The EASY CHEF

Cooking really can be easy and delicious. Nothing Jamie Oliver here, just ONE simple method for an
infinite number of recipes to turn you into the chef.

 Tastes great
 Keeps meals simple
 You really only need 3-6 ingredients for a decent meal
 Too many ingredients and you can’t taste everything
 Too few and it can be bland.
 Doesn’t take long
 Very little preparation

You NEED:
Saucepan, Frying pan, Salt, any cooking Oil
 Use olive oil for flavour

AND AND AND

STEP 1 OR OR
Pasta Potato Cubes Rice
+

STEP 2 OR OR OR

OR OR
Sausage, Chicken, Chorizo, Bacon, Pepper, Mushroom, Tomato
+

STEP 3 OR OR

Cream Cheese Red Pesto Green Pesto

STEP 1 - Pasta/Rice
 Read the rice/pasta cooking instructions for how long to cook
 Measure (or guess) 60-70g of pasta or rice per person
 One cup of rice is about correct for TWO people
 One cup of pasta is about correct for ONE person
 If you make too much you can always save it for another meal
 Put enough water in the saucepan to more than cover the rice or pasta – 2cm is fine
 The more excess water the more energy you use cooking
 Pasta and rice absorb the water to cook so it must NEVER dry out
 Put water on to boil with a sprinkle of salt and small splash of any oil
 Salt adds taste
 Salt reduces cooking time as impure water boils at a lower temperature
 Oil stops the pasta or rice sticking together
 Add the rice or pasta
 Set timer for a few minutes longer than the instructions state (as instructions
assume cooking from already boiling water)
 Put a couple of table spoons or large dollop of oil in frying pan and on med-high heat
 GO TO STEP 2

STEP 1 - Potato Cubes (No saucepan required)

 For potato cubes, peel the potatoes and cut into 1cm cubes
 Smaller cubes mean there is no need to pre-boil, which is much easier
 Put a couple of table spoons or large dollop of oil in frying pan and on med-high heat
 Put in potato cubes
 GO TO STEP 2

STEP 2
 Chop up any sausage or chicken and put it in the frying pan
 1-2cm pieces of any shape will do
 Cook for about 5 minutes
Chop up any other meat or vegetables and put in the frying pan
 Add chorizo or bacon last as they take less time to cook
 You can add peppers and mushrooms earlier if you like them well done
(there’s no right or wrong)
 When the rice or pasta are cooked (soft rather than crunchy!) and chicken and
sausages cooked through GO TO STEP 3
STEP 3
 Turn OFF the heat
 Drain the RICE/PASTA (if used) and ADD to Frying Pan ingredients
 ADD about half a pot of cream cheese (50g)
 Use more or less depending on how saucy you like it
 ADD a large table spoon of Red or Green Pesto
 MIX WELL & SERVE IMMEDIATELY

Other things to try:

 Pine nuts (throw in a few minutes before the end)
 Egg (put on top of mix and cover with lid to steam cook)
 Sundried tomatoes (add just before the end or they will burn like the chorizo)
 Add a good sprinkle of Black pepper or Paprika to give a different taste
 There also are dozens of mushroom varieties and a myriad of green vegetables that can be
chopped up and thrown in – green beans, peas, broccoli – to give an infinite number of easy
meals
 You can use just Red or Green pesto WITHOUT cream cheese
 If the pasta is ready before the meat you can drain it and toss it in with the meat/vegetables
for a Thai style dish
 VEGETARIAN/VEGAN – just as easy with no meat or dairy whatsoever. I personally don’t eat
meat

It’s so EASY.

The only important health implications are for chicken and sausage – they must be cooked through.
It’s almost impossible to undercook bacon and everything else can be safely eaten raw.

There’s really not much that can go wrong and all the flavours go together in almost any
combination. Yet if you really want to Pasta + Chicken + Peppers + Pesto works just fine.

Other Tips:
 Save the oil from Sun Dried tomatoes to use in cooking