The Cooking Thread (1 Viewer)

[egg_]

Oh minestrone is another good one for cooking in batches, plenty of beans and pasta and it's a full meal. Tortilla soup too

 

[magicbastarder]

someone needs to open up a cafe serving the likes of the above and call it 'the minestrone cowboy'.

 

[Unknown Convict]

Oh minestrone is another good one for cooking in batches, plenty of beans and pasta and it's a full meal. Tortilla soup too

I leave the pasta out until I'm reheating it. Stops it getting flabby.

 

[Deadmanposting]

I've gone mad on cooking the pasta in the pasta sauce lately.

I love it. So simple.

 

[GO]

I've gone mad on cooking the pasta in the pasta sauce lately.

I love it. So simple.

Whats the story with this? Sounds handy

 

[Deadmanposting]

Whats the story with this? Sounds handy

I figured it had to exist because we already make lasagna this way, so I went looking

This is the system I use - essentially cook/boil the sauce, layer the pasta on top, pour water over, don't stir, bring to a boil again til pasta is cooked
But I have an electric pressure cooker (which is the biz!) so this suits me

There are a bunch of links to doing it in a regular pot though

One-Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

This one-pot spaghetti dish is the perfect choice for an easy dinner. Everything is cooked together for dinner on the table in less than 45 minutes.

www.allrecipes.com

This one uses a dutch oven

For Faster, More Flavorful Pasta, Cook the Noodles Right in the Sauce | America's Test Kitchen Kids

Cooking the noodles right in the sauce means tender, flavorful noodles; sauce with the perfect consistency; and easy cleanup. Click through for our recipe.

www.americastestkitchen.com

This Martha Stewart one looks simple as balls, but I haven't tried it - Martha Stewart's One-Pan Pasta Recipe on Food52

This lady uses milk instead of water - (Americans, what can you do?) How to Bake Pasta Without Boiling it First


But it is simple, and once you get the knack, you likely won't go back

 

[ann post]

I've gone mad on cooking the pasta in the pasta sauce lately.

I love it. So simple.

Road tested this today with a quasi italian style meatball thing. I don't think i'll ever do it the other/old way again.

Meanwhile in bactch cooking news\. 2pm to 5pm today, chicken casserole themed thing in the oven, ^^the above meatball thing in a saucepan. Meat dishes are more expensive so around 2eu each.

Was a bit more pro-active on the shopping list side - 400g for 5 portions is 2400g, so bought the veg to fill out the weight for each dish. no leftovers, just trummings for compost.

 

[Deadmanposting]

Road tested this today with a quasi italian style meatball thing. I don't think i'll ever do it the other/old way again.

Aw, man. You just made my evening with that.

Was a bit more pro-active on the shopping list side - 400g for 5 portions is 2400g, so bought the veg to fill out the weight for each dish. no leftovers, just trummings for compost.

So would you freeze any of that?
or just work your way through it in the fridge?

 

[ann post]

So would you freeze any of that?

Yeah

Cooking for myself, bean post and UTM generally.

3 in the freezer straight away - it's a small one and the rating was something like 2kg/24hours so putting them all in at once really would wear it down (those ikea glass boxes are over 500g on their own) so they cool to room temperature and will either be microwaved or fed to the freezer by sunday evening.

21 dinners at once is sorta my holy grail, taking myself entirely out of the cooking cycle for 7+ days.

 

[the_jen]

I level and freeze them in the plastic takeaway boxes and once solid, pop them out and put the food bricks in a ziplock together. Gives me back loads of freezer space. I've never had a problem with the food bricks sticking together.

 

[the_jen]

Soup I leave in the boxes tho because I sometimes defrost and heat them in the boxes. Spicy butternut squash soup is a batch fave because you can get so many portions out of 45 mins of oven roasting time, which also heats the place on a chilly wfh morning.

 

[Deadmanposting]

I level and freeze them in the plastic takeaway boxes and once solid, pop them out and put the food bricks in a ziplock together. Gives me back loads of freezer space. I've never had a problem with the food bricks sticking together.

Yeah, spot on.
I take them out of the tupperware and bag them in ziplock a day later - I need the space

I don't have a microwave so I always use containers that will fit in a pot. Can't use the takeaway trays.


I'll also wrap stuff like diced beef and mince in cling film in the pot I intend to defrost them in. Then put those shaped parcels in the freezer.
When I am ready to cook them, they are already pot-shaped for defrosting.
This is probably useless to everyone though, don't know too many people with no microwave.

 

[Unknown Convict]

I've gone mad on cooking the pasta in the pasta sauce lately.

I love it. So simple.

Can't get behind this idea. You're cooking the pasta starch into the sauce. I pre-cook lasagne sheets too. Only exception is adding some cooking water back into carbonara to emulsify with the egg yolk. Each to his own.

 

[Deadmanposting]

Can't get behind this idea. You're cooking the pasta starch into the sauce. I pre-cook lasagne sheets too. Only exception is adding some cooking water back into carbonara to emulsify with the egg yolk. Each to his own.

Oh, absolutely
I'm very basic.

Definitely only suggesting this for handiness, and how satisfying it it.
I'd be the sort that probably wouldn't notice additional starch in there

Also, I don't have a dishwasher. So one less pot to wash, always feels like a minor victory.

 

[ann post]

I went reading about the starch factor and from what i could find, if you can keep the pasta al dente you'll be kinda bypassing the starch leeching into the sauce. entirely because they were what i had i used lentil pasta this time. Essentially pasta could go in 8 mins before serving/boxing and you are legit?

 

[ann post]

I level and freeze them in the plastic takeaway boxes and once solid, pop them out and put the food bricks in a ziplock together. Gives me back loads of freezer space. I've never had a problem with the food bricks sticking together.

This is good info, i'll probably move towards this once i'm over the line with getting 7 days ahead on dinners.

 

[Unknown Convict]

I went reading about the starch factor and from what i could find, if you can keep the pasta al dente you'll be kinda bypassing the starch leeching into the sauce. entirely because they were what i had i used lentil pasta this time. Essentially pasta could go in 8 mins before serving/boxing and you are legit?

But then you're leaving the excess starch in the pasta. Just not for me.

 

[Unicron]

I figured it had to exist because we already make lasagna this way, so I went looking

This is the system I use - essentially cook/boil the sauce, layer the pasta on top, pour water over, don't stir, bring to a boil again til pasta is cooked
But I have an electric pressure cooker (which is the biz!) so this suits me

There are a bunch of links to doing it in a regular pot though

One-Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

This one-pot spaghetti dish is the perfect choice for an easy dinner. Everything is cooked together for dinner on the table in less than 45 minutes.

www.allrecipes.com

This one uses a dutch oven

For Faster, More Flavorful Pasta, Cook the Noodles Right in the Sauce | America's Test Kitchen Kids

Cooking the noodles right in the sauce means tender, flavorful noodles; sauce with the perfect consistency; and easy cleanup. Click through for our recipe.

www.americastestkitchen.com

This Martha Stewart one looks simple as balls, but I haven't tried it - Martha Stewart's One-Pan Pasta Recipe on Food52

This lady uses milk instead of water - (Americans, what can you do?) How to Bake Pasta Without Boiling it First


But it is simple, and once you get the knack, you likely won't go back

"spaghetti noodles" is an Americanism that annoys me more than I should let it.

 

[ann post]

But then you're leaving the excess starch in the pasta. Just not for me.

It's not something i know a lot about but i had a bit of a dig about reading there and the general consensus i found was that rinsing pasta is for cold salads, and the starch is useful for sticking the sauce to the pasta in a hot dish so you shouldn't rinse so i'll probably stick with it.

Looking at my batching project i'm kinda thinking running two casseroles at once in the oven might be what pushes in into the 21 zone.

 

[chris d]

Is starch a real thing and not just a mindset?