I’ve typically puzzled what cooks eat for dinner on their evening off – I’m in want of simple, scrumptious meal concepts!
Sarah, Leeds
For Phil Wooden, head chef at Saltine in north London, cooking at house is “a little bit of a busman’s vacation”. That stated, good issues may be present in an “simple rooster thigh scenario”, which you’ll bung within the oven when you gravitate in direction of a tracksuit. “Begin with a base of celery, onions and carrots, then make a roux and thicken it with tomato paste and inventory,” Wooden says, plus a splash of Worcestershire sauce for good measure. “Add rooster thighs, brown them, then cowl and stick within the oven for 40 minutes. Uncover and prepare dinner for one more half-hour,” then crack open some wine and eat with hunks of bread.
The enchantment of cooking from a single vessel grows immensely in the course of the week, with pasta being a shining gentle. “Considered one of my go-tos is pasta with lentils,” Mitchell Damota of east London’s Dalla says. The strategy couldn’t be less complicated, both: saute no matter veg you fancy – “often onion, carrot, celery, a little bit of garlic” – and add tomato, brown lentils and water or inventory. “When you’ve got rosemary or parsley, add that, too – and, in the event you’ve received one, a piece of parmesan rind is an absolute should.” As soon as the lentils are good and delicate, in goes the pasta – “soup-friendly shapes or just broken-up spaghetti” – and, “from begin to end, that’s prepared in 25 minutes”. Carb consolation may also be present in broccoli pasta: “I chop the broccoli small, so you may then mash it up and it goes creamy, however my associate prefers to maintain it in chunks for texture.” Both approach, get the broccoli on to boil. In the meantime, saute garlic in olive oil “till it’s simply beginning to brown across the edges, then add chilli flakes and a splash of cooking water”. Scoop the boiled broccoli into the garlic pan and go away it prepare dinner down when you prepare dinner the pasta. Then, simply toss the 2 collectively.
Shuko Oda, head chef at Koya in London, eats “a number of noodles at house in addition to at work”. Whereas the sort might change – udon, soba, ramen, rice – her technique stays a lot the identical: make a easy sauce that doesn’t require warmth, and pour excessive. “Chop chives, ginger and spring onions, then add soy sauce, sugar, a splash of rice vinegar and a little bit of honey; my favorite is chilli oil with a drizzle of soy and a few spring onions.”
The omelette, in the meantime, is an actual crowdpleaser spherical chef and restaurateur Tom Kerridge’s. They’re fast, certain, however they’re additionally extremely customisable: “Omelettes are an effective way to mix all these fine details within the fridge – leftover ham, a little bit of grated cheese, some pepper and tomato, or fairly merely closely seasoned eggs cooked excellent and completed with scorching spicy sauce.” Alternatively, put an egg on nasi lemak (coconut rice), which Abby Lee (chef and founding father of Mambow, in Clapton, London) makes by placing Thai long-grain jasmine rice in a rice cooker with “50:50 coconut milk to water, pandan leaves and salt”. She leaves that to prepare dinner for 25 minutes whereas she considers the toppings: fried garlic and/or anchovies, sambal, or “peanuts fried with makrut lime leaves and lemongrass”. Crown with a fried egg, as a result of, properly, all the things’s higher with an egg.
