*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

Being organised..

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

And cooking things which take a while in advance and freezing them.
Pasta sauces, stews, casseroles that kind of thing.

Grabbing handfulls of leaves from around the garden and making herb salad is nice as well.

Tuna in onion and tomato sauce with pasta

[sciolist.livejournal.com]

Put pasta (or noodles if you're really pushed for time) on.
Chop a small onion and start to fry it in a small saucepan.
Add tuna/a couple of chopped mushrooms
Add some tomato puree/passata/0.5 tin chopped tomatoes

Heat until pasta is ready, serve.

Optional, pepper, salt, that EPC very lazy garlic.

Noodles !

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Noodles are your friend !

Useful things:

* Good quality dried noodles or 'wet' noodles in vacuum packs (expensive, but makes stir fries quicker by 5 minutes or so).

* Garlic paste (much quicker than 'real' garlic, fairly cheap and almost as good no matter what certain snobs say).

* Chickpeas, black eyed beans etc. in cans. Unlike most vegetables, these are best out of cans anyway and keep forever.

* At least 3 types of curry paste. I use the Patak's stuff, typically Korma, Balti, Tikka, Madras and Garam Masala.

* Jar or two of white sauce (sometimes misleading labeled as being for lasagna). Useful for those days when you're not in the mood for yet another tomato-based sauce.

Do I need to fill in the blanks ? Grab a random selection of vegetables from your collection, stir fry them, chuck in the sauce ingredients du-jour and the whole lot's ready in 5-10 minutes (depending on the vegatables).

Oh, and in case you haven't got into the microwave trick yet: Microwave mushrooms, brocolli, carrots, babycorn and anything else which doesn't need to be crispy in a big jug with a bit of water. Much faster than other cooking methods and doesn't require supervision of any kind, meaning you can do the rest of your prep at the same time.

[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.

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

Nigel Slater's "Real Fast Food" is the one you want. Really, really good recipes, and very fast. (And I *hate* celebrity cooks, so this is a strong recommendation.

Top tip: Buy whole chickens, joint them, and freeze each of the bits separately to be defrosted when required.

Risottos are quick and easy, as are soups, pasta dishes (although you need a good 2 hrs to make a proper red sauce, but), you've even got enough time to make mashed potatoes, or bake small things like saltimbocca.

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

If you have a freezer, then you can keep pieces of fish or chicken breast around. Try flash fried salmon with a cajun seasoning and lime juice.

Eggs are also very nice and quick, particularly poached ones as they keep a defined shape but aren't hard or greasy. Remember to add a dash of malt vinegar to the boiling water.

Couple of very nice combo recipes:

1: steam cous cous; boil puy lentils, add tomatos from a can, anchovies if you like, worcester sauce, tabasco and anything else; cook a couple of poached eggs. Serve with the cous cous on the bottom, the lentil mixture on top and the eggs in the middle.

2: Fry a chopped onion and some bacon/lardons/pancetta. Add garlic and herbs if you like. Pour on 1/4 bottle of wine (keep cheap screw top wine or party dregs for this purpose) in and allow to simmer a bit, then add a bit of cornflour to thicken the mixture. Meanwhile put toast in the toaster and poach some eggs. Serve the wine/bacon/onion sauce in a bowl, with the eggs in the middle. When the toast pops, rub with garlic for instant bruschetta and serve the lot. Eat with a spoon, slurping noisily to irritate housemates (optional). Burgundian recipe. Makes a nice starter.

[taimatsu]

Farfalline pasta. It's really tiny bow-shaped pasta usually used for soups. Takes 4 minutes to cook, can be bought in Tesco. I eat it with tomato and cheese, or tomato and tuna, or stir-fried mushrooms and soy sauce and something like peas or broccoli. Fabulous. I shove frozen peas into the pasta water to cook just for the last few minutes.

[erming.livejournal.com]

We have salmon and rice when we are in a hurry.

Set rice going (you can use the quick cook varieties).

Then chop up an onion, fry it.
Take a can of salmon, drain it of the oil and remove backbone and skin, then add to the pan.

When this is warmed through, add the oil from teh fish and mash it all together. Add tomato ketchup and salt and pepper.

Then make a bed of rice and place the salmon and onion mixture on top of it.

[(Anonymous)]

I find ringing the chinese/pizza on my way home (insert time gap depending on your distance from work/etc to home) pretty satisfying..

The only problem is that it can't be done all the time since its not tremendously healthy, so not for use on a monday.

[stompyboots.livejournal.com]

As an uber foodie (with a professional foodie mum) I have to agree with Tom that Nigel Slater is the man to go for. Not only do his recipes work consistently (unlike Nigella's, which all need tweaking), but he also writes beautifully about food.

But I digress. Risotto Pronto by Gallo (or Risotto Gallo by Pronto, I can't remember) is sold in Sainsbury's with the rest of the rice, and cooks in 12 minutes. The four cheese one tastes gorgeous, but smells foul when it cooks, and the wild mushroom one is lovely. And non-pungent! And the boxes keep for months.

My other speedy tip is soup. Filling, quick, and good for you! Especially Covent Garden Soup Company. *drool*

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

Make more time in your life for cooking?

[erming.livejournal.com]

Instead of pasta, you could always cook gnocci.

They are little potato dumplings that you cook by putting in boiling water and when they float they are cooked.