Genuinely simple meals (for crap cooks), I have one and it's gorgeous

[KellyHopter]

Penne pasta
Smoked trout
Brocolli
Sugar snap peas
Lemon juice/zest
Dill
Cream
Salt and pepper.

It's heaven!

It's so nice to make a meal which takes literally 20 minutes (actually 20 minutes, fellow crap cooks will understand the frustration of recipes saying they take x amount of time and it somehow ends up being double due to crap cookness) and tastes lovely, isn't complicated, laborious etc.

I'd be very interested in any similarly easy meals (especially those which would do for 2 people, well 1.5 really...)

I do another Nigel Slater sausage thing which is similar to the one below -

Put (dried) pasta in boiling water - works well with big chucky shells or shapes
Take nice sausages and squeeze out meat, discarding skins.

Fry gently till cooked and crumbly. Add a glass of white wine, spoon of mustard, some fresh basil and when wine reduced a bit add some double cream, pepper and chili flakes. Stir in to pasta and serve with parmesan.

Put a whole chicken in the slow cooker on low.

8 hours later have it in pittas with lettuce and avocado and lemon mayonnaise

My easy but lovely recipe is...

1. Cook 250g spaghetti
2. Meanwhile, heat extra virgin olive oil in a pan and fry some breadcrumbs then put them on a paper towel.
3. Heat a little more oil and add crushed garlic and chilli flakes. Cook for a minute. Grate in some lemon zest.
4. Drain spaghetti and put into a large bowl.
5. Immediately add the garlic/chilli/zest combo.
6. Flake in some hot smoked salmon or mackerel.
7. Add a handful of rocket. Mix it all up gently.
8. Plate up, sprinkling the breadcrumbs on top.

One sliced carrot
Handful of broccoli
Baby sweet corn or any veg you have in the fridge
1/2 stock cube
Parboil everything with a packet of udon noodles
You can add any leftover cooked meat/protein of choice if you want to.
Season to taste.
5 - 10 mins max!

Substitute udon noodles with super cheap dried packet noodles (19p) from Aldi to make it even cheaper.

Some annabel Karmel recipes are really easy and tasty. One my dc and I love is:

Chop up fresh spinach and microwave with a splash of water until wilted. Mix with grated cheese (I like gruyere), a tablespoon of cream cheese, black pepper and cooked macaroni.

Ooh, I've got a lovely one - fry pancetta or lardons with a chopped pepper and some garlic, then chuck in half a tsp cayenne pepper, half a tube tomato purée, tin of toms and a couple of bay leaves, simmer for ten mins then add prawns, cooked or raw, frozen or fresh, cook for a few mins as prawns require, fish out bay leaves and serve with rice. It's realy gorgeous.

Roll chicken thigh fillets in curry powder. Put in slow cooker, add cut-up roasted red peppers (from a jar) and the contents of a can of condensed mushroom soup. Cook om low all day. Serve with rice or bread and salad or veg.

RunDougal, yours sounds lush!

Easy risotto style dish

Orzo pasta, cooked and drained (approx 3 mins)

Stir in handful (or so) of watercress, or spinach, or rocket

Stir in generous chunk of dolchette, or Gorgonzola, or cambazola cheese

Eat!

(Use a bit of the cooking water to thin if required)

.

Why, thank you MrsPremise, it is, but I have to confess I stole the recipe from a friend of mine, and now we have it about twice a week!

I recently made baked risotto with some left over pasta sauce in a jar (tomato and basil). Got a recipe from bbc good food and altered it slightly.
Fry onion in butter then add rice and stir to coat. Pour in half a jar of pasta sauce then fill jar with boiling water and tip that in too (adjust amount of water according to quantity of rice). Put it all in an oven proof dish and bake for about 25 mins. When it's cooked, add lots of grated cheese.
Any veg you fancy could be added just before the rice.
I'm useless at making risotto the normal way but this came out really well.

Ooh recipes!

Brilliant, I'll be taking notes.

I made a lovely roast veg tart today, served with chicken thighs. Really good. Ready made puff pastry, roasted veg, cook, done!

Place marking. Not a crap cook but lazy one

You know when you do a whole chicken in the slow cooker - do you literally just stick it in, or do you add any liquid?

This is my sort of thread - possibly the most useful I've ever seen here ....
For example liking "add jar of artichokes (chop up a bit)" - sounds good, will try that one.

I thought there were a few good tips on Nigelissima the other night - eg. use banana shallots instead of onions as are both easier to chop and quicker (for some reason) to cook

Also she seemed to have some good ideas about which alcohol to add to things to liven things up - not sure if she actually said this but think I'll try adding some madeira to mushrooms as sauce for pasta.

Dead good mushroom thing =
Fry onion and garlic a bit. Add mushrooms and fry more. Add wine or brandy and sizzle. Add cream cheese (can be Boursin) and cream plus loads of fresh parsley. Nice on pasta, or as filling for little pastries, or stuffed into pitta bread with salad.

Ooh thanks Remus _ I fancy giving something mushroomy a whirl

A roast veg tart using puff pastry also sounds great Kelly and easy enough for even me to try

• I guess you'd have to oven cook the veg to almost ready before putting on top of the pastry

< almost clueless >

My friend says I have oregano growing in the garden (news to me - useful friend!) so thinking I could put some of that in with the mushrooms instead of parsley? Have a feeling oregano could go well with mushrooms?

Oh and good mushroom tart thing is:

prick and part bake a sheet of puff pastry
fry up some garlic mushrooms
mix some cream cheese with chopped spinach and a bit of pesto
spread all over part cooked pastry
dump the mushrooms on top
shove over some slices of Camembert
bake until oozing

Not diet-food but v good! :)

Take a sheet of ready made ready rolled puff pastry. Work out where half way is. Put frozen spinach and a crumbled block of feta in the middle of one half. Fold over and seal with milk, brush the top with milk and cut a couple of small holes for the steam to escape. Bake for 20-25 mins at 180ish. Serve with oven chips :)

Reading a bit more of the thread what do you think of jar of artichokes and pieces of soft goat's cheese with pasta, perhaps also some (toasted if you can be bothered) pine nuts ?
Pasta is a life saver isn't it? Possibly the world's greatest invention?

I do a homemade pot noodle thing (from BBC Good Food website):

Fry a spoonful of Thai curry paste (or more if you like it spicy) till it sizzles a bit
Chuck in some chopped spring onions and a grated carrot, and let it sizzle for 5 minutes or so.
Add a handful of frozen peas/sweetcorn and a mug full of hot stock (chicken or veg)
Add a packet of straight to wok noodles and simmer till everything looks hot enough and cooked through.

Sometimes I add some chicken if I can be bothered but it doesn't really need it.

Yamyoid, was this the risotto recipe? I use it as a basis for lots of oven baked risottos. I love it, so easy. My favourite is to do a basic risotto (just onion, garlic, rice and stock) and then stir in some roast butternut squash, a bit of sage and loads of parmesan at the end. It's also good with peas, broad beans (both from the freezer) and asparagus too.