Anything that needs a topping ie pasta, shep pie etc instead of using just cheese grate the cheese and add to a bag of smashed up crisps, mix well and sprinkle over the top. Makes a lovely crispy,cheesy topping.
What a lot of great ideas ! here's one I've been making for years.
Curried eggs. Hard boil 2 eggs per person. fry onion and garlic add jar of curry sauce (20p from mr m's) add 1tablespoon hot chutney. Peel eggs, cut into halves add to sauce serve with rice or naan bread.Yummy!!
Love this thread! I've now got loads more quick tasty recipes to try
My favorite is blackened chicken:
put equal measures of ground cumin, paprika in a bowl and add about half the amount of white peper, black pepper and chilli powder. Mix together and sprinkle over chicken breasts and cook under the grill until cooked through. If you make up a big batch and put it in a jar it's even quicker.
Another is chicken stuffed with haggis
Cut a pocket in a raw chicken breast and stuff with haggis, wrap a slice of bacon round the chicken to close up the hole, wrap in foil and cook in the oven until cooked through. You can serve it like this or add a quick whiskey cream sauce - add a good slug of whiskey to a hot pan then light it to burn off the alchohol - looks quite impressive but don't burn the kitchen down :eek:. Add in the cream (about 1/4 of a small carton) and allow to thicken. Yum! Looks quite impressive but its really easy and as OH and I don't like whiskey its a good way of using up stuff that gets left after we have people round!
I love cous cous anyway, but it's great for us lazy chefs. Boil the kettle, pour some cous cous into a bowl, add whatever seasoning you feel like and a knob of butter or marge or a splash of olive oil, cover it with boiling water... "go and do something else" and as long as the something else takes at least 5 minutes, when you get back, all you need do is separate the grains with a fork and you're sorted. Some of my favourite things to put in the cous cous are:
* tomato puree, dried oregano, salt and pepper, then mix with chopped tomato, feta and olives if you have any
* tomato puree, dried oregano, salt and pepper, tuna and rocket (squeezing half a lemon over it all before serving makes it all the nicer)
* chilli sauce, lemon, salt and pepper, then flake smoked mackerel over the top (again, squeezing half a lemon over it is a good idea)
* cinnamon, cumin, sultanas and apple slices
* chilli, tomato puree and whatever veggies you have around and about that need using up
Edit: If using puree with cous cous, it pays to spend an extra 20 seconds to mix the puree into the water and cous cous before you go and do something else so that you don't have a concentrated lump of puree when you mash it all up.
Pesto Pasta
Cook some pasta. Meanwhile put 1 to 2 tbs pesto per person in a pan and cook until it starts to sizzle. Add 1/2 can chopped tomatoes per person and bring to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. When the pasta is almost done, add some yoghurt or cream to the sauce; drain the pasta and mix with the sauce.
Or the italian way to do it is even easier: while the pasta (spaghetti or linguine) is boiling, put the pesto in a big mixing bowl, add a bit of olive oil and mix it together, grate in some parmesan if you feel like it. When the pasta's done, drain and bung it in the bowl, mix it together and hey presto (or "hey pesto!") one quick, easy, tasty meal.
Peel potato(es), chop, put with chopped leek(s) in saucepan & cover with water. Bring to boil, turn to a simmer, and go off and do something else for 20 minutes. When potatoes are cooked enough, mash with the leeks, with some butter & a little hot milk if wished, stir in grated cheese, season to taste. Nice with bacon or sausages or on its own or with bits of cooked bacon crumbled in. Quantities and proportions of ingredients infinitely adjustable to personal tastes, contents of fridge, and number of diners.
This one is as quick as the pasta takes to cook and it's delicious warm straight away or cold from the fridge if you make a double portion
Cook short pasta according to the pack instructions - fusilli (twists) or farfale (bows/butterflies) are best.
Dump a drained tin of tuna, a load of chopped fresh parsely (e.g. from the freezer), some grated fresh parmesan (or a good strong mature cheddar would work too) and the juice of a lemon into a big bowl and mix it all together.
When the pasta's ready barely drain it (you need to retain as much water as possible, so tip from the pan into the collander and then put the collander straight back over the pan so you can save some of the water.
Tip the drained pasta into the tuna-lemon-parsley concoction and mix it in.
Add as much water as necessary to make it nice and loose (it should make a 'shloop' noise as you mix the pasta in) - particularly if you're putting it in the fridge.
If you're feeling fancy you can top it with some more chopped parsely and grated parmesan. If you're feeling totally lazy, eat it straight from the mixing bowl
just remembered another quick, simple dish that is far tastier than you'd think
slice some smoked sausage (the 'U' shaped ring of sausage you get in the foil packs) into slices about 1/4 inch thick, add a bit of butter or oil to your pan and sautee these, when they are starting to get brown toss in some sweet corn, continue to cook until the sausage slices are now getting dark brown and slightly crispy and teh corn is warmed through
serve this over freshly cooked rice... simple to cook, simple tastes but really really tasty mixed together. i also love the textures mixing together in my mouth, sounds odd but it's really worth a shot!
also i always cook extra rice so the next morning i can take the rice, add some butter and a bit of sugar (or you could use a little honey or golden syrup) and microwave it for a lovely hot breakfast!
or you can melt some butter and a little cheese (i like the powdered 'parmesan' cheese from the canisters) along with some garlic granules or garlic salt, really tasty, quick and easy! you might prefer this for lunch but i'll eat it at breakfast time, to me food is food and it doesn't matter what time of day i eat it i just want it to taste good
Just a warning to all: cold/cooled rice is something to be very, very wary of because it's a huge source of food poisoning. Rice has a huge surface area to volume ratio, giving it lots and lots of lovely surface area for bacteria to grow on. It's also a pretty good growing medium for bacteria because it's lovely and starchy. Ever had a tummy ache after eating rice? This is probably why.
I saw this on tv and decided to have a look - I have one thing to say.....Angel Delight lollies!!!!
Is it o/s? But anyway. We have some stuff and nonsense in the cupboard that you need for some of these recipes and so I'm going to give them a whirl. Starting with Batchelors rice stuffed peppers - coward, I know! I am a little wary of the muck and rubbish in some of these recipes mind you....:p
I lost my cooking inspiration (again!) and am feeling a little flat and so I'm hoping that doing easy things will kick start me again.
I hope someone found this as exciting as me! I know I ought to really get out more....
Replies
Curried eggs. Hard boil 2 eggs per person. fry onion and garlic add jar of curry sauce (20p from mr m's) add 1tablespoon hot chutney. Peel eggs, cut into halves add to sauce serve with rice or naan bread.Yummy!!
My favorite is blackened chicken:
put equal measures of ground cumin, paprika in a bowl and add about half the amount of white peper, black pepper and chilli powder. Mix together and sprinkle over chicken breasts and cook under the grill until cooked through. If you make up a big batch and put it in a jar it's even quicker.
Another is chicken stuffed with haggis
Cut a pocket in a raw chicken breast and stuff with haggis, wrap a slice of bacon round the chicken to close up the hole, wrap in foil and cook in the oven until cooked through. You can serve it like this or add a quick whiskey cream sauce - add a good slug of whiskey to a hot pan then light it to burn off the alchohol - looks quite impressive but don't burn the kitchen down :eek:. Add in the cream (about 1/4 of a small carton) and allow to thicken. Yum! Looks quite impressive but its really easy and as OH and I don't like whiskey its a good way of using up stuff that gets left after we have people round!
* tomato puree, dried oregano, salt and pepper, then mix with chopped tomato, feta and olives if you have any
* tomato puree, dried oregano, salt and pepper, tuna and rocket (squeezing half a lemon over it all before serving makes it all the nicer)
* chilli sauce, lemon, salt and pepper, then flake smoked mackerel over the top (again, squeezing half a lemon over it is a good idea)
* cinnamon, cumin, sultanas and apple slices
* chilli, tomato puree and whatever veggies you have around and about that need using up
Edit: If using puree with cous cous, it pays to spend an extra 20 seconds to mix the puree into the water and cous cous before you go and do something else so that you don't have a concentrated lump of puree when you mash it all up.
Or the italian way to do it is even easier: while the pasta (spaghetti or linguine) is boiling, put the pesto in a big mixing bowl, add a bit of olive oil and mix it together, grate in some parmesan if you feel like it. When the pasta's done, drain and bung it in the bowl, mix it together and hey presto (or "hey pesto!") one quick, easy, tasty meal.
Cook short pasta according to the pack instructions - fusilli (twists) or farfale (bows/butterflies) are best.
Dump a drained tin of tuna, a load of chopped fresh parsely (e.g. from the freezer), some grated fresh parmesan (or a good strong mature cheddar would work too) and the juice of a lemon into a big bowl and mix it all together.
When the pasta's ready barely drain it (you need to retain as much water as possible, so tip from the pan into the collander and then put the collander straight back over the pan so you can save some of the water.
Tip the drained pasta into the tuna-lemon-parsley concoction and mix it in.
Add as much water as necessary to make it nice and loose (it should make a 'shloop' noise as you mix the pasta in) - particularly if you're putting it in the fridge.
If you're feeling fancy you can top it with some more chopped parsely and grated parmesan. If you're feeling totally lazy, eat it straight from the mixing bowl
Just a warning to all: cold/cooled rice is something to be very, very wary of because it's a huge source of food poisoning. Rice has a huge surface area to volume ratio, giving it lots and lots of lovely surface area for bacteria to grow on. It's also a pretty good growing medium for bacteria because it's lovely and starchy. Ever had a tummy ache after eating rice? This is probably why.
I saw this on tv and decided to have a look - I have one thing to say.....Angel Delight lollies!!!!
Is it o/s?
I lost my cooking inspiration (again!) and am feeling a little flat and so I'm hoping that doing easy things will kick start me again.
I hope someone found this as exciting as me! I know I ought to really get out more....
Love from Lucy xxx