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Favorite "chow" meal?
I'm not sure exactly what you'd call it, I always think of it as just "chow" but it's a large portion of what I eat. Basically anything that is-- few ingredients, one pot or pan, everything cooked together and thrown in at the same time, cheap, easy, relatively quick, but hearty and filling.
So like my go to is a one potato, half an onion, cabbage, and one de-cased spicy sausage. Plus seasonings, depending on how I'm feeling either Indian (those premixed spice packets) or asian (ginger and garlic powder, mushroom soy sauce and chilli oil) . The prep work is maybe 2-3 minutes then 15ish cooking. I view it as "I want a cooked meal, but I don't want to spend any time on it."
One pot fettuccine alfredo. Put the butter in the pot until melted, add garlic and sauté. Add water, but less than you would normally add because you aren’t going to drain it. The butter and garlic will cook into the pasta and the starchy water from the pasta will act as the thickening agent to replace the roux (butter/flour). Bring water to a boil. Once the pasta is cooked, add cream and bring back up to a simmer. Add Parmesan cheese, fresh cracked pepper, and sometimes I add nutmeg if I’m feeling fancy. It is also pretty basic, so you can add other things that might be leftovers from the fridge, like chicken, sun dried tomato, spinach… whatever you feel like throwing in there that sounds good.
Prep time is pretty much non-existent, and it takes 10-15min for me to make it from start to finish.
Hey, that’s pretty clever! How close would you say it comes to the real thing? Did you come up with this yourself or saw it somewhere?
It was inspired by Kenji Lopez Alt. I saw his one pot mac and cheese recipe and loved the idea. I rarely make a roux anymore, as the concentrated starch water from cooking pasta is an amazing option. I think it tastes better this way, as you’re cooking all of that flavour right into the pasta instead of pouring sauce on when serving. I’ve started putting garlic or chicken stock cubes in the water when I’m cooking pasta, it makes the pasta taste better.
Here is the recipe for the mac and cheese though, as it’s also delicious.
https://www.seriouseats.com/ingredient-stovetop-mac-and-cheese-recipe
If i remember correctly, using starchy water from pasta is what they used for the original alfredo sauce actually! I think Italian Fettuccine alfredo is basically just parmesean, pasta water, and butter.
Every italian cheese pasta dish is done using the starchy pasta water, not just just fettuccine Alfredo.
Fettuccine Alfredo isn't even a real Italian dish. It's basically just the Italian "buttered noodles" version of what mothers would whip up for their kid real quick when they needed to eat and didn't have much time or want to put much effort into it. Any pasta will work, and any cheese will work. It's pretty straight forward. Add in dried herbs and/or precooked meat of some kind and you've basically got and endless combination of pasta dishes you can make without having to go to the grocery store.
What do you mean by real Italian here? From my understanding it was invented/formalized in Rome in 1892 by Alfredo de Lelio.
Sorry, forgot I can get messages on here :)
Yeah, pretty much exactly that. I probably should have said "authentic" Italian instead of "real" Italian [Edit: wrong again, "traditional" is probably the word I was looking for]. The idea being that people have lived and eaten in that area of the world for well over 2000 years. Cacio e pepe is thought to be a 2000 year old dish and it's literally just pasta, pasta water, pecorino cheese, and pepper. No one makes a pasta dish in Italy in 1892 that's "new", especially if it's ingredients are just pasta, butter, pamesean, and garlic. That's just what people were making pasta with anyways for 2000 years.
It would be similar to if someone in 2023 made "Jane's Sandwich" with whole grain bread, peanut butter, and grape jelly. That not innovation. People have been making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches forever, and feeding it to their kids. It would be just plain strange if someone in China were to open a restaurant serving authentic western dishes and they had a Karen's Sandwich on the menu. You'd just be like "wtf that's generic kids food"
I think both of the examples are interesting because I disagree with your conclusions of them being authentic or not.
As you stated with cacio e pepe, it's a traditional dish from the region. However I disagree that it's traditional/authentic because of the 2000 year history with a formalized name (if it wasn't named until 1892 but still existed, would that make it any less Italian?). Similarly, carbonara (which is another one of the four classic roman pastas alongside cacio e pepe, alla gricia, and all'Amatriciana) is a rather modern dish, with the name and exact recipe being formalized in the 20th century, and I would definitely consider that to be an authentic Italian pasta preparation. As long as the dish that is known as pasta Alfredo is from the region, I don't think it matters whether Alfredo gave it a name, it's authenticity/traditionality is inherent to the dish/preparation.
(Also as an aside, deciding where Italian food begins is a rather interesting question. Lots of foods you associate with it - like tomatoes - are new world ingredients and thus the dishes began following the Columbian exchange. Historic Roman food, I believe, is actually closer to the food made in modern southeast Asia (this is from my memory of reading Modernist Cuisine Vol. 1 so it might not be accurate))
I wouldn't call the "Jane's Sandwich" innovation, but I would totally see a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as traditional American food (if a baffling one to have on a menu).
I guess this conversation does make me wonder at what time does a dish go from being novel to traditional or at what point can this be considered authentic. I'm not sure I have a good answer for that.
If you're willing to plan ahead a bit and use a crock pot, this is my go to. Chicken breasts covered in taco seasoning, a large jar of salsa, one can of chunk tomato, two cans of black beans, one can of corn. Toss it all in a crock pot and go. Shred the chicken when it's done.
For shredding, we had a recipe that says to use a fork. Takes forfuckingever in a large meal-prep quantity like in a slow cooker. Then my gf had the idea to use a mixer. 95% of the result in 15% of the time
Dunno what you use to shred chicken but that would be my protip
That's a good one. I use tongs and a big serving fork and it does take some effort to get the entire meal prep quantity done.
We bought these metal bearclaw looking meat shredders and they are awesome! You get to feel like you are wolverine.
We were going to do that yesterday but forgot to do it earlier in the day, so we used the instant pot instead. It worked fine, but obviously it was not the same as a good ole slow cook.
If you don't mind chopping up an onion and a protein, fried rice is my go to lazy meal. Chop an onion, chop some protein, get some frozen veggies. Put day old rice. Stir fry. Don't forget the MSG. Add an egg and green onion if you're feeling fancy.
In the same vein, sometimes I'll do something like Chicken and Rice too, I remember grabbing a recipe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsJilIaFio
Another Chinese recipe I like is Tomato Egg, literally just 3 ingredients. Beat an egg or two, salt and pepper it, and beat it before putting it on a hot pan with high heat and oil. Remove and put a can of chopped tomatoes in there and after it's a bit cooked throw the egg back in, and top with Sesame Oil. Serve over rice or noodles!
I don't mind chopping up an onion or two, I just don't wanna spend more than 4-5 minutes on prep. Stir fried rice is great but I almost never have left over rice, and my rice cooker takes like 15-20 minutes to make it and it doesn't work as well with fresh rice. The tomato egg sounds interesting, I'm assuming it comes out almost like an omlette?
I do sometimes make like... Almost a chicken Tikka masala (but vegetarian with cashews instead of chicken). Throw a can of tomato sauce, some Greek yogurt cashews and onion together, add the cashews and spices (I have a homemade blend), let it simmer until the rice is done. I then just throw the sauce directly into the rice cooker with some cling wrap over it and stick that into my fridge if I'm being extra lazy with the leftovers.
honestly fresh rice is fine if you either make it with a little less water or just put it in the fridge! sometimes I'll make rice with my rice cooker a bit earlier and just throw it in the fridge.
for the tomato egg, not really! here's a recipe that does it well and more authentically! I just use canned tomatoes because lazy lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHeaCmfyRx8
Lately all of my meals have been painfully simple. Last night my meal was a bowl of instant ramen with precut mixed veggies tossed in it.
I’ve also had an entire meal that was nothing but Yukon gold potatoes tossed in a pressure cooker (because fast) and eaten with no other steps. Not even seasoning. I don’t recommend.
You could also do that classic British cuisine, the toast sandwich.
Instant ramen + stuff is honestly a great fallback.
Do you have an air fryer? I cut (unpeeled) potatoes into wedges, pour a little olive oil into a bowl, dip each side of the wedges and toss them into the air fryer. Less fast, but I can recommend this.
I know this might sound odd but I am actually perfectly happy with my plain potatoes. I’ve been trying to improve my pallet and cut out strongly flavored food to cut down on sodium and sugar, and as a result I can now taste the natural sweetness in veggies. The pressure cooking step also keeps them pleasantly moist and gives them a pleasing texture. It’s just not a good meal by itself.
For everyone else, though, that’s a good recommendation.
Agreed. One thing I like to do is, after cooking the ramen, you pour out the water, then fry an egg onto the ramen+stuff. When you eat it, you almost get that ticklish mouth feeling, like when eating a zebra cake or other packaged pastry? I don't know how to describe it or if there's a word for this.
I use a veggie bouillon cube, canned chicken breast, and black beans. If I'm feeling extra spicy I'll cook and egg in the microwave and shred it on top (takes 60 seconds)
Pesto pasta with store bought pesto.
Delicious, quick to make and easy. All of the ingredients are also pantry staples.
My weekly "meal prep" is just freezing a bunch of containers of 1lbs of shredded cooked chicken breast, and then during the week I make super simple all-in meals with one.
My two favorite are combining it with jars of Indian Simmer Sauces (not as good as the real thing but the point is to be quick, easy, and cheap!) or a can of Condensed Mushroom Soup + Broccoli + Spices (Like you said, spices depending on mood and helps change the dish up)
If I have more time, I'll do Jambalaya - but that is a lot more of a process than I'm willing to do daily. But still makes a great "cook everything in one pot and your done" simple meal
I call it "slop" but "chow" is definitely nicer haha
Haha, I actually feel like slop is more akin to what I was going for. A big part of it for me is it not being particularly appetizing looking. I like to imagine I'm like a peasent just cooking up whatever I have, it won't be particularly pretty but it'll get me through another day.
My favorite slop meal is a slice of meatloaf broken up and mixed into a huge pile of mashed potatoes and gravy. Idk how you make your meatloaf, but it can get a bad rep. I make mine like basically a giant meatball with a mix of beef and minced pork fat from bacon slices. Add some bread crumbs, an egg or two plus some spices. I like cumin and a lil nutmeg plus something spicy like cayenne.
Try adding ground spicy Italian sausage. It's great in meatloaf.
Pretty much any umami-rich ingredient works well for the last one, I've made something like that with miso before and it was great.
Take a mini wrap, bit of tomato Puree, cheese, then another wrap, tomato pure, and then any toppings like leftover chicken, sausage, ham, cheese etc. In the air fryer for 5 minutes at 200 degrees c and you've got a decently tasty and filling mini pizza
I cut up a sausage and throw it in a pot of boiling water with salt, after a while I add some pre-cut frozen vegetables and toss in some macaroni.
Add some sauce and spices, mix it up and voilà.
Spicy tuna rice. Put rice in the rice cooker with water. Defrost some frozen vegetables in the microwave (I like peas, corn, chopped broccoli, carrots, whatever I have on hand. I've used canned corn in a pinch). Drain any water.
Add a can of tuna, mayo, sriracha, a little soy sauce and rice vinegar. At one point I had a recipe that said 2 tbs of mayo, but I've done it all by sight and taste for years now.
Once the rice is done, mix that in. A egg goes great on top of you want more protein.
Tuna mayo rice. Salt pepper. Done.
For extra extra fancy, capers go nicely in the tuna. Use Kewpie mayo. bonito flakes and a little bit of flying fish roe.
Alternatively, mince ginger and green onions, add tiny bit of oil and salt and msg. Add hot rice.
Or just soy sauce rice for ultimate laziness
Beans and rice. With infinite variety by using different seasonings.
Dry beans or can beans? Sample seasoning? I always buy beans but they just kind of sit on my shelf.
Here's how I make it. I'm a barbarian though, so I'm good with just some cheese, salt, and way too much basil. Maybe some adobo seasoning too, that stuff slaps
There was a great thread of people’s favourite bean recipes here not long ago if you’re looking for ideas!
Found it!! Thanks!
https://tildes.net/~food/188v/what_are_your_favourite_bean_recipes
You can probably use either canned or dry but I prefer dry. But you do have to soak dry beans at least overnight though, so it takes a little more pre-planning. Cajun seasoning is good! And, I'm perfectly happy with vegan beans and rice but adding sausage or ground meat is also really good; and of course you can add chopped up vegetables to give it more nutrition.
I've come to prefer canned beans as they leach into the water and I can rinse them off. Seems like they are less gassy that way. Could be my imagination though.
I think you're probably right. I've heard that soaking dry beans extra long will also help reduce gassiness, so canned beans which have technically been soaking extra, extra long should do the same. I'm also going to do some mental archaeology to find the name of an herb that can be added to beans to further reduce gassiness. I read an article about that several months back and meant to try it out... but then forgot about it. I'll post if I find it again. I know certain common spices are also supposed to help.
Edit: Found it! Epazote: https://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-epazote-152167
One pan fajitas! Used to cook this pretty often when I was in university because I could just prepare everything, put it on a baking sheet, bake for a bit, and then dig in. Just need some bell peppers, onions, chicken thighs, and then generic fajita spice mix with stuff like cumin, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and salt. Cut everything into strips, mix in a bowl with some oil, then bake at 425F for 20-25 minutes. Would last me a few days too. Sometimes I'd also mix things up by using an Indian tikka masala mix too and have both in my fridge for some variety as I went through the week.
Cheap packet of tuna on a cheap box of mac and cheese was a delicacy for my poor ass growing up lmao
These days I throw black beans and chili powder in it to make a poor man's chili mac
Rice noodles, chicken stock (powdered), spinach or other leafy greens, fish balls, meatballs or other proteins.
Boil water with chicken powder, put veg and protein in water, cook till a bit tender. Add noodles. Stop just before you think you need to since it'll keep cooking.
Add red pepper powder as you like.
Can be done with mushrooms too.
S'good. About 5 min prep and cook time if you use all frozen ingredients, 9 for broccoli.
This is a whole category of food unto itself, and something I can probably eat for the rest of my life if I had to narrow it down: broth to boil noodles, protein and veg.
Omelettes. Crack a couple of eggs, splash of milk, salt, pepper, a dash of garlic or onion powder, sprinkle of nutmeg, beat together briefly with a fork.
For fancy, chop a few herbs and a couple of mushrooms. Baby spinach leaves and a small amount of diced tomato, chives, or green onion if you're up to it.
Toss a small butter pat in a non-stick pan, throw in herbs/mushrooms/vegetables, sauté, add eggs, cook 'til just set, throw a handful of shredded cheese on, slide and fold out on a plate.
Variations:
Smoked or flaked leftover cooked salmon, dill, and capers + goat chevre
Diced tofu, shiitakes, and a little shoyu, no cheese - sprinkle with green onions and furikake at the end
Sauteed asparagus and shiitakes with shredded white cheddar
Ham and gruyere cheese with a little stone-ground mustard
1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water in the rice cooker.
When it goes click, throw in a can of black beans (drained), a can of diced tomato and green chili (drained), bit of cheese, and seasonings.
Unplug the rice cooker, let it sit (covered) for like 10 minutes, then stir with a plastic/wooden spoon, and eat it straight out of the pot, with the stir spoon, like a barbarian
Summer:
Tomato, corn, and cilantro/basil salad.
Total Time: 15-20min
Fire up the grill and chuck the corn on still in the husk and head back the kitchen, they'll be ready when you've finished chopping. Chop the tomatoes into 1 inch pieces, roughly chop the cilantro, take the basil leaves off of the stems and rough chop. Head back outside and pull the corn off the grill, put on some gardening gloves, remove the husks, and head back in with the corn. Chop the corn off the cob. add everything into a bowl and toss with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt/pepper. The ratios are totally up to you, I usually do 40% corn, 30% tomatoes, 30% greens. You can also dress it up as you like - sometimes I'll do it with homemade croutons or veeeery thinnly sliced red onion/scallions or avocado. All in all it takes a cutting board, grill, and bowl.
Winter:
Root Soup - aka pretty much any veg in the fridge soup
Total Time: 1 hour (most time is just waiting for things to be done in the oven)
Pre-heat oven to 400F. Roughly chop onion, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, really anything that grows underground. Grab a baking sheet and dump it all on and drizzle the whole thing with olive oil. let it all hand out for like 30-50 minutes until everything is caramelized and smelling delicious. Pot goes on the stovetop and I throw it on medium high heat. Olive oil goes in followed by all of the veg that you just pulled out of the oven. Depending on how rich you like it add chicken stock (rich) or water (less rich). Bring everything to a boil and turn off the heat. It can be eaten chunky but I like to hit it with the inversion blender to make it creamy. Total to wash: cutting board, oven tray, and pot.
Mine is vegetable stir fry in a 12" cast iron wok. I like the cast iron because it gets super hot even on my rather weak stove, so my veggies sear nicely.
I add some oil and let it get hot. In the meantime, I thaw some frozen vegetables in the microwave (especially broccoli; it's my favorite stir fry ingredient). Once they are thawed, I add them to the wok. It spits a bit, so I just leave it alone until it settles.
Then I throw in some other things depending on what I'm in the mood for: maybe some leftover rice, maybe some egg (leftover scrambled eggs are particularly nice), maybe a chopped potato, maybe some garlic gloves, maybe some zucchini, maybe some tofu—really just whatever I have around. It's a great way to use up excess from the vegetable garden or to clear out old, freezer-burned leftovers.
While everything is cooking, I stir it around with a wok spatula, and add a bit more oil here and there as needed to keep the cast iron lubricated. At some stage, I also add a sauce. My favorite is Lee Kum Kee brand vegetarian stir fry sauce.
I usually make enough for at least a couple meals because it keeps well and tastes good re-heated. If I have it with rice, I can stretch it out further, but I usually just eat it unaccompanied.
When I want to achieve that, I usually just scramble an egg into instant ramen. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll poach another egg to the side.
Same but usually 1-2 soft boiled eggs. Add eggs to boiling water for 7 minutes, at 4 mins take some of the water and add to ramen, eggs in ice bath and then peeled as soon as they are cool enough to handle.
I've posted on here previously about pasta MishMosh. It's my go to easy meal.
A pan of veggies, stock cube, simmer. Throw in your cooked meat, I'm a veggie so I use Quorn pieces. Add some random spices, whatever looks good at the time. Throw in some boiled pasta and mix together. Munch.
I made this last night: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheats_spicy_sausage_41113
This is also good, but a bit more pricy: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/one-pot_bacon_spinach_50776
Shrimp Alfredo topped with parmessan
Fried rice with roasted garlic
Boerenkool met worst. Boil cut up potatoes and kale together. Add a smoked sausage in the last 10 minutes. Mash potatoes and kale with a little of the water left from the veg, butter and mustard. You can also add a stock cube for more flavour, or fried bacon bits.
Ultimate Dutch dish done. Enjoy your cholesterol!