an easy meal recipe?

[staycutee]

i can't really cook anything but want to cook something nice for my boyfriend. i need a simple recipe for something like lasagne or shepherds pie or something like that! what's the easiest thing to cook??

 

[Armywife]

If you eat fish a simple fish bake is nice. All you need is

A fillet of white fish (cod, plaice etc)
A fillet of salmon or smoked haddock
Pasta
Packet sauce mix (either just Parsley or Schwarts do a parsley and chive which is gorgeous)
Milk
Butter
Breadcrumbs (you can buy these ready made in the baking section of most supermarkets)
Cheese (cheddar or Gruyer)


First put your pasta on to boil in slightly salted water then chop your fish into cubes. Make up the packet sauce as per instructions using milk and butter (i sometimes add a little garlic puree) then mix together cooked pasta, fish and sauce in a casserole dish. Grate cheese and mix with breadcrumbs then sprinkle over the top. Bake in oven until golden on top and hot throughout. As this is my made up recipe for when i feel lazy i don't have the exact weights to hand but it is very easy to judge.

If you don't eat fish then another good dish is cottage pie and the recipe i always use is:

Ingredients
• 4 baking potatoes
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1 peeled and finely chopped carrot
• 200g chopped button mushrooms
• 2 sticks finely chopped celery
• 500g minced beef
• 300ml gravy (made from granules or powder)
• 1 knob of butter
• Salt and freshly ground pepper (optional)
• Grated cheese


Method
1. Peel the potatoes and cut into small pieces. Cook in boiling salted water until tender. Drain, and leave in the pan with the lid on to steam dry.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.
3. Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat, and add all the chopped vegetables. Sweat gently for 10 minutes until soft. Add the mince and cook until brown.
4. Pour over the gravy. Cook for 5 minutes and season to taste. Pour the mince mix into an ovenproof dish (or even individual dishes) and leave to cool slightly.
5. Meanwhile, mash the potatoes with the butter and seasoning. Spread over the mince, and top with grated cheese, if you like.
6. Cook for 35-40 minutes and serve.



If you want shepherds pie just swap beef for lamb.

 

[Zipp]

What sort of thing does he like, is he into pasta, currys or more traditional stuff.

Personally I find spag bol about the easiest thing to do. x

 

[Maybe-Baby]

get a slow cooker i was rubbish at cooking but now cook fab meals just by flining stuff in and leaving it all day. It has made me feel so much better about cooking i even have friends round for dinner most weeknds now.

 

[faille]

I do a really easy shephards pie but then there isn't much to it! (I mean taste wise, it's nothing extraordinary lol!)

Cook finely choped onions (I use large onions and cut about two 0.5cm slices then finely chop)
Add crushed garlic (I use half a garlic because OH loves it haha!)
Add mince and cook through
Add mixed herbs
Add a good amount of Mexican Spices tomato puree (to taste)
Add (plain) tomato puree (to taste)
Add crushed black pepper
Mix well

Meanwhile, boil 6 medium potatoes.
When cooked, mash with butter and milk

(At this stage, if you want to add some veg and you've forgotten, you can boil some water and add the frozen veg to a bowl and add boiling water and let it defrost for a couple of mins. Once the veg is in the oven with the rest, it'll cook fine).

Pour mince into oven proof dish (we have small dishes so have one each - much easier!)
Scoop potato on top and level out with a fork (OH has baked beans on top of the mince but I don't!)
Add grated cheese (to taste)
Add one pack of crushed cheese & onion crisps

Cook in oven on 200C for 20-30 mins or until it's as crispy as you prefer (I cook mine a little longer as I like my potato crispy rather than soft).

 

[despereaux]

Whenever I feel lazy to cook dinner (besides ordering out), I just put anything in the oven and bake it. Just put chicken/fish in a baking pan, add cut up potatoes/carrots/onions/tomatoes/just anything u like, drizzle a little bit of olive oil and bake till cook.