If you could choose just one family meal...

[ViolaCrayola]

What would it be?
Ours is Pasta Amatriciana- slow cooked onions, bacon, tomatoes and chili. It is delicious, easy, cheap and comforting. The recipe was passed down to me by my Dad. I can post it if anyone wants it.
Was just wondering if you have one family favourite that I might be inspired to try... Lovely as Amatriciana is you can only eat so much! :)

I do something similar but without the chilli and I use couscous instead of pasta.

Ours is meat balls in tomato and red pepper sauce with baby roasties and veg. Once served silence falls on the trollopes for a moment or two. I usually make a huge amount of meat balls and freeze half. I also make lots of sauce and use up the rest on sausages or chicken the next day.

Veggie sausage casserole with hassleback potatoes. Can post recipe if anybody wants it. This is the only meal that dd1 is completely positive about, other than pizza!

kho bo (vietnamese beef stew) with a goi salad or salad nems and rice

Roast chicken here - I could probably do one in my sleep and it's one of the few meals that everyone eats happily. That or spaghetti and meatballs.

Roast chook here too!

spag bol here, god i love it so.

Ours would be toad in the hole. Everyone eats it. Which is highly unusual in this house.

Risotto - DS likes salmon whereas DD prefers prawn so sometimes i make it with both in. And peas of course!

Fish pie and broccoli.
Apple crumble and custard.

I wasn;t born in the 1950s, honest!

Above stuff sounds DELICIOUS!

Our favourtie comfort food is spag bol with carrot and tomato sauce on the mince. (first made it for an ill friend whose son will not touch any vegatable)

But our treat meal is wraps with various filling that we can all pass round and add what we want to our own wrap.

Recipe please sounds delish

Can I have the veggie sausage casserole recipe please Remus? Thanks.

Here you go NoThruRoad.

I buy the veggie hotdog sausages from Sainsbo's own range but I think you can get different brands in Holland and Barratt too. Don't use the tofu ones from Waitrose because they are horrible.

Fry an onion, a couple of finely chopped carrots, a chopped leek if wanted, finely chopped celery if wanted. Just to soften, not to colour. Add a couple of teaspoons of grainy mustard and a couple of teaspoons of honey plus a teaspoon or two of paprika, black pepper and a few red chilli flakes. Add a tub of passata then fill the empty tub with water and add that too. Cook it for a while until the carrots are softening (I usually just stick the pan in the oven for half an hour whilst I do something else at this point). Then drain and add either a tin of green lentils (this is how dd1 likes it best) or butter beans or cannelini beans plus a packet of veggie hotdog sausages, sliced. Cook it until all warmed through. It might need a tiny pinch of brown sugar / more paprika / salt / more pepper etc.

I often make double and eat half with hassleback or jacket potatoes on one day then on the next day I par-boil some potatoes, stick the casserole into a dish, layer the potatoes over it then top with grated cheese and bake until all golden and bubbly.

Oh and you might need to add more water as it cooks, obs.

Risotto, risotto, risotto. Both dds always ask for seconds. Pea, pea and ham, pea and prawn, feta and spinach, pumpkin, asparagus, lemon... And on and on and on. I love it!

Thanks a lot - sounds delicious. Those Sainsbury's hotdogs are my new guilty pleasure so looking forward to using them in a recipe.

Here is the Amatriciana recipe (some aspects of this are debated within my family and you may want to adapt it too):

For 4:

-Put a generous amount of olive oil in a large saucepan and add one packet of unsmoked streaky bacon, cut into pieces about 1-2cm square. Cook the bacon until fairly well done, then remove from the oil.

-In the same oil fry a finely chopped medium onion slowly - for around 15 minutes - until very well cooked but not burnt!

-Add chilli - I would advise 1 green chilli (possibly with seeds removed, depending on how into spiciness you are)

-Add 2 tins of tomatoes and let the sauce reduce on a low-medium heat for around 45 minutes

-Towards the end (about 10 minutes before serving) add the bacon back in.

Service with lots of freshly grated parmesan, ground black pepper and (optional) chopped parsley on the top (and a glass of red wine!)

Oh, and pasta of course - pretty much any kind works, large shells or large penne (can't remember Italian names), or spaghetti is particularly good, plus a crispy salad with a sharp dressing and some avocado, cucumber and tomatoes is lovely!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - can I have the recipe please? Sounds delicious!

Fish pie for us. With broccoli or peas, brown sauce and crusty bread. Never any leftovers.

Sweet potato, chickpea and spinach curry. YUM.

See below, Stokey.

Viola - I do a similar one to the Amatricana but more Arabiatta-ish:

Slice a red onion into half moons and 2 red peppers into long thin strips. Crush 2 cloves garlic. Fry for a bit - I like them to get fairly brown. Add finely chopped red chilli to taste and lots of black pepper. Add a packet of Polpe Fina (sp? This is really finely chopped tomatoes in a tomato sauce), a good slug of red wine and some green olives (can be black but I like green) plus lots of fresh parsley. Eat with pasta and parmesan and more fresh parsley.

otchayaniye: Can you post the recipe for your stew or are the ingredients too tricky to find? It all sounds gorgeous!