Whats your favourite home cooked meal?

[UKDEB]

Cooking is my relaxation and seldom a chore (just don't tell Matt or he will expect me to help with the clearing up ). These days I cook almost everything from scratch and find it difficult to force myself to buy any kind of pre-prepared ingredients. I did enjoy watching Nigella's Express, but, after a decade of defending Delia who I've always admired, I can't help feeling she's jumped on the bandwagon with Delia's Cheats and it really riles me when I see A Delia's Cheat Ingredient on hundreds of products I've been buying for years. Soy sauce for goodness sake! I feel like declaring, "I'm going to be mainly rustling up my own delicious meal with this!". Mind you, that pales into insignificance compared with the embarrassment I've felt recently since elder dd discovered a rekindled love of Pot Noodles. Why is it that whenever I have them in my trolley, the person behind me at the check-out is a supercilious looking earth mother with a basket full of organic produce?

Anyway, I digress. Even though I have a pretty extensive repertoire, I still struggle to get inspiration each day. Tonight we're having a spin on chilli which I dreamt up a few months ago. Basically, the beef mince is replaced with chorizo and pork mince (or chicken breasts whizzed up in the blender), and the kidney beans with sweetcorn. As I normally add red wine to chilli, I tend to add beer to this version, but neither is strictly necessary. Oh, and I omit the chocolate. We don't eat rice with our chilli - just some really nice wholemeal bread.

I did come across a great, quick and easy recipe recently which forced me to relax my attitude towards prepared ingredients. It can be on the table in 15 minutes and we all love it, so it's great for those times when I don't have the energy for cooking up a storm. It's a salmon red Thai curry. I've tried various types of red thai paste (which is the thing I'd normally make myself) and my favourite is a Sharwoods one which comes in a small sachet. Chop an onion and some salmon fillets (the great thing is that the salmon goes a long way, so two fillets is easily enough for 3 people). Soften the onion in some olive oil (or whatever oil you use for cooking), add the paste and cook for a minute or so, add a tin of coconut milk and then the salmon together with a pack of fine green beans (or whatever else you fancy, but anything green looks good). It cooks in minutes. Pop a pack of Sharwoods soft Thai noodles in the microwave, et voila!

We eat lots of different curries, but one of our favourites is the Boma chicken curry with peanut butter rice which we were introduced to by Tony and Theresa (well, to be fair, Tony talked a good game, but didn't have much of a hand in the execution ). I think I found the recipes on Intercot.

It would take me ages to list all my favourite recipes. We did start a thread like this a while back. Wasn't the idea to post a recipe a week? We should do that.

Some of the suggestions here are great. Tim - you need to share your goulash recipe.

 

[PoppyAnna]

I really love fish and cook salmon fillets very simply in the oven (Aga) covered with slices of lemon and served with pesto salad and green beans - it's my absolute favourite at the mo. Pan-fried tuna with homemade coriander and chilli butter is fab, as is my easy crab and chilli vodka linguine... Pork loin steaks, cooked in the oven, spread with mustard and sprinkled with brown sugar - delicious. A layer of potatoes underneath the roasting rack absorb the yummy caramelised sweet juices - it's a big fave with my family... Oh and chicken breasts in white wine, lime and Boursin sauce served with rice... What can I say, I like to cook!

As we've discovered that we only live about five minutes away from each other, what time shall I be around tomorrow for that Crab, Vodka and Chilli Linguine??? and can you do a portion without the vodka for a five and three year old!
I don't do Pork but that mustard and brown sugar thing sounds lovely I'd put up with my "next-day pork headache" for that one!
Not sure if you've used them but M&S do fish baking bags to make your oven poached (?) salmon even lazier

I'm loving hearing everything that everybody cooks and it's reminded me of some things I've forgotton......
A tip for Mum's that are out at after school activities during the week, I have a great book called "Just One Pot" by Lindsey Bareham which is fab, does what it says on the tin! Proper grown up practical cooking - might not suit all children though!

 

[Booknut]

Tammy, that risotto sounds delicious! I'm going to try making some with pumpkin this week.

We have a lot of homemade soup/stews (or what Rachael Ray calls 'Shtoup'!) like butternut squash soup, red lentil and barley soup and Portuguese Kale and Chorizo soup. We also eat spag bol a lot but we use ground turkey.

I've also been using ground turkey to make these yummy burgers with soy sauce, rice vinegar, pickled ginger and spring onions with a bit of egg, they are so delicious

Mostly everything else we eat is either chicken or salmon or tuna. We kinda went off red meat a bit, only have it once or twice a month.

Phil is obsessed with puds so I make a lot of custard tarts (I cheat and buy the pastry already made as i'm pants at doing pastry). The custard tart is easy to make and tastes much better than store bought ones.

Am thinking of investing in a slow cooker for the winter (you know, credit crunch and better healthier meals etc ) and doing some new stuff in that. Any of you use one to make any fave meals?

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Sorry dear friend's but you are all getting so carried away on this thread.

Just one word sums it all up - Pie's.

Meat pies, steak pies, pork pies, chicken pies, meat and potato pies...especially Marks & Spencer steak pies.

Boiled potatoes or chips, gravy and sometimes with beans.

Mind you...I do have a craving at the moment for mashed potatoes and jacket potatoes, naturally you can add Beans, or gravy or even a pie to the equation also.

So basically a combination of any of the above.

For traditional Sunday Roast you can't beat Lamb, especially casserole escalopes, with roast potatoes, peas, carrots, Yorkshire Puddin' ,Croquette Potatoes, gravy and plenty of mint sauce.

See I am normal after all!

 

[higgy66]

Oh my,i never thought i would ever find someone else who likes this .I love cheddar cheese+strawberry jam sandwiches.x.

Me too - don't forget to add a layer of cheese & onion or plain crisps - pure heaven!!!!!

 

[Claire L]

I do like to cook and DH does help, he loves cooking fajitas! I cook a mean lamb roast along with other things such as cottage pie, poached salmon, spag bol, beef nachos and loads of salad items. I would like to cook more from scratch but shift work does not allow it so often use bottled sauces, although I do cook a good chicken in sauce with rice that DMIL gave me the recipe for.

Claire

 

[Snowy-girls]

Sorry dear friend's but you are all getting so carried away on this thread.

Just one word sums it all up - Pie's.

Meat pies, steak pies, pork pies, chicken pies, meat and potato pies...especially Marks & Spencer steak pies.

Boiled potatoes or chips, gravy and sometimes with beans.

Mind you...I do have a craving at the moment for mashed potatoes and jacket potatoes, naturally you can add Beans, or gravy or even a pie to the equation also.

So basically a combination of any of the above.

For traditional Sunday Roast you can't beat Lamb, especially casserole escalopes, with roast potatoes, peas, carrots, Yorkshire Puddin' ,Croquette Potatoes, gravy and plenty of mint sauce.

See I am normal after all!

I Love chips+gravy ,especially with a homemade steak,onion+mushroom pie or pudding.
I have mint sauce on any meat when i cook a roast dinner.Dd7 has it as well(were the only ones who like it)she calls it green gravy.
Also love cheesey mash+beans.x.

Me too - don't forget to add a layer of cheese & onion or plain crisps - pure heaven!!!!!

Not tried with crisps .I also love a marmite+cheddar cheese sandwich .Marmite on toast with scrambled egg on top.Cheese triangle+sausage sandwich.x.

Am thinking of investing in a slow cooker for the winter (you know, credit crunch and better healthier meals etc ) and doing some new stuff in that. Any of you use one to make any fave meals?

I have a slow cooker and i love it,it only ever get's used in the winter though in our house.You can do so much with it,my favourite is a big soup/stew,cubed stewing steak,sausages cut in half,mushrooms,onions,pickled onions,spaghetti(as in pasta)broken in half,carrots,tin of condensed oxtail+tin of vegetable soup,salt,pepper,gravy granules-add water+switch on.Stir every few hours so nothing sticks to the bottom.Don't add too much water to start with as it's easier to thin it out than to thicken it up.40 mins before you're ready to serve make some dumplings+pop on top,serve with oven hot crusty bread or rolls-delicious .x.

 

[Graeme]

Spag Bol (made with pasta bows though as DH doesn't like spaghetti )

Yes, I have to do that as well for my wife.

I love a good full English breakfast. I do it with good quality sausages, thick smoked bacon from the butchers, black pudding, fried duck eggs, scrambled free range eggs, liver and beans, with soft toasted bread and a huge mug of strong tea.