What's Your Favourite Meal? +Help request

[ParfaitForFourFlutes]

Hi all,
I'm a bit new to cooking and was wondering: what your favourite meals are and why? My favourite that I've had (though never cooked- had it at a friends place) was this soup, I think its called French Onion Soup - it was superb, with homemade bread, some high-quality cheese that I couldn't place the name (it was white), and the base had a lovely garlicky and onion flavour!

Also, I'm not sure if I'm permitted to ask for help on this forum, but I might as well ask and know than to not ask and never know. So I'm a student, and I do not have the best diet due to expenses and such- mostly pre-packaged food like no-name brand salted crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, and some sugar cereals (they're the cheapest). As of late, or rather the past year or two, I've found it impossible to continue through the day without expending all of my energy likely due to malnutrition and starvation, which affects my studies. My help request is this: What are some cheap meals that I can make that are also somewhat healthy? (Healthy enough that I won't have to worry about big health problems or suddenly collapsing). I live in Ontario, where vegetables are fairly expensive (especially stuff like cauliflower) and am looking for things I can make that equate to about less than CAD$3 per serving (meal/bowl/plate). Again, sorry if this type of post isn't accepted here.

Thanks for reading, and hope you all are having a good day/night!

 

[CraigC]

Hi all,
I'm a bit new to cooking and was wondering: what your favourite meals are and why? My favourite that I've had (though never cooked- had it at a friends place) was this soup, I think its called French Onion Soup - it was superb, with homemade bread, some high-quality cheese that I couldn't place the name (it was white), and the base had a lovely garlicky and onion flavour!

Also, I'm not sure if I'm permitted to ask for help on this forum, but I might as well ask and know than to not ask and never know. So I'm a student, and I do not have the best diet due to expenses and such- mostly pre-packaged food like no-name brand salted crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, and some sugar cereals (they're the cheapest). As of late, or rather the past year or two, I've found it impossible to continue through the day without expending all of my energy likely due to malnutrition and starvation, which affects my studies. My help request is this: What are some cheap meals that I can make that are also somewhat healthy? (Healthy enough that I won't have to worry about big health problems or suddenly collapsing). I live in Ontario, where vegetables are fairly expensive (especially stuff like cauliflower) and am looking for things I can make that equate to about less than CAD$3 per serving (meal/bowl/plate). Again, sorry if this type of post isn't accepted here.

Thanks for reading, and hope you all are having a good day/night!

Again, welcome to Cooking Bites! Our homemade French Onion Soup uses Gewurztraminer for the wine and either gruyere or emmental for the cheese. It depends on how tight our schedule is as to whether the bread is homemade. As for favorite meal? That is an impossible question to answer as we are very adventurous eaters and experiment with different cuisines.

I would suggest that you get some ingredients that will be used in many dishes. If you like pasta, get a bottle of decent olive oil, obviously salt and pepper. You can make a simple pasta dish with a sauce that will be ready in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Simply bring some water to a boil in a large pot, add salt, drop your pasta (follow package directions for time after it returns to a boil, meanwhile heat some olive oil , 1/4 Cup, in a skillet over med-high, after the oil starts to shimmer, add some thinly sliced or chopped garlic, canned or fresh tomato, red pepper flakes and salt to taste. When the pasta is ready. drain, reserving a little pasta water and add to the sauce and toss. Add some of the pasta water if the sauce is too loose. If you can afford it, grate some parmesan cheese on top. BTW, you don't have to use the whole package of dried pasta at one time. You can also add more olive oil to finish the dish.

 

[medtran49]

Long ago when it was just me and DD, and money and time were tight, I made what I called Mexican rice (it's not Mexican, but this was 30+ years ago).

1 pound ground meat, I'd buy whatever was on sale, but if it's really fatty you'll have to skim some of the grease.
1/2 bag of frozen mixed veges - just buy a store brand
1/2 of a large onion, chopped 1/4 or so dice
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 can of chopped tomatoes with juice
Salt and pepper
Chili powder to taste
1 cup white or brown rice as you prefer
water for rice - about 1 cup less than what directions call for. You can use chicken or beef broth if you want, though I'd do about half water/half beef broth so as not to overpower.

Brown the ground meat, removing some of the grease if there's a lot, add the onions and cook until soft, add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add chili powder to taste (more or less amount you'd use for chili) and S&P. Stir. Add rice, stir until mixed well. Add liquid and tomatoes, bring to boil. Add veges and cook for about 15 minutes. If you are using brown rice, let it cook for a little while before you add veges since brown rice takes longer to cook than white. Taste, adjust seasoning (salt, pepper, chili powder) and serve.

Chicken vegetable soup
1 Tbsp butter (or use fat from chickens if they have a lot of fat, the yellowish stuff)
2 large or 3 small bone-in chicken thighs (cheaper than breasts and are better for soups anyway)
4 cups chicken broth (buy unsalted)
1/2 large onion, 1/4 inch or so dice
2 cloves garlic if desired (optional), chopped fine
1/2 bag of frozen vegetables
salt and pepper
poultry seasoning (optional, if you want to add some extra flavor, start with 1/2 tsp and work up to your taste)
1 cup rice, OR orzo OR datalini (or some other kind of small pasta) or 1/2 a package of small noodles
1-2 cups water
salt and pepper
1-2 Tbsp flour if desired (optional)

Remove skin and excess fat if on the chicken. Cut the chicken off bones into 1/2 inch or so pieces. Reserve bones and skin!

If using chicken fat, render by cooking the fat pieces in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Add the chicken skin and let it cook until it browns some and crisps up, remove, drain on paper towels and reserve. Once the fat pieces are crispy and all fat has rendered, remove them to the paper towels.

Saute the onions in the chicken fat or butter over medium heat until almost translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or 2. Turn heat up to medium-high and add the chicken pieces. Cook until they are just starting to brown. At this point, I like to add a little bit of flour to make a roux so that the chicken broth is slightly thickened once everything is done. Do that by lowering the heat to medium, then adding the flour and stirring constantly for several minutes so that the flour incorporates with the fat. Mixture will look dry. Add the broth, bones and a cup or so of water slowly, stirring constantly so you don't get lumps. Add about 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 to 1 tsp of pepper (depending on how much you like pepper), stir. Add frozen vegetables, stir. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add rice or pasta, stir. Let cook for amount of time called for on your rice or pasta package. Add additional water if needed after rice/pasta is nearly all the way cooked. Once rice/pasta is cooked, taste and adjust seasonings (salt, pepper, poultry seasoning) as desired. Remove bones. Serve. Crumble up the skin and rendered fat and sprinkle on top of your soup if desired.

 

[Yorky]

If you were to ask what is my favourite meal it has to be fish (cod) and chips. Not easy to emulate the fish and chips that the chippies in Yorkshire have perfected though.

 

[Morning Glory]

I honestly don't have a favourite meal. I think if pushed I'd say a really hot curry which also contains eggs. But really, I love all manner of things.

 

[medtran49]

This is not what a lot of people would refer to as "true" chili because it has beans in it, but it's my and my DD's favorite. It's another of those meals we both loved back 30+ years ago and we both still love it today.

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, 1/4 inch dice
1/2 large green bell pepper, 1/4 inch dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp (or more to your taste) chili powder
1-2 tsp ground cumin (or more to your taste)
2 cans tomato soup
1 can light red kidney beans
1 Tbsp cider vinegar (can use white, I just prefer cider as it's not as harsh)
salt and pepper
Cooked rice or spaghetti (1 cup uncooked rice or 1/2 box of spaghetti)

In a large saucepan over medium-high to high heat, brown the ground beef until just a bit of pink remains. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, add garlic and come for another 1-2 minutes. Remove some of the grease with a spoon if there's a lot, but make sure you leave some in as well because it adds flavor. Add the chili powder and cumin. Stir well. Add the beans with their juice, fill can to about half full with water, swirl to rinse and add to pot. Add tomato soup, also rinsing out with water and add to pot. Add vinegar. Stir well. Add about 1-1/2 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp pepper. Stir well. Let come to a boil and then turn down to where mixture is a gentle simmer and let cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. At about 20 minutes, taste and adjust seasonings to your taste. Serve over rice or spaghetti.

 

[medtran49]

I have several favorite meals that I will pick for special occasions.

Stone crab claws (Florida product) and Cesar salad, with a Dobos torte for dessert. I often have this for my birthday.

Crab gnocchi with a seafood stock pan sauce with shaved truffles. I have been known to lick the sauce off the plate.

Geoduck in a crudo presentation using the siphon and fried strips using the belly as a second course.

Freshly caught or dry-packed scallops in a crudo presentation with citrus juices, with seared scallops with a red bell pepper sauce as a second course.

For an appetizer, very gently poached or sous vide'd pink shrimp on a skewer, lightly drizzled with real truffle oil (not the stuff made with chemicals) or melted truffle butter. Yes, I make truffle oil and butter with the ends and bits of the truffles on the rare occasions we splurge on them. Both keep well in the freezer.

A 3-inch thick rib eye steak prepared with the reverse sear technique, sliced thinly, with a loaded baked potato and steamed asparagus drizzled with a light lemon-butter sauce.

Turmeric and coriander roasted chicken with toum, zhoug, and ezme with homemade cumin flatbread.

 

[Cpt.Kid]

Bread bowl soup or cheese fondue with vegetables.