A not very good cook needs your help

[BlackCatLookingForwardToSpring]

Hello, I can do basic stuff with potatoes: chips, mash, boil.
I know how to boil pasta.
As for other foods I tend to buy a lot of freezer stuff and tinned.

I would like to get better at cooking and so in an effort I have just been out and bought fresh:

Leeks
Portobello mushrooms (Thought I could maybe top with cheese)
peppers (orange, red and yellow)
real potatoes
tomatoes
cucumber
onions
ham
and I also have some cocktail sausages

In the cupboard I have tinned tomatoes.

I don't want to use them all at once, in one day as that would be silly! but Looking for ideas on recipes/ideas what to do with them all.

Please can you help!
Thanks in advance.

Portobello mushrooms delicious brushed with olive oil mixed with crushed garlic and salt, then roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Eat in sandwich with mustard, optional mayonnaise and slice of nice cheese, sprinkle with fresh parsley if you have some. I think this is a Nigella Lawson recipe although I got it from a Nigel Slater book.

Make leek and potato soup with the leeks and potatoes (sorry I don't have a recipe to hand but you can google for one).

If you like soup, the peppers, tomatoes and onions would make another nice one with some herbs and you'll need stock. Or make a vegetable sauce for pasta - chop the onion, cook gently in oil for 10 minutes, add chopped peppers and some garlic and fresh or tinned tomatoes.

When you say you have fresh ham, do you have a whole joint of ham? You can either roast or boil it but I prefer the texture if you boil - around 40 minutes per kilo. Eat it with baked potatoes and some kind of green veg. Save the water you boiled it in to make pea soup. Boil up some frozen peas in the ham water (quite a lot, otherwise it will be too runny). Add some bits of leftover chopped ham if you have any. Cook for about 10 minutes then puree in blender.

Is any of that the kind of thing you're looking for? I'd actually shopping for specific recipes in future, so look for a recipe for something that you'd like to eat, and buy the ingredients for it. I don't always follow this advice but I often end up with stray vegetables in my fridge that I'm never going to use.

Ham and mushroom pasta. With either a cheesy sauce or tomato one using the tinned tomatoes, onion and herbs. Or carbonara style if you have eggs.

Potato and leek gratiny thing

Could stuff the peppers or mushrooms if you have rice or couscous. Or chop them up and add to other stuff eg the tomato pasta sauce.

You could do a goulash type thing using the mushrooms and peppers and some sour cream.

Sorry if too vague, I'm a chucker togetherer rather than a recipe user.

Thanks,
The ham is sliced "nice" ham, in a packet.

I'm going to try the mushrooms tonight for me and DH as the DC aren't keen.

Also peppers and mushrooms can be added to loads of stuff eg can of tomatoes, can of chickpeas, onion, seasoning, mushroom & peppers= very easy veggie stew

Got a recipe from goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes in a magazine for the Portobello
mushrooms but I don't have all the ingredients for the topping so do you recon Cheese on it's own would be nice?

Hi BlackCat I am at the "nice" ham.

I always use leeks to make soup. I chop up one onion into small pieces and chop the top and bottom off the leek then cut it in half length ways and wash it then cut it into little pieces. I heat a bit of olive oil in a saucepan and let the onion and leek cook gently in that until it has gone sort of see through.

While that is happening I peel and chop a couple of carrots, a couple of potatoes and a bit of swede (I would call it turnip but I mean the big ones). I chop it into bits of any size as long as they are all roughly the same size.

I chuck that in with the onion and leek and let it cook for ten mins or so gently, stirring every now and again to make sure it hasn't stuck.

While that is going on I boil the kettle, have and use about a pint of water in a stock cube (I like Marigold bouillon powder but an oxo cube or Knorr stock cube is great) and mix up the stock.

Once the veg is a little soft I pour on the stock and let it simmer for 20 mins or half and hour. If the dcs like it then you can add protein by adding a teacup of lentils at this stage. If you put the stock in and it doesn't cover the veg then add a bit more water til it does.

After half and hour you can blend the soup so it is a smooth puree or leave it chunky. Serve it with bread. It can be "nice" bread if you like.

So now you can cook veg soup or lentil soup.

Let us know how the mushrooms go BlackCat - it sounds delicious.

Cheese on it's own on the mushrooms would be lovely.

Have you got any pesto? A wee blob of pesto with the mayonaise would make it even yummier.

if you go to somewhere like the BBC Good Food website you can type in the ingredients you have & it will suggest recipes.

I used to fill the mushrooms with chopped onions & herbs, then top with Taglio (sp?) cheese (it's quite squishy & very tasty) then cover with breadcrumbs and cook in the oven will try to dig out the proper recipe as I want to make it now!

I often use peppers to make fajitas. Would your dcs eat them?

I heat a little olive oil in a large pan. I chop and onion into strips and soften it in the oil with a bit of crushed garlic (eg 2 little bits crushed up). I wash and slice the peppers into strips. I put the peppers into the softened onions and cook them for about 5 mins on quite a high heat. I add a bit of chilli powder and a little cumin too (maybe half a teaspoon of each if you don't like strong flavours) You could add strips of chicken at the onion stage too I imagine but I don't do meat. Then just roll it up in a tortilla wrap with some sour cream and grated cheese. You can add tomato salsa and guacamole if you have it.

The other thing you can do with peppers is to roast them in the oven to make a pasta sauce.

Cut them into quarters and brush them with a little olive oil. Put them on a baking tray and roast them in the oven at about 200C until black.

Take them out of the oven and put them into a plastic freezer bag and seal the top so they steam.

When they are cool, take them out and slide off as much of the black skin as you can.

You can then either:

a) blend them with philidelphia for a tasty pasta sauce or:

b) cooks some chopped up onions, garlic in olive oil, chop up the peppers and add them, add a tin of chopped tomatoes and some ripped up basil leaves and serve over pasta with some grated parmesan or similar cheese.

I don't have any pesto.
I have never made fajitas. I have a lot to learn!
Thanks for your replies so far. I am off to the kitchen now so wish me luck!

Would your dcs like a toad in the hole with the cocktail sausages? You could even make mini ones since you have mini sausages? Since the oven would be on you could serve it with roast potatoes and a veg of some sort. I usually do brocolli but you know what your dcs like eg sweetcorn or peas or baked beans etc.

bbc good food fajitas This one gets good feedback so might be a good starting point.

Ok....

Life is NOT too short to stuff a mushroom, so:

Preheat the oven to 170c. Remove the stalks and finely chop. Finely slice one of the leeks. Melt a little butter and olive oil in a pan (½-1 tsp of each). Gently cook the mushroom stalks and leeks for about 7-8 minutes. Chop up 2-3 slices of the ham and add into the leek/mushroom mix (off the heat), then stir in some dried (or fresh) thyme or oregano, a heaped tablespoon of philly cheese and a tablespoon of finely grated parmesan or pecorino. Stir well. Top each of the mushrooms with the mix, pop into the oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Peppers: remove seeds and slice into 1/2cm slices. Slice an onion into similar size strips. Finely chop a clove of garlic (or two). HEat some olive oil in a large frying pan and add the peppers, onions and garlic, together with ½tsp ground cumin and a pinch of chili flakes (or not chili if not liked), cook slowly for about 10 minutes and then throw in 3 tomatoes, quartered, and cook for a further 15 minutes on a low heat - add a little water if very thick. Make 4 little dips in the mix and crack an egg into each, cooking gently for another 3-4 minutes until the eggs are just set. Garnish (or not) with finely chopped coriander or parsley. Baked baguette or toast to scoop up the juices goes down well.

Cook 80g (dried weight) of spaghetti per person, drain, rinse and leave to cool. In a bowl whisk one egg per person, add one handful grated cheese per person, 1 spring onion per person, some ham (and anything else you fancy really), then stir into the spaghetti. Melt some butter in a large, heavy based frying pan and add the mixture in, flattening evenly in the pan. Cook over a gentle heat for about 7 minutes, then stick under the grill to finish off.

I have many many more, if you can give a few store cupboard ingredients....

You could cook the mush & toms up to have with eggs for breakfast?

I love allrecipes.com for ideas

Rock do you mean something which will look a bit like this? I am intrigued as I have never had anything like this before.

Almost spot on carrots - it is SOOOOOO delicious. I don't use yoghurt, the recipe I use is actually from one of my Mum's cook books from about 35 years ago. It's a Moroccan/Tunisian recipe. A brilliant Sunday supper type thing when minimal effort is required!

BlackCat my Jamie Ministry book has a chicken fajita recipe on p38. Could you try something like that?

Back again (can you tell how bored I am tonight?) I have just been looking at my Ministry book and realised that when I got it dd went through it and filled it with post its for recipes she would like to try. We have added notes to it as time has gone on for what we changed, whether we liked it etc.

He has a Leek and Potato soup which was mentioned up thread on P130. Dd has put a post it on that page saying "Loking Good!" ( I assume she meant "Looking" )

mmmm that menemen looks yummy!

It does doesn't it bessie. I would be tempted to add chick peas but I suppose the protein is in the egg. It looks reasonably cheap to make as well.

BlackCat I didn't finish my point about the cook book earlier (soggy brain). My point was that if ds chooses the recipes and helps with them he might be more likely to eat the end result. (I shouldn't assume he is fussy, I just know what kids are like sometimes).

I've been using Smitten Kitchen website for recipe ideas. It's New York based and a bit different, but really yummy.

I'd do a Spanish tortilla. Slice the potatoes (so they are about 2cm thick) and boil until slightly underdone. In the meantime, in your smallest frying pan (a really diddy one), very gently fry a sliced onion and a finely chopped pepper. When the potatoes are done, drain and add to the frying pan, and gently stir so they are all jumbled up. Beat together six eggs with a generous pinch of salt, pepper and some dried herbs, and pour over the mixture in the frying pan. Cover and leave on the lowest heat possible for about ten minutes. At that point it will be more or less cooked through, but slightly runny on top, so pop under a hot grill for a minute to firm up. Cool for a couple of minutes, then slice (like a cake) and serve with slices of nice ham :), and a tomato and cucumber salad. Lovely.