laziest meals...that look like you made an effort

[ghoulelocks]

can we pool ideas, those meals that get brownie points but are very little effort.

My contribution:

lamb casserole:
diced meat
frozen veg (tesco do nice and chunky mix)
few spices

throw in big pot, oven 90min. looks lovely, don't even get a knife dirty and takes about 2 min prep.

Cowboy beef

500g of stewing beef
1 onion sliced
2 carrots sliced
1 stick of celery sliced
200ml of beef stock
1 tin of chopped toms
1 tbsp of Tom purée

Put in slow cooker, 15mins before serving stir in 1 tin of cannellini beans

Serve with jacket potato or rice

Looks good tastes great and no effort!

Slow cooker duck confit (was running out of battery before so didn't think I'd get it down before it went poof). It's really easy to scale up or down.

Take 4 duck legs and put in a large plastic freezer bag. Don't trim the fat or worry about pricking the skin.

Then chuck the following ingredients in the bag:
40g sea salt (about 8 teaspoons)
Bay leaf
4 x garlic cloves - crushed with the back of a knife (or a teaspoon of lazy garlic)
Pepper
Handful of thyme
Zest of half an orange

Seal bag and sort of squish the ingredients onto the duck. Leave to marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. I do mine the night before lunch but just put in a bit less salt and give it another squish before bed.

Take out of fridge and rinse off the duck legs and pay dry on kitchen paper. If you want, seal the duck legs skin side down in a pan (my slow cooker pan can go on the hob so it's super easy but if you use a frying pan for this keep it for later) or don't bother, then transfer to slow cooker and add duck or goose fat to cover. I don't bother melting it first, just lob it in.

Cook for 3 hours starting on high, then turning down to medium/low once you see bubbles on the surface.

When you want to serve take it out of the slow cooker, brush skin with honey and cook skin side down in a pan on the hob for 3-5 mins to caramelise the skin. You could skip this bit. If you are making confit to keep for later then you would pour half an inch of fat into a sterile earthen wear dish or large kilner jar, then add the duck legs making sure they don't touch the sides and then top with the clarified fat, add a piece of grease proof paper and cover. It will keep for a month. You can then just pan fry with the honey another day for a super quick supper.

It does take a long time but very little actual cooking or prep time; you don't need to chop anything and you can skip some of the steps.

It makes delicious, meltingly soft duck and is almost impossible to balls up.

What a great thread! Have made copious notes and can't wait to try some of these. Here's my contribution

Kids call it Chicken Mango although no mango has ever been near it

Mix together mayonnaise (or light mayo) and apricot jam (I do around a tablespoon per person, although lighter on the jam)

Add in 1 chicken breast per person and coat with the mixture.

I make this up in the morning before I go to work and put in fridge, covered.

Shove in oven for 45 mins - divine - kind of like a hot coronation chicken.

VERY EASY ICE CREAM (Stolen from Good Food Mag)

Whisk one pint (600 ml) double cream until stiff but not too stiff.
Add in one teasp vanilla essence and one tin of condensed milk

Whisk until fully mixed, put in plastic box and into freezer for several hours.

BEWARE - THIS IS NOT FOR DIETERS IRRESISTIBLE!

Sometimes I go back to it when it has been in freezer for several hours, not quite set, heat up a jar of nutella in the microwave for 30 secs to soften it and then swirl nutella into it and put back in freezer....

Fish pie, so bloody easy but people are always impressed!!

Poach fish pie mix in milk, drain fish and put in an ovenproof dish.

Use milk to make white sauce, adding a little mustard.

Pour over fish, add king prawns, chuck in some peas top with mash and throw in oven for 20-30mins.

I also do fish in foil (bung in herbs, oil and/or lemon depending on fish and preference) bake in oven.

Sausage tray bake - cook sausages in a roasting tray. Prick the skins. Add chopped red onion, courgettes, aubergine, half tin chopped tomatoes, basil leaves, garlic, salt & pepper. Also add chilli or other herbs if you want. If you don't have any basil or herbs and couple of dollops of pesto will do. Drizzle with olive oil and put in oven. You can add some balsamic vinegar if you wish. After about 20 minutes cook cous cous and add add it to the sausage pan. Stir through the veg and juices. Put back in oven for five mins. Serve with salad.

Chicken tray bake - chuck chopped veg in oven tray or casserole dish (potatoes, carrots, onions plus whatever you like). Dust chicken pieces or a whole chicken with flour. You can add cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, ordinary paprika, Chinese 5 spice or whatever you like to the flour. Season. Add herbs and/or garlic for flavour. Tarragon (add a tiny bit of mustard powder to the flour), sage and rosemary all go well but keep the flour plain. Put chicken on top of veg, skin side down, cover and cook in oven until chicken is cooked. Stir every so often and turn the chicken right way up for last 20 mins and uncover to brown skin. Throw on plate!

Salad, rice, noodles or cous cous can look extra special if served in a tortilla bowl. Mould a flour tortilla into a wire sieve and bake in oven at 20deg until it begins to brown (usually 2-4 minutes) then remove from sieve and fill with desired contents. E.g www.google.co.uk/search?q=tortilla+bowl&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHFX_enGB511GB511&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=rI9LUbKaEcWk0AW4hYBo&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1517&bih=714#imgrc=p7hQzDa6P0D_jM%3A%3BMS2DVNbY22O-wM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcdn.blogs.babble.com%252Ffamily-kitchen%252Ffiles%252F2012%252F08%252F014.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fblogs.babble.com%252Ffamily-kitchen%252F2012%252F08%252F21%252Fperfectly-baked-tortilla-bowl%252F%3B2624%3B1907

Ooh good fish pie cock. I do mine the same but add some smoked cheddar to the sauce sometimes to ring the changes or a bit of chopped parsley if feeling fancy.

OMG the tortilla bowl sounds WONDERFUL, I think my boys would eat dog shit if I served it in one of those

Am going to make one tomorrow! Thank you

Boil pan of water, throw in pasta and 1 salmon fillet per person. Zest a lemon, fry gently with crushed garlic. Add either tub philly or tub creme fraiche, stir then add poached salmon. Loosen sauce with lemon juice. Serve with pasta. Add cherry toms and parsley if you like.
Choc sponge - flour, egg, sugar, cocoa. Combine, put in buttered puddibg dish and cook in microwave. Hot home made pud in literally 5 minutes.

Paprika chicken

Brown off some onion in a pan or casserole.
Add a teaspoon of paprika to one tablespoon of flour. Add seasoning. Chuck on chicken pieces (legs or thighs are good).

Bung chicken in with onions either in casserole or slow cooker. Add liquid (bit of red wine, stock or water) to almost cover and give it a good stir. Add some of those preserved green chilli peppers that come in a jar if you like. Simmer/slow cook until chicken is cooked and falling off the bone.

Turn off the heat and stir in some creme fraiche. Serve with rice.

Not for serving to your posh mates, but great for one's DCs are
WATERMELON ICE LOLLIES

Then they are back in season (soon?), cut out a slice and then cut that into sticks with each stick having some of the green skin at one end. Lay sticks out in a line on a tray covered with greaseproof paper and freeze. After a few hours you have watermelon icelollies which are yummy (store in a plastic box when fully frozen) and healthy all at the same time!

Some of you are clearly "lazier" chefs than others. Lasagne and quiche will not be on my list of lazy meals unless it involves opening a box.

My suggestion is Feta Chicken. Make a basic tomato sauce in a wide-based pan (onion, garlic, tinned toms, herbs etc). Chop a packet of feta cheese into lumps, and wrap each lump in a boneless chicken thigh (two per person). Pop the thighs on top of the sauce, put a lid on, and simmer for 20-30 minutes until cooked.

Mediterranean White Fish Bake

Bag of frozen white fish - Basa works well & is cheap & tasty

Half bag of frozen Mediterranean veg

Half bag of frozen mixed peppers

Red Onion - medium - large chopped into large chunks

Glass of red wine

Olive Oil

Goats cheese or mozzarella - thinly sliced

Parmesan

Carton of passatta/strained tomatoes or tin of chopped toms in juice

Garlic - couple of teaspoons of dry stuff or 4-6 cloves, depending on taste

Fresh ground black pepper - teaspoon or so

Basil, dry is fine - teaspoon or so

Tarragon - dry is fine - teaspoon or so

Sage - dry fine, half teaspoon

(Or you could just use bouquet garni, or mixed herbs x 3 - 4 teaspoon )

Lay frozen fish evenly in bottom of large casserole dish/baking dish, - set aside
(cover bottom with fish, break of chunks & fill gaps if needed)

Throw olive oil, frozen veg & garlic into large flat bottomed pan or wok - heat & stir through until melting & cooking.

Throw in - Wine, Passata/Tin Toms, Red Onion & continue cooking until all veg softening - throw in all herbs & spices & continue cooking until you have a rich, thick & chunky sauce - it needs to be still a bit runny though - if not add a bit of water.

Pour all of sauce over the fish, making sure its completely covered & bake in tye oven at 180 for 30min - now remove from oven sprinkle top with Parmesan & lay sliced cheese evenly across the top - return to oven & bake for a further 15 min at 200 or until top is browned & cheese has melted with a crispy top

Enjoy

This freezes well & serves best with cous cous
or even boiled baby potatoes or frozen mash

French pea side dish (looks fancy, tastes scrummy and so, so easy)

Snip pancetta or streaky bacon into a pan. One cooked, but not well done, add a knob of butter and throw in some shallots. Once shallots cooked and bacon crispy add frozen peas and enough chicken stock to cover. Taste and season. Leave on hob cooking until ready just make sure the liquid never completely evaporates. Alternatively add less stock and put it in the oven with a lid.

Excellent thread!

Risotto made with champagne and cep mushrooms, a little saffron. Delish.

Tuna pasta bake:

Fry an onion (do this in a saucepan, to minimise washing up). Remove onion, and cook 200g pasta in the same pan. Drain. Put onion, pasta, tin of Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup, milk and a tin of tuna in the saucepan and heat through. Transfer to an ovenproof bowl, top with grated cheese and grill for 5 minutes.

^ Not sure this impresses at a dinner party though tbf!

Marking place, loads of fab recipes to try!

Easy Thai Green Curry (serves two and a toddler)

Chuck a couple of teaspoons of green curry paste in a pan with a tablespoon of veg oil, fry gently for a couple of minutes. Add a tin of coconut milk. Slice up a couple of chicken breasts very very thinly, like slivers and chuck them in when the fluid starts to simmer. They'll be cooked within five mins. Add beansprouts, green beans, other thinly sliced veg if you have any. Serve in bowls on a plate with rice, sprinkled generously with fresh coriander, and a spoon and chopsticks

The chicken is poached instead of fried, much tastier and tender-er. Alternative is to add thin rice noodles (not egg ones) to the liquid and serve in massive bowls without rice on the side.

Katienana

sounds very much like my Salmon Linguine.

Very quick and very tasty.

Marking place

slow cooker - open pack of either frozen stew mix or ready bought chopped veg, open pack of chopped stew beef or lamb

stock cube, little water and leave all day, thicken and add gravy browning just before serving with mash. Literally takes 30 seconds to make this.

My best truly lazy meal that looks and tastes dinner party quality is:

Salmon with pesto and parmesan crust, served with confit baby tomatoes.

First do your tomatoes. Buy cherry tomatoes still on the vine, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and roast them very slowly in a medium oven for about an hour so they stay whole and don't turn to mush. Before cooking snip the vine into smaller strips so each person has about four or five each.

Meanwhile, get your salmon steaks, smear top with pesto, sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Take the tomatoes out when they look softened, slightly browned and caramelised and the juices look nice and syrupy, but they have stayed whole. Keep warm, and whack your oven up to about 200c. Heat a flat baking tray covered with a bit of lightly oiled foil until really hot.

Whack the salmon in, leave the steaks for no more than about 4 or 5 minutes, then turn the oven off and the grill on, just to finish browning the top and melting the cheese. (or leave for about 7 minutes in total and finish the tops off with a cook's blowtorch)

The whole thing will take about 8 minutes. No more, or the fish will be dry.

New potatoes and steamed green beans with garlic butter, or sauteed spinach.

And another favourite is this one:

Open up and flatten out a chicken breast, lay a couple of fresh basil leaves, a sun dried tomato (the sort that comes in a jar of oil) and a big wodge of mozzarella cheese (the cheap, firm stuff that comes in a vaccum packed block is absolutely fine for this, very expensive fresh buffalo mozzarella in water has a much more delicate flavour and texture and would be a bit wasted on this dish to be honest) and some freshly ground black pepper.

Fold the chicken breast back up and wrap in two rashers of thinly sliced pancetta, or just smoked streaky bacon is fine. Put two breasts each in one of those cellophane roasting bags, do not pierce the bag. Whack in a preheated oven, about 180c, for 25 minutes. Done. The bacon will be browned but the chicken will be moist and there will be lovely juices and oozy cheese.

for those upthread who find lasagna is a faff because of having to make a cheese sauce and that it collapses

instead of cheese sauce put lumps of Philadelphia between layers and on top then sprinkle with grated cheddar ...job done, lovely,(and upright)