Hot Plate Meals

EI111

I'm a student with two hot plates, one big one small. When both turned on together they are very low heat so normally I can only use one. I have a decent square saucepan about 4 inches deep heavy cast iron. I have one other frying pan and a pot I use to make pasta.
Would anybody care to suggest some easy meanls to cook with this setup? I'm getting sick of bolognese.

The Sweeper

Hot plate cooking:

Make chicken stock, leading then to one pot meals like chicken soup (clear broth), chicken noodle soup, chicken and corn soup, and then chicken stew (lots of vegetables and potatoes), and also to risotto including chicken risotto, chicken and mushroom risotto, and chicken and spinach risotto using the stock and the chicken; paella (using the chicken stock and the chicken); and a number of various and unnamed chicken and rice meals, cooked in a single pot or pan by absorption, including vegetables and herbs/spices (the chicken and chorizo bake on the cooking club threads could be re-engineered for stove-top cooking).

Beef stew. Beef stroganoff. Beef ghoulash. Fried steak and onions. Sausages and onions. Sausages on puy lentils, cooked in stock, with diced vegetables stirred through.

Fried pork chops with apple rings in the pan, served with mashed potatoes and a side of beans.

For most of these dishes, you can cook rice / potatoes first and then strain, and put back into the warm pot you drained them from, and then put the lid on to keep it warm - you can then use the other plate at full blast while the lidded pot keeps the accompanying starch warm without needing heat from the hot plate.

The ubiquitous chili con carne, which can then be served with rice, or with tortillas and melted cheese (and a glass of natural no-added-sugar fruit juice, just so it's not utterly bad for you), or in tortilla wraps with a big handful of salad.

You could simmer meatballs in the pot - good for a few meals, and you can reheat them slowly on a medium heat.

Buy a flatbread, some store-bought hummus and a bag of rocket leaves. Fry off some lamb mince in a dry pan (enough fat usually to fry without oil), and then add some cumin, tumeric and cinnamon, along with some chopped dried apricots and some pine nuts. Add a little hot water from the kettle, and cook, stirring, until the water cooks off and leaves an unctuous, spiced, fruit and nut lamb dish. Top the flatbread with a layer of hummus, then some rocket leaves, then the lamb, and top with a chili sauce to your taste. Then you can either try wrapping the bread up for eating by hand, or just attack with a knife and fork.

Fry a couple of rashers in the pan and have BLTs with tomatoes, good lettuce, mayonnaise and ketchup, between three slices of toast. Massive cup of tea compulsory.

Blanch some noodles in one pot, strain and cover to keep warm; then stir fry chicken and veg in the pan and toss the noodles in straight before serving.

Make tuna pasta - boil pasta; strain. Return to pot. Into the hot pasta, add a tin of tuna, a knob of butter, an emulsion of good olive oil shaken with some lemon juice, and a handful of fresh chopped parsley, with a damn good shake of black pepper.

Try a simple egg carbonara - in the pan, fry off onions and bacon bits with some garlic until the onions are caramelised. Set to one side. Boil spaghettil. Strain it. Return it to the pan. To the hot spaghetti, add the still-warm bacon and onions, and then crack in a raw - yes raw - egg. Stir the egg and the bacon through the pasta. Keep stirring - the heat of the pasta will cook the egg. When the egg is cooked (it will be yellow and clinging to the pasta, and all trace of gooeyness will be gone) stir in a handful of grated parmesan, then serve.

One hotplate: the world is your oyster.

Just fight the craving for a roast.