Fridge Cooking Recipes

save time on your everyday cooking by stocking your fridge occasionally

The tips that follow will make the difference between cooking being fun or not. They make the process more pleasurable, so whatever happens, your food will taste better because you feel better.

Work from a tray. Get all the ingredients for your recipe measured and on this tray before you start cooking. Line your ingredients up in the order in which you will use them. Once you’ve used them, stack any dirty containers back on the tray so that you don’t make a mess on your worktop.

Anything that I suggest to prepare by specifying it in the ingredient list, you should do before you start with the method. With vegetables like onions and carrots I will tell you the size to chop them to, and the weight – because the size of vegetables varies hugely, and this affects their cooking time and the taste of your food.

Use an electronic timer always, for everything, for any length of time. It takes pressure off you to remember, taking an important concern out of your mind so you can enjoy the next job more.

If you are serving hot food, it’ll always be better on hot plates – heat them in your oven or microwave.

Always have a full kettle just off the boil. It’s a lot quicker than boiling water on your cooker, and you’ll be surprised at how often you need it.

If you don’t have a dishwasher or microwave, please try and find space for both – they make life in a domestic kitchen so much easier.

I’ve cooked and written most of these recipes to serve two people because it was the easiest number to multiply to four, six or eight or divide to one. I’ve used measuring spoons wherever possible for the same reason. On the whole my portions are on the large side. If you scale the recipes up or down, take into account the size of saucepans and frying pans as more or less food will need different-sized equipment. In many cases, you can cook the recipes in larger quantities, to give yourself a portable lunch or meal the next day. I worked hard to make as many desserts as possible for two people because I think two is an often-neglected number when it comes to sweet things.

The ‘prep/cooking time’ indicates how long to allow overall to make the recipe. (I appreciate I probably chop faster than you do, so the prep allocation is the time I’ve taken, plus a bit extra.) The ‘active time’ is the amount of time you can expect to spend actually doing something rather than waiting for things to cook or marinate.

CONTENTS

CHICKEN BROTH

Chicken broth magic ideas

Beetroot, kale, quinoa, seaweed & lime broth

Buttery chicken, pumpkin, pasta & rocket broth

Lightly spiced freekeh, soy, ginger & coriander broth

Prawn, orange, basil & bean broth

BASIL PISTOU

Basil pistou magic ideas

Baked mushrooms with pistou, asparagus & fried eggs

Braised sea bream with spelt & pistou broth

Mussel tagliatelle with pistou, cream & chilli

Fried lamb with pistou, apricots & caper dressing

CHEESE SAUCE

Cheese sauce magic ideas

Cheesy courgette ‘ moussaka’

Croque madame

Raymond Blanc’ s crêpes

Stilton & surprise Camembert bake

SALSA VERDE

Salsa verde magic ideas

La grande salsa verde

Roast cauliflower with orange, salsa verde & mozzarella

Pan-fried salmon with salsa verde, beetroot & quick polenta

Skirt steak, salsa verde, spring onions & spinach

LEMON BUTTER

Lemon butter magic ideas

Mussels with lemon butter, greens & noodles

Red mullet with citrus, chilli & lemon butter

Chicken leg roast’ n’ braise with peppers, onions & lemon butter

Roast squash spelt ‘ risotto’ with lemon butter & olives

RED CURRY PASTE

Red curry paste magic ideas

Crab & red curry giant couscousotto

Gurnard, red curry & mussel boil’n’braise

Stilton & red curry parcels with two tomatoes

Marinated tofu ‘ steak’ with sesame & mango salsa