Ok, we’re all busy; I get it. That’s why I’ve put together these three simple dinner recipes, to get you cooking thrifty food but without resorting to the pre-packaged, pre-processed crap that you’ll find in your typical TV dinner / frozen pizza section of your typical grocer. Now to qualify to use the term simple, a meal should use a small number of ingredients, require very little prep time and the end results should be something people want seconds of. Heck it might even be helpful if what you’re cooking, tastes so good that you don’t mind eating it again the next day for lunch.
Recipe #1
Leave it to the Italians to have a solid command of awesome food and this “real,” pasta al carbonara is simply awesome.
Ingredients:
1 large egg
Parmesan Cheese, enough
Pepper
3 slices of bacon
Your favorite pasta
(youtube video goes here)
Ok so these ingredients differ a bit from the video but remember, whenever possible, we try to avoid exotic ingredients and where I live in Japan, pecorino ham and most cheeses are exotic. Now I won’t go over all the steps to make this here as you can obviously see what’s going on in the video but I will give a little tip on the egg. Before draining your pasta, reserve a ladle full of the boiling hot pasta water. Before dumping the egg in on the drained noodles, add a couple tablespoons of the reserved pasta water to the egg and stir. This is called tempering the egg and it will help the egg from scrambling when you add it to the hot drained pasta.
Recipe #2
From the exotic Philippines comes our second recipe. As exotic as it may seem, it’s super simple and with the exception of fish sauce, doesn’t require any special ingredients. The dish I’m referring to here is Chicken Adobo. Now Adobo as understood in the Philippines, has about a gazillion variations. There’s pork, chicken, goat Adobo etc. Each region of the Philippines also has their own version. This one is the Ilocano version and what separates this one from other regions is the use of Ginger and apple cider vinegar.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp oil
A few dashes of fish sauce
2 onions roughly chopped
As much ginger as you like, grated (a thumb-sized piece is typical)
4 cloves of garlic minced
85ml apple cider vinegar
85ml soy sauce
1 Tbsp black peppercorns
chicken in whatever combination you like. I like thigh meat.
1 or 2 bay leaves
Basically, chop up the onions, chicken and garlic, toss everything together in your fry pan, heat on medium high for about five minutes, add water to cover and then reduce down until a thick sauce forms, or about 30 minutes. Serve over rice.
Recipe #3
recipe number 3 goes here
Conclusion:
Alright then, three simple dinner recipes that won’t break the bank, are easy enough to make without requiring a lot of time in the kitchen and taste great to boot. Around my house, all three are frequently requested meals and they’re all something I don’t mind putting together after a day of teaching elementary school. Oh, and if you cook any of these, let me know how it goes, I’d love to hear from you.
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