Dishes we often make that are relatively easy & tasty:
0.5-1 onion and/or lemon in carcass
Season with salt (ideally: fleur de sel!) and pepper
425° for 1-1.5 hours, or until thickest part of breast is 160° (often we'll turn down the oven to 350° once it's ~130° or so)
Optional marinade:
1 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons kosher salt
Cover chicken, leave overnight, scrape off before putting in oven (with just a light slinking of fleur de sel)
--> or for an even simpler time, sprinkle ~1/4 tsp of kosher salt on the chicken per pound, and leave in the fridge ~10-30 hours
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 egg
~2 tablespoons herbs, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup almond flour
2+ tablespoons coco aminos
Preheat oven to 400°
Mix ingredients in a bowl
Form into balls on parchment paper on a baking tray
Cook until done (~20 min)
Adapted from https://www.realfoodwithjessica.com/2016/10/17/easy-oven-baked-paleo-meatballs/
Vegetable stock (can also use chicken/beef stock if OK with being non-vegetarian)
~1 T dried mushrooms
~1 T powdered vegetables
2” slice of kombu
Pour ~1-2 cups of hot water over, let steep ~30 min
Lentils:
1 onion, plus ~equal amount of celery and carrots → dice, salt
1/4 cup olive oil, saute mirepoix on medium-low ~10 minutes until onions translucent
Add bay leaf, thyme, and/or sage
Add 1/2 package of lentils (~1 cup), coat in oil/mirepoix mixture
Strain stock into pot
Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer
Cook, covered until tender, 30-45 minutes
Add salt & pepper to taste, plus some acid (lemon juice or apple cider vinegar)
Gluten free, less-work version that has a similar flavor profile to Caesar Salad
0.5-1 garlic clove
to taste: olive oil, anchovy paste, and lemon juice
pound garlic clove in a mortar & pestle, add ~equal amount of anchovy paste
...then add roughly equal amounts of olive oil & lemon juice, using the mortar & pestle to create an emulsion
coat & toss with romaine lettuce, add black pepper to tate, and then use a vegetable peeler to put bits of hard cheese (ideally Parmigiano Reggiano) on top
...good for "s*** we don't have anything in the fridge!" nights
Ingredients
2 tins of sardines (we usually use the Season brand from Costco)
1 pound dried pasta (usually spaghetti)
1-2 lemons
1 garlic clove (we zest it in a microplane but you can also mince/crush)
parsley, olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste
Put sardines with oil in a bowl, add parsley and lemon zest/juice of 1-2 lemons --> let sit/marinate while pasta is cooking
Cook pasta, reserving pasta water
Toss in a bowl, adding water and extra olive oil as necessary --> the hot pasta water helps "cook" the garlic
Season with more lemon, salt, and pepper to taste