Shortcuts in cooking.

Usedtobeblonde

A real cheat but good is frozen cauliflower cheese recommended on GN.
It is loose and you just put the required amount in a dish and stick it in the oven.
Very useful to keep in the freezer and actually tastes good.

That could have been me. I love it. The Sainsbury's one is gf. I add a bit of grated nutmeg and top it with a bit more grated cheese.

If it was you kitty I thank you very much.
It is a boon to have it all ready to cook, just get it out of the freezer, pour into a dish and into the oven.

Ooooh, it definitely was me if you like it that much.

I think a few of us advocated it actually but it is definitely great.

Instead of peeling and chopping, grate a clove of garlic straight into the pan. The skin stays behind on the grated and you get it nice and small, oozing the juice as well.

Or, as someone said above, use Lazy Garlic.

Sallywally1

Very lazy garlic, another favourite!

I find it tastes of vinegar.

I freeze ginger and chillies as they do not keep well in the fridge . Can grate the ginger straight from the freezer. I freeze breadcrumbs made from odds and ends from the bread bin ,very useful for a quick topping.

I also freeze pastry mix for pies and crumbles, just add your egg or water when almost defrosted for a lovely light pastry.

I use a mezzoluna for chopping, using two hands make it easy for me with arthritic hands, onion, peppers herbs, I use it for everything. The curved wooden shallow bowl stops bits flying in all directions.

I recently was given an electric knife sharpener it is a joy to always have sharp knives.

I am all for cheating, am not a great cook anyway so have always taken shortcuts, but especially now I am caring for my DH full time.

kittylester

I wish sliced onions were easier to find.

Most of the supermarkets have them in their freezers. Maybe not sliced but definitely diced.

kittylester

I wish sliced onions were easier to find.

IMO, may be easier to chop or slice and freeze several onions at one time, than look for frozen in a shop. For me that's an easy "when I'm bored" task.

Iceland offer some quite delicious curries to which I add lots of vegetables and chickpeas

I have just bought sliced onions in Farmfoods 49p for 450 grams they have both red and white onions

Thanks, that is good to know. I will have to track down a farm foods.

I can get diced onions KKOB but some recipes call for sliced- my paprika chicken is one. It is just not the same with diced.

When making a crumble melt your butter and pour into flour sugar - it’s a game changer rather than all that rubbing butter through your cool fingers

Frozen garlic and ginger cubes. So handy. Ditto frozen chopped onion

Jaime Oliver did a short cut to get mas. Put 2 large potatoes inthe microwave of 10 mins onhigh. Then bring them out cut n half and turn them skin side downob board and cut surface up. Pound with masher, scoop into a bown with butter cisp up the empty skins in microwave if you wish.

I've recently discovered Heinz white sauce in a jar. It's lovely and can easily be made into cheese sauce for macaroni or cauliflower. I keep a jar in the pantry and use for all sorts of things . Saves all that bother with a roux

They sell them in all supermarkets.

When wanting to do baking with only fridge-cold butter, I press it through my hard boiled egg slicer. Rubbing into flour is then easy, or a very few seconds in the microwave softens enough for creaming without melting.

or a very few seconds in the microwave softens enough for creaming without melting.😁
I often manage to make some of it melt in the microwave but, if making a cake, it seems to make no difference even if semi-melted.

kittylester

Or, as someone said above, use Lazy Garlic.

Ditto lemongrass and ginger.

Aldi cauliflower cheese is now gf. I don’t think I’ll ever bother to make it again.

Asda and Tesco sell small (180 gm) bags of sliced red onions.
Tesco also sells frozen sliced red onions, which are much cheaper per 100 gms.

Not in our nearest Tesco!

TBH I don’t think using shortcuts such as pre-prepared onions, counts as cheating
The internet is full of recipes, mostly from the US where ingredient after ingredient comes out of a tin or packet, , or is processed sliced cheese, or something else UPF - they mostly look disgusting too.

Nanny27. I never make a roux for sauces. I think it was Delia Smith I saw years ago on the telly. She just started the sauce in a pan with cold milk plus flour, butter etc and whisk as it heats up to prevent lumps.

Works with custard powder too.

bridie54

Nanny27. I never make a roux for sauces. I think it was Delia Smith I saw years ago on the telly. She just started the sauce in a pan with cold milk plus flour, butter etc and whisk as it heats up to prevent lumps.

Works with custard powder too.

Earlier this evening I watched Rick Stein make a sauce for fish pie, or rather a velouté.

It seemed fairly simple to do, but of course, an assistant had probably weighed and measured all the ingredients ready for him, and prepared the fresh fish stock!
Oh, and sourced the truffle oil too.