sorry, couldnt help myself... But seriously one would get used to it. I love meat myself but you can do a lot of interesting vegetarian stuff, especially if you're not vegan and can eat eggs and cheese and stuff. If you want to find out how buy some Amy's frozen dinners, they are not cheap but they are pretty delicious and vegetarian.
I guess it varies for each person. A few years ago I thought I'd try and see if I could do it. For me, it was really easy, so I stuck with it. Now it's just a habit.
Anyway I cooked this yesterday, was pretty decent. Maybe this thread's dead but whatever, I'm posting in it! A morrocan-style thing I suppose. Baked aubergines with a chickpea stew on couscous. Vegetarian again, apologies.
Takes about an hour due to prep.
Ingredients wise, you want couscous, an aubergine (one aubergine's okay for 2-3 people, but more is better), some chickpeas, an onion (again for 2 dudes), garlic, a lemon, olive oil, salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin, ground coriander seeds, parsley, sultanas, flaked almonds, tomato puree, a bay leaf.
Chop up the aubergine in to little cubey-slicey things. Sort of size you'd want to eat. Place them in a baking tray, and then make a marinade.
Chop up a couple of cloves of garlic, add a little olive oil, some salt, some paprika, cumin, ground coriander, cayenne peper, and the juice of a lemon (IMPORTANT - get a fair amount of lemon rind off the lemon before you get the juice out. You'll need it in a bit).
Pour all that stuff over the aubergine, then toss it or mix it all together with your hands so it's all nicely coated. Cover the tray in clingfilm and let it hang out for a while.
Go on a smuggling run or something. Come back later - no sooner than half an hour, and the longer you let it sit, the better it will taste.
When you get back, TAKE OFF THE CLINGFILM, then throw it in the oven (I have an aga, so I don't get to play around with temperatures. I have two ovens, one extremely hot, one fairly hot. I used the extremely hot one for 25 minutes, but for a normal-ish temperature (220 sort of thing I suppose?) give it half an hour).
When this is baking away, make some vegetable stock. Enough to make enough couscous for everyone who's eating, then maybe a quarter of a pint or so for the stew. Have it simmering and get some couscous in a cooking vessel. This will be both on the stove/range, and also in the oven, so make sure yr pot/pan of choice can handle this extreme adventure. Pour the stock on the couscous, bring it to the boil for a a few long seconds, then take it off the heat. Cover the pan with a teatowel and let it sit for 5 minutes or so. Chop up an onion and a couple more cloves of garlic while you wait.
Take the towel off the couscous, it should look fairly edible if a bit plain. Now, throw in something to make it more exciting. Lemon rind for a nice freshness, sultanas for sweetness, flaked almonds for the texture and taste, a little salt. Then drizzle it as liberally as you dare/can afford with olive oil, cover it in foil or some such, and throw it in the oven (I used the less-hot oven on my aga, but you should be okay in the same one as yr aubergine, as long as you don't let it hang out in there too long. If it's been in there 20 minutes, pull it out and just keep it warm.
Then, the stew. This is the only part of this recipe I'd like to improve. It was better than I feared, but it is still a little boring. Basically, its the same stuff you all make every day. Fry the onion in olive oil, then throw in the garlic and spices (I used smoked paprika this time, plus cayenne). Then add tomato puree (I like to cook the tomato puree for a few seconds before I add much liquid, it can be a little bitter and this removes that), and then after that the chopped tomatoes. Add your chickpeas (drained obviously), the bay leaf, parsley and the little bit of stock you saved. Bring it to the boil and let it reduce a little bit. Season it to taste, let it cook for 10 minutes.
Then it's time to eat.
Get the couscous out, and lay it out on each plate, cover the whole thing with a thin layer rather than a big pile a the side. Ladel out as much of the stew as you want on each plate, and then drop a few chunks of aubergine on the top of each plate.
Hooray! This thing is pretty light and fresh despite all the spices and the stew. The lemon juice in the aubergine and the rind in the couscous, plus the sultanas, keep it nice to counterbalance the heat and stodge of the stew. I was pretty happy with it. I'm still sort of torn on aubergine - I eat a lot of really bad aubergine that I really don't enjoy at all, but this was really good.
Okay... this is important. This is a slow cooked dish, but you have some options. The temperature is directly proportional to the time you allow the chicken to bake. While this may seem obvious, I'm going to spell it out for you.
250 Degrees F. for 3 hours
350 Degrees F. for 2 hours
450 Degrees F. for 1 hour ( I don't recommend this... but in a pinch it will work)
***************** Preheat according to your plans *******************************************
Normally, I'd tell you to have the tea sorted prior to beginning, but since this doesn't require the tea to be cool... it's okay to make it just before...
The Tea:
Boil water in a kettle... THIS is important. The water must be at a rolling boil before it is given to the sugar.
Sugar in to the sauce pan. Give the water to the sugar in the sauce pan (creating a simple syrup) Stir until the sugar is all dissolved. Then add your tea bags. Stir until you see it's nicely darkened, set aside.
*******************
Place the chicken quarters in the casserole dish (bone side down) Do not crowd the chicken.
Pour the tea over the top of the chicken, allowing a generous well. Don't drown the bird, just allow for a enough liquid to remain in the dish while it bakes say 1/4 inch.
Ok, heres a recipe, very easy and simple, also I don't use measurements when I cook, I am too good of a cook to measure.:)
Ingredients: Oil, eggs, potatoes, onion, cheese, ham.
Peel potatoes and onion, either shred, or chop the potatoes into small-medium sized pieces. Place potatoes in water with a little vinegar while chopping the onion and prepping the other ingredients. Chop the onion and set aside. Chop the ham into bite-size pieces. Scramble the eggs. Heat oil in a skillet over low to medium heat, use just enough oil to make a shallow pool in the bottom of the pan. Drain potatoes and place in pan, cover and cook for about 3-5 minutes tossing around potatoes occasionally to avoid sticking. Add onions, cook for about 2 minutes while still tossing once in awhile, ass Ham, continue cooking for about another 2 or 3 minutes and make sure that nothing sticks. Now you can either drain the oil off onto some paper towels, or go ahead and add the egg with the oil, either way, cook the eggs until they are cooked through thoroughly. When done, turn stove-top off and add cheese into the mix. Cover pan and wait for the cheese to melt. Eat with what ever condiment you choose. For me its ketchup!:)
Thats one of my more simple recipes, I can make pretty good stuff, I have been cooking for a good number of years now, and it has always just come naturally...:D
Take a bunch of bread slices and dice them up into small pieces about the size of a cubic centimeter. Put them on a pan for a toaster oven with a sheet of tin foil under them. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and, if you want, some light ground pepper or spice. Pop them in the oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit and give them a stir every few minutes until a little darker than golden brown. Take them out and let them cool for a few minutes. Pop onto a plate or into a jar and enjoy!
2 x Tins Coconut Milk
1/2 x Table Spoons of Green Curry
1 x Table Spoon of Fish Sauce (yes, its real)
600gs of Chicken breast
Rice
Some Vegies
1 - Cut up the Vegies
2 - Cut the chicken breast into strips (this is a stir fry, so be reasonable)
3 - Start cooking the rice, it always takes longer then you think it will
4 - Put the chicken in the fry pan with the green curry and stir it through, make sure the chicken is cooked
5 - Check your rice, retard
6 - Pour both tins of coconut milk in and keep cooking until it reduces, it will stick to the pan, keep stirring so it doesnt get too bad
7 - Turn the pan down a bit and through your vegies in, stir them in
8 - Did you check the rice?.... Didn't think so
9 - Strain the rice and enjoy cleaning the rice stuck on the bottom
10 - Put it on a plate
500g chicken
100g Spinach
500ish g noodles
sweet chilli sauce
Cut chicken thinly, cook
cook noodles and spinach
combine in pan, add excessive ammounts of sweet chilli (or to taste, your choice)
cook a bit more, eat. Serves about 4
You may notice a discrepancy between the name and the ingredients. I didnt know what bok choy was when I first made this, so I improvised and liked the result.
' Wrote:Come on, everyone!
Hark, the Bounty Hunters si-ing,
Death to all the pirate kings...
Goals: To be interviewed by Chris Hansen on Dateline NBC.
1 x $10 Dollar Note
1 x Cheap plastic container
1 x Iron stomach
1 x Unfathomable Willpower
Steps
1 - Approach the bain-marie slowly
2 - Use the provided utensils to dish up the... chinese(?)
3 - Fill Container, but do not overfill on account of the small crazy asain woman watching
4 - Shuffle along the line and be wary of anything containing the word 'chicken'. Its not acutally chicken.
5 - No not sample the food no matter how good it smells... she is still watching
6 - Communicate slowly and patiently with the crazy lady
7 - Do not take offense when the crazy lady starts yelling because the 'food' is touching the lid
8 - Smile at the crazy lady and resist the urge to stab her with the plastic cutlery 9 - Pay the lady and take your MSG filled container and leave