Cooking for (Lazy) Dummies (Meat)

Member Name: mattygroves10

Product:	Meat
Date:	13/10/05 (373 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy, one pot dishes that taste yummy

Disadvantages: You get more time to talk to your other half...

No - don't get cross with me! I'm the lazy so-and-so - I am not saying any of you fine folks are. But I AM lazy. I like cooking dinners that can be cooked in one or two pans. I hate washing up - I hate spending ages preparing - time better spent, I feel, in drinking and socialising.

So I am constantly on the look out for easy, tasty recipes (yet still using fresh ingredients). And I found some.

Now, my theory on using recipes is (a), if you can read you can cook; and (b), cook to recipe the first time, then alter and fiddle to your heart's content.

Both these recipes do come from published sources - but they are written here from memory (that's how often I cook them), and have been gradually refined by me over time.

So, onwards.

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Lazy Bones Chicken
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I originally found this in Nigel Slater's column in (I think) the Observer Magazine. It wasn't written as a recipe - there were no lists, no exact quantities. It was written as an article - a story of one summer's day in Nigel's kitchen/garden/bath (you'd have to read it!).

So this is what I've done with it. I like it because there is NO CHOPPING!!

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To serve 4, YOU NEED
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4 good sized chicken thighs with skins on (or any chicken part that takes your fancy)
A good dollup of olive oil (I use extra virgin, because that's what I have)
The juice of 1 or 2 lemons (or more or less, depending on how lemony you want it)
2 or 3 cloves of garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)
Around 1 glass of dry white wine
A bunch of fresh basil - around a good handful
Salt and pepper (freshly ground is nice...)

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OPTIONAL EXTRAS
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A few cherry tomatoes - whole
A few shallots - whole

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METHOD
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1. Preheat oven to around 170-180° C ish

2. Put your chicken thighs in a roasting tin skin-side-up and drizzle with oil, grind your salt and pepper over the thighs, and crush your garlic over the thighs.

3. Squeeze the lemons over the chicken, chucking the lemon shells in as well. Tuck the shallots and or tomatoes around the chicken, if using.

4. Put the chicken into the oven. Allow to cook for around 40 minutes ish.

5. Take chicken out of the oven and tear your basil over and around the chicken.

6. Return chicken to oven for another 10 minutes or so

7. Take chicken out of the oven. Test chicken with a sharp knife into the thickest part of the biggest thigh. Make sure juices run clear - if they don't, return the chicken to the oven for a few minutes.

8. Put chicken on a warmed plate. Put the roasting tin with the juices onto the hob. Turn the hob on fairly high. Pour in the glass of wine (after, of course, refilling the glass of wine, since you've no doubt drunk the glass you'd poured earlier.)

9. Heat for a minute or two until slightly reduced. Pour over the chicken and serve.

This works wonderfully with a nice crusty bread (cibatta is nice) and a mixed salad. Easy-peasy!


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Devilled Chicken or Pork
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This one did come out of a cook book, and has remained fairly unchanged, because it's just SO nice. The main thing is the chutney you choose to use - I prefer a savoury chutney (my sister in law makes a mean runner-bean chutney) - but use what ever tickles your fancy.

If using pork, you need to be careful that you don't dry the pork out.

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To serve 4, YOU NEED
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4 medium sized chicken thighs or pork chops
3 tablespoons (Tbls) ketchup
3 Tbls chutney (like I said, I prefer savoury chutney, but feel free to use apple, or mango or whatever)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped finely (or more, or less...)
1 good sized onion (the original recipe calls for grated onion - I can't be bothered, so I just chop it finely)
2 teaspoons (tsp) Worcester sauce (or more, if you share my fondness for this condiment)
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp prepared mustard (I like using Dijon or wholegrain, but if you like spicy, use English by all means!)
Butter
Salt and pepper

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METHOD
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1. Preheat oven to 180 C ish.

2. Put all the ingredients except the meat into a bowl and mix thoroughly.

3. Put the chicken or pork into a roasting tin or Corningware casserole dish, or any other shallowish, oven proof container. Grind over some salt and pepper.

4. Pour mixture over.

5. Put it all in the oven, uncovered.

6. Cook for around an hour (check to make sure it doesn't dry out).

7. Take it out of the oven and dot with butter. Return to the oven for around 10 or 20 minutes.

8. Remove from oven. Serve, pouring the juices over the meat.

This works well with nearly any starch - potatoes, pasta or rice. I like bunging oiled, salted, small new potatoes with their skins on into the oven (in a small roasting tin) - if the potatoes are small enough, they'll bake just fine into mini-jacket potatoes.

Salad, green beans, or your favourite veg works well with this. And crusty bread never goes amiss.



I hope you enjoy these - they are easy yet tasty - both my husband and my daughter love both these dishes.

And the best thing is that they don't TASTE easy - so can be served to friends, colleagues and bosses.

Cheers!

Summary: Easy, one pot main course dishes that anyone can cook