When the cooking falls to me I like to do roast chicken, beef or whole fish which are nice "fire and forget" dishes.

I know that roasts seem like a big deal and a lot of cooking but, in fact, they only take about 10-15 minutes up-front work but then they get popped in the stove and you can get the other essentials (homework/reading/shower etc.) done over the next hour. They also don't involve much cutting/peeling/cleaning and don't require much "watching" if any once you get to know the times.

Given that there's just the 2 of you, there will be a lot of leftovers, but that means some healthy and tasty lunches.

Roast chicken

Sprinkle the inside with salt+pepper to taste.
pat outside dry and rub with pat of butter
Sprinkle the outside with herbs (rosemary, thyme etc. to taste) you can also lay a couple of strips of bacon
place BIG chunks of carrot/beets/rutabaga/yams/sweet potato and/or potato on the roasting platter around the chicken (rubbing the unpeeled potato with butter = yum).
cook at 350F for 1 hour and then poke knife under the "leg-pit" to see if the juice runs clear or still pink (pinkish=give it more time).

When it's done you have a delicious roast chicken + carbs and all you need is a salad to round out the meal.

Roast beef

With a slim knife cut deep incisions into the meat, place garlic slivers in the incisions.
Salt + pepper outside. Do the BIG chunky carb thing all around the platter.
In the oven for 20 minutes at 450F to seal the outside.
Then turn down to 325F for 1hour+ (depending on size of roast and personal taste).

Fish

This is a faster one and I've only done it with salmon and arctic char (a type of salmon). It's more of a "special occasion" type of thing because of the cost and also because my eldest son is allergic to fish.

Assuming the fish is already clean.
Place 3 lemon slices on a piece of alu-foil large enough to tent/close fully over the fish. Place fish on 3 lemon slices.
Set 3 lemon slices on top of fish. Place lemon ends (what's leftover from cutting the slices) in the cavity. The aim is to use the ends to prop the cavity open for more even cooking, so the lemon ends have to be big enough for this purpose and placed in the cavity to ensure some airflow. I use two lemons to make sure this is the case.
I usually place a few thin slices of butter between the lemons on the top but don't add any sort of spices of any kind.
The alu foil "tent" is then closed up with a simple fold (it will be hot and difficult to open if you crimp it too much) and the baking pan goes into the pre-heated oven at F350 for about an hour. When opening to check watch out for the burst of steam.


Last edited by Cold_Gambler; 04/21/15 02:34 PM.

looks very modernishy-phoney-windows eighty-tabletty like

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