Mom’s going to be out of town for three weeks, so I’m on my own. I ought to keep it simple, but I also wouldnt mind treating myself. If you were in my place, what would you cook?
Toasted sourdough, crispy fried egg with paprika, onion relish, but of rasp jam,Philly cheese, and honey.
Add sauteed spinach with garlic and butter, and a bit of grilled chorizo or Polish sausage.
Technically it’s dead easy, uses one pan if you do spinach, then chorizo, then egg, and it’s a flavour metropolis
This could be breakfast, or it could be brunch, lunch, dinner, or dessert, IDK I’m not your mum.
Since she is done for the weeks and you probably don’t want to cook all the time, you might also want to look into meals that freeze well. Then you can cook more at one time and just eat the leftovers on other days.
Simple:
Aglio olio is extremely easy but can be amazing if you get the technique right.
Carbonara is fast too if you have access to the ingredients.
Treat: A good steak and roasted vegetables if you have an oven and prepare in advance.
Simple chicken chop or pork chop if you marinate in advance.
Just follow (good) recipes. Use recipes from a recipe aggregator (I use Chefkoch because German) that has multiple recipes of the same dish that users can rate to determine which recipes are “good”.
Most of them have a “preparation time” scale, just use the ones with an acceptable one for you.
When you don’t know cooking well yet, you should start doing this so you learn the techniques and things to look out for.
I’d cook a big tray of eggplant lasagna and freeze most of it, so I have food for multiple days. Once you know a recipe well, it’s generally a big cooking time saver to make a lot of it and then freeze.
Are there foods that you like but she doesn’t, so you don’t eat them very often? Cook those. I always make mushroom dishes when my husband is away.
I am planning some gnocchi, since she’s a weirdo who doesn’t like it. Not sure what I’m doing with it yet.
What sort of mushroom dishes?
Things like chicken marsala, mushroom risotto, and mushroom soup!
Beans, Rice, vegetables. Easiest combo that can be an amazing dish that reheats well, and you can also change the spectrum for with just spices.
Check this out, and then a salted veggie on top 🫰
Curry. I love curry. Check out this youtube clip for a recipe from Jaime Oliver, which is delicious but also keeps it very simple: Corner Shop Curry
(He says to grate the onion, but I find that just chopping it is fine. And I use powdered ginger because I never seem to have the fresh stuff on hand.)
Thanks for the suggestion. I keep fresh ginger in the freezer and grate it directly into my dishes.