I'm thinking I will make more of an effort to cook varied meals this year, because if there's something I really really have not felt inspiration to do this past year it is having fun in the kitchen. At least not the fun that involves preparing food and trying out recipes.
It's been a year of mostly stir fries with whatever vegetables I have in the fridge and freezer. Which of course isn't bad food or non-tasty, it just gets... a bit dull, uninspired.
Thus the thinking of varied cooking effort would be nice - not that I count this as a New year's resolution, I never do those, find them plain silly. Every day is a new day to improve yourself and your deeds no matter time of the year as far as I'm concerned.
I will continue with the stir fries of course, because they are so darn tasty, healthy and reasonably quick to whip together - because planning ahead of hunger is not one of my strong points - one of my simple favourites being this one. The white cabbage and minced quorn. Lovely flavours, textures and surprisingly filling.
I enjoy quorn, but I'm not a fan of it containing eggs, which is such an unnecessary ingredient really. I know there's a vegan version too, no eggs in that, but sadly not available in Sweden. Yet. This quick dish can of course also be made with minced soy. I bet that is just as lovely and satisfying as cabbage and quorn.
I keep the flavouring to a minimum, just salt, black pepper and a tad coriander. A splosh of soy sauce would probably be nice too.
What's your favourite quick meal with few ingredients?
Salad. With tomatoes, onions, pepper and a little vinegar and oil. Served with sourdough olive bread.
ReplyDeleteI've not cooked that much with quorn as I think it's rather overpriced and a bit tasteless. I tend to use a lot of beans, pulses and things like quinoa, matvete, matkorn, mathavre, couscous etc instead. Frebaco make a good range of these.
ReplyDeleteWe eat a lot of thick, hearty vegetable based soups that I can add peal barley or wheatberries etc to. They also freeze well, so you can have them ready for a busy day. And they tend to be versatile, using wht you have at hand. We had a Moroccan Chickpea Soup last night that is quick and easy to make. I didn't have the usual spinach that I like in it, so I added shredded savoy cabbage instead and it was lovely. Again, I cook up batches of chickpeas and keep them in the freezer, but you can use tinned ones if you like.
Tonight we'll be having parsnip patties (boiled parsnips, mashed and mixed with mustard, cayenne, black pepper, formed into patties and rolled in breadcrumbs, then fried). I seve this with lingonsylt with a little djon mustard stirred in. You could use cranberry sauce as well if you had it.
When I am superhungry and haven't got the time or energy to cook anything else, I make a quick Chickpeas, Celery & Pasta. This serves two, but I can frankly eat the whole thing :-)
olive oil
A small onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup of small pasta
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
grated parmesan cheese to serve (optional)
Heat a good slug of olive oil in a small pan over medium high heat. Add the celery and onion and give it around 5 minutes to soften, then add the chickpeas and stock.
Bring to a simmer and cook for around 5 minutes just to soften the chickpeas. Get out your potato masher and crush as many of the chickpeas as possible. Add the pasta, cover, and cook until pasta is done. I sprinkle with parmesan if I have it but if you prefer vegan then skip that.