Ordinary decent food

Victor

Anyone want to post up any recipes for 'ordinary decent food'? Stuff that you can or would cook everyday. Not to include takeaways / pizza / microwave dinners.

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My recipe is as follows (3-4 meals, but needs more potatoes / rice / spaghetti if feeding more than one person – this is designed for the singleton and will feed you for most of the week):

MINCED BEEF & VEGETABLES
[*] 450g minced (or diced) beef
[*] 1-2 small / medium onion
[*] 5 medium potatoes (or if a single sitting 2 potatoes per person + 3 potatoes)
[*] 2-4 medium carrots
[*] 1 medium jar (250g) tomato / pasta sauce (alternative one packet oxtail or tomato soup)
[*] 100-200g frozen (or other) mixed vegetables (peas / corn / carrot / broccoli / cauliflower / broad beans mix) – whatever you have
[*] quarter cup mixed lentils
[*] quarter cup rice (white as a preference)
[*] quarter cup oatmeal (porridge)
[*] 6 sticks spaghetti
[*] vegetable oil
[*] mixed herbs (shake)
[*] salt (shake)
[*] black pepper (shake)
[*] boiling water (500 – 1000 ml)

[*] one large frying pan
[*] one small / medium saucepan (not essential)
[*] one large saucepan
[*] vegetable peeler
[*] chopping knife
[*] chopping board
[*] spatula (for frying pan)
[*] wooden spoon or similar (for saucepan)
[*] food processor (not essential)
[*] fine strainer 2-3mm holes (not essential)

[*] preparation time 15 minutes (depending on vegetables)
[*] cooking time 20 minutes

Soak the mixed lentils, rice and oatmeal in cold water for 10 minutes. Drain them with the strainer.

Wash, peel and chop all vegetables, except the onion. Half of the vegetable pieces (mostly potato) should be larger than bite size, one quarter at bite size (including some potato) and one quarter diced or liquidised (including some potato). The smaller the vegetable pieces the quicker they will cook.

If you wish boil some of the potatoes separately in the medium saucepan, but always add 2-3 potatoes to the main saucepan.

Add vegetables to the large saucepan. Add tomato sauce. Add a pinch of salt (makes cooking easier). Add enough water to not quite cover the vegetables (you can use this water to rinse the tomato sauce jar). Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the mixed lentils, rice and oatmeal. Bring to boil again and simmer for 5 minutes (until even the largest pieces of vegetable are soft or nearly soft).

If you wish you can decant some of the liquid to use as vegetable soup.

While the vegetables are cooking, peel and chop the onion to suit, heat a small amount of vegetable oil in the frying pan. Add meat and onion to pan at the same time (stops smell from both). Add the black pepper and mixed herbs. Stir every minute or so and maintain heat until there is no visible red meat (if using diced beef make sure the outside is ‘browned’). Add the meat to the vegetables. Simmer for 5 minutes. Break the spaghetti into inch long sections and add them. Simmer for 5 minutes. Ideally, the vegetables will have mostly broken down and you will have a thick to lumpy overall consistency.

Serve with the potatoes. Bread optional.

Add any left over potatoes to the mince, the potatoes absorb the flavours. Leave to cool and refrigerate (never put hot food in a fridge).

Reheat thoroughly in single portions (saucepan or microwave). Can be served with more potatoes / rice / spaghetti.

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Whos doing dessert?

Gordon

Now that is food for winter.

Fried bananas and a syrupy caramel kind of sauce would be a nice dessert for that food I think but unfortunately whenever I try to fry bananas they break up into a scrambled egg kind of consistency. Anyone know how to fry bananas

And maybe add some light fluffy pancakes. They are very easy to make.
(For one person, increase as you want)
1 egg
some flour
milk
salt

Beat the egg with some salt and add flour. When you cant whisk anymore flour into the egg - that is the amount of flour you need (!). Now add some milk until the mixture is not thick like treacle but runny like soup. Make sure your frying pan is hot and oiled but not hot and bothered under the collar (very important). Fry until brownish on both sides.

Kix

Gordon,

You could try rolling them in a little flour first. That should form a crust and keep the banana together. Also, make sure the pan has enough butter/oil on it and don't move them round much except to turn them over.

You can also coat them in flour, egg and breadcrumbs (in that order) and shallow fry them - yummy. Especially with fried chicken (prepared in the same way).

K

Gordon

Thanks for advice, I thought of that as I love fried chicken with flower or batter but I didn't want the sweet sweet banana flavour tainted by dusty flourness. But I will try that though.

Kix

Don't worry. You shouldn't taste the flour once it's cooked.

Enjoy!

K