Cooking can be the healthier and less expensive option, but it can be time consuming. When you come home from work, the last thing you want to do is spend an hour or so making dinner. So for days when you just can’t find the strength to start the laborious task of cooking, here are some easy dishes that can whipped out.
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/11/cold-meat-is-the-ultimate-summer-party-entre/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/msuerpwyedvrwzc4t9tg.jpg” title=”Why Cold Meat Is The Ultimate Party Entree” excerpt=”With the weather warming up, there are few things better than a dinner party and few things worse than cooking for one. Sweating over a red-hot BBQ as your guests get steadily drunker and hungrier makes for a truly unpleasant hosting experience.”]
Below you will find a menu comprised completely of two-ingredient delights, only one of which requires any cooking. Set out a loaf of good bread, along with some salty olives for snacking in between courses, and you have a low-effort, but still completely satisfying, meal.
Appetiser: Prosciutto-wrapped melon
This salty-sweet pairing is a classic for several reasons, the main one being how good thin, silky slices of super salty prosciutto taste wrapped around juicy, sweet cantaloupe. Serve it on skewers or toothpicks.
Alternate: Use grilled pineapple instead of melon.
Main: Grilled kielbasa and really good mustard
Though Bon Appetit considers this dish to be the greatest appetiser of all time, I think it works just as well as a meaty main, particularly when you pair it with a fresh side (which we will cover in just a moment).
Just throw a whole kielbasa on the grill (or in a cast iron) until it’s deeply browned, slice, and serve with one or more very good mustards.
Alternate: Get some grilled prawns and incredibly horseradish heavy cocktail sauce.
Side: Radishes and softened, salted butter
A bright, slightly spicy radish dipped in butter is surprisingly perfect blend of rich and aggressively fresh, especially if you can find breakfast radishes. Just make sure the butter is fully softened, and make doubly sure it’s salted.
Trim and cut the radishes into halves or quarters, and set out several ramekins of butter for dipping.
Extra credit: Try a more exciting butter, like brie butter, black garlic butter, or Icelandic skyrr butter.
Dessert: Fresh fruit and cream
Fresh, sweet berries, and plump, juicy peaches, and nectarines need nothing more than a healthy dollop or two of heavy cream to make them crazy indulgent.
(Set out a little bowl of granulated sugar alongside the pitcher of cream if you must, but truly ripe, in-season fruit won’t need it.)
Alternate: If not the right season for strawberries, get some apples and an aged gouda or extremely sharp cheddar.
Cocktail: Something and soda
Pick your favourite fancy vermouth, Italian apertivo, or bittersweet liqueur and set it out with lowballs, a bucket of ice, and bottle of fizzy soda water. Let guests mix their own.
Extra credit: If you want to put in a little more effort in the booze department, pick something from our extensive list of three-ingredient cocktails, or set up a mix-your-own gin and tonic bar. People love to play bartender.
This article has been updated since its original publication.
Comments