Some Recipes for Those Who Don't Like Cooking...

Discover my minimal effort rule for cooking!

I am a bad cook. There are, it seems, no bad cooks, but only people who do not like cooking. That is the case for me, simply because I'm very impatient; I want to do everything very quickly and at the same time to save time and eat faster. Incidentally, I however eat slowly and savour all the dishes presented to me. I’m a very, very big foodie.

I therefore had to learn to cook meals when I became independent some years ago. After my Erasmus trip, I came back with some simple, light, and super tasty recipes! During my internship at Leonardo, I refined them and I am still learning more. They're recipes that still take time (within an hour) to cook but you do not have to watch the food! If there is something I do not take the time to do, it's checking my food every five minutes. Nothing could be more annoying. So these are dishes you can make in ten minutes but you eat after one hour and ten minutes.

Here are some of them:

Grilled Trout with Bacon

For this recipe, nothing could be simpler. Place the trout (the entire fish, not a fillet) in a stainless steel dish. Inside (it's supposed to be open on the edge), place diced bacon or slices if you do not want to cut them. The minimal effort rule is my motto in cooking! Next, add the vegetables that you would like (remember it's important to eat five fruit and veg a day! ). I put finely chopped onions, sliced peppers, sometimes courgettes and some garlic. Add a little salt (not too much as there is bacon, and everyone can add salt to their sauce later). Add pepper if you like it (I don't). Submerge in wine (around 200ml) and water if necessary (the vegetables have to be covered). Add some thinly sliced potatoes (less than when steam cooking as there is less space in the stainless steel dish). Put two per person, or cook them in another dish though this will take longer to cook. Cook in the oven for one hour at 180 degrees. If you know how to work an oven, it usually does not burn. Check after 40 minutes.

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Oven-grilled Chicken/Asado de pollo

Take some chicken legs and put them in a stainless steel dish, with vegetables of your choice. You can add a little oil on the bottom if you want it to be a little fattier but with more flavour. You can also put it on the chicken but wine gives better flavour. I recommend peppers, onions, garlic, and sometimes I put a few carrots and courgettes. Add thinly sliced potatoes to take two thirds of the space in your dish. Pour 200ml of white wine (if you can find a carton, take the cheapest one possible). Submerge in water but not too much, just to almost cover the ingredients. Then, cook in the oven for about an hour at 180 degrees.

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PS: A whole chicken is great too :D You can also cook the potatoes in the microwave (20 minutes) and cook the whole chicken for an hour, adding margarine between the thighs and around the chicken. Yum yum...

PPS: A substitute for potatoes is sweet potatoes. They're delicious as they give a little sweet taste to everything and it melts in your mouth - mmm!

Oven-cooked Sea Bream or Grilled Fish/Asado de pescado

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Same principle as the previous recipes. Put everything in a stainless steel dish in the oven (wash the uncut sea bream, for vegetables add peppers, garlic, onions, and possibly carrots and courgettes if you like) for one hour at 180 degrees. I advise only filling two thirds of the dish with veg or it will be too much. Add the sliced potatoes. The fish shrinks a little, so you can put the potatoes on top of one another, and spread them out a little bit later so they don't touch and cook thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper and, of course, submerge in wine and water.

Grilled Potatoes/Patatas asadas

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Still following the minimal effort rule, cut the potatoes in slices, and place them in a stainless steel dish next to one another. Put a little oil on the bottom of the dish and on the potatoes. Leave in the oven for an hour. Season of course (salt, pepper, and garlic).

If you want to mix it up, add other spices (rosemary, thyme, herbes de Provence - but not too much or it ruins the taste slightly). One day I plan to try it with cinnamon!

Soup

If you have a pressure cooker, it's super easy! If you do not it's more of a bother since it takes more time and you have to make sure it doesn't boil over. You will need a blender, and the only work needed is to cut and mix the ingredients. Personally there are two soups that I do well: pumpkin and carrot soup or onion soup. Be aware that I've given large quantities! With my recipes you can make easily make five Tupperware boxes worth of soup. I freeze them and have them for two weeks.

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Onion Soup:

• 1kg onions
• 2 large potatoes
• 1 half of a courgette (optional - but add less water as I believe courgettes release water when cooking)
• Salt and pepper (I add to taste in my bowl as I sometimes add too much pepper and I don't like too much spice)
• Serve with grated cheese... mmmmmm...

Cut everything in large cubes (once cooked they mix easily, no need to cut them too finely). Put everything in the pressure cooker and submerge the vegetables in water. Close tightly and put the pot on the hob. When steam comes out because there's too much pressure, lower the heat for a few minutes, then turn off the heat leave the pot to rest for about ten minutes or more. Once it's safe to open the pot, mix and that's all there is to it. It's the same principle with a normal pot but instead of five minutes it takes ten hours.

Pumpkin and Carrot:

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Take a large quarter of pumpkin and half a bag of carrots. Cut everything in pieces - the pumpkin pieces can be very large because they come undone by themselves once cooked. Sometimes I add half an onion and one or two potatoes, as well as one red pepper (to keep the colour). Or two peppers, pepper soup is delicious :) Like the other soup recipe, put everything in the pressure cooker until steam is released. Next, lower the heat for a few minutes and then turn off the heat/hob. Leave the pot to rest for about twenty minutes. Once the safety valve is unblocked and you can open the pot, mix the soup. It's all done once the soup is seasoned (salt and pepper).

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