Do you remember Ready Steady… Cook?

If you don’t, or as a reminder, the object of this TV cookery show was for 2 competing chefs to cook a meal in 20 minutes from a bag of mystery ingredients brought in by two contestants usually costing £5 plus the chefs could use store cupboard essentials like eggs, butter, bread, pasta, rice, herbs, garlic, stock cubes, that sort of thing.

So with this in mind go out with a fiver and see what you can buy, go to your local market or greengrocer as they are usually cheaper than a supermarket perhaps pick your favourite fish or vegetable or ingredient, and get ready to unleash your creativity in the kitchen this can be relaxing to do so don’t rush as this can be used as valuable thinking time (even though in the show they only had 20 minutes) this will then supply you, and perhaps a friend or loved one or your family with a freshly invented meal to help with your art work life balance.

Sometimes what the chefs made on Ready Steady Cook was a bit random so perhaps you should also include in your shopping bag of ingredients something you’ve never cooked before, like scallops for example, or chorizo sausages, they also used to come up with a name for the dish based on a tongue twister using the ingredients or a fact learnt about the contestant who brought in the bag, maybe you could do the same.

This was my Ready Steady cook meal – fairly simple and if I’m honest I’ve cooked something similar before, I might add something more adventurous at a later date!

Adams’ Ready Steady Cook Art Work Life Balance Chick Pea Chorizo Sausage Casserole

About 4 servings

Ingredients

Chickpeas 50p at Thompsons Greengrocers

Red Pepper  20p bargain at Thompsons Greengrocers

an onion (10p?) as above

couple of garlic cloves

6 chorizo sausages about £3.00

2 tins of tomatoes (92.5p – Thompsons do 4 for £1.85)

some thyme and basil

bay leaf

half teaspoon paprika

half a stock cube

and some percy pepper

Method

First fry the sausage in a little oil, medium heat, until browned and almost cooked on all sides, add more oil and chopped garlic, onion and paprika, followed by red pepper. After the garlic and onion have softened about 5 minutes, add tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, and basil, and bring to gentle bubble add the half stock cube with about a cup of boiled water. put the lid on the pan and leave in the oven at about 150c or lower, you can serve this after about 30 minutes or you can leave it until you need it and reheat it on the hob, or at least that’s what I did. Serve with Crusty Bread, or vegetables, a Jacket potato, or whatever you’d like.