13 June 2013

Two Old-Fashioned Meals That Taste Great


Although anyone can walk into a restaurant at any given time and try something new and different, there is no better satisfaction than making and eating an old-fashioned meal in your very own kitchen. Perhaps you have a great-aunt or a grandmother who made things from scratch, but you think you don’t have the time or that it takes too much effort.

Cooking from scratch doesn’t have to take a long time or a lot of effort. In fact some of the nicest from-scratch old fashioned meals are made from the simplest ingredients and are the easiest to prepare.

Here are two of my favourites that are not only fast and easy but economical and just plain old-fashioned good.

Chicken Soup

What better way to comfort your family on any given day than a bowl of homemade, old-fashioned chicken soup.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, sectioned
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups sliced celery
1 package (300g) frozen spinach
½ cup of olive oil
½ onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper to taste
2 litres chicken stock
2 bay leaves

Method:
Heat up the olive oil in your pot over a medium heat and sauté the garlic and onions for about one minute. Add the celery and carrots and mix well, then place your cut up chicken on top. Add your salt, pepper, garlic and brown the chicken on both sides. Then add the chicken stock and lower the heat to a slow simmer. Add the 2 bay leaves and cook for approximately 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and let cool. Once cooled, remove the meat from the bone and replace into pot. Add frozen spinach and let cook according to package directions.

You can then add rice or egg noodles cooked separately to your chicken soup for a hearty old-fashioned dish.

Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s Pie has been around for ages and never gets tired with families old and new. It’s a great way to stretch a roast or to turn leftovers into a delicious new meal.

Ingredients:
750g lean minced beef (or the equivalent of leftover roast)
1 medium onion, diced
2 tsp gravy powder
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
2 ½ cups of water
500g frozen peas and carrots
2 cups mashed potatoes
Paprika

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Brown the mince in a large frying pan with onion, salt, pepper and garlic, strain fat. Stir in gravy, soup and water and thawed vegetables, stir well. Spoon into a 20cm deep pie plate and top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika and bake for 45 minutes.

Everyone will love these two simple, homemade meals. The cook will love them because they are fairly simple, not very time-consuming and economical and the eater will love them because they are just old-fashioned good, perfect for winter dinners.

1 comment:

  1. I agree, old fashioned classics are some of our families favourites! The other week, I was reading through a Margaret Fulton food encyclopedia, and found out that our family shepherd pie recipe (similar to yours) is not a shepherds pie at all. It is actually called a "cottage pie". As a shepherds pie is made from lamb meat, usually left over roast lamb meat haha who knew? I always wondered why it was called "shepherds pie" when it hand nothing to do with sheep or shepherds... Now I know we called it the wrong thing... But I still call it shepherds pie because for so many years that has been its name loll. Cottage pie sounds strange!

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