30 recipes you should have mastered by age 30
Easy does it
Roast chicken
Succulent roast chicken is always a winner. It's better value to buy a whole bird rather than pieces, and a free-range chicken will give you more flavour and meat juices. Any leftovers can always be used in stir-fries, noodle bowls and salads. Always allow 10 minutes or so to allow the chicken to rest – this makes for easier carving and ensures you have all the lovely juices to serve as a sauce. Our recipe has a spicy rub and is served with a watercress mayo.
Omelette
Everyone needs to master an omelette. The important part is to invest in a good, non-stick frying pan, which will make it all very simple. As the eggs cook, just pull away the cooked edges and swirl the pan to get the raw bits cooked. Fold in half while the centre is still runny, as it'll keep on cooking. Then you have endless options to flavour it, such as our recipe for a chilli cheese and jalapeño omelette.
Classic cheeseburger
Impress your friends with a homemade burger. A few tips to note – use at least 20% fat minced beef, and don't try to force your burger off the grill to flip it. It will be easy to turn when it's seared and ready. Just season with salt and pepper, and you're ready to go. Remember to make your burger slightly larger than the bun as it will shrink when cooking. Then add your favourite cheese, salads and condiments.
Chocolate chip cookies
No question – a homemade cookie beats anything you can buy. They take just 15 minutes to make, but ensure you allow a couple of hours for the dough to rest in the fridge. Remember to take the cookies out of the oven when they're still soft as they'll firm up on cooling. If you overcook them, they will be hard and crunchy, rather than soft and squidgy, which is how they should be.
Chilli con carne
A really great chilli is simple to prepare, but it needs slow cooking (an hour and a half) to be at its best. It ticks all the boxes – it's better eaten the day after you've made it so you can prep ahead; it keeps in the fridge for up to three days; and it freezes very well. It's so versatile too. Serve with nachos, guacamole, tortilla chips, jacket potatoes or rice.
Get the recipe for chilli con carne here
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Linguine alla puttanesca
This easy pasta dish has to be one of the best ever. It's made from store cupboard ingredients – tinned tomatoes, anchovies, olives, capers, garlic, olive oil and dried chilli. You can rustle it up and serve in just 20 minutes. Use a good brand of Italian pasta which will keep its shape and flavour, and won't become soggy like cheaper brands. Use spaghetti if you can't find linguine.
Spring vegetable frittata
A frittata is like a crustless-quiche: eggs cooked with vegetables, meat or fish. In Spain, it's called a tortilla (nothing to do with tortilla chips!), where it also contains sliced cooked potatoes. It's such a good recipe to use up leftover cooked veggies or meat, and substantial enough for a light meal. Our recipe contains potato, broad beans, peas and courgettes, but you can swap in whichever green vegetables you have to hand.
Ragù
A good meat ragù is an essential in any cook's repertoire. Use it to make lasagne or to serve with pasta. We suggest whipping up a larger batch so that you can freeze some. It also keeps for three days in the fridge. Our lovely rich ragù recipe needs to be slow cooked, but the preparation is easy. Our top tip is to add a little milk, which helps to tenderise the meat. Master it, then try our foolproof lasagne recipe.
Sweet and sour sauce
You can rustle up a sweet and sour sauce faster than it takes to order a takeaway. It's so quick and uses ingredients you've probably already got in the store cupboard, like tomato ketchup, red wine vinegar, HP and Worcestershire sauces. Our recipe pairs the sauce with fried pork but you could use chunks of chicken or prawns.
Quick mustard prawn curry
If your experience of making curry to date is by using a jar of shop-bought paste, you'll be surprised how easy it is to make from scratch. You'll need a few spices – turmeric, garam masala, chilli powder and ground coriander – but the dish is ready in under an hour. You could also use paneer instead of prawns.
Quiche Lorraine
Mastering the art of a classic quiche opens so many doors to other options. The filling consists of eggs, cream, cheese and bacon, but then you can adapt it to use salmon, broccoli, asparagus or blue cheese. You don't even need to make the pastry – just buy all-butter shortcrust. The trick is to blind bake the pastry first, so the base isn't soggy. This simply means the pastry is pre-baked in the tin without any filling (make sure to line with parchment paper and weigh down with ceramic baking beans or dried pulses so it doesn't puff up).
American pancakes
Pancakes are so easy to make, and divine eaten straight from the pan. The batter is even quicker to make if you whisk it all together using an electric hand whisk. Serve with blueberries, maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt, or if you love that combination of sweet and salty, you could top them with crisp smoked bacon.
Sticky sausage and bean stew
A fuss-free, easy stew which tastes delicious, and is packed with vegetables. Even better, it's all baked in one tin to cut down on the washing up. Roast butternut squash, celery, onion, garlic and tomatoes first, with the sausages on top, then add stock, cannellini beans, honey and vinegar to finish, with some fresh rosemary. It doesn't need any accompaniment, apart from some crusty bread to mop up the juices.
Caesar salad
A really great homemade Caesar salad is hard to beat, and you'll be surprised how easy the dressing is to make. It sure beats anything store-bought. The dressing also keeps for up to three days in the fridge, so you can make it ahead. You need a crunchy lettuce, such as romaine, and baguette or ciabatta for the croutons, which can also be made in advance. Turn it into a main course with some grilled chicken or salmon.
Steak with garlic butter
Every meat-lover needs to know how to cook the perfect steak. Our recipe gives you all the tips you need to know, from taking the steak out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking, to allowing the meat to rest after it's been in the pan. Most importantly, learn how long to cook it for, depending how you like it. It's easy making your own garlic butter too, but if that's a step too far, you can usually find it pre-made.
Carrot cake
If you're looking for the perfect cake for any occasion and you're new to baking, carrot cake is a great place to start and pretty forgiving, with no whisking and folding involved. If you have a food processor with a grater attachment, it will speed up the process with the carrots. There is one essential thing to make the recipe a success – use full-fat cream cheese for the icing. Anything reduced-fat will just slide off the cake.
Butternut squash, sage and Comté risotto
Once you've mastered the art of making risotto, we promise you won't look back. With store cupboard ingredients as a base, you can adapt it to use whatever you have to hand. Frozen peas and Parmesan are a great midweek combination, or try mushrooms or prawns. Get to grips with risotto with this fabulous recipe with roasted squash, sage and Comté cheese, which you can substitute with Gruyère or strong Cheddar.
Get the recipe for butternut squash, sage and Comté risotto here
Char siu pork with pak choy
It's worth having a few foolproof stir-fries under your belt, for speedy midweek meals. Normally, char siu pork takes time to cook, but we've speeded up the process by making it into an easy stir-fry. Our top tips? Heat the wok first, before adding the oil, and have everything prepared and ready before you start cooking.
Beef keema
If you're keen to tackle a curry without any hard-to-find ingredients, this simple and fragrant beef dish will do the job. With mushrooms, spinach, frozen peas and tomatoes, it's nourishing and healthy too. You can use lamb or turkey mince if you prefer. Just serve with basmati rice and a dollop of natural yogurt.
Chicken soup and dumplings
Chicken soup has to be one of the best restorative foods ever. It's simple to make – you just need to invest a little time in cooking a whole chicken with herbs and water to make a delicious stock. Then take the chicken off the bone (clean rubber or food-safe gloves make this easy and quick), return it to the stock with vegetables and prepare some simple dumplings. The soup will freeze perfectly, to have on standby for when you're feeling under the weather.
Simple fish pie
You can mix and match the fish in a simple pie according to what's available, though some sort of smoked fish is essential to add depth of flavour. Our recipe has leeks in it, but you could add spinach, frozen peas or broccoli too. There's no sauce to make and it's smothered with creamy mashed potato, which would be fabulous topped with grated cheese before it goes in the oven.
Chocolate mousse
Here's your perfect dessert with just four ingredients and ready in 25 minutes. Melt the chocolate very gently in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. This gives you more control and prevents the chocolate from over-heating, which can easily happen when you use a microwave. Top prep ahead tip: it tastes even better if you make the day before you want to serve it.
Beef casserole
We all need a really great casserole on our recipe list. This is made with economical shin of beef, which requires long, slow cooking to tenderise it, but with very little preparation. Use a full-bodied red wine of your choice – it doesn't need to be pricey. Toss the meat in flour before browning – it'll help thicken the gravy as it cooks. Simple vegetables and herbs are added, with lemon zest to serve. It freezes very well too.
One-pan vegetable lasagne
Here's a speedy veggie twist on a meat lasagne, but it's all made in one pan with no white sauce to make, and is on the table in 40 minutes. Sauté different vegetables until tender, add raw spinach and strips of fresh pasta sheets. Top with plenty of Parmesan and mozzarella, then pop it under the grill until the cheese is bubbling and melted.
Egg fried rice
Egg fried rice is so versatile. You can use it as a side dish, or better still, make it into a main course by adding extra vegetables, prawns, tofu, leftover cooked chicken or slices of cooked lean pork. Simply add these at the end, once the rice has been stir-fried. It's all done and dusted in 20 minutes.
Cacio e pepe
This classic pasta dish from Rome uses just four ingredients, and its simplicity is what makes it so perfect. Translating from Italian to "cheese and pepper", the cacio e pepe sauce combines freshly ground black pepper and Parmesan or (traditionally) pecorino, which is thickened with the starchy water from cooking the pasta. It's the essence of great Italian food.
Miso ramen
If you've had a long day and really don't have the urge to cook, this tasty dish is ready in 15 minutes. Using instant miso ramen noodles, it's flexible enough for you to add anything lingering in the fridge. With a hint of chilli, savoury miso and some sesame seeds, this is instant comfort in a bowl.
White chocolate cheesecake
With sufficient servings for 10, this indulgent and incredibly simple cheesecake will be a winner. It has a biscuit base which is topped with a mixture of cream, cream cheese, crème fraîche and melted chocolate. Allow time to leave it in the fridge overnight to set, then spoon and serve it straight out of the dish.
Kale and cannellini bean soup
A big bowl of goodness, packed with healthy greens, which is low in fat and high in protein. It's a meal in itself which you can put together and cook in just 30 minutes. As well as fresh cabbage and kale, there's canned tomatoes and canned cannellini beans in the mix too. It's topped with a poached egg and served with a slice of toast on the side.
Meatballs with spaghetti
Who doesn't love a meatball? Serve them in a tomato sauce with spaghetti or add a Middle Eastern twist by using minced lamb, ground cumin, coriander and chilli, and serve with flatbreads. Our tasty recipe is for pork and chorizo meatballs in a fragrant tomato sauce.
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