Читать книгу Easy Meals Text Only - Rachel Allen - Страница 3

Introduction

It seems like we all lead such hectic lifestyles these days. Even though I love to cook, often I just don’t have the time to make complicated food. I’d love to spend six hours cooking an elaborate meal, but sometimes it just isn’t realistic. I think that’s true for a lot of people. Our lives are so busy now it can be difficult to set aside time to cook. That said, I don’t think it’s always the case that the more time you take over a meal the better it is. Truly great food can often be made in minutes and only using four or five ingredients.

It’s not just time though; I often want fuss-free food for other reasons. Some days, for instance, I might cook a one-pot dish that bubbles away in the oven as I get on with other things. The other advantage of one-pot cooking is that with everything ready at the same time I don’t have to coordinate various different side dishes. There are other times when I can’t get to the shops so I need to make something using only ingredients that I already have at home. It is always so satisfying to be able to make good food using only things I can find in my cupboards, fridge or freezer, which means being able to use specific ingredients cleverly as well as knowing what things it’s worth stocking up on.

This book is about times like these, when you want to cook a great meal but don’t want lots of complex steps either in the preparation or in the actual cooking. That’s why you'll find a chapter with recipes that use only five ingredients or fewer. I’ve also included a whole chapter for when you don’t feel like turning on the oven at all. The recipes are unapologetically simple and straightforward – most are very quick from start to finish – yet they never compromise on flavour. A hectic lifestyle doesn’t have to mean reaching for a sugary snack or ordering a takeaway. It’s perfectly possible to cook wholesome food without too much time or fuss. This book shows you how to do just that – make food that is quick and simple yet always delicious.

PS. The oven temperatures in this book are for a conventional oven, but if I am using a fan oven then I usually reduce the temperature by 10 per cent.