might be cooking dinner for a young lady this week who has been a little bit ill, so thought something ‘home comforty’ would be nice.

no mushrooms and no obergine tho.

oh, and also something relatively easy to cook (not requiring more than 1 cooking vessel) and not to stodgy/greasy etc.

probably to be followed by a reasonably rich chocolate mousse.

ideas?!

Just make a nice homemade tomato based sauce with pasta (will need two pans, sorry!).
Sweat an onion, bit of garlic, bung in some tinned toms (get a ‘good’ brand, it’s one of those purchases that makes a difference), bit of fresh basil, salt and pepper…sorted.
Proper parmesan brings it all together nicely.

If she’s a veggie you ought to try harder than pasta sauce unless you can make it like a chef.

You are trying to bed her yes?

Spinach and penne spouffle

veggie winner

Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a piece of fillet.

I assumed ‘home comforty’ didn’t involve having his wicked way…sometimes all we need is a cuddle and some nice simple pasta 😉

Just make a nice homemade tomato based sauce with pasta (will need two pans, sorry!).
Sweat an onion, bit of garlic, bung in some tinned toms (get a ‘good’ brand, it’s one of those purchases that makes a difference), bit of fresh basil, salt and pepper…sorted.
Proper parmesan brings it all together nicely.

just had that for dinner, goes best with fettuccine and a salad dressed in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice and a nice red. (fresh parmesan is a must and not grated to finely)

Spicy squash soup ftw.

Butternut squash cubed
Onion diced
Carrot diced
Celery diced
Red chilli
Bunch of sage
Decent stock
Cream
Stale or sour dough bread
Butter
Parmesan or some other hard cheese

1. Bit of olive oil in your pan, get it hot and put in around 6 sage leaves. Leave them in for about a minute til they go very dark green and start crisping. Take the leaves out and put them on a bit of kitchen roll.

2. Put the celery, onion & carrot into the sage oil and fry til softened NOT browned.

3. Add chilli and squash. Cook for a couple of minutes.

4. Add stock. Did I mention it should be the best you can find?

5. Simmer the lot for half an hour or so.

6. Get your blender/masher out! Blend the lot into a smooth consistency. Add freshly ground salt, pepper and a swirl of cream to taste. Add the toasted sage leaves to the top.

Serve with thick slices of toasted bread & butter and handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan.

She will feel better

That sounds tasty yossarian 🙂

smells good 😉

Go to Tesco, buy a bag of tandoori masala mix, some paneer, an onion and a couple of peppers along with a tub of plain yoghurt and some naan or rice. Mix the yoghurt with the tandoori mix and a bit of oil, thread the cheese, onion and peppers onto skewers and cover with the tandoori marinade for a couple of hours. Shove them under the grill until they start to brown and serve with warm naan or rice and maybe a spot of tomato and red onion salad.

Voila, you are a culinary god.

I’d sleep with you if you made that for me Yossarian!

I would add some sweet potato to that soup recipe and probably some lentils – make sure the stock is veggie
a pasta or soup dish is probably the easiest thing though

Rissotto, easy and darned tasty, serve with roasted veg, tomatoes, red onion, courgettes, peppers.

Chips-end of thread.

A very light and fresh tasting soup, light enough that you can eat loads of it – it should make enough for 4 but two people will wolf it down

bundle of asparagus (about 300 g) (cut the bottoms off it its a bit woody)
packet of sugar snap peas (about 200g)
medium onion
half a head of celery

dice them all
fry of 10 mins until it all gets a bit greener and just a little touch of browning going on

add 1 litre of nice stock

simmer for 15 mins

blitz the living daylights out of it in a liquidiser

add zest of a lemon and lemon juice to taste and season. You could put some creme fraiche in it, or a sprinkle of parmesan.

if you can stretch to two easy pans: Marks polish eggs and maccruiskeens nice beans:

the eggs

3 eggs each
on chopped onion
one red chilli (medium / mild)
some oregano or marjoram (fresh if you can get it)

beans

can of flageolet beans (you’ll have to go to sainsburys – tescos round here doesn’t sell them)
some rosemary and/ or thyme (fresh if you have it)
one clove garlic
red wine vinegar

eggs – fry everything except the eggs until the onions have softened then scramble in the egg, take them off the heat before they look done and let them finish cooking from their own heat

beans –

smash the garlic clove flat with the side of the knife then tear it up
fry gently in a little oil with the herbs – enough to flavour the oil, try not to brown the garlic
add the beans straight out of the tin (don’t drain them)
warm through like you would with baked beans
when they’re ready give them a big glug of red wine vinegar

serve on nice toast, perhaps with humous

a simple but effective dish we used to cook back in the days when we had time and inclination..

chop squash and sweet potato into one inch cubes and par-boil
leeks into one inch segments
baby corn into segments
courgette in segments
cherry toms

lob it all together in the oven on 220 smothered in good oil and seasoning until roasted and well browned..

toss in some pasta and pesto and serve with plenty of grated cheese, maybe a bit of peppery salad with a lemon and oil dressing if you’re feeling pretentious..?

Ok this is the dish of love (or care) It is simple to do…. honest. Have a go!

It has never failed. Stilton, pear and rocket tart.

Pack of puff pastry
2 or 3 ripe pears – peeled, cored and then cut in half. squeeze some lemon over them to stop them going brown
1 egg lightly beaten
100gr stilton
pepper
honey
packet of fresh rocket
virgin olive oil

Heat oven to 220C

Roll out pastry (on a surface that has been sprinkled with floor to stop it sticking)
Take 9 inch baking dish and put pastry in it. Trim excess
Put in fridge for 20 min – this is really important as it helps the pastry rise in the oven. (don’t ask me why but it does)
Cut the pear halfs into thin slices so that you can stack them on top of each other so that they look like they did before you cut them!
brush pastry with egg (not all of it!)
place pear slices on pastry
crumble stilton over pastry where there isn’t pear covering it
dribble honey over the top
put in oven for 15/20 min
remove and sprinkle rocket over tart and drizzle with olive oil

Sounds complicated now I’ve typed it but it is easy!!!!! and the result makes people think you went on master chef.

guys! i apologise for the late reply – i got called out to a pub, and ended staying a lot later than anticipated.

Many many thanks for the ideas – there’s some crackers in there!

if she’s recovered enough to invite me round, then i’ll get one of them done.

can’t beat STW… 😀