Evening Meal

[natalie_1982]

I'm getting bored of eating the same old pap.

We make our own meals (no processed stuff please), but both work full time so want something that's easy to do and good for you!  Any ideas?

[camille79]

What do you usually have? 

[natalie_1982]

We eat lots of chicken, salmon, rice and pasta, spaghetti bolognaise, stuffed peppers, homemade beef burgers, roast dinners......ummm....

[chazza]

stir fry?  buy mini veg and chicken and eat it either with soy sauce or a cook in sauce.  its abn excellent way to get your veg into you!

[camille79]

Instead of stir-fry I sometimes do a veg/noodle broth (with chicken or prawns if I have them) which is quite nice.  Simmer the ingredients in an asian broth (use soy sauce, stock, fish sauce, a little chilli, lime zest and juice, etc) until tender.  Lovely!

Or, as it's summer, how about nice salads - pear and blue cheese is nice or I do one with a dressing made from sieved raspberries, a touch of garlic, lemon and oil and chicken grilled and basted with a mustard/honey mixture.  Lovely! 

Risotto's a good storecupboard standby too - arborio or carnaroli rice, onion and garlic, a little wine (if you've a bottle open) some mushrooms or chicken or other veg, and a handful of parsley and parmesan flung in at the end. 

I like roasted veg too - onions, courgettes, aubergine, peppers, tomatoes, squash etc, drizzled with oil and roasted in a hot oven until tender then served with rice, salad or even stirred through pasta.

I hope this gives you a few ideas - www.bbc.co.uk/food is pretty good for specific recipes and lots of ideas!

[Ducati]

This is our favourite for a quick delicious meal;

 

Mix together one tin of tuna, 2 chopped cloves of garlic, a good handful of fresh chopped flat leaf parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

 

Bring a pan of Penne to the boil; fry the tuna mix in a pan or wok (you won't need to add additional oil) for a couple of minutes, and then sling in the cooked pasta and stir until mixed. Tear up a ball of mozzarella and bung in the pan and stir until it goes stringy.

 

Serve on hot plates with a bit of garlic bread.

 

Superb.

[spudqueen]

Sure there was a similar question quite recently. I suggested grilled minty lamb chops, new potatos (jersey royals if you can get them) and fresh garden peas - delicious and quick.

[Bangkok]

Get Nigel Slater's 'real fast food'.  Great ideas, nothing over 30 minutes

[kazzareee]

One of my favourite Summery recipes is pasta with apple, celery, walnuts and raisins - a bit of a waldorf here! Just cook your favourite pasta, chop a couple of sticks of celery and an apple, add some walnut pieces and some nice squashy raisins and mix together. Make a dressing from equal amounts of Greek yogurt (the 0% fat one if you're weight-watching) and mayo (Hellman's extra light), the juice and rind of a lemon and a desertspoon of runny honey. Mix everything together, then stir through the pasta mixture. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper and enjoy.

[pixi]

Hi natalie I posted a similar question a while ago.

Have you tried risotto?  My husband makes it, its quick easy and cheap.  You just need risotto rice then just chuck whatever you want in, any sort of meat, fish, veg etc,  Its really lovely, very filling, and made in one pan (we make ours in big non stick frying pan)so theres not a lot of washing up.  Also its great for using up leftovers

[OBonio]

Always found this handy when I've become bored of the usual :

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/recipe/home/

[depressedmgl]

Yesterday we had pigeon breasts on a bed of salad.  Two pigeons cost �2.50.  Take off the breasts and pan fry them in butter about two mins on each side.  Slice them on the diagonal and serve on a bed of dressed salad.  Use the carcass to make stock for other game dishes

[crisgal]

one of our family favourites at the mo' is a tunisian style chicken.

fry onions, carrots, garlic, turmeric, cumin, coriander, chilli powder and chicken pieces. Add chicken stock, fat sultanas and honey. Simmer until chicken is cooked and sauce reduced a bit. serve with cous-cous.

The sauce is quite thin, almost soupy, but it has to be so that the cous-cous  can soak it up! Mmm

I think this is one of the easiest meals i make.

please try it, i'm sure you will like it. Obviously leave out the chilli if you want!

[shaneystar]

Cook enough Fusili for two.Drain and rinse in cold water.
In a pan ,diced courgette.onions,saute for a few minutes.then a tablespoon of flour ,then milk and cream to make a thick sauce ,add grated cheese.In a bowl mix this with a couple of tins of tuna and a handful of cherry tomatoes.Season with a little salt and a good twist of black pepper.Then mix the drained pasta in.Transfer to an ovenproof dish ,sprinkle with grated cheese and bake at about 160C for 20 mins or until the topping is golden.Serve with salad or garlic bread.