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Lazy as hell Sunday Dinners

Have you got a slow cooker?
They are great for bunging a pile of veg and meat ingredients in, half the liquid you think you need and leaving for a few hours.
Another dead easy one once the ingredients are prepped is a traditional Briam.

Funny you should mention a slow cooker, we just got hold of one. I'm looking forward to trying a chilli, and also a bolognese. As long as someone else chops the onion, I'm a happy camper ;)
 
If you don't mind the wait for the pasta, there are gazillions of VERY quick and simple pasta sauces that are SO quick to make.

The simplest sauces are bacon, canned tuna, salami, chicken liver, lambs liver, or whatever, flash fried after softening some onion (or not), throw in some herbs to your taste, and then follow with a can of chopped tomatoes - heat through. Job done.

Jacket poatoes take a while, but no effort ( I MUCH prefer egg-sized spuds - MUCH more skin - the best bit, and also far quicker). LOADS of possible fillings.

I love toad-in-the-hole (and pigeon-in-the-hole - look that one up), and it is SO easy, but not quick. I also like onion gravy with it, which takes ages and is a faff.


I very much like these ideas - some of the stuff that used to be easy for me isn't right now - heck, I'm even having trouble putting the chopper attachment on my Kenwood Chef (I've got an old 1964 model one that's industrial enough to survive my clumsiness), chopping is a sod.

Jacket potatoes are still fast for the big ones. I microwave them first until nearly at the required softness, then give a wipe over with some rapeseed oil and bung 'em in the oven to finish off.
 
A recent discovery to die for - little effort, but not quick - salt and vinegar potatoes courtesy of the ever-adorable Nigella.

Steam or boil some small new pot's. Dry them in the warm pan they are cooked in after draining. Very lightly crush to break them. Roast in whatever fat/oil you prefer for about 20-30 minutes per side.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, seasoned to replicate salt and vinegar crisps.

Sounds great. I do wish she'd stop making (food) porn programmes though, and concentrate on the recipes rather than the foodgasms. Strumpet.
 
I have been simplifying sunday but making it way more complicated. Today was chicken breast, peas and mash.

However fully butchered chicken, sous vide cooked, a classic jus made from a hand made stock, (enough left for a demi glaze in the week) baked potatoes, through a ricer, butter, milk and topped with parmesan and roasted, chicken finished in a pan with butter, rosemary and garlic.

The peas were easy hah.

I'm extremely suspicious of sous vide cooking. I suspect that it's the reason the Fat Duck customers come down with the shits en masse on a regular basis.

When I'm feeling a bit better I often buy a whole chicken and butcher it down - using each breast for a meal for two, the legs for another meal and roasting then boiling down the remaining carcass with some veggies for stock. Jacket potatoes do make the best mash, although I tend to use a hand blender rather than a ricer, or just use the k-beater on my kenwood chef to smoosh the harvested spud into submission.
 
I'm looking forward to trying a chilli, and also a bolognese.

They don't need a slow cooker. They don't take that long on a ring.

Want a fabulous slooooow cooker meal - oxtail, shin, flank or cheek (beef), or combination thereof, with whatever veg' you prefer. I nomally do that at 120C for a minimum of 3 hours. FABULOUS.
 
Try washing, chopping and peeling it when your fingers are trying their best to do an impression of boxing gloves... I'm no stranger to traybakes, but they're rather involved.

Rinse under a running tap (presoak for a very few minutes if they are really grubby), don't peel, rough chop - all done.
I haven't peeld many veg' for years, except spuds destined for mash.
 
slow cooked beef shin.
chunky big carrot, onion and celery, mushrooms later. Stock cube, bay leaf, splash of whatever, slow cook for 8+ hrs.
Then serve with mash, or chuck some tinned jerseys in there. Or rice, or small pasta bits.
Or the same with braising steak. Or neck o lamb.

edit, use a can of stout in place of stock cube, or as well as. Any darkish ale will do as well.
 
^^^ REAL grub

Some black pudding in there works well too (just a very few thin slices per helping). Best added to lamb/mutton rather than beef

Flash fry the mushrooms in loads of butter before adding
 
Nothing is simpler than whole fish. I don't even gut them, just 3-4 slashes each side to stop them curling as they are grilled. Bass, bream or trout.

A bit more hassle - but glorious - I ate it yesterday - 2 trout fillets (could be thin bits of salmon) - lay one rasher of back bacon or bits from a cheap cooking bacon pack (I prefer smoked) in the bottom of a small caserole, then a fillet on that, then a generous scattering of (blue) cheese, then the opposite fillet, then another rasher on top.

Bake at 180C for 30 minutes or so, covered. Steam (or boil) together small new pot's, carrot and peas. The fish makes loads of cheesey "gravy"
 
I use our slow cooker for loads of things, few minutes at breakfast prepping then forget about it for rest of day until dinner time.

Beef Hough aka Shin, stock, chunky mix of veg inc tatties some black pudding in the gravy is a fave.

Venison meatballs in tomato sauce, usual Spags, Curries and Chilli, Goulash, Bean Sausage Cassoulet. Loads of recipes online including some weird and wonderful ones. Cinnamon rolls, rice pudding, frittatas, french onion soup and garlicy mashed up cauliflower.

Tuna steaks in balsamic or terriaki grilled with veg or salad is quick and easy.
 
I'm extremely suspicious of sous vide cooking. I suspect that it's the reason the Fat Duck customers come down with the shits en masse on a regular basis.

When I'm feeling a bit better I often buy a whole chicken and butcher it down - using each breast for a meal for two, the legs for another meal and roasting then boiling down the remaining carcass with some veggies for stock. Jacket potatoes do make the best mash, although I tend to use a hand blender rather than a ricer, or just use the k-beater on my kenwood chef to smoosh the harvested spud into submission.

well I guess there are risks but the trick is to cook it long enough, chicken breast 1.5hours and 65 degrees is just fine (touch porcelain)
 
I use our slow cooker for loads of things, few minutes at breakfast prepping then forget about it for rest of day until dinner time.

Beef Hough aka Shin, stock, chunky mix of veg inc tatties some black pudding in the gravy is a fave.

Venison meatballs in tomato sauce, usual Spags, Curries and Chilli, Goulash, Bean Sausage Cassoulet. Loads of recipes online including some weird and wonderful ones. Cinnamon rolls, rice pudding, frittatas, french onion soup and garlicy mashed up cauliflower.

Tuna steaks in balsamic or terriaki grilled with veg or salad is quick and easy.

do you brown the beef first before putting it into the slow cooker?
 


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