Cooking for 6.5

[Maloneyb]

need suggestions for an easy after work meal to cook up for 6 adults and 1 toddler

no real dietary requirements.. just need something easy and relatively cheap (pregnant and tired lol)

thank you!

Baked feta orzo https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/baked-mediterranean-orzo.html

Cajun chicken pasta https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cajun-chicken-one-pot

Tikka traybake https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/anjalis-ta-da-tikka-traybake.html

Traybake is good, or a big pot of pasta & some jarred sauce.

None of the wide-awake, non-pregnant adults helping you ?
They could buy a t/a.

Delta Smith’s mac and cheese with leeks and bacon… serve with salad and garlic bread

https://countryskillsblog.com/2014/06/17/macaroni-with-leeks-and-bacon-from-delia-smiths-complete-cookery-course-cooking-the-books-week-24/

Can you make/prep something the day before? eg lasagne or a chilli or curry that would improve the next day with reheating?

Charlie Bigham's Lasagne x 3. Pop into a large dish side by side - can cut one up a bit to fit the corners. Sprinkle with cheddar, arrange some finely sliced tomatoes diagonally and when it comes out of the oven garnish with some fresh basil.

Serve with a bag of leaves mixed with a bag of rocket. Toss with some halved cherry tomatoes, chopped cu and chopped pepper.

Pud: strawberries, tip quality vanilla ice cream and half a flake for everyone.

Job done x

I’d buy a supermarket rotisserie chicken x 2 and serve with potato salad or baked potatoes and coleslaw.

That’s a great idea. Anything you can prepare ahead is always preferable

Cooked chicken is also my go to on days like this

Quick, fairly cheap meals I do after work

Nugget wraps. Cook chicken nuggets/goujons and serve with wraps, salad and grated cheese.

Meatballs in sauce. I airfry the meatballs then out the pasta on, either make or use a jar of sauce, add cooked meatballs to hot sauce or put meatballs in sauce in a dish in the oven with torn up mozzarella and bake it.

Macaroni cheese in my instant pot (I love this gadget). Add pasta, stock, garlic powder and pressure cook for 5 mins, stir in a bit of milk and several handfuls of cheese until it makes a sauce. Can add ham, peas etc.

Pizza (frozen), wedges/chips and beans.

Jacket potatoes (microwave for 10 mins then airfry to crisp them up), with tuna or beans, salad.

Not really my dh will look after my toddler and it’s his family coming over who ..demand.. home cooked food..
long story 😂🤣

Another good one:

Brown some chicken thighs and meanwhile gently soften some rednonion and garlic in a roasting tray, pop in the browned chicken thighs. Stir in a mug full of long grain wild rice, add two mugs full of chicken stock and cover with foil. Bung in the oven for about 30 minutes. Add a jar of green pimento stuffed olives and tin of red kidney beans and stir. Pop the foil back and heat for about another 20 minutes.

Salad - as above.

Strawberries as above. Another good pudding is two cartons of M&S fruit salad in a lovely crystal bowl - add a cpl of sliced oranges. Whip some double cream with a tsp of icing sugar and tablespoon of cointreau.

HOw much time do you have? I second the tray bake option if you have the time.

Otherwise, my go to pasta that is just that little bit "posher" and therefore can be served for a weeknight meal with family/friends coming over is:

Roughly chop (or remove from skin in chunks) sausages (1-1.5 per person) and fry over a medium heat. Once nicely browned, add chopped garlic, fennel seeds, zest of one lemon and chopped chilli (optional, to taste). Fry for about a minute until fragrant. Then add a handful of roughly chopped tomatoes (or two handfuls if making a lot) Then turn heat down and add equal amounts white wine and milk (depending on how saucy you like it - for 3 of us I do about 100 ml of each, and we like quite a lot of sauce). Simmer for a good 5 minutes. Then stir in a couple of handfuls of baby spinach to wilt and then a couple of large dollops of creme fraiche.

Mix with penne or rigatoni, add a generous squeeze of lemon and season with salt and pepper and serve with lots of parmesan and more freshly ground black pepper.

Having said all that, we have family over this week and as we have a gas BBQ I'm doing chicken and sausages on the BBQ with some salads.

@IdLikeToBeAFraser thanks

2 hours tops? I don’t think I could do longer than that atm 😅

thank you all. I will research more traybakes. I have a lovely casserole pot I usually use to make tagines.. any recipes using that?

This chorizo crumbed cod tray bake is one of my go to's. Feels relatively summery too.

2 hours is tricky. I do a lovely lamb casserole but it takes about 1h45 to cook and st least 30 minutes of prep time. I do.find things like spaghetti bolognaise seem to taste better when simmered in my big le creseaut casserole dish but most other dishes of this type really need more cooking.

This Diana Henry pot roast chicken would use a casserole pot with a lid, and is easy and excellent link

I would serve it with crusty bread and a side salad or green veg to stretch to 6.5.