What do you cook that takes LONGER than thirty minutes?

[clemetteattlee]

I keep reading advice that tells me to make "quick" meals that take no longer than thirty minutes. As I do so it occurs to me that, unless it is a Sunday roast, almost nothing I cook takes longer than half an hour. So I am intrigued - what meals would you cook if you had the time?

Casseroles etc cannot be done in half an hour.
Lasagne/bolognaise are also better if cooked longer.

Today's cottage pie-type thing took me just over an hour I should think.

Cottage pie, lasagne, casseroles, baked potatoes. Boiled or mashed potatoes too, come to that!

same as the others - lasange, cottage/shepherds pie, casseroles are all done on weekends or days I am not at work. Other than that its quick dinner such as fishfingers, sausages or reheats

i can't think of much other than pasta that takes less than 30 mins

See, each of those things listed AMumInScotland would take me half an hour (maybe because I use soya mince instead of meat). Or maybe I am just not doing it properly? Baked potatoes get ten minutes in the microwave and twenty minutes to crisp; mash takes 18 minutes... Maybe I am stuck in student cooking??

All my meals take over 30
mins except breakfast!

God, everything takes longer than 30 mins here. I quite like cooking ahead and reheating to serve - find it less stressful than bunging a stirfry/carbonara together with a toddler hanging from my legs.

soups
belly pork
lamb shanks
steak pie
chicken cacciatore
chilli
these fiddly courgette, feta and potato cakes that take aeons but are worth it
dauphinoise spuds
baked spuds
even my bolognese sauce takes all day

Chilli con Carne
curries
casseroles (various)
meatloaf
toad in the hole (although that doesn't take much longer)
baked potatoes
sausage/tomato pasta sauce

I make a lot things that take ages to cook but can be reheated quickly when dh gets home from work.

How about vegetarians?

I can hardly think of any meals that take less than half an hour.

Curry

20 minutes for the onions alone.

Then 5 minutes for the bhuna

Then cooking with the meat and stock for about 2 hours.

It is easy time though. I would much rather cook a curry which takes all afternoon, but can be left for long stretches, than cook a risotto which takes 25 minutes but which needs constant stirring.

Well if I do a roast on Sunday on Monday I use the leftovers to make curry which takes as long as the rice takes to boil, so under 30 minutes

Lasagne would take me longer to cook, as meat would need a long slow cook to be worth eating.

I do a vegetarian tunisian stew thing with harissa, that has just got beg in but also takes around an hour, as root veg take a while to get tender.

HOW do you make mash in 18 mins. In my view it takes that alone to boil the spuds enough.

Lieweise cauliflower cheese would take longer than half an hour.

Potato wedges take about 40 mins.

Curry needs longer than 30 mins in my book - you need to let the flavours all come together. Find if it is made in a hurry the spices taste too raw.

Plus is far better if made, left to go completely cold, then reheated.

Baked spuds

Lasagne/cottage pie - 10 minutes to make the sauce (veg/soya mince) and twenty minutes in the oven. For the cottage pie I would boil the potatoes whilst doing the sauce, and then bake the whole thing for about fifteen minutes.

Mash - seventeen minutes to boil the potaties (cut up very small) and then one minute to mash...

I concede cauliflower cheese though - baked cauli cheese with roast veggies is a Sunday dinner!

I would love to make curry - does anyone have a foolproof recipe book for beginners?

I tend to slow cook food. Even a 'quick' stir fry can take about 30 mins by the time everything's been chopped!

We don't seem to do 'fast' food in this house

DW's lasagne sauce takes about 4 hours to cook, and that's before you assemble the lasagne. It is worth it though.

I can do bolognaise in about half an hour, but the one I make that takes about 20 mins to get in the pan, and then you cook for about 3 hours tastes soooo much better.

I made shepherd's pie last week with leftover roast. Took about 40 mins to get the sauce sorted (about 15 mins getting ingredients into pan, then another 20 for it to cook through), spuds boiled at same time, then 30 mins in the oven.

I generally do "30 min" recipes during the week / defrost home made stuff out of the freezer, but actually like doing cooking when I have the time.

would be interesting to do a taste test!

Do think meat mince takes a while - however dstepson is vegetarian, have tried long slow cooking with his quorn mince and it gets all dry and horrible.

Jacket spuds though I part cook in microwave and finish off in oven to get all crispy - 15 mins in microwave and 20 mins in oven.

My cooking all seems to take so long that I feel like I'm cheating if I'm not stuck in the kitchen for an hour. Sometimes though, I will admit, i do spin it out so that the kids leave me alone: I'm not cooking so much as I'm hiding . And then the wee buggers screw it up by wanting to help.

Seriously though, other than pasta everything I make takes considerably longer than 30mins.