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...)

[JugglingFromHereToThere]

[ComeHeather]

could the book also specify the slatternly reuse of crockery and pans? eg "using yesterday's frying pan heat up the solidified bacon fat to nuclear temp, then sling in some chopped onions"?

[enormouse]

Also at tantrum soundscape.

Easy fish pie
Fish pie mix into dish with frozen pre chopped onions. You can add smoked salmon trimmings or anything else you want. Leeks or frozen spinach are nice in it too.
Powdered parsley sauce mix made with milk poured over it.
Add mash on top (pre-made makes it ridiculously easy)
Stick in the oven for half an hour or so.

[Lioninthesun]

Slow cooker one - chicken legs/thighs in, about a mug of dark soy, several large squirts of ketchup, large spoonful of honey and grated ginger. Give a little stir and add a dash of water if leaving for more than 3 hours. Lovely sticky chicken all marinated and extra sauce can be used for noodles the next day

[Lioninthesun]

I also did a peppered steak in slow cooker last week using just cream, milk and Schwarz powder (peppered steak sauce I think it was called), frozen onions and chopped mushrooms bunged in with the two steaks and left for 3 hours. Could also add loads of sugar snap peas or frozen veg to make a peppery casserole.

[SerenaJoy]

That sounds awesome Lioninthesun - might try that one tomorrow

[catsofa]

Thanks for this thread, I am a crap cook and am particularly bad at it when I'm hungry! Here's a light meal for summer:

(Serves one, so the maths of serving more than one should be spectacularly easy)

Take salad leaves out of packet and sprinkle on plate.

Boil a medium (about the size of my fist) potato, and an egg - the egg needs to be hard boiled so just leave it in with the potato for 10 mins or so rather than trying to guess when it will be runny but not too runny inside, I am rubbish at that. Just cook the fuck out of it.

Heat up one of those little 80g tins of tuna, I open the tin and stick tin and all under the grill on low heat (actually it doesn't particularly need to be heated if you can't be arsed with this bit, it's just something to do while watching the egg and potato boil 'cos if I don't watch them I'll forget until I smell burning).

Dump tuna all over the plate on top of the salad.

Slice the egg and the potato and dump the slices all over the top of everything.

Squirt some form of creamy salad dressing all over all that, Heinz caesar salad dressing is nice.

Eat.

Feed spare tuna to the cat.

[catsofa]

Alternatively, for a packed lunch, allow hot things to cool and substitute a tupperware box for the plate.

[ComeHeather]

cat sofa i am loving your style