The simplest dinner in history!!!!

Yes, I wrote that because it truly is the simplest dinner in history. Zero effort, well you have to take the fish out of the freezer or buy it from the store or local market. Lol. The cooking involved is done by our kitchen ally, Mr Oven so you can put your feet up and catch up on gist online, chat with your friends or significant other on the phone while your dinner cooks itself. This is also a very healthy meal, packed with proteins, vitamins and good fats.

I wrote about grilling your meats or fish in a post HERE. Grilling is truly the easiest form of cooking, and it also happens to be the healthiest because you are not deep frying in oil that will clog your arteries. Grilled meats and fish are always juicer and tender because the meats/fish are contained within the confines of the oven and most evaporated juices are usually absorbed back into the meats or fish. If you’ve always fried your fish or meats, grill it today and taste the difference. Also measure your stress and energy level and tell me if this isn’t a very good cooking idea. To my readers in 9ja, you can prepare this too. Simply use cut pieces of fish. I won’t bore you with the details of filleting your own fish. Too much trouble, just cut up your fish as normal. When you buy meat at the local markets, tell the butcher to leave some of the meat in large slabs, which you can cut into fillets on your own at home and freeze for dinners such as this.

I made this right after cooking my deconstructed Efo riro. I had just bought fillets of salmon from the store, and the thought of freezing such gorgeous fish didn’t sit too well with me. So despite my long day, and having already cooked something else, I whipped out the oven tray, placed my ingredients on it and whacked it in the oven. Leaving the oven to do its business, I sat on the sofa browsing furniture sites while on the phone with a friend who is decorating her new house. Apparently after hiring an interior designer, my friends feel they can pick my brain, for free if I might add too. I should start invoicing them, honestly. Katie didn’t come free. Lol.

You will need

1 fillet of fish/ meat 

Cayenne pepper – dry pepper

Salt

1 teaspoon of olive oil

Curry Powder

Thyme

A selection of chunks of vegetables you have at home or can easily purchase – cherry tomatoes, ata rodo, onions, cucumber or zucchini, red and green bell peppers. 

How To

Dinner on easy street begins

1. Cut your vegetables – you are not chopping finely. This an express and rustic meal. So, as you will see in the picture below, just whack them up into any shape you like. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: It is not meant to look pretty. when you grill vegetables, they need to be of bigger size to withstand the heat from the grill. So, no salad sized veggies here.

2. Get out the oven tray. Place your meat or fish on the tray alongside the vegetables.

3. Sprinkle over the seasonings, and olive oil and place in the oven. If you are using meat – beef, lamb, goat, veal, score the meat with a sharp knife i.e. make 2 or 3 incisions in the flesh of the meat on both sides. The incisions should not be so deep as to come out on the other side, just deep enough to let the heat and spices seep through. Curry and Dried thyme are are my favourite seasonings. if you have your own favourite combos, by all means use them just be careful with fish. You don’t want to overpower it with spices to the detriment of letting its natural flavour shine through.

4. Turn the dial to grill which is the wavy line marker on the oven knob or dial. Set the temperature to 220 or 230 and close the oven.

…….and that is it. In 4 simple steps. It will need to be in the oven for at least 10 minutes if you are using fish. So, before you set off on that long phone call on the sofa, set the timer.

Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: If you are using fish, place it skin side down. You have to go check on it at least every 5 minutes so you can flip the meat or fish over. In the case of fish, flip it over, so that the skin can crisp up. I don’t know about you, but I totally detest soppy fish skin. Ugh!!! With meats on the other hand, you will need to leave in the oven for longer. For my 9ja readers, our meats are usually much tougher, so give it at least 20 minutes. For my readers who like their meats medium rare, please pay close attention to your meat so you don’t over cook it.

Dinner is ready.  Now, how does that feel? Great right? A meal with no effort it is almost ridiculous. It is worthy to note that you can do this even for dinner for a family. As long as your oven tray can fit in your fish and meats.

If you are not uber health conscious, you can serve this with a side of fried chips, which is what I did or you boil some rice and serve with stew from the fridge or freezer.

I have also started my hair journey. I am not blogging about that, thankfully. I have not been so inspired by youtube videos before, not to talk of videos on growing relaxed hair. So tomorrow is deep conditioning day while I undergo my big weekend cookout. Ms Socially Awkward who sent in her Ofe Nsala recipe has spurred me into action so I will be cooking Ofe Onugbu (bitter leaf soup), assorted meat pepper soup – so I can add pictures to an earlier post HERE. I will also be making stew, and as an off shoot of that, I will be preparing peppered chicken so I can write about it for readers who requested for my recipe.

Those are my ideas for now. If there is something you will like me to cook, so I can post the recipe, well you have between now and tomorrow afternoon to request via email or drop a comment. Have a lovely weekend folks and Happy Fathers day to all our amazing dads. My dad is the best dad though. Lol