Beef Kofta Curry, Fluffy Rice, Beans and Peas

Meal 40 - April 30th - Beef Kofta Curry, Fluffy Rice, Beans and Peas

Now here's a thrilling statistic: according to the Office for National Statistics around 92 percent of UK households own a microwave. Lolz and I are one of the 8 ish percent who rely on more traditional cooking techniques. Therefore, these 15 minute meals are about as fast as it gets when we are looking for a speedy dinner. As I got to Waitrose on my way home from a crazy day at work I was torn between doing a 15 minute meal or taking advantage of their curry themed dinner for two for £10 deal. I wasn't exactly overflowing with enthusiasm but, given that our lack of a microwave meant that "ready meals"  would take longer to cook than the Jamie alternative I decided to opt for the former.

Prawn Linguine, Sicilian Shaved Fennel Salad

Meal 39 - April 26th - Prawn Linguine, Sicilian Shaved Fennel Salad

Up until now I'd assumed that the scariest thing to come out of Sicily was the Mafia. Well today I would be aquainted with a Sicilian Salad which, although less murderous, was just as terrifying.
 

Spring Frittata, Tomato Toasts, Watercress and Pea Salad

Meal 38 - April 24th - Spring Frittata, Tomato Toasts, Watercress and Pea Salad

As a big fan of lazy Saturday mornings I regularly watch Saturday Kitchen on BBC1 where celebrity chefs make omelettes to varying degrees of success within a matter seconds. I am yet to make an appearance on that show but today I would be making a frittata - I'm not sure exactly what the difference is and I would hope that mine will be slightly more appetizing than Paul Rankin's 17.52 second record, but in 15 minutes I would expect to be able to make a pretty knockout omelette.

Poached Fish, Coddled Eggs and Tomato Loaf

Meal 37 - April 21st - Poached Fish, Coddled Eggs and Tomato Loaf

If you glance to the right you may notice that I've joined this revolutionary communications / socialmedia tool called "Twitter". For those unfamiliar with such technological wizardry it's basically Facebook with the status bar and nothing else. I'll be posting various food related nonsense that you couldn't care less about, so why not follow me?! And you needn't worry you'll be the only one - I already have two followers, although I suspect they may be spam. Anyway I've already Tweeted the picture so you probably already know what I'm going to write about.

Chicken Pasta, Herby 6 Veg Ragu

Meal 36 - April 18th - Chicken Pasta, Herby 6 Veg Ragu

I wonder if Jamie was struggling for ideas to fill his 15 minute meal pages when he got to the pasta section. It seems sometimes like he may have rigged up a kind of fruit machine system with one wheel as the type of pasta, one for the type of meat, one for vegetable base and one for sauce. As a result, although the meals are quite different on some levels, they do seem like they lack imagination somewhat. Today's offering was, basically, wholewheat fusilli, grilled chicken breast, a kind of "soffritto" vegetable mix and tomato sauce.

White Super Smoothie

Meal 35 - April 14th - White Super Smoothie

After a rather energetic Saturday which involved building a new flat pack wardrobe, going for a run and of course cooking a rather impressive 15 minute meal, I was looking forward to a rather lazy Sunday of watching football and golf. So it was rather unfortunate that Lolz had planned an afternoon trip to Westfield Shopping Centre for us, and had specifically mentioned the labour intensive possibility of buying shoes and jeans. Good times were certainly in store...

Lucky Squid 'n' Prawns, Spicy Vegetable Noodle Broth

Meal 34 - April 13th - Lucky Squid 'n' Prawns, Spicy Vegetable Noodle Broth

With a disproportionate number of seafood dishes in the 15 minute meals book (26, compared to 16 chicken for instance) I knew I had to get in touch with my inner Rick Stein and cook some of them or risk a real fish frenzy towards the end of the year. Amongst those 26 dishes there are three squid ones which I'd been putting off making as, although I do enjoy a good calamari, my knowledge of cooking the things are quite limited.

Killer Kedgeree, Beans, Greens and Chilli Yoghurt

Meal 33 - April 11th - Killer Kedgeree, Beans, Greens and Chilli Yoghurt

With THFC due to kick off their crucial Europa League second leg quarter final fixture against Basel at 20:05 I decided to set myself a one-off 15 minute meal bonus challenge today. I would attempt to run home from work and have dinner on the table in time for kick off. Basically I had two hours and five minutes to get changed, run 7.5 miles, shop, shower, prep and cook. I knew it would be tough - I remembered meal 22 when I only plated up in time to watch the second half of a game that night. Ever confident of my talents, Lolz literally laughed in my face when I told her of my plan.

Crispy Polenta Chicken Caesar Salad

Meal 32 - April 5th - Crispy Polenta Chicken Caesar Salad

I blame Lolz for the fact that this post is 48 hours late. Having told me I would be getting the run of the house on Saturday as she was having a girlie day out with her friends which included going to see the "hit" Spice Girls musical Viva Forever, she went and introduced me to a new iPad game. I won't tell you what this game actually is as work place productivity around the world will be in serious peril once word gets out. Suffice to say it was (and is) extremely addictive and aside for a brief break watching Match of the Day, and a very brief break for dinner, I did very little else. Today we have been out for a birthday brunch with friends which included "freeflowing" prosecco (or, "drink as much as you can" as we decided to interpret it). So apologies if this is in any way incomprehensible.

Grilled Mushroom Sub, Smoky Pancetta, Melted Cheese and Pears

Meal 31 - March 31st - Grilled Mushroom Sub, Smoky Pancetta, Melted Cheese and Pears

I'm a quarter of the way through my challenge and in that time there have been a few hiccups - failing to find the right ingredients, timing issues, nearly setting fire to the kitchen. And now, err, poisoning people. Maybe.