This here. My stepfather was a chef so I got used to very good food and he was kind enough to teach me the basics. I wouldn’t call myself a good cook, but I can do maths and I can make way better food for so, so much cheaper than eating in a restaurant.
Not who you asked, but I want to shill for spaghetti aglio e olio for a sec.
It has 3 ingredients. Pasta, olive oil, garlic. Fancy stuff will taste better, but the cheapest will taste fine. I use pre-minced garlic out of a tub when I’m really down bad and it’s still excellent. Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, maybe parmesan cheese if you have it, and sometimes I’ll throw in some frozen peas. It comes together in about 2 minutes longer than it takes to boil the pasta and can be really quite good.
For one real carbonara needs some pretty exotic ingredients (guanciale and pecorino). On top of that it’s relatively easy to scramble the egg yolks if you aren’t super careful. Or make it super salty if you use too much guanciale / cheese.
I cook every day for the last 20 years and still my success ratio with carbonara is like 80%.
Aglio olio is impossible to screw up unless you dump a cup of salt on it or something ridiculous.
My local ALDI has guanciale from time to time and when it doesn’t I just use bacon. I would say guanciale takes it from 8/10 to 9/10. There’s difference but bacon does the job. Same with parmesan. I’m sure pecorino would be better but you can still make correct carbonara with the things you can easily find in most stores (at least in Spain).
I don’t have issues with scrambling eggs. I add a bit of pasta water (as you should) and heat it up slowly. I don’t remember the last time I fucked it up. And I ate carbonara made but different people and I like mine to most :)
It’s definitely not a “throw ingredients into a pot” recipe but it’s still fairly quick and easy.
I’m bad at recipes, I usually just throw some stuff in and add some spices, more if needed after tasting. This is fast in terms of cooking time, but takes some chopping. For two people, this makes 2-3 dinners or 2 dinners and 1 set of leftover oven breads. (Put the leftover sauve over bread slices, add some cheese, throw into oven until they look delish.)
Recent favorite; pasta with tomato sauce (Bolognese-type)
1 onion (whatever color, I like red)
2-3 carrots (more if tiny, less if huge)
2-6 garlic cloves (more if tiny, less if huge)
about 15-20 cm of celery stalk (the green thing, not the yellow block growing underground)
2-3 tablespoons of tomato puree
2,5 dl of soy TVP (or about 300-400 grams of minced meat)
1 boullion cube (veggie, meat, chicken, idc)
(1-2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast flakes)
2 cans of diced tomatoes (á 400 g, so about 800 g)
1 can on lentils (whatever color, I like red and also a can being~390 g)
(2-3 frozen spinach cubes because is healthy)
splash of soy sauce
bigger splash of mild vinegar (whatever color, I use what I happen to have)
1 tablespoon of sugar
all them herbs and pepper (oregano, basil, marjoram, black pepper, etc.)
Instructions:
Dice onion, put into big pan or pot with a plenty of oil. You might need to add more oil later on.
Dice all the other veggies and add them in once the onions brown a bit. Spinach too, if you’re feeling strong.
Add in the tomato puree. Let it all heat up.
Add in the TVP (or if meat, maybe cook meat in another pan so it can brown too?) Add the boullion cube and mix it all well. Now is time for the nutritional yeast flakes too.
Rinse the lentils properly and add them in. Same for diced tomatoes and add some water into the cans and then the water to the pan/bot aswell. (About half a can of water per can.)
Splash the soy and the mild vinegar, then add the sugar, herbs and peppers. Taste, add more if needed. Possibly might need some salt too, don’t know how much salt anyone likes.
Boil some pasta (choose whatever shape you like or happen to have at hand) and taste the sauce again before eating.
If you let the sauce simmer longer it’ll be better but sometimes you just gotta eat.
My grammar might suck, I can barely do understandable recipes in my own language. I won’t take offense in further questions.
I get the “throw some stuff in” style. I do the same for lentils or beans. Just throw everything into pressure cooker (do sofrito first, of course), you can do the quantities by eye with a bit of experience. Get super tasty results every time.
For tomato based pasta I just use tomato sauce they sell here. It just tomatoes and olive oil, tastes amazing. Add some black olives, onions, garlic, capers and you’re done :)
I think the store tomato sauce is perfectly fine, especially since it saves time. I do it from scratch, or from scratch-er really, just to save few more cents hah. I should learn to use olives and capers… Maybe for the next one! Pressure cooker would be handy too, but I already have a blender and an airfryer and there is only so much closet space, you know?
I’m the same way with my cooking though I do have somethings I’m rocking at (comfort food in particular lol)
My favorite is when I bring a “boring” dish to a potluck and it gets cleared out in quick order.
I’ll never forget my nephew when he was 5 saying how he hates sweet potatoes, and when he tried mine (after some coaxing) he became a fan. Nowadays (oh god it’s been almost 7 years!) he’s more specific and willing to try new foods even if they’re normally ones he doesn’t like, if they’re prepared by someone else that is.
Sounds more like the restaurants in your area are dog shit. I’m not a bad cook or a good cook. The few recipes I make are usually good. But it sure as hell isn’t better than 90% of the restaurants out there… More like maybe 10-15%.
I don’t have stats on all the restaurants in my are but restaurants in Spain are usually pretty good. I like my food better than all the cheap and fast options and all the medium level options which I estimate are 90% of the places. You can easily find higher level places with really good food and they can have things that are better than my cooking. I know what I like and I make food the way I like it. Restaurant food has to be really good to beat that.
![Home Cooked Meal [Teddy]](https://slrpnk.net/pictrs/image/6c568f33-16a6-43f9-a043-8c760c83421b.webp){kind=link}
Skill issue, obviously. I’m not a great cook and the food I make is better than 90% of restaurants.
This here. My stepfather was a chef so I got used to very good food and he was kind enough to teach me the basics. I wouldn’t call myself a good cook, but I can do maths and I can make way better food for so, so much cheaper than eating in a restaurant.
What’s your favorite recipe? Something quick and good?
Not who you asked, but I want to shill for spaghetti aglio e olio for a sec.
It has 3 ingredients. Pasta, olive oil, garlic. Fancy stuff will taste better, but the cheapest will taste fine. I use pre-minced garlic out of a tub when I’m really down bad and it’s still excellent. Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, maybe parmesan cheese if you have it, and sometimes I’ll throw in some frozen peas. It comes together in about 2 minutes longer than it takes to boil the pasta and can be really quite good.
I do this but with olive oil, garlic and dried tomatoes :) Tried it in some restaurant one time. Dead simple and really tasty.
Another dead simple pasta: mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. Just let the mozzarella melt with cooked pasta, add tomatoes. Presto.
Carbonara is also not much harder.
speaking of carbonara…
i have a slightly modified version of this recipe somewhere. it is delicious. we just haven’t been eating pasta much lately.
Carbonara is hard as fuck.
For one real carbonara needs some pretty exotic ingredients (guanciale and pecorino). On top of that it’s relatively easy to scramble the egg yolks if you aren’t super careful. Or make it super salty if you use too much guanciale / cheese.
I cook every day for the last 20 years and still my success ratio with carbonara is like 80%.
Aglio olio is impossible to screw up unless you dump a cup of salt on it or something ridiculous.
My local ALDI has guanciale from time to time and when it doesn’t I just use bacon. I would say guanciale takes it from 8/10 to 9/10. There’s difference but bacon does the job. Same with parmesan. I’m sure pecorino would be better but you can still make correct carbonara with the things you can easily find in most stores (at least in Spain).
I don’t have issues with scrambling eggs. I add a bit of pasta water (as you should) and heat it up slowly. I don’t remember the last time I fucked it up. And I ate carbonara made but different people and I like mine to most :)
It’s definitely not a “throw ingredients into a pot” recipe but it’s still fairly quick and easy.
I’m bad at recipes, I usually just throw some stuff in and add some spices, more if needed after tasting. This is fast in terms of cooking time, but takes some chopping. For two people, this makes 2-3 dinners or 2 dinners and 1 set of leftover oven breads. (Put the leftover sauve over bread slices, add some cheese, throw into oven until they look delish.)
Recent favorite; pasta with tomato sauce (Bolognese-type)
Instructions:
My grammar might suck, I can barely do understandable recipes in my own language. I won’t take offense in further questions.
It’s all clear, thanks :)
I get the “throw some stuff in” style. I do the same for lentils or beans. Just throw everything into pressure cooker (do sofrito first, of course), you can do the quantities by eye with a bit of experience. Get super tasty results every time.
For tomato based pasta I just use tomato sauce they sell here. It just tomatoes and olive oil, tastes amazing. Add some black olives, onions, garlic, capers and you’re done :)
I think the store tomato sauce is perfectly fine, especially since it saves time. I do it from scratch, or from scratch-er really, just to save few more cents hah. I should learn to use olives and capers… Maybe for the next one! Pressure cooker would be handy too, but I already have a blender and an airfryer and there is only so much closet space, you know?
Thanks also! :)
I’m the same way with my cooking though I do have somethings I’m rocking at (comfort food in particular lol)
My favorite is when I bring a “boring” dish to a potluck and it gets cleared out in quick order.
I’ll never forget my nephew when he was 5 saying how he hates sweet potatoes, and when he tried mine (after some coaxing) he became a fan. Nowadays (oh god it’s been almost 7 years!) he’s more specific and willing to try new foods even if they’re normally ones he doesn’t like, if they’re prepared by someone else that is.
Yeah a good spicy soup does not take that much effort, and i live in a one room apartment (😭) and my kitchen has exactly one stove top (also 😭).
Also south asian spices is a must.
Sounds more like the restaurants in your area are dog shit. I’m not a bad cook or a good cook. The few recipes I make are usually good. But it sure as hell isn’t better than 90% of the restaurants out there… More like maybe 10-15%.
I don’t have stats on all the restaurants in my are but restaurants in Spain are usually pretty good. I like my food better than all the cheap and fast options and all the medium level options which I estimate are 90% of the places. You can easily find higher level places with really good food and they can have things that are better than my cooking. I know what I like and I make food the way I like it. Restaurant food has to be really good to beat that.