… Cajun Style Pepper Rice & BBQ Sauce

So I did this one for my friends Alex and Lisa from work and Gavin. 

This meal requires a 600g pork fillet, which is quite a big piece of meat to cook in a short space of time.  This meal also requires you to put your grill oven on a medium – high heat.  I do not have a grill oven.  I only have an oven and a separate grill.  This will become important later.  Instead I put my oven on a high heat. 

This was an easy meal to cook.  The prep for the meat was done in a minute.  Less maybe.  The veg for the rice were chopped up quickly and in the pan.  There was no stress or hassle at all.  I think Alex and Lisa were a bit disappointed that it all went so smoothly.  I think they were looking forward to seeing me panic and cook in utter chaos. 

This meal requires that the pork loin is cut length ways half way through, opened up like a book and squashed down a bit.  It is fried for a bit (about 4 minutes on each side) and then put in your grill oven with most of the BBQ sauce you have made (yes made) until it is cooked. 

Everything was on the table, the rice/veg dish, the remaining BBQ sauce and the pickles, before the fourteen minute mark.  But the pork is not fully cooked.  If only I had a grill oven! In the end it was done after sixteen minutes and thirty eight seconds. 

This was another great meal, and one I would like to cook again.  The rice/veg dish was lovely.  It’s been a little while since I have eaten okra and I really do like it.  It’s quite a popular ingredient in southern America cooking (as in the southern sates in the US) and I had a bit of it while I was on my three-week tour of the southern sates earlier this year. 

Music tonight was from Feeder.

How much: £TBC.

How long: Sixteen minutes and thirty eight seconds.

Who with: Alex, Lisa, Gavin.

… Noodles and Pickle Salad

This was another meal where I had the away disadvantage.  But I was cooking at Tom and Hannah’s house again, and they have a well set up kitchen and so there didn’t seem to be too much of a disadvantage.  I brought my own food processor.  There was lots of things to slice tonight. 

I was cooking before my midweek church home group again.  This time I was cooking for Tom, Ed and Hannah.  Maisie, Tom’s daughter, was there but she had already been fed. I suspect these will be the friends I will cook for most often as my life intersects with theirs more than others.  Hannah bought me some basil infused olive oil as a thank you for cooking for her, which was very kind. 

There was a mini disaster at the beginning because I had forgot to bring the ginger with me.  Cooking was delayed until some more was purchased.  It felt like there was a lot to do with this meal.  After the burgers were made there was lots of slicing to be done.  This wasn’t a hard meal to cook but the slicing, stirring, tearing and turning was constant. 

In the end I was 30 seconds over the fifteen minute mark.  I suspect I could have done it in the fifteen minutes if I had the recipe entirely in my head because I did have to refer back to the book quite a few times.  But even then I think this would still be a close one. 

The noodles and pickle were great and really tasty.  They could have made a meal just in themselves.  In fact there was enough left over for a fifth portion.  The burgers were nice, if a slightly odd accompaniment to an Asian dish.  The burgers I cooked tasted great, but three of the four fell apart quite a bit and looked substantially less good than the ones in the book.  Oh well!

By the way it is typical that when I called into the supermarket on my way over to Tom’s the fish counter have large (jumbo in fact) raw shell-on king prawns.  The very ones I needed for the meal I cooked last night.  They would have looked great along side the prawn cocktail. 

It’s Glazed Pork Fillet from page 90 tonight.  

How much: £7.39.

How long: Fifteen minutes and thirty seconds.

Who with: Tom, Ed, Hannah.

… King Prawns & Sun-dried Pan Bread

I did not cook a 15 Minute Meal on Monday.  I went out for a meal for my friend, Ed’s, birthday.

Over the course of two days I went to four supermarkets and two smaller shops in an attempt to get the large raw shell-on king prawns required by the recipe.  I failed.  The best I could do was large(ish) raw pealed king prawns.   

I think doing the fish dishes is going to be the biggest challenge with this book for a number of reasons. 

I really like eating fish and shellfish.  I don’t eat enough fish and I certainly don’t cook enough fish.  This means that I will be less confident with the fish dishes, simply because I am not as practiced at cooking with fish as I should be.  The two fish dishes I have chosen so far are testament to this.  They have been easy ones.  The first meal I cooked was the Mighty Mackerel dish.  Mackerel is a forgiving fish.  Other than literally burning it, you can’t really overcook mackerel.  In fact having a crispy, slightly charred, skin adds to the flavour.  I have cooked mackerel quite a lot on the beach over an open fire – it’s easy.  This meal was prawns and in fact it was only the four king prawns that required cooking.  Again you can’t really go too wrong here. 

Getting the fish is also going to be a challenge.  Some of the fish will not always be available in the supermarket and I am only really able to get to a fishmonger on a Saturday and even then only sometimes.  I also have a habit of going to the supermarket quite late in the evening.  Very often I am there after the fish counter has been shut down.  I think I am going to have to be more organised with the fish dishes otherwise when I get to the end of the project I’ll be left with all the dishes where the ingredients are harder to source.   What I think I’ll do is have a shopping list for two or three different fish recipes, go the fish counter first and depending on what I can get, this will determine the rest of my shopping. 

So I cooked this meal for my very good friends Jeff and Lori as well as Gavin.  Jeff leads the church I go to.  I say cooked.  This meal actually involved very little cooking.  This meal did involve making bread.  A very quick flat bread, cooked in a frying pan.  You make the dough in a food processor and mine was a bit wet.  The first attempt at rolling failed.  I had to add some flour, kneed it a little and then it worked well.  I would say I lost a minute here. 

It was mainly chopping salad placing prawns on the salad and making the Marie Rose sauce.  You cook the flat bread in a frying pan – turning once. Toast the seeds and quickly cook the raw king prawns.  That’s all the actual cooking involved. 

I loved this dish.  Everyone did.  It looked great and felt good and fresh and healthy.  This is the second time I have cooked bread in a 15 Minute Meal and again I am delighted at what can be achieved in such a small amount of time. 

This was a quick meal.  14 minutes exactly.  I would have done it in well under fourteen minutes if I didn’t have problems with the dough. 

I have meals booked in for every night for the rest of the week up to Saturday.  A mixture of cooking at home and at other people’s houses.  No doubt I’ll do one on Sunday as well.  I think this project is beginning to take over my life a bit!

How much: £8.56.

How long: Fourteen minutes. 

Who with: Jeff, Lori, Gavin.  

… Warm Kale and Bean Salad

It’s Sunday and after church I spent the afternoon with some friends.  In the evening I cooked this one. 

For some reason I wasn’t feeling that I would do this one in the fifteen minutes.  I did.  Just. 

This was a messy one.  Or at least I was messy with this one tonight.  There was a significant amount of tender stem broccoli, curly kale and cavolo nero on the floor.  I also lost quite a few of my blanched hazel nuts down the back of the cooker.  I just didn’t feel as calm as I have the last few nights.

It was a steady thirteen or so minutes of cooking, no waiting around just solid cooking until then.  Then it was just waiting for the gnocchi to cook. The food was done and on the table in exactly 15 minutes. 

This was a nice meal.  It wasn’t the best or the most fun.  But a good meal nonetheless.  I like eating greens.  And I love cavolo nero.  I used to grew cavolo nero when I had my 120 foot garden.  I miss my garden! I think it’s surprising that this meal is as good as it is.  It’s a tomato based sauce.  Usually tomato sauces are long slow cooking sauces.  I have a feeling that the left overs will taste better, after the flavors have time to infuse. 

There were not a lot of pantry ingredients with this one.  It also requires about a glass of wine (specifically Chianti).  So I had to buy a bottle.  It went nicely with the food but does distort the cost more than a little. Also I have two sausages and almost a pack of streaky bacon left over.  Bacon is one thing that I won’t buy cheaply.  I hate it when you cook bacon and it just leaks water.  It’s one of those things that’s worth spending a bit of money on.

How much: £18.18.

How long: Fifteen minutes. 

Who with: Hannah, Tom, Hannah and Maisie. 

… Spicy Black Beans & Avocado Garden Salad 

The pork dish is done and thus one recipe from all eight sections in the book.

This was the first meal I cooked outside my own kitchen, so I don’t have the home turf advantage.  No you’re eyes have not just deceived you.  I have just used a sporting reference. 

I have spent the afternoon and evening with my friends Tom and Hannah, who is an exceptionally talented baker (Hannah that is. To his shame, Tom has never baked me a cake!) In the afternoon I helped Tom repoint (rebuild, in places) his garden wall.  In the evening I cooked for them.  Because I wasn’t in my own kitchen, I was a little more organized for this one.  I made sure I had all the equipment to hand, down to the potato masher.  Yes, you need one! Hannah has a lovely array of serving bowls, plates and dishes to choose from. 

Like yesterday evening I cooked in a much calmer manner than the first few meals. I even just about managed to hold a conversation with Hannah while cooking. An improvement from my first meal, when I refused to have a conversation about my printer with Gavin. 

I had the book propped up next to me.  At one point I caught myself reading the next part of the recipe whilst chopping salad.  Not a sensible thing to do!

This is a nice meal to cook.  No stress at all.  Looks great on the table.  The best thing about this meal, by far, is the salad.  We are all agreed on that.  Every now and then you get just a bit of chilli, which is great. The yogurt, with Lingham’s chilli sauce rippled through it, is a delight.  In itself, this is something I would serve with a host of other things. 

Again I thought I might beat the 14 minute mark.  Not quite.  I want to present things quite nicely so it took just that bit longer. 

One cheat was that Hannah helped turn up and down the hobs.  It’s been ages since I’ve cooked on an electric hob and Hannah’s is a bit awkward to turn up and down.

Some bits of my belly pork were cut a little bigger than the 1 cm dice required by the recipe.  The smaller bits were better – much crispier.  So if you do this one, follow the recipe properly. 

I like Mexican food.  But of all the corn based accompaniments I like tacos the least.  They just break apart as soon as you take the first bite.  I’d much rather a wrap or nachos.  Nevertheless.  A great meal.  Again, good, fun, family type, food.

How much: £8.15.

How long: Fourteen minutes and nineteen seconds. 

Who with: Tom, Hannah and Maisie (who was meant to be in bed). 

It seems like there are several unintended consequences which are beginning to emerge as a result of doing this project. 

I might write about some of them over the coming weeks but here’s one.  Because I have lots of nice bits of food left over, when I fancied a midnight sank last night I was able to make this. 

I had half a left over avocado, which was beginning to go a little brown around the edges but still tasted fine.  A bit of chille, red onion, mint, coriander, lime juice from some left over lime wedges and yogurt made a lovely guacamole.  The left over ¼ of a pack of nachos from the Mexican Tomato Soup went brilliantly with it.  It was a really great midnight feast. 

… Curry Sauce, Rice & Peas

So it was lamb tonight.  Pork tomorrow and then I’ve done one meal from every section of the book. 

I had a feeling this one would be quite doable within the fifteen minutes.  The cooking process was quite easy. I was familiar with the ingredients.  Also lamb can be served quite pink so I knew there wouldn’t be the necessity to make sure the meat was cooked through. 

I did do one cheat with this one. The recipe calls for 8 lamb cutlets (two per person). I took lamb cutlets out the freezer last night. I couldn’t tell how many there were in they’re frozen state but I guessed about six.  When they thawed there were only four.  I was only cooking for two tonight and so it did work out ok.  I could also do without having loads of leftovers otherwise I have to have a night of cooking just to eat them up. I don’t think this would have affected the time really.  I had a bit of time in the middle of the cooking process when I was hanging around a bit, so I would have had time to prep twice as much meat. All the other quantities followed the recipe.

I was much calmer tonight.  Not loads of racing around.  I think this had a bit to do with confidence in what I was cooking.  But I also think that I am getting into a bit of a rhythm of cooking at this pace. 

By about half way through I thought I might beat the fourteen minute mark.  But in the end it was fourteen minutes and forty seven seconds. 

Another tasty meal.  The right amount of heat. And the ten minute rice worked out again.  This was much more than decent Friday night curry, enjoyed with a beer. 

Lots of pantry ingredients and left overs here and the lamb was from the freezer so quite a cheap one. 

How much: £4.25.

How long: Fourteen minutes and forty seven seconds. 

Who with: Gavin.

Over the last few days I have bought a few pantry ingredients that I was missing.  So I spent another £5.79. 

… Mint & Avocado Chopped Salad 

I had a feeling I might do this in under fifteen minutes.  This one was the easiest to cook to date.  No issues, or at least no issue until it came to serving.  Everything was quick and simple.  The pasta sauce was in the pan and simmering, pasta was boiling away, and the salad was on the table around the ten minute mark.  This is the first meal where I was stood waiting around with nothing to do, while things cooked. 

Once the pasta was cooked it was drained and put back in its pan and the sauce added.  The sauce is quite liquidy.  I had chosen a very large plate as my serving dish for the pasta.  This was a mistake.  The liquid form the sauce sloped all over the place.  There was quite a bit split in and around the sink, down the cupboard door and on the floor.  I should have used a large shallow bowl, instead. 

 It was on the table, parsley sprinkled and Parmesan grated over in 14 minutes and twenty seconds. 

This meal is great.  It wasn’t my favourite but in a lot of ways it’s the best one yet.  The pasta sauce is delicious, the fennel seeds and half a dried chilli give it a bit of interest.  The salad is great and the very small amount of feta, just 20g, really lifts the whole thing. 

 This is a meal I really should cook often.  It’s just so full of good things and so tasty and easy. 

It was perfect I would say.

By the way there are eight sections in the book (chicken – beef – pork – lamb – fish – soups and sarnies – veggie).  Before I move on I want to cook one meal from each section.  So there is just lamb and pork to go.  Off to the shops now to get the stuff for the next three meals. 

How much: £6.19.

How long: Fourteen minutes and twenty seconds. 

Who with: Gavin.

… Fluffy Rice, Red Onion & Parsley Pickle

This was a slightly odd 15 Minute Meal for me.  Odd in the sense that I cooked alone.  I didn’t eat alone.  I cooked alone for the first six minutes or so. Hence the limited number of photographs. 

Home group (my small mid week church group) was at my house tonight and I’m cooking for two friends before the meeting.  Time is tight.  I need to start cooking just after 19:00, with food on the table before 19:20 and cleared away(ish) by 19:40. Normally I would be all prepared in this type of situation.  Everything would be cooked and being kept warm on the hob or in the oven.  But it can’t be with a fifteen minute meal.  My friend Ed, who I went on my American road trip with is due to arrive at 19:15 and Gavin is late!  I start to cook at 19:03. 

The meal goes really smoothly.  I have no issues to report at all.  It’s the first time I’ve ever cooked 10-minute rice and it works well.  Very well.   The recipe works, without any stress at all.  Frist one in under 15 minutes.  I have a little celebratory dance at the end!

The meal is nice.  It’s a really pleasant meal.  I love the gherkin in the pickle.

But … in some ways I’m slightly disappointed.  This is ridiculous.  The four meals up till now have had either big flavours or been surprising in some way.  This one is a bit more normal. 

How can I be disappointed?  I have just cooked a meal in less than fifteen minutes that tastes great.  It’s a Wednesday night and I have things to do.  What more should you be able to ask in this situation? 

I had to buy brandy.  The recipe calls for a splash of brandy.  The brandy cost over £7.  If I add all of this cost, it will really distort the cost of the recipe.  At most I used 5% of the brandy.  Just this once I’ll only add 5% of the cost of this ingredient.  I know the brandy will be all used up at Christmas anyway.

Musical accompaniment was from Biffy Clyro tonight.  So … “mon the Biff” … as they say.   

So it’s Winter Squash Penne with Mint & Avocado Chopped Salad tomorrow. 

How much: £5.20 (it just so happened that I had 2 sirloin steaks in the freezer).

How long: Fourteen minutes and forty four seconds. 

Who with: Ed and Gavin

… Chilli Nachos, Veggie & Feta Sprinkles

I had Monday night off cooking a 15 Minute Meal.  There were left overs to eat up and backgammon to practice.  I have joined a pub backgammon team, or been commandeered might be more accurate. 

For some reason I didn’t think this one would go well.  Nothing to do with the recipe I was just physically feeling a bit slow and I noticed my knife skills were a bit off. After a bit of a slow start it all went pretty well.  Just one little issue.  You make a kind of yogurt and mint dip.  You are meant to use your stick blender to whiz the mint, pickled jalapeño and yogurt.  I didn’t get on well with this, it wasn’t whizzing up very fast at all.  I think that’s because your using small quantities and the stick blender works better with larger quantities.  It worked brilliantly with the soup.  In the end I chucked this yogurt mix in my food processor.

It was all done in fifteen minutes and twelve seconds.  This was another fun hands on meal to eat.  Lovely colours.  Beautiful flavours.  Easily enough food for four people.  You put a bit of rice in the soup and I was worried it wouldn’t cook in time, but it did. 

Between the pantry ingredients and some bits I had left over from other meals, of the seventeen ingredients I only had to buy seven. I am finding that I’m using quite a few similar ingredients over again.  I suspect if you were organised you could really cut costs buy buying larger qualities and sharing between meals.  I doubt I’ll be that organised.  I did however shop for three meals again tonight.  This seems to work well.  It’s either Winter Squash Penne with Mint & Avocado Chopped Salad or Beef Stroganoff with Fluffy Rice, Red Onion & Parsley Pickle tomorrow.  Not sure which yet.

How much: £4.93.

How long: Fifteen minutes and twelve seconds. 

Who with: Gavin

I replenished and stocked up on a few pantry ingredients today and spent £4.16.  I saw a few things that were a good deal.