Chef Martin Anderson
One thing that’s always said to me when I talk about recipes is “ah, it’s alright for you ….you’re a chef.”
And yes I agree it is easy for me to talk about food and cook great food sure – it’s what I do in real life.
By all means I wouldn’t try to service my own jeep, I’d take it to a professional and get it done properly. But if I was shown how to change the oil filter I’d give it a fair go the next time it needed changed.
Sometimes you need to step outside your comfort zone .
Last year I auditioned for a role in the Letterkenny Musical Society’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. I got the part much to the amazement of family and friends. I stepped out side of my comfort zone and discovered a hidden talent . The Show is on the 1-5th of March by the way. Now go out and get your tickets !
The same can be for you. So many folk say I can’t cook, I burn everything, nobody eats what I make. Well, it’s time to make the change .
Cooking real food is very simple !
You have to know what you want to eat, is it lunch, dinner, breakfast or a snack?
You need a recipe or at least some information on what you are cooking. Did you see a picture of a dessert and think wow that looks tasty I’m gonna try that.
Look online for the recipe , print it out and keep it safe.
There are enough cookery books knocking about to get you started and sometimes the older the book the better the recipes , I often refer to my books from college and the recipes never fail!
How many people you are cooking for, do you have enough oven or hob space. It’s tight enough cooking for large numbers at home, if it’s a family meal then you should be ok.
His much time do you have? There is no point in planning a really tasty casserole and expecting it to cook in an hour ,it’s just not going to happen .
Don’t be fooled by all the advertising on TV for convenience meals and fast food , real food is easy to cook .
You are spoiled for ingredients and they are not expensive! Yes real meat; fish can be a challenge on your budget if you eat it every day, explore alternatives , cheaper cuts of meat are excellent for casseroles , braising and slow roasting , special offers are ok but remember you can get into the routine of cooking the same stuff week in week out , I remember I had to endure a year of school meals in my first year in secondary school , the food was horrendous and you knew what you were getting in advance , mince stew one day , spaghetti bolognese the next , fish on Wednesday , gammon on Thursday and back to mince stew again , for a full school year!
By experimenting with new recipes you will introduce yourself and family to new flavours , children become picky eaters because of you and what you feed them . Ok if it’s a question of allergies then yes you need to be carful what you’re cooking but I’ve seen children look at food and ask what is this ? And it a bit of salad.
Maybe have a meat free day once a week and that doesn’t mean pizza.
There are loads of great tasting vegetarian options available , cheap to make and they are usually healthy too unless you’re deep frying the food .
Health food and Asian style shops have so many spices , dressings and alternative ingredients compared to the usual supermarkets . If you can’t do this then seek out the aisles in the supermarket you never go down. Look up on the top shelf or bottom shelf , remember the best sellers are on the middle shelves and the more obscure ingredients are hidden away.
So this weekend if you get a chance make a wee list of your favourite foods and take a look for the recipe and see if you can come up with something different to cook , don’t go mad make one wee change and see how it goes .
This week’s recipe is a basic dish made from quorn mince, it’s a healthier alternative to fatty mince and doesn’t take as much preparation .
Quorn is a branded vegetarian meat substitute which comes in various forms, minced, meat or chicken like strips.
It is very low fat and if properly seasoned it is very difficult to tell the difference from this to real meat.
This is a basic recipe for you to make various dishes.
You will need.
500g of Quorn mince either frozen or defrosted.
I medium Chopped onion.
2 cloves of Garlic chopped.
100g of Tomato puree.
400g of Chopped tomatoes
A good handful of chopped parsley .
Corn flour to thicken.
1 medium carrot grated.
1 vegetable stock cube
Method.
Because qourn is already coloured and cooked you don’t need to brown it of as for traditional mince.
In a pot add a little water and add the onion, carrot and garlic.
Heat up and add the qourn, tomato puree and the chopped tomatoes
Heat fully add the stock cube.
Allow to come to the boil and thicken with a little corn flour.
Add the herbs and use as required.
Here are some ideas for you.
Lasagne, add 2 tablespoons of corn flour to 500g of low fat yogurt and use as sauce for the topping .
Add chopped chillis or chilli powder for a spicy wrap filling.
Add extra vegetables and cook casserole style.
Allow to cool and make a cottage pie smother with champ mash and bake again
Simply add the quorn straight from the packet to a vegetable soup it will give extra flavour and turn it into a full dinner.
The quorn strips can be stir fried with vegetables or even to make a stroganoff served with basmati rice , so tasty .
I used to eat the Quorn sausages but to be honest they are hard to eat unless you slice them and put them in an Omelette .
