We all live busy lives and can’t always do a big weekly shop. In this episode I’m going to show you just how easy it is to make amazing meals after a quick stop in your local shop. Pick up a few cheat ingredients to help make the most your store cupboard ingredients and create a meal in minutes that is delicious and easy to make. Here’s 5 cheat ingredient recipes to get you cooking!
We all live busy lives and can’t always do a big weekly shop. In this episode I’m going to show you just how easy it is to make amazing meals after a quick stop in your local shop. Pick up a few cheat ingredients to help make the most your store cupboard ingredients and create a meal in minutes that is delicious and easy to make. Here’s 5 cheat ingredient recipes to get you cooking!
1. Tomato & Ricotta Puff Pastry Tarts
Take one sheet of store bough puff pastry and pile it with lots of delicious summer ingredients and create these beautiful tomato tarts. This is a perfect example of a cheat ingredient meal, as ordinarily puff pastry can be complicated to make from scratch. Here you get all the great parts of a homemade tart for a fraction of the time it would normally take. This same method can be used with whatever other vegetables are in season.
1. Tomato & Ricotta Puff Pastry Tarts
Take one sheet of store bough puff pastry and pile it with lots of delicious summer ingredients and create these beautiful tomato tarts. This is a perfect example of a cheat ingredient meal, as ordinarily puff pastry can be complicated to make from scratch. Here you get all the great parts of a homemade tart for a fraction of the time it would normally take. This same method can be used with whatever other vegetables are in season.
2. Shredded Duck & Orange Salad
If you’ve ever spotted those packets of pre-cooked duck in the supermarket, this is the salad to make use of them. Crisped up in the oven and shredded, the duck makes the perfect ingredient for a sophisticated salad using orange segments and seasonal leaves. The dressing is made with a handful of Asian storecupboard ingredients and using that one storebought ingredients can help you create a weeknight feast!
2. Shredded Duck & Orange Salad
If you’ve ever spotted those packets of pre-cooked duck in the supermarket, this is the salad to make use of them. Crisped up in the oven and shredded, the duck makes the perfect ingredient for a sophisticated salad using orange segments and seasonal leaves. The dressing is made with a handful of Asian storecupboard ingredients and using that one storebought ingredients can help you create a weeknight feast!
3. Pork & Fennel Sausage Ragu
Now most Italian nonna’s would insist a “ragu” needs to be slow cooked, but this is a cheats version using the best quality pork sausages you can lay your hands on. The sausage meat is forced from their casings and fried until tender and sweet before being smothered in tomato sauce and tossed through freshly cooked pasta. As pasta sauces go, there are few that can boast instant flavour as this one!
3. Pork & Fennel Sausage Ragu
Now most Italian nonna’s would insist a “ragu” needs to be slow cooked, but this is a cheats version using the best quality pork sausages you can lay your hands on. The sausage meat is forced from their casings and fried until tender and sweet before being smothered in tomato sauce and tossed through freshly cooked pasta. As pasta sauces go, there are few that can boast instant flavour as this one!
4. Tortellini Spring Drop Soup
The real trick to this spring minestrone soup is the addition of store-bought tortelloni which gets dropped into the soup just before it’s ready to serve. Seek out the best quality ones you can lay your hands on and feel free to mix up the choice of greens. The addition of pesto and shaved pecorino makes this hearty soup a meal to remember.
4. Tortellini Spring Drop Soup
The real trick to this spring minestrone soup is the addition of store-bought tortelloni which gets dropped into the soup just before it’s ready to serve. Seek out the best quality ones you can lay your hands on and feel free to mix up the choice of greens. The addition of pesto and shaved pecorino makes this hearty soup a meal to remember.
5. Flattened Spiced Chicken Thighs with Creamed Corn
A supper using only a few ingredients, of which, the likelihood of you having in your kitchen, is high. The Cajun seasoning isn’t entirely necessary and a simple blend of a teaspoon each of cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, cumin and garlic powder will suffice. I’m quite fond of this particular method of cooking chicken thighs- it was passed on from a food writer friend. If you would prefer a quicker fix here, I would suggest seeking chicken thighs with the bone removed or alternatively remove it yourself- they will cook much faster.
5. Flattened Spiced Chicken Thighs with Creamed Corn
A supper using only a few ingredients, of which, the likelihood of you having in your kitchen, is high. The Cajun seasoning isn’t entirely necessary and a simple blend of a teaspoon each of cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, cumin and garlic powder will suffice. I’m quite fond of this particular method of cooking chicken thighs- it was passed on from a food writer friend. If you would prefer a quicker fix here, I would suggest seeking chicken thighs with the bone removed or alternatively remove it yourself- they will cook much faster.
