Ask Lemmy

Burgers and fries

I make my own burgers ... buy about 2kg of lean ground beef when it's on sale .... mix them by hand with salt, spice, Worcester sauce .. measure out about 2oz to 3oz portions, press them in a burger press that is a bit large .... it makes a really thin burger patty. I like the thin patty because it only takes about five to seven minutes to cook. If I feel like having more, I just cook more patties.

I only cook a few at a time, then freeze the rest. Always nice to have a ready made supply of homemade patties.

I also cut my own fries, cover them in a bit of oil, then air fry them. Toss them with a bit of salt at the end.

I used to work as a fast food cook at our family's own burger joint when I was a teen. Homemade burgers and fries just seem like second nature to me at this point.

Burritos with baked tofu, peanuts and onions, fried and hastily squished beans, brown rice and cheese. 10 mins of work for 6 servings and then I store them in the freezer and just chuck them in the microwave as needed. Great low effort food and much healthier than most other microwave snacks.

I cook dinner virtually every night, but probably my (and my family's) favorite is Lemon Chicken Picatta.

I cut chicken breasts into pieces about nugget sized, then season w/ salt & pepper. Toss them in flour to coat, then pan-fry them in vegetable oil. Basically, home-made chicken nuggets (my wife says they're very similar to Chik-Fil-A nuggets).

When the chicken is done, I use the same pan, which now has a bunch of fond from the meat. Sautee some minced garlic, then add a bunch of chicken broth and thinly sliced lemons. Sautee that for a bit while scraping everything off the bottom of the pan. Add lemon juice and capers. Cook a bit longer. Take off the heat and add butter and parsley. Then pour the sauce over the chicken.

I usually serve it over pearl couscous with a side of air-fried broccoli.

For mother's day, I cooked a piece of fish in some of the sauce. I don't particularly like fish, but my wife said it was delicious.

• fajitas

• pasta with zucchini jam sauce

• falafel sandwiches (I make all the components in big batches and eat this for days)

• pizza (using a no-cook sauce recipe)

Shakshuka, bean burritos, pizza are generally my most common. All are good, just generally have to plan ahead with a few of them.

Mini pizzas. I use the naan from Costco as the base, par bake it a few minutes first, then top with jar sauce and shredded mozzarella and make everyone come and do the rest of their toppings from little bowls I’ve prepared before going back in the oven for 5-10 minutes. Kids like mini pepperoni and pineapple bits from a can. I like pesto, spiced artichoke from a jar, Canadian bacon, and avocado and freshly chiffoned basil (after the baking). Everyone gets two pizzas customized to their liking, it tastes better than any takeout pizza, and it’s inexpensive.

Household spaghetti recipe.

So happy that the spaghetti that was made for me I now get to make for my kid.

Hashbrowns and eggs with bacon. Cook some thinly sliced bacon, almost like bacon bits, and in the grease cook Hashbrowns. Then, once they're both cooked, crack a few eggs over everything and cook that. Serve with seasoning salt.

Chana masala! It's so tasty and relatively easy to make.

I eat toast with cream cheese and a poached egg almost every morning and there's some synergy between the unctuous yolk, the sour cheese, and my hot sauce that is just about mana from heaven.

Er, I feel like this is my time:

African Chicken And Jollof Rice
Asparagus And Crayfish Tail Tagliatelle
Aubergine Laksa
Baked Salmon W. Lemon Couscous
Barbecued Spatchcock Chicken With Potato Salad
Blackened Chicken And Dirty Rice
Blackened Salmon And Dirty Rice
Burgers
Butter Chicken
Cajun Chicken Thighs And Dirty Rice
Caldeirada - Portuguese Fish Stew
Carbonara
Carnitas
Chicken Adobo
Chicken And Butternut Squash Tray Bake
Chicken And Mushroom Casserole
Chicken Biryani
Chicken Caesar Salad
Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken Fried Rice
Chicken Kebabs And Couscous
Chicken Kyivs
Chicken Milanese
Chicken Paprikash
Chicken Ramen
Chicken Shawarma
Chicken Taquitos
Chicken Thighs - Greek Style
Chicken Tikka Kebabs
Chilli Con Carne
Doner Kebabs
Fish Pie
Fish, New Potatoes, Asparagus
Fish, New Potatoes, Samphire
Gnocchi And Green Veggies
Grilled Chicken Tacos
Jamaican Chicken Curry
Jambalaya
Kedgeree
Kofte Kebabs And Koshari Rice
Mac ‘N’ Cheese
Mediteranean Chicken And Cous Cous
Oklahoma Onion Burgers
Paneer Curry Wraps
Pasta Alla Norcina (Sausage & Cream)
Penang Curry
Penne Alla Vodka
Peri Peri Chicken
Pesto Pasta
Portuguese Baked Cod
Portuguese Green Soup
Ragu Alla Bolognese Tagliatelle
Ragu Alla Genovese Tagliatelle
Red Beans And Rice
Red Salmon Pasta
Risotto – Chicken And Asparagus
Risotto – Mushroom
Roast Chicken
Salmon, Asparagus, And Crushed Potatoes
Sausage And Potato Tray Bake
Sicilian Chicken Spaghetti
Smoked Salmon, Lemon And Garlic Spaghetti
Steak/Chicken And Chips
Stir-Fried Tofu
Tandoori Chicken
Tortellini Soup With Chicken & Spinach
Tuna Pasta Bake
Tuscan Chicken, Bean, And Spinach Soup
Tuscan Pork Pasta
Veggie Chilli
White Chilli
Za’tar Salmon And Spinach Rice

Edit to add: I can dig up my recipe for any of these if anyone is interested.

Lately, I've really got into making sheet-pan dinners. Baked (and marinated) chicken breast surrounded by halved baby potatoes, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower with a little feta cheese sprinkled on after it comes out of the oven. Hearty and delicious! :)

I make (vegan) bolognese, chili sin carne and similar weekly. It's so easy to mix up with different ingredients, seasonings etc. I usually use soy-based mince since it's the cheapest but I use other stuff like tofu, mince made from peas, mushrooms etc. pretty often too. They all give different textures and tastes so it's an infinitely variable thing. Lately I've been making bolognese-ish with oat milk and mushroom slices added, makes it really nicely creamy and earthy.

Moksi Alesi with djar pesi or blaka ai pesi and salted fish "bakkeljauw" or salted beef "zoutvlees" with Madame Jeanette pepper. Basically beans and rice. I learned the basic recipe from a friend with Suriname ancestry.

Sandwiches

Tortellini pesto - seems like a lot of steps but it’s simple and fast, little prep time needed

• slice up some chicken and coat with lemon pepper rub
• sear it in the cast iron skillet
• boil the tortellini
• strain it, goddam, forgot to keep some pasta water again
• a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the pan,
• heat garlic and red pepper flakes to infuse the oil
• dump in a small jar of pesto and mix with infused oil, then turn off the burner
• throw in the pasta, a cut up bell pepper and the meat, and mix (effing pasta water would make this perfect)
• fold in some shaved Parmesan and fresh baby spinach leaves, and serve

Edit: this was me discovering wilted spinach is much better than slimy black overcooked spinach that I experienced most of my life, and I haven’t gotten tired of it. If I remember the pasta water, it’s nice and creamy

Beans and rice. I fry onions, bell peppers, garlic, and chili in a pot (sometimes carrots, celery, or leeks), add tomato paste and rice, and after a few minutes of toasting the rice, I add vegetable broth and cook until the rice is done. Then I add cooked beans (I use black beans, pinto beans, or black eyed peas at about a 2:3 ratio of beans to rice), spices, and sometimes tomatoes or nutritional yeast, depending on my mood and grocery stock. I serve it with lime, vegan cheese, or fried onions.

Cajun chicken wraps! Baked chicken with Cajun seasoning, romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, in a slightly salted wrap and then lightly fry the wrap for a little crisp and to keep it sealed shut.

Tofu scramble, although it's so far diverged from "standard" tofu scramble I'm not sure if I'd even call it that anymore. Basically, it's crumbled tofu (firm or extra firm), fried potatoes (hash brown style), olives, bell peppers, onions, and tomato all thrown in a pan together and cooked on the stovetop. Seasoning is whatever the heck I feel like at the time, plus ketchup.

I make tacos every Tuesday. The only thing I change up is the meat used.

I like tilapia fried in garlic olive oil, roasted asparagus, and cous cous. I eat it at least 3x a week for lunch. It's easy and cheap and freezes well.

I do meal prep once a week with my mom. We just get together at her place and cook like 10 or 12 meals and put them in containers and I freeze them. Cheaper than TV dinners and it's easy lunch and dinner for the week.

I absolutely despise cooking, so taking the ingredients to my parents' place forces me to cook. At my house, I can just procrastinate.

A roasted chicken. Usually we eat the dark meat for dinner, use the white meat for other meals over the next couple days, and then I use the carcass for stock. Root vegetables underneath the bird while it cooks to get them nice and schmaltzy.

I cook most of my food. Lentil curry. Chilli. Apricot Chicken. Are my three meal prep's at the moment. I need a few meal preps or even tasty food can start to feel like a chore if I'm eating the same thing repeatedly.

I just bought a ham hock to make pea and ham soup today to mix it up a bit. I think my next lentil curry will be dal makhani, normally I do red lentils and yellow curry paste.

Fruit, nuts and a protein shake for breakfast. Usually a salad for lunch. Neither of which are particularly "cooking", more assembling.

Cassoulet, also osso bucco with polenta, I don't think I'll ever stop making those unless I stop being able to get the ingredients

Mac and cheese. It’s the only dish I can eat multiple times a week.

I cook most of our meals. My kids would eat ma po tofu every day I think. Husband asks for pierogi and sausage and sauerkraut all the time. Youngest would eat homemade macaroni and cheese probably every day. Yellow rice and chicken with black beans is always well received, as are bean and cheese simple burritos.

Tostadas. Make them with seasoned ground beef/chicken, chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and salsa if I have it on hand (usually I do). Delicious every time. Easy to make and filling. Will also add beans if I have them.