As a home cook, I like having dishes up my sleeve that don’t rely on a recipe, instead letting ingredients, hunger, memory, and whimsy dictate what I make. Intuitive cooking makes me feel self-sufficient, capable, and a little bit smug.
Don’t get me wrong, cooking from recipes and cookbooks is my preferred way to navigate the question of ‘what should we eat?’, and, as Kate Gibbs describes, it’s also a way for us to step away from same-tasting dishes.
But cook from recipes we must. It’s the only way the food you cook will stop tasting like the food you’ve always cooked. Using better quality ingredients aside, following the recipe is the only way to deliciousness.
I, like many humans, am a creature of habit – so when I try to make something up, I inevitably make dishes that somehow taste the same regardless of the dish I set out to make. I’d be a rubbish recipe developer, so this growing list of ‘wing-it’ recipes and techniques make me feel pretty accomplished. I am keen to find out if you’re an intuitive, recipe-free living being, or a slow but steady ‘working it out’ person like me.
Chicken schnit
AKA therapy.
Who doesn’t want to repeatedly thwack, I mean, tenderise a piece of chicken before breading it and frying until golden? (hypothetical q, obviously not here to incite plant-forward peeps).
You don’t really need a recipe for schnit. You can guesstimate how much flour, egg and crumb you need. Flatten your chicken (preferably thigh, but go on… use the breast if you must) with a rolling pin or something similarly shaped between two sheets of baking paper. Thinly coat with flour (I’m guessing so the egg has something to cling to), then into the bowl of lightly whisked egg, and finally into the bowl with the breaded bits (either breadcrumbs or panko, whatever you fancy).
I like a loaded crumb – a technique I learned from Poh Ling Yeow’s book, Same Same but Different. Essentially, you add aromatics and flavour into the breaded component, in this case, with the panko. Parmesan, flaky salt, pepper, thyme, and parsley. Because why wouldn’t you? Why waste all this surface area of potential flavour?
From here you have 2 options
Fry in fry pan on medium high heat (in heaps of butter and olive oil) until golden on both sides (let’s say 5 mins one side, 3 the other), or;
My preference, spread your breaded chicks out (no overlapping pls) into a big baking tray with olive oil and butter on the bottom, top with more olive oil and knobs of butter into a preheated oven (between 180c to 220c depending on how long you want them to sit in there) and bam, you’re on your way to tasty town. 20-25 mins – so quick and still juicy! because of tenderisation and using thighs.
From here, you can serve as:
a classic chicken schitzel (with a lil salad or veg on the side for freshness – see further down for the easiest garden salad)
top it with some sugo/passata and a layer of melty cheese, whack it back in the oven to make a parmi that will make you weep with joy
in between a soft bread roll with shredded iceberg and mayo to be transported back to ye olde school canteen lunches
cut into strips and served alongside Japanese kare (this is where you add furikake to the panko)
cut up the chicken before/after tenderising (but before egging and breading) and make nuggs
Smashburgers
You can absolutely track my being influenced by smashburgers back to Alison Roman. Why had I never attempted burgers at home before this? For some reason I associated patties/meatballs with faff. Faffing around with adding… stuff to it? Like breadcrumbs, egg, spices, Roy’s sister, Sheree (aka worcestershire), and 20 other ingredients. But then I watched the Home Movies ep on Smashburgers and I was like, oh.. okay. You can just buy mince (not the lean stuff, cos fat is flavour but also, I’m guessing again, holds the patty together) and divide it into however many patties (lets say 100-150gm per burger, give or take), and proceed to flatten (this is the smash component of the smash burger) it in a nice hot cast iron (essential for the char, pls don’t fight this) – season as you go (salt, pepper, onion, American burger cheese).
Time to assemble. I like getting potato buns if they’re available, otherwise the classic burger bun with sesame seeds. Pickles, ketchup, mustard, iceberg lettuce (I like leaving the leaves pretty big and whole, not shredded, maybe ripped and folded in half for convenience and crunch factor). Sometimes I’ll roast some big mushrooms with butter and garlic and whack that in there for a more savoury burger. Once you’ve got your base burger recipe and technique figured out, it’s time to choose your own adventure. Go ham, go bacon, eggs, beets, tomatoes (tell me you’re Australian without telling me you’re Australian lol). Whatever you like. And then when it all gets too much, know that you can strip it all back to a damn good cheeseburger anytime you like.
Assembly notes: have your buns and condiments ready to go as soon as the patties come off the pan. A cold burger is a sad burger. Also why I have no photographic evidence. Eat immediately. Set fire to your mouth.
Baked potatoes
The wholesome potato allows you to easily feed 1 to many, and having a variety of toppings is as good a reason as any to want to cater for many. As a youngster, my aunty would let us build big bonfires up at the farm (when it wasn’t fire danger season, obvs) and throw in foil-wrapped potatoes to snack on later. I like this childhood memory, and I like potatoes.
Wrap up some sizeable potates in some foil and bung ‘em in a 180c oven for an hour. While you’re waiting, you can start prepping your toppings. I’ve taken inspiration from dedicated baked potato cafe menus, but if you’re stuck, just think of what you like putting on pasta, pizza, toast, in tacos, and tortillas. They’ll all get along with the humble potato. Ottolenghi’s jacket potato with egg and tonnato is a lovely way to treat yourself. If your pantry has recently been raided, there’s nothing more luxurious than the ultimate combo: butter and salt.
If you live in the mystical land where leftover potatoes exist, I would totally try flattening one in a hot cast iron pan the next day, smothered in butter for a world-class snack.
Rice and eggs
The ultimate comfort meal, for any time of the day. I won’t insult you with how-to notes. All you need to know is steamed rice (Jasmine) and the egg is typically sunny side up.
Some winning combos:
Rice, eggs with Maggi seasoning sauce
Rice, eggs, soy sauce and gim à la Eric Kim
You could get more involved and make a Vietnamese omelette.
The most basic version contains spring onion, red onion or shallot (whatever you have on hand), and fish sauce to season (to your liking). Approx. 5-6 eggs depending on how big your fry pan is and how thick you’d like your omelette. Fry off your aromatics or mix them all in with the eggs (including the fish sauce). Lightly whisk your eggs – it’s kinda nice to have jammy yolks, and pour into your lightly oiled pan. Fry until it starts to set on the top, you don’t need to flip it if you don’t want to. My mum used to make this pretty dry (i.e. fry it in a medium-high fry pan for a long time), but sometimes I prefer custard-like textures throughout so alter it depending on your mood and taste. Serve over hot rice. Any leftover omelette can be wedged between a banh mi or between slices of toasted white bread.
Solo pasta
We eat dinner at toddler hours during the week (think 5-6pm), but somehow I manage to muster up enough energy on Friday nights to make an elaborate (or pantry) pasta for one. Depending on which direction I take, it might be 8-9pm before I’m curled up on the couch, bowl in hand, iPad on lap, ready to shovel a piping hot fork-full of sauce and noodles into my face. It’s pretty nice. An added bonus is there are no pasta snobs (aka people who don’t eat dry pasta) judging you – isn’t that right, b? If you have no energy, you can deploy plan B and head over to the nearest burger joint to fill the void (everyone deserves a serve of hot chips for making it through another week cosplaying as an adult, I reckon).
Go-tos:
Puttanesca: garlic, olives, capers, anchovy, chilli flakes, and tinned tomatoes. I also learned how to make puttanesca from Poh’s Same Same but Different
Ottolenghi’s pasta alla norma from Simple
Spaghetti alle vongole (I usually make this for a crowd, but there’s no reason you can’t scale this back to a single serve)
Salad
White balsamic. Salt. Pepper. Olive oil. That’s it – that’s all you need to make a bangin’ salad. Tear up some radicchio and cos. Halve some cherry tomatoes. Chop up some parsley. Found half a cucumber rolling around in the crisper? Slice it up. Dress and season. Giant Bordallo Pinheiro salad bowl optional.
Whatever you do, please don’t skimp on the white balsamic. I love the Oro Nobile version, the same one used by the legends at Lucia’s in their paninis. Actually, don’t skimp on any of these – get the best dressing EVOO you can afford and break out the Maldon. You’ll never look at the anything-but-basic garden salad ever again. So long, sad wilted leaves being scraped into the compost bin. Have a lovely time in my belly.
The other salad that’s saved my butt a number of times is the panzanella. The main ingredients are bread (stale and torn into bite-size chunks), tomatoes (ripe), and onions (red). Optional ingredients include basil, cucumber, olives, anchovy, capers, and beans, but as with many things in life, simple is best.
Spread the bread on a tray and toast in a preheated 180c oven for ~10 mins. In the meantime, cut tomatoes into chunks and salt (to draw out liquid and bring out the flavour) – don’t discard the liquid. This will be used to soak the bread (I know, you’re making a crunchy thing soggy but it’s good. Promise). Slice up the onion and any other ingredients you want to add.
The dressing is made with red wine vinegar, a smidge of grated/minced garlic and olive oil, but I’ve subbed out the red wine vinegar for the white balsamic before. Throw everything together and dress. Taste and season for balance. Add some parsley if you want more colour (who doesn’t?).
That’s it, gang! As mentioned earlier, I’m keen to know what’s on your ‘off by heart’ list. What dishes make you feel like you can take on anything? That you’ll be alright in a zombie apocalypse. What are your go-tos?
"off by heart, off the chart"
Risotto is my off by heart recipe. I’ve been making it since I was in high school. My new thing for risotto is putting in a Parmesan rind (or similar) into the risotto while the stock is absorbing for extra flavour, also handy if you are otherwise low on cheese to actually add later on or for garnish. What I add to the risotto changes almost every time I make it and even if I’m just making it for myself I make a full batch purely so there are leftovers- because I always want leftovers!