local, seasonal, see what they have and keep it really simple. Last time we went, we lived off bbq'ed langoustines with garlic butter, baguettes and local veg/salad.

Barbequed butterflied leg of lamb is very good too, either with a yohurt,chilli, mint and lemon marinade or rosemary, garlic, olive oil and lemon. Slash the lamb and marinade overnight - cook in the oven and then 15 mins each side at the end on the bbq.

Won't it be a bit hot for casseroles and stews?

I also do this quite a lot in the summer when the local tomatoes are good with new potatoes and salad - ever so easy with shop bought puff. everyone likes it.

taffeta, that lamb sounds gorgeous.

I was thinking more light chicken casserole or moroccan lamb stew or something a bit more summery than your beef daube.

ooh ok I get it

don't do either of those but have made this before for large group with small DCs and is a big hit. also very very easy.....

Chicken parmigiana a la milanese - essentially chicken with a lovely parmesan breadcrumb coating which you fry or bake (it's better fried!) then served with pasta tossed in plain tomato sauce and an extra sprinly of parmesan.

It's really delicious and not very hard, and I usually serve it just with some green beans.

Here's what I do:

Get a load of bread crumbs, quite fine ones, grate half that amount of parmesan in to them and season with pepper and mix on a plate

Crack a couple of eggs in a bowl and beat

Put some plain flour on another plate and season with salt and pepper

Get chicken breasts (skinless and boneless, rinse and pat dry) and between clingfilm, pound them out quite thin - think schnitzel - about 1/4-1/3 of an inch thick.

With each chicken breast, dip in flour, egg, flour, egg again, then cheesey breadcrumbs (kids come in handy here - will keep them entertained for a bit too!) and set aside.

Start boiling some pasta - I like penne with this or cavatappi

Heat some sunflower oil (about an inch) in a large saucepan till a bread crumb sizzles in it, then fry the chicken breasts till brown on both sides - they don't take too long since they're thin. Drain excess oil on kitchen paper.

Put a bed of pasta on each plate and whatever veggie (maybe some garlic bread too!), then place a chicken breast on top and a sprinkle of parmesan if you like. Tuck in and be complemented on your fab culinary skills