Sure everyone loves food.

Spaghetti Bolognese (Dad's Recipe)

Everyone's got their own. The bonus with this is that it's so basic you can vary the amounts of the ingredients or add extra veg at the early stage and it'll taste great regardless. My Dad used to grate carrots into it to boost the meal a bit, and my grandad used to add vinegar and ketchup to add a sweet tang to it. It also tastes the best a day later, once everything has had extra time for the flavour to seep in.

Serves 2 well

Ingredients

500g Mince (Ideally Beef)

400g Tin of Tomatoes (Chopped or Whole)

~200ml's Tomato Passata

1x Medium-Large White Onion, Chopped

3-4x Garlic Cloves, Finely chopped or smushed

>= 1x Tblspn Tomato Puree

1-2x Beef Stock Cube(s)

2x Bay leaves

Heaps of Dried Basil, Oregano, and Majoram to taste

Spaghetti Pasta (or other Pasta - a mug's worth per person)

To Cook

Start boiling 500-750ml water in a pot for the pasta after the prep above, if heating water from scratch

Heat a dollop of oil in a deep pan or pot to medium heat, and add the chopped Onions and Garlic. Fry until the Onions start going glassy, or if the garlic starts browning.

Add the Mince Beef, and loosely separate the tendril-mass out as it begins to cook. You can start adding the Herbs and Bay Leaf here.

Start cooking the pasta in already boiling water at this point

Once the Mince has cooked through, break the Beef Stock cubes into the mix. You can make a well in the mix for the oil/melted beef fat to pool into to mix it in faster if you want.

Add all the Tomato-based ingredients to mix and simmer. If you want it watery with chunks, only use Tinned Tomatoes. Soupy and Smooth, only Passata. All of the above and Rich, Tinned, Passata, and Puree.

Simmer for as long as you can to add flavour before the spaghetti cooks, but once it's bubbling it's essentially done. This is also the taste test stage where you can season with salt, or more herbs/tomato to taste.

Serve with the drained cooked spaghetti/pasta in a dish, alongside some grated hard italian cheese (cheddar also works), and sprig of Basil leaf on top if you want to feel special.

Chilli Con Carne (Dad's Recipe)

Serves 3 well

You might notice most of the ingredients are a carbon-copy of the Bolognese. That's because they are. Perfect if you're midway through cooking a Bolognese and your friends(?!) turn up, it's a great build-your-own party food. Also perfect the other way around when you start cooking a Chilli and realise you forgot to buy Kidney beans, Tacos, Sour Cream...

Ingredients

500g Mince (Ideally Beef)

400g Tin of Tomatoes (Chopped or Whole)

400g Tin of Red Kidney Beans, Rinsed and drained

1x Medium-Large White Onion, Chopped

3-4x Garlic Cloves, Finely chopped or smushed

1x Tblspn Tomato Puree

1x Tblspn Paprika, 1x Tspn Chilli Powder, ½ Tspn Cumin

(Additional) Tortilla flatbreads, Taco shells, Grated Cheddar Cheese, Guacamole (Homemade or otherwise), and Sour Cream

To Cook

Heat a dollop of oil in a deep pan or pot to medium heat, and add the chopped Onions and Garlic. Fry until the Onions start going glassy, or if the garlic starts browning.

Add the Mince Beef, and loosely separate the tendril-mass out as it begins to cook. You can start adding the Spices here.

Once the Mince has cooked through, add all the Tomato-based ingredients to mix as well as the Kidney Beans.

Stir and heat thoroughly, preferably to the boil before going back to a simmer as the Beans require proper cooking.

Once cooked (and to taste with the spices), load into Tortilla wraps or Taco shells alongside other sides.

Jambalaya

If Benjamin Sisko from Deep Space Nine 350 years in the future can compel me to cook it from the confines of a 480p CRT TV set, the least I can do is share the recipe I found. A fantastic one-pot dish that is my personal comfort meal. The recipe is also quite variable, so you can forego the tomatoes or celery if you don't like them (or forgot to shop for them).

Ingredients

x4 Chicken Drumsticks, or x4 Boneless Thighs if you want to tuck in quick

½ to ⅔ of a 200g Chorizo sausage, (You can find them in Lidl, we're not going for authenticity here)

1x White Onion, Chopped

1x Pepper, preferably Green, Sliced or chopped

1-2x Celery Sticks, Chopped

3-4x Garlic Cloves, Crushed

250g Rice

500ml Water

2-3x Chicken Stock Cube(s)

3x Bay leaves

(Additional) Tobasco Sauce, or Chilli Sauce of choice.

To Cook

To Do

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Keema Matar

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Dahl

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Meal

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