your best one pot dishes please

[wildpoppy]

I am finding cooking for the family a bit much at the moment with lots of other stuff going on at work and home. Anyone suggest heir best one pot dishes please - ideally something with meat and veg in it that can be bunged in casserole dish and put in oven and come out cooked - ideally no pre casserole dish browning or frying over or other stuff. Don't mind if it has a carb in it or needs carb as a side. Hugely appreciated...

Great ideas thank you. Particularly like the fish one with a boiled egg. And must stock up on chicken thighs.

Never though of freezing onions once cooked. Do they retain their flavour?

Pesto Salmon / chicken
Spread pesto on salmon or chicken breasts
add some veg to the tray and spoon some more pesto over. Tomatos, peppers, Courgettes anything like that works (cut small enough to cook in same time as meat / fish )
Put some tin foil round making a parcel
Bake in the oven until meat or fish cooked

simple but effective serve with potatos (roasted new potatoes go well!)

Vegetable "tagliatelle" cabonara

Use 1 1/2 courgettes between 2, use a potato peeler to peel strips off the courgettes that look like tagliatelle.

Thinly sliced leeks, green beans (I use frozen but if you use fresh do it lengthways), carrots done in the same way as the courgettes with peeler, sliced mushrooms.

Add all the veg to a large frying pan with a knob of butter and fry off for a few minutes until softened. Add in salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste and stir well, cook for another couple minutes.

Take the pan off the heat and add in one egg per person, 2 tbsp sour cream per person and a good bit of grated parmesan and stir in. Put back on the heat for a minute or so constantly stirring, then serve.

You can add thin strips of bacon or ham when you fry off the veg too if you fancy it

Delicious

Ail a dish / tray

put a thin slice of potatoes, top with pork steak/medalions/chop

Put apple sauce on top of pork (from jar)
Put stuffing (from a packet and made up) on top - stick in the oven for 30-40 mins - the apple and pork juice caremalise the potatoes - you might want to add a veg or fruit to make it more balanced.

oil, not ail

Belly pork hotpot works out at around £6 for the ingredients depending where you buy it from.

Serves 4-5

You will need:-

1 large deep casserole dish
1 large onion
4-5 large potatoes
8-10 slices of lean belly pork (depends on size of slices)

How to make:-

Slice the onion then peel or leave the skin on the potatoes and slice in to 1/2 cm slices, shove in a deep oven proof dish and season with salt and pepper, mix so there is an even distribution of the onion and potato then lay slices of belly pork on the top, season to taste, cover and pop in the oven for 2 hrs on 180°c remove the lid 20 mins before taking out the oven to crisp the belly pork up. Serve with crusty bread.

Quick, cheap, cheerfull and tasty, no oil needed and you can prepare it in advance.

I've just put some stewing steak in the oven with onion and potato and stock, will serve with bread and butter Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

classic beef casserole or classic steak and kid are my stick in the oven and come back later recipes.

beef casserole:
chop onions, carrots, mushrooms, beef, one stick of celery, put in large dish
(can add parsnips, courgettes etc)
use mixed herbs, 1 pint of beef stock, large spoon of flour.
mix
cook for 3-4 hours in medium oven.

steak and kid
chop beef and kidney, onions, mushrooms
add 1 pint beef stock, flour and mix

cook 3-4 hours on medium heat.

add baked potatoes to the oven if you like

The hairy bikers do a great one Spanish style chicken bake

Basically put potatoes (sweet potatoes are a lovely change), red onion, garlic and tomatoes -no oil - in a large oven tray, cook 20 mins then add chicken pieces with bone, chorizo and paprika mixed with organeo then another 20 then peppers for a final 20 with slightly higher heat and a quick baste at the same time.

I prep when ds2 is napping so no prepping in witching hour. If i worked i would prep the night before - i.e have veg in the tray in fridge or big bowl, herbs mixed in a ramekin and another bowl for peppers.

Serve with green salad - tip bag in bowl. Done

Briam, has no meat in it, but ots delicious and very simple, I love it!

1 kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced (35 oz.)
1/2 kg potatoes, sliced (18 oz.)
1/2 kg aubergines, sliced (18 oz.)
1/2 kg courgette, sliced (18 oz.)
3/4 of a cup olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsps chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes in slices. Wash thoroughly the courgettes and aubergines and slice into 1cm slices. Alternatively you can cut the vegetables in chunks. Peel the tomatoes and cut into thin slices. (You can also use green bell peppers).
To bake the briam use a large baking pan, approx. 30*35cm, so that the vegetables are not layered too deep.
Layer the bottom of the pan with sliced tomatoes and season. Place on top the sliced vegetables and season well. Sprinkle with the onion and garlic and top with the rest of the tomatoes. Season well, garnish with chopped parsley and drizzle with olive oil.
Cover the briam with aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven at 200C for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Uncover the briam halfway through cooking time, toss the vegetables and continue baking until nicely coloured.
Serve with lots of bread.

Mediterranean Beef Casserole.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

400g braised/stewing beef, cubed

400g can on chopped tomatoes

150ml red wine

150ml beef stock

1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

12 olives

1 courgette, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

Salt and pepper

Topping;

4 tbsp tapenade

1 sliced ciabatta loaf

25g grated mozzarella

1 tbsp fresh chopped basil

Serve with baby new potatoes tossed in butter with herbs and roasted garlic and steamed asparagus.

Preparation

1.Preheat oven to 180c. Heat oil over medium heat in large non stick pan. Fry onion and then garlic until soft. Transfer to large oven proof dish.
2.Add diced beef and cook until brown all sides. Add tomatoes, wine, stock, basil and olives and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add to oven dish. Season to taste, stir and cover. Cook in centre of oven for 1 and a quarter hours.
3.Remove casserole from oven and add courgette and pepper. Cover and return for 15 mins.
4.Spread tapenade onto one side of ciabatta. Remove casserole and arrange bread on top, tapenade side up. Sprinkle with mozzarella and return to oven for 10 minutes.
5.Serve with basil, potatoes and asparagus.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/great_sausage_casserole_73010

root veg in chunks, carrots, parsnips, swede etc, potatoes if yu want to. Tin of cannellini beans, tin of green lentils, tub of chicken stock, or make up a chicken stock from cube/pot, roughly a pint, put this all in a large pan with a lid, or a slow cooker, sit a whole chicken on top, pop the lid on and slow cook in the oven for several hours, I usually put it on when leaving for work at 9.30. Take the lid off when I get home at 3.30-4, to brown the chicken off. Just before serving take the chicken out and either portion out and serve as is, or shred the chicken and add to the veggies and stock. stir through a large handful of fresh chopped flat leaf parsley. Serve with French bread, or if you put potatoes in its plenty as it is.

Alternative is to shred the chicken and then add it all to the pot, then add dumplings and back to the oven for the dumplings to cook through.

2. Chicken thighs and or breast chopped into large chunks (I only use breast as don't like thighs), cooking chorizo again in large chunks, fry it all in a big lidded pan with 2-3 sliced onions. Depending on how much chicken you are using 1-2 tins of chopped tomatoes, 1 carton of passata, tin of cannellini or mixed beans, fresh or dried chilli to taste, plenty of black pepper, cook in oven with lid on for 2-3 hours or slow cooker on low all day, or on high for 2-3 hours. Serve with cheesey mash or rice (Jamie oliver recipe with cheesey mash) sometimes I add a glug of balsamic vinegar if the tomatoes are very metallic tasting or a tea spoon of brown sugar.

3. chorizo, onions, peppers, smoked sausage, aubergine. onions and veg chunkily diced, all sautéed off in the pan, add the chorizo and sausage. 2-3 tins of chopped tomatoes, my favourite beans again, mixed, canelnni, haricot, or just lentils if you prefer, other thing that I good is the bag of mixed pulses and pasta, sometimes called soup mix near the lentils in the supermarket, you need to add a tin of water if using dried though. Lots of garlic, fresh or frozen. again slow cook for 2-3 hours. I usually add 3-4 duck legs to the top of the mix and then take the lid off for the last half hour for them to crisp up.

all of these freshen up nicely with a handful of flat leaf parsley.

h loves good old fashioned beef stew, I just pop in a pack of diced beef, then buy he bags of ready chopped stewing/casserole veg from the fresh veg section, add a couple of handfuls of dried red lentils, enough stock to cover the veg and meat and cook on slow with the lid on. half an hour ebfore ready either boil some potatoes and serve with mash, or an hour before add peeled potaotes to the veg and meat or dumplings.

Chicken Pot Roast
Cut veg like carrots, parsnips, cougettes into big chunks. Chuck in the bottom of a casserole with whole garlic cloves and chunks of onion or some shallots. Put a whole chicken on top, season and baste with oil or butter then top up with stock until the bottom of the chicken is covered. Cook in the oven with the lid on initially, take the lid off for the last half hour. (cpoking time will depend on the size of the chicken usually 1.15-1.30hr). Serve with bread.

Similar to HelpMe's first suggestion.

Roasted veg with sausages. Cut potatoes or use new potatoes, toss in oil, put in baking tray and into oven for 10 minutes to give them a little head start. While they are cooking chop up whatever other veg you have: peppers, onion, carrot, parsnip, sweet potato etc. After pots have had 10 minutes, add the other veg, toss in the oil, and balance sausages on top. If feeling flash put dab of mustard and dab of honey on sausages. Bake for another 30-40 mins till all cooked.

I cooked rice in the oven for the first time this week and it was brilliant. Chopped onion, grated carrot, chopped red pepper throw in baking tray with uncooked rice, add some spices/herbs if you like (I added some paprika and tabasco sauce) then added stock, covered with foil and baked for 50 minutes. Checked halfway to see if it needed a bit more water (it did) but only took 30 seconds to do that and splash some in). Perfect fluffy spicy veg rice. Next time I'm going to add some cubed meat as well to make it the whole meal. Also think you could add fish fillets on top for last 20 mins or so.

loveareadingthanks that sounds yum.

helpmegetoutofhere - I am a bit scared of lentils. Do you not need to soak them first?

I've reported this and asked MNHQ to give the thread a permanent home.

Will definitely make some of these! Great thread

Not the tinned ones I just rinse them in a colander and add them. The red dried lentils don't need soaking either just throw them but be cautious with the amounts or you lose all your liquid.

Some of these sound lovely. Marking my place

Yes a permanent home a good idea. I just put in chat to get more traffic rather than for it to disappear after 90 days

This takes ages but is soooo worth it

Cube big lump cheap pork,a couple slices of streaky bacon.Slice a couple onions,bell peppers if you want them.Drop in a big dutch oven or casserole dish or even a slow cooker. Add a bag dried beans, I like pinto 3/4 jar molasses,a bottle tomato juice and about 1/2 cup brown sugar. I usually add about teaspoon dried chili flakes and couple teaspoons smoked paprika too.

Bung in over at a low to mid heat I use 300-325 F for hours ( 5-7 usually but im sure if I pre soaked the beans like Im sposed to it would go quicker :o ) till beans are cooked enough for your taste ( I like some bite in them still )

Tah Dah bbq pork n beans :o

Raw rice in bottom of baking dish.Chicken cutlets on top of rice.Jar of salsa and water ( fill the salsa jar and use that )on top of that. Bung in oven at 350 F till its cooked (45-60 mins usually) Grate mexican cheese on top of that back in the oven till cheese melts

Also marking!

I don't use my SC really but I need to. So busy after school/early evening so would be nice to come in to a ready made meal.

but this morning I've put in 6 chicken thighs, some swede, chunky carrots, handful of peas, glass of white wine and chicken stock.

Please tell me it will be nice! !

A good slow cooker recipe here:

Two tins of chopped tomatoes, a chopped onion, either a pack of cooking bacon or a small gammon chopped into cubes, some chopped up chorizo, a pack of green lentils (rinse them first but don't soak them) and then over with chicken stock and a little bit of pepper/salt.

Cook in slow cooker for a few hours and you have a wonderful smoky, tomatoey lentil and ham stew. Absolutely no pre-cooking required!