April 8th – "Tutti a mangiare!"
6First, a bit of score keeping. Many thanks to @mfladd for providing another excellent Galactic Goat graphic:
As this is less sheep-like, it better embodies the spirit of Galactic Goatdom. Kinda looks more like me too.
Tutti a mangiare!
Surely you’re all familiar with the reputation that goats will eat anything…
Galactic Goat is no exception. The Goat eats. A LOT. He has an enormous appetite, but he doesn’t exactly have what might be referred to as a “discriminating palate”. It would be cost prohibitive to feed his huger with good food, so he settles for plentiful food. Unfortunately, the Goat isn’t what could even accidentally be accused of being a great cook.
Also, the Goat doesn’t love washing dishes. His little hooves get all pruned up in the dishwater.
These factors create a sort of perfect void to be filled by one-pot meals. Plentiful, inexpensive, simple to make, and easy to clean up. But who wants to eat canned ravoli or Hamburger Helper all the time? So Galactic Goat has developed some amount of skill at taking an off-the-shelf packaged product and giving it a little finesse. Further, he’s fine tuned his cooking methods to create as little cleanup as possible.
For example, the old standby, sgetti:
Brown about a pound of ground beef or Italian sausage in a pot. Just before it’s done cooking, toss in a bag of pre-diced onions from the grocer’s frozen food section. Stir it up, then dump in two jars of sauce (sorry, the Goat has to draw the line at canned sauce, choosing to spend the extra few cents for a jar of a national brand). Fill each jar with hot water from the tap and pour into the pot, then heat on medium until bubbling. Add a pound of your favorite pasta. If you’re a fan of the earthy fungus, a can of 'shrooms contributes to the taste. Galactic Goat preferrs penne, farfalle, fusilli and conchiglie because of the way they retain sauce. Particularly tasty as a result of the cooking method. Continue on a medium simmer (stirring regularly) until the pasta is cooked to your liking. Galactic Goat prefers his pasta a little softer than most. Al dente has just a bit too much tooth for the Goat’s preference, so he usually has to simmer for about 30-40 minutes. For faster cooking time, use more water, and cook uncovered, but be prepared to clean up the mess!
The result is a hearty, savory pasta infused with flavour.
Galactic Goat is looking for new one-pot meals to add to his menu. How about sharing your favorite no-prep, one pot dish?
Bon appetit!
- 5 comments, 21 replies
- Comment
Goats don’t eat ice cream!
@lilsrm123
Goats eat anything they get near.
When I think of one pot and no prep I still think crock pot; the Instant Pot mindset hasn’t completely set in. So here are some easy ones:
Pork butt + bbq sauce, cook down all day and shred for easy pulled pork. It’s not real bbq but it’ll do in a pinch. Make sandwiches, or even easier, make nachos with it.
Haven’t done this in a while, but frozen chicken tenderloins, canned biscuits (quartered), a can of cream of chicken and a can of cream of mushroom soup makes passable chicken & dumplings. Again, not as good as the real thing, but you did zero work.
Use the crock pot liner bags and you have zero cleanup. Here lately I get in a rush in the morning and keep forgetting the liner until after I already put the stuff in the pot, so I’m stuck scrubbing stoneware afterward. This has been for things with more prep, like quartering potatoes and chopping carrots and onions for pot roast. I actually forgot about this super easy stuff in writing about now until I read your post.
Outside the crock pot, I used to do something similar to your pasta recipe. Take your choice of pasta, a jar of sauce, and the same frozen chicken tenderloins and put them all in a 9x13 casserole. Add parmesan to the top, and bread crumbs if you’re feeling froggy. Bake at 375 until the chicken is done (1:15 to 1:30 if memory serves) for bootleg chicken parmesan.
@djslack Love the chicken parm idea. I’ll try that one tomorrow night.
I have a big 6qt crock pot, but after a few uses got bored with all the scrub-a-dub cleanup and pretty much gave up on it. Honestly, I had no idea pot liners were even a thing. I’ll definitely check for them at the market. That one tip alone could cause a paradigm shift in my cooking habits.
Great ideas Sir, thank you!
@ruouttaurmind The Reynold’s ones are the most common – and they work well … at a price. I may get these instead when I run out of the ones I have:
https://www.amazon.com/PanSaver-Clean-Cooking-Cooker-Liners/dp/B000KERJ4Q
@ruouttaurmind These are what I have:
@djslack About forty cents a bag in Prime Pantry. Definitely worth a shot.
The InstantPot has a slow cooker setting; after I got it and tested it I got rid of my old faithful crock pot. Favorite slow cooker recipe: dredge a beef pot roast in flour, add an envelope of dried onion soup (store brand is fine). Add V-8 or tomato juice to cover, put some onion slices in and mushrooms if you like them. Microwave baked potatoes. The best part is the hot roast beef sandwiches for a couple of days. No liner needed; the stainless pan goes directly into the dishwasher.
@OldCatLady I’ve done a couple beef roasts in the crock pot, but the bottom always seems to get burned. Any tips to avoid this?
I saw this idea somewhere recently, but haven’t tried it yet.
@ruouttaurmind Spacing it up is a good method. Slow cookers are hotter these days than in the past.
I typically do a roast + enough salsa to cover in the slow cooker. It keeps it nice and moist.
@narfcake
Right? I thought maybe it was just mine. Even on low, it’s hotter than hades.
@ruouttaurmind whenever I do a roast in the crock pot, I line the bottom with vegetables that soak up all the meaty goodness. New potatoes or quartered regular ones if that’s what’s on hand, carrots, and onions are my go to. No burning issues then.
It could also be that my crock pot is different and doesn’t get as hot. I haven’t tried the instant pot slow cooker mode but I imagine it has much better temperature control than any regular crock pot.
If you need a spacer and don’t want to wash a bunch of forks, you could roll up a snake of foil and coil it up in the bottom of the crock pot and then dispose/recycle it when you’re done.
@ruouttaurmind slow cookers are hotter than the past because people kept trying to cook food from frozen and they were getting food poisoning because it took too long.
My warm setting is like the old low. Low setting is like the old high. My high setting boils everything.
Best thing you can do is fill with water, and measure the temps to see what each setting raises it to.
@ruouttaurmind In my crock pot, I put onions cut in half sideways on the bottom. Maybe 2-3 onions. In the InstantPot, I use the lifter/trivet that comes with it. Or you can buy something like this:
@OldCatLady The Goat’s crock is oval. But I’m sure if I shop around I’ll find a similar item to fit.
Y’all put more energy into all this than I do.
One pot meal:
But I’m not completely into health food or anything. Just into not doing any work.
Take out one-pot meal from Railhead BBQ:
Here’s another one pot health food meal:
And several more one pot meal ideas:
This last is the Black Forest Cake from the Swiss Pastry Shop on Vickery Blvd.
And for special occasions:
F Scott Fitzgeral’s recipe for
Turkey with Whiskey Sauce:
This recipe is for a party of four. Obtain a gallon of whiskey, and allow it to age for several hours. Then serve, allowing one quart for each guest. The next day the turkey should be added, little by little, constantly stirring and basting.
(the sauce can be customized to taste)
@shrdlu, what is that ice cream or gelato you’ve mentioned being fond of? I failed to write down the name. Do you know if any large or nationwide chains carry it?
@f00l Well, I’m off to a fair start on your one pot recipes.
@ruouttaurmind
AttaGoat!
PS, if you think you’ve already eaten too much, you can always wait and server the turkey later.
@f00l I’m trying to remember the name of the gelato that I knew the name of right up until you asked. Ah, found it. It’s Talenti:
http://www.talentigelato.com/
It says it’s in Dallas, everywhere from Whole Foods to Target.
@Shrdlu
Oooooh. Goody. ; )
6 locs within 10 miles or so.
Had to ninja edit. Was so busy fantasizing about gelato that I didn’t say TY.
All apologies. Thanks very much.
Now back to the fantasies.
@woodhouse
Twilight Zone - S03E24 - To Serve Man
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4z3rab
@ruouttaurmind
Too easy to remember.
Of course, as @Pantheist could tell you, the Simpsons had a thing around this in the very first Treehouse of Horror episode entitled “Hungry are the damned”.
Clip from that subepisode:
@PlacidPenguin I love how despite having not watched Simpsons in over 4 years, I know every clip you post.
@Pantheist
I haven’t watched it for a bit longer than that, yet I still remember them.
(Then again, the clips I posted are from episodes in the box which I mentioned earlier this week, and I DID read that book quite a few times, so…)
@Pantheist
If I wasn’t already spending this month coming up with Twilight Zone episodes for @ruouttaurmind and @woodhouse, I’d come up with links to clips from the Simpsons for you.
@PlacidPenguin next month?