… Herby Vegetable Couscous & Tzatziki

I’m cooking a Greek chicken dish tonight.  I’m doing this meal for Gavin’s, my house mate’s, family.  We all used to go to the same church when I lived in Nottinghamshire, about ten years ago.  It’s nice to catch up with them all. 

By and large this is a relatively easy meal to cook.  There isn’t loads of cooking.  Cooking couscous is not really cooking.  Pouring hot water over something does not count as cooking.  If it did then having making pot noodle would count as cooking and we can’t have that!

As with most of the chicken dishes, the chicken is bashed flat, with its seasoning  before being fried. 

You also make a tzatziki for this meal.  Cucumber is grated, slated and then the juice is squeezed out of the granted cucumber.  There is an unbelievable amount of liquid that comes out of it. 

It is much more than half way through the time when, I realise that my chicken is not cooking very quickly.  I had had the hob on much lower than it should have been.  I turn it up, but I know I will now not hit the fifteen minute mark.  It’s a shame because the couscous and tzatziki is finished by a little after fourteen minutes. 

Peppers and olives and feta and peas are added to the couscous and it does look pretty. 

I wait and wait for the chicken to cook.  Finally it is done. 

It’s a nice tasty meal. As I cooked for a few more people than the recipe was supposed to cater for I added one more chicken breast and some warmed up pitta breads.  I also made an apple and plumb crumble. 

Oh by the way my hob has been fixed so I now have all four rings available.  This should make cooking much easier.  Less juggling of pans.  I’m not very good at juggling pans. 

Who with: Ian, Gill, Tim, Catharine, Ethan and Gavin

How long: Seventeen minutes and fifty three seconds

… Autumn Salad & Cranberry Dip 

This was a meal I did without any thought.  I just pick a meal, walked to the shops to buy the ingredients and then came home and cooked it.  It was also one of those meals that I wasn’t starting to cook until after 10 at night. 

This looked like quite a comforting meal.  Cheese fried in a little parcel of filo pastry.  There is a cranberry sauce made with port and some ground cloves and, appropriately for the season, it tasted more than a little like Christmas.

I came up against one very significant problem today.  The salad you make requires a pomegranate.  I had a pomegranate.  So I didn’t buy one when I went shopping.  I can’t quite remember when I bought it, but it looked fine from the out side.  On the inside it was more than a little bit rotten.  Therefore my salad had no pomegranate. This omission is probably the most significant I have made since starting this project.  I wasn’t very happy. 

This was a nice meal.  Easy to cook.  Tasted good and it was comforting. This would only really make a light lunch for four.  Between two of us, we eat all four Camembert parcels and over half the salad.  

Who with: Gavin 

How long: Fourteen minutes and forty seconds 

… Sticky Rice & Dressed Greens 

Tonight I cooked for Art, Beverly and Charlie.  It was the third meal in a row involving some kind of seafood.  Although the recipe is called Asian Sea Bass, the list of ingredients does say you can use either bass or bream.  I used bream because it was on offer at the supermarket.  I have never cooked bream before.  I’m not sure if I have even eaten it before.  I probably  have but I can’t remember when.

The fish is basically steamed.  It is supposed to be put in a high-sided roasting tin and then left on the hob on a medium heat, covered with tin foil.  If I was using a gas hob and if I had all four burners working I would have done this and had the roasting tin straddling two burners.  On an electric hob this is less easy and with only three rings working and two other pans to go on the hob I’m struggling.  All four fish just fit in my biggest frying but only when strategically placed. This therefore takes up my biggest working ring and the fish are very tightly packed in making it less likely that it will all be cooked in time. 

Once the fish is on, this isn’t a hard meal to cook.  The prep, chopping and so on can all easily be done in the fifteen minutes. 

My meal is not cooked in the fifteen minutes.  The greens are.  The fish is not quite cooked and the rice is far from cooked.  By necessity the rice has had to be on a small ring and even on full heat it is not cooking quickly. I’m done in a frustrating nineteen minutes.  Frustrating because this time is due entirely to the hob and has nothing to do with the recipe.  Never mind!

The meal is lovely.  I enjoyed the sea bream.  My guests seemed to like it to.  This is another meal where coconut rice is cooked (a tin of coconut milk is added to the rice with some water).  This goes really well with the lovely delicate Asian flavours. 

It will be a few days until another 15 Minute Meal can be cooked, with a busy Sunday, seeing the Hives on Monday, work Christmas meal on Tuesday and Wednesday is looking busy too.

Who with: Art, Beverly and Charlie

How long: Nineteen minutes and three seconds

… Sweet Potato Mash & Holy Trinity Veg 

Saturday lunch time and it’s time to cook some prawns.  I love tiger prawns and I lovely Cajun food and so I’ve really been looking forward to cooking this one and even more so to eating it.

This is the second time I have cooked sweet potato like this now.  It is a really good quick way of making mashed sweet potato.  The skins are left on which adds to the flavor and the texture and I think it is better for you as well.  

Two or three minutes in and I’m pretty confident that I will get this one done in time.  The potatoes are already boiling and the prawns are on the hob (they are finished under the grill later). 

There isn’t much to report in terms of the cooking.  There is some veg to chop and fry off with smoked paprika.  The potato is mashed with a little bit of cheese.  Then its served with some lemon wedges. It’s all done with more than two minutes to spare. 

There is however more to report about the eating.  This tastes great.  It’s been quite some time since I’ve had shell on prawns.  Eating these has reminded my how much I love them.  They are sweet and the Cajun spices make it so tasty.  It’s a messy fun thing to eat.  Really great. This recipe called for 16 prawns.  I had twenty.  I cook all twenty.  We eat all twenty between the three of us. 

Who with: Gordy and Gavin

How long: Twelve Minutes and forty two seconds 

… Hoi Sin Prawn & Noodle Bowls 

It’s Friday and I’m cooking for my brother Gordy and my housemate Gavin. 

I went shopping today for three meals (all of which include sea food of some sort, which often makes the shopping more difficult) and I have to make some puddings for church on Sunday and I did it all in just one supermarket.  Well done Asda, again.  My least favourite supermarket to shop in, but it is proving to be the most resourceful and I think it is cheaper, generally. 

I am cooking this one especially for my brother.  He particularly likes steak. He particularly likes Asian food. And he particularly likes seafood.  This meal has it all.

This is a fun meal to cook.  There is quite a lot to do.  Interestingly you get the steak on first.  Well nearly first you get the nuts and sesame seeds toasting off first then you get on with the steak.  I think this is so that, if you are that way inclined, you could actually cook the steak to death (figuratively, not literally, I know it is, in fact, already dead).

My hob issues doesn’t have too much effect on me tonight and for a while I thought I’d finish with time to spare.  There is quite a bit to bring together at the end and getting the noodles and other bits and bobs in the little bowls is more than a little bit fiddly.  It’s a little over the fifteen minutes in the end.  But I’m not too disappointed with this. 

This is a really delicious meal.  Really, really delicious.  One of the best.  Yet again, one of my favourites.  I guess it’s a little like an Asian surf and turf.  You really ought to try this. 

Gavin, the supposed vegetarian, eats more steak than anyone else.  The steak is lovely.  It is rubbed generously with salt, pepper and Chinese five spice.  And it is lovely.  I did slightly over cook it.  Not over cook it, over cook it.  But it was just that bit more cooked than I would have liked.  Nevertheless absolutely lovely.

Oh and by the way I bought a new pan today.  It’s the blue one in the photographs.  Nice, isn’t it!

It’s Cajun Prawns for lunch and Asian Sea Bass (bream actually) for dinner tomorrow. 

Who with: Gordy and Gavin 

How Long: Fifteen Minutes and twenty four seconds 

… Hungarian Pepper Sauce & Rice 

It’s Thursday night and before I have a meeting, I’m cooking a quick dinner.  Not as quick as I’d like as it turned out.  Tonight I’m cooking for my friends Jeff, Lori and Gavin.

This meal involves making a tomato sauce packed full of loads of veg (two peppers, one onion, one carrot, a whole fennel bulb and an apple). Loads of things to slice in the food processor and I have to use and empty it three times.

Once the veg is beginning to fry off, you then get on with making the rice and only then start to prepare and then cook the pork.  With my hob issues I am not confident that I will cook this in the fifteen minutes. In fact I am confident that I will not cook it in the fifteen minutes. 

The sauce is done and the rice is done in the fifteen minutes.  The pork is not cooked.  Although the recipe calls for the pork t be cooked on a high heat, for the first part of the cooking time I had to give over my hottest ring to the vegies to make sure they softened enough.  It seems to take an age for the pork to cook though.  And its over twenty minutes in the end making it one of my worst times.

This is a very lovely meal.  The tomato sauce is particularly delicious.  You add some rocket to the sauce at the last minute and it cooks a bit, with is a new one for me but very lovely.  The bit of balsamic vinegar in the sauce cheats a bit of age into the taste.

A really tasty meal.  Shame about the time.  The cooker is really letting me down. 

Who with: Jeff, Lori and Gavin 

How Long: Twenty minutes and fifteen seconds 

… Tomato Sauce & Courgette Salad 

It feels like a while since I’ve done a 15 Minute Meal.  I hadn’t intend to cook a meal tonight, but decided to at about 6 o’clock and so a quick walk to the supermarket was required and I had no guests to cook for other than my house mate.  I feel like I have to make up for lost time.  As well as cooking one tonight I have people coming over for dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and I may do lunch on Saturday as well.  

This meal was a bit of a struggle tonight.  Things just kept going wrong.  I am really struggling with my new hob especially because the big ring doesn’t work.  I keep having to juggle pans around the hob to get things cooking right.  I also choose to cook the fritters in my new frying pan.  I bought a new one because the non-stickiness on my old large frying pan was just beginning to loose its non-stickiness.  My new frying pan is now the second largest fraying pan I own.  Choosing it was a mistake.  Not choosing to buy it.  It’s a nice pan.  But choosing to use it rather than the biggest one was the mistake. You need to cook eight, fairly small, fritters made from ricotta and lots of other nice things.  I could fit eight in the pan.  I could not turn them easily with the limited space and so they broke up as I turned them and got a bit mushed up into each other.  Overall they did not look pretty.  At least not most of them.  

The tomato sauce was cooking far to slowly to the point where I had to swap its place on the hob with the fritter pan to get it cooking faster.  I also forgot to test how hot my chilli was before adding a whole one to the courgette salad.  It was a bit too hot and I think the salad only needed about half the amount.  

The flavours of this meal were really nice.  The few fritters that didn’t get totally bashed looked good.  

Overall I was disappointed with how this one went.  Too many mistakes.  Hopefully I’ll do better tomorrow.  

I didn’t seem to make too much mess with this one. I think this had more to do with Gavin doing a bit of clearing as I went because I had people due to arrive for my church home group meeting only about fifteen minutes after dinner was going to be on the table.  

Who with: Gavin

How Long: Fifteen minutes and fifty eight seconds

… Smashed Sweet Potato & Fresh Corn Salsa 

So I haven’t cooked since Monday … well that’s not quite true. I cooked (yes actually cooked) breakfast on Wednesday and I kind of made lunch today – but it was more just tarting up leftovers that actual cooking.  However the point is that I haven’t cooked a 15 Minute Meal since Monday night.  I knew I would have to take some time of after my operation, but I was keen to get back to cooking much sooner.  I had planned to do one last night … but instead I slept.

My mum has been staying with me for a few days to look after me.  Because I felt up to cooking tonight I asked her to choose a meal and she choose this one.

This is the third meal I have cooked in the new house.  This one was much harder than the others.  I needed three things on the hob tonight.  I only have three working hobs. And I don’t have the big one. This was a difficult, I’m still getting used to how the cooker works and I had to keep juggling hobs to get the heat right.

There is a lot to do tonight and pretty early in I know I’d miss the fifteen minute mark.  I also can’t move very fast and I have to be a bit carful.  I have already stepped well outside of my doctor’s orders with the amount I have been doing and I make myself slow down a bit.

Anyway it was a fun one to cook. 

The meal tastes great.  I am disappointed with the time.  Also I over cooked the chicken a bit. But I have a new cooker to contend with and a sore back.

This meal seems quintessentially southern American. It reminds me of my American trip a little bit.  I love the okra.  The sweet corn salsa goes down well with everyone.  You griddle the corn on the cob and then slice off the corn into the salsa.  When you get a slightly burnt bit of corn it tastes just great.  The salsa would be great done with corn cooked on a barbeque (I must remember this for the summer in my new garden).

A good meal notwithstanding the overcooked chicken and time.  Importantly my mum really, really liked this one and Gavin (my now official house mate and apparent vegetarian) recons that it’s the best meat dish I’ve done. 

Oh and by the way having done the photos for this meal I have only just realized I am still wearing the paper bracelet that was put on me in the hospital.

Who with: Mum and Gavin 

How Long: Nineteen minutes and thirty seven seconds 

… Spinach, Chickpea & Feta Parcels 

It was two more van moves.  Then the van to return and then some cleaning in the old flat.  Then some sorting in the new house.  I have chosen a bedroom on the second floor and begin to regret it after carry on my stuff up two flights of stairs. I have an unbelievable amount of crap.

About eight o’clock I get a call from my mum to say she is coming tonight instead of tomorrow when she had been indenting to come.  This means there is one more for dinner tonight (it will be a late one).  It also gives me and Gavin a reason to try to get as much sorted out as possible before my mum gets here. 

I start to cook at about 23:30.  There was very nearly a very large disaster.  I had a box of kitchen things I would need for the two meals I was to cook in the new house today, so that I didn’t have to get all the kitchen stuff unpacked.  I forgot to put the tin opener in that box.  I need a tin of chickpeas for this meal and I have no tin opener.  I look (or sort off look) in every kitchen box (there are lots of them).  I fail to find it. I am at the point of switching the chickpeas to butter beans as I have a tin of butter beans with a ring pull.  The tin opener is found just in time. 

As I start to cook I am worried that my filo pastry is a bit dry.  It is and one of my filo parcels tears. 

The parcels are made very quickly.  They’re on the hob for a bit and then in the oven (the top one obviously).

I make Greek salad an awful lot. There are a few interesting twists with this one.  The cucumber, onion and mint are left to marinate with oil and lemon juice. This gives the cucumber and onion a very slightly pickled feel.  The olives and almonds are gently fried off in a pan which really releases their flavours. 

I am meant to chop the tomatoes and the lettuce and add these to a serving platter first.  I forgot the lettuce and so this gets a bit tucked in around the edges at the end. 

This is a lovely meal. The salad is great and has given me ideas for a few twists on my normal Greek salad.  The filo parcels are lovely and fun to eat.  I know I’ve said it before but … one of my favourites. 

First meal at the dining table in the new house.  And I have to say the lounge/dinning room is looking very respectable considering we have only moved in today. 

That’s it now.  I will have to take a break from making any 15 Minute Meals for a while.  I’m having a minor operation tomorrow and so I don’t think I’ll be able to cook at speed or a little while.  Hopefully only a few days. 

Who with:  Mum and Gavin 

How Long: Fourteen minutes forty seven seconds 

… Tomato Toasts, Watercress & Pea Salad 

So I am moving and the second van load has been unloaded.  It’s time for some lunch. Left on the list to cook today is a frittata or a Greek salad.  Debbie, who is helping with the move, gets to choose which.  She chooses this and so this is what we have. 

This is the first test of the new kitchen.  Two immediate irritations.  One of the rings on the hob doesn’t work (the big one) and the main oven doesn’t seem to work (the small one does).  That’s a job to sort out tomorrow.

With this meal you grate the courgettes in the food processor and then squeeze the liquid out of them.  There is an unbelievable amount of liquid that comes out.  This is fried off a bit and then the egg mix is added.  In the new kitchen I now have a sink next to the cooking area.  This is a convenient place to chuck the broken eggs sells (all eight of them). 

Despite my now using an electric hob, I get on quite well. My toast does not get quite as well cooked as Jamie’s and I can only fit three bits in my griddle pan, not four. 

There is a cool little salad with fresh peas, watercress and celery. 

First cooking in the new kitchen and I’m done in under the fifteen minutes. 

This is a great meal.  Really great.  The frittata is absolutely lovely and so is the ciabatta and so is the salad. 

Gavin had to go to the dentist to have some teeth removed mid move and so he isn’t actually able to eat it. 

Anyway back to moving.  Hopefully just one more van. 

Who with:  Fourteen minutes and twenty two seconds 

How long:  Debbie and Gavin