Easy Meals Recipes T
This serves 4 - 5 people with decent appetites and any leftovers freeze well for later use. It can be prepared ahead of time, refrigerated and then cooked when you're ready.
1 heaped cup of rice, cooked
Approximately 600 grams of unflavoured sandwich tuna in brine, drained
1 1/2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables - carrot, peas and corn - cooked (microwave for about 3 minutes with no water added) and drained
Sauce:
Note: This is a normal white sauce based on what is called a roux which is made with plain flour and butter / margarine - the remaining ingredients and any extras added to the sauce are up to the cook smile emoticon Listed below are the approximate amounts of the ingredients I use. You'll want your finished sauce to be nice and thick but not gluggy. It needs to be able to "ooze" through the rice, vegetable and tuna mix.....please read on.
1 brown onion, diced finely
4 - 5 tablespoons margarine / butter (more if needed)
1 heaped teaspoon of crushed garlic
4 decent tablespoons of plain flour
Approximately 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste (I use a good shake of each)
2 - 3 cups of milk (depending on the desired thickness of your sauce)
1 cup of grated tasty cheese
Extra grated cheese
Put 1/2 of the cooked rice over the bottom of a good sized casserole dish
On top of that, layer 1/2 of the drained tuna
Put all of the cooked vegetables on top of the tuna
Add the remaining tuna then the rest of the rice
Make up your sauce - first fry the onion and garlic in the butter / margarine until onion is golden, then add the flour and stir until a thick roux is formed
Slowly add the milk, continually stirring with a wooden spoon as you do so
Continue to stir the sauce until any flour lumps are gone and it's thickened nicely
Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg and continue to stir through
When you have the sauce at the desired consistency, add the grated cheese and stir through - add more milk if desired
If you wish, add more grated cheese, nutmeg, salt or pepper according to taste
Poke several random holes in the top of the tuna/vegetable/rice mixture in the casserole dish (so the sauce will "ooze through") and pour the sauce over the top of the whole thing
Sprinkle the top with extra grated cheese to taste
Bake in a moderate oven for about 35 minutes or until the cheese on top is golden
This one is great to cook ahead of time and store for when you need it. It's really easy to do, for either a side dish for 4 people or a meal for 2.
2 x large cleaned and scrubbed potatoes
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
3 shortcut bacon rashers, rind removed, finely chopped OR
100 gms diced bacon from the supermarket
1/4 cup of light sour cream
1/3 cup of grated cheese (packet cheese is easiest)
2 x shallots, thinly sliced
1/4 cup of sun dried tomato strips, drained
Salt and pepper
Put your potatoes on a baking tray covered with baking paper
Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper as desired
Bake for about 45 minutes in a moderately hot oven (180 degrees) or until almost tender, then add the bacon to the tray for another 15 minutes - check that the potatoes are tender before the next step
Set the potatoes aside to cool and increase the oven temperature to hot (200 - 210 degrees)
Cut the potatoes in half length ways and scoop out the centres, leaving an outer "shell" about 1cm thick
Put the potato guts into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and mash up
Add the sour cream, sun dried tomato strips and just over half each of the cheese, bacon and shallots - mix everything together thoroughly
Spoon the filling into the potato "shells" and put some more cheese and bacon on top
Put the stuffed potatoes on a wire rack placed over a baking tray lined with baking paper
Bake at the higher heat as mentioned above for about 15 - 20 minutes until heated through
Serve sprinkled with some more shallots
**Any left over stuffed potato mix can be frozen for later use - and it makes great "bubble and squeak" if you add an egg and some breadcumbs**
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