*munch*

[venta]

Quite often I find myself in the situation of only having around half an hour to cook and eat my tea when I get in from work. So, realistically, I want to be able to cook whatever-it-is in 15 minutes or under.

I'm not really a huge fan of microwave meals - they're usually insubstantial and/or tasteless. I have no objection to instant-style things so long as they're nice (a current stand-by is Ainsley Harriott's instant cous-cous mix... the Moroccan one in particular. Takes around five minutes, and makes a reasonable snack meal).

However. I'd rather cook stuff. Quickly. And (here comes the crunch) I want to use moderately non-perishable ingredients, because I'm never together enough to have worked out what/where/with whom I'm eating in time to have done the requisite shopping. Our house is usually reasonably well off for standard vegetables so they're OK, but fresh meat/fish is right out. Tinned stuff is OK. So is dried. Things which live in jars full of olive oil and pretend to be fresh are very much approved of :)

So, last night was a mushroom and artichoke heart omelette. Took under 10 minutes to cook, and was made from things which were hanging about in the cupboard/fridge.

Anyone got any suggestions ?

Comments

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Well, since I totally live on the type of cooking that you describe I'm sure I can come up with a few examples.

Pasta and sauce: easy, boring.

Veggie stir fry: Apply vegetables to wok. Fry. Apply noodles to pan of boiling water. Cook until bored. Add whatever sauce you feel like

Leek and potato bake (requires a food processor): Render leeks (onions if you have em), potatoes into very very tiny pieces. Stir fry them until they aren't poisonous any more. Whilst they are frying, cook a white(/cheese/mushroom) sauce. Apply the two to a pyrex dish and bake until bored or the cheese on top (if you added it) looks yummy.

Oniony Chickpeayey cheesey mix: Fry onion. Apply tin of chick peas. Add cheese until bored. Optionally, add lots of interesting spices.

Lentils: Cook in about 5-10 minutes, can add any sauce and any carbs and any veg that you feel like. I like spicy tomatoey lentils with pasta.

Pizza: Get pizza base, add pasta sauce, veggies, cheese and bake until bored.

Generally, I just pick a source of protein (lentils, chick peas, cheese are good), pick a source of starch (if you picked lentils or chick peas you've got a head start here, otherwise pasta and couscous are good ones to pick, as is a microwaved potato/sweet potato), pick some vegetables (whatever you've got to hand), pick some source of fat (cheese, olive oil), pick a source of flavour (sauce, tomatoes, spices, onions, mushrooms etc) and apply them to one or more pans in whatever manner seems appropriate.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Couple of quick questions ?

(1) With the Leek & Spud bake - doesn't the cooking time make it too slow ? How long d'you cook it for, 'cos I'd normally go for at least 20m ?

(2) Pizza: What kind of bases d'you use given that "ingredients don't go off" is one of the requirements ? Or do you just freeze the fresh bases ? I've never got that to work well... (they come out very crispy).

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

1)Hmm, yes, it probably is over the time limit, but it is one that I've cooked, got myself ready to go out and eaten the meal in about 35 minutes or so, so it's probably still worth a mention. The baking part is more of a "Finish it off" part rather than a "This is the part that turns the ingredients from being raw to being cooked part". So, 5-10 minutes or so in the oven. (And as someone else said, microwaves are another great way of getting food to the nearly-cooked stage)

2)I use the foil wrapped ready-made pizza bases rather than the fresh ones. Sainsburys put them with the sauces (well last time I was there).

Microwaved veg

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

That'll teach me to reply without the whole thread in front of me ;-).

Pizza base...

[failmaster.livejournal.com]

Here's the recipe I use for quick-and-easy pizza base. Being fresh it's nicer than the pre-packed things, which I find a bit dry, but it takes literally five minutes to make.

8oz self-raising flour
small handful of grated cheese
4 fl oz milk or water
4 tblsp vegetable oil
pinch of salt
pepper to taste
optional sunflower seeds.

seive flour into a bowl. Add the salt and oil and rub in. Add the grated cheese, seeds and pepper. Lob the milk/water in and mix (knead if you're feeling ambitious) to a dough.

Shape on a baking tray or shallow pie/flan tin. Top with pasta sauce from a jar, lots of grated cheese and other toppings as required.

Cook for about 10 mins at gas 7/200C.

Eat.

Re: Pizza base...

[failmaster.livejournal.com]

Argh.

Having issues with LJ this evening. Maybe it's time I went to bed. Sorry for multiple posts/deletion.