Recently I did a video called 5 Ingredient Stonkers where I challenged myself to make a meal using just 5 ingredients per course. So this time I went to the supermarket to do a shop to make another one of these videos with just 5 ingredients, but I had this really weird moment. It hit me that I could do a one off video with just 2 ingredients for each course! Folks, I spend way too long in the supermarket normally. You’ve probably already figured that out from past videos, but this time I was definitely getting some funny looks from the security guard as I went back round the supermarket again putting everything back!
This definitely was a bit of a challenge, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! I did have to set myself some rules though: the 2 ingredients don’t have to include things like cooking oil, butter, water, salt and pepper – but here’s the oily debate, flavoured oil has to count as it’s used as an actual ingredient, that will be relevant later! We also needed to have 3 courses again, starter, main and dessert.
So these don’t need much of a recipe, but here they are anyway if you want to give any of the 2 ingredient recipes a go:
Starter: Filled Jacket Potatoes
Now I’m a bit protective when it comes to baking potatoes – there’s nothing better than a slow oven cooked jacket potato! Don’t get me wrong, Mrs B and I love a microwaved one if we’re short on time, but that caramelisation on an oven cooked one!
First prick your potatoes with a fork, then rub all over with your usual cooking oil – this oil doesn’t count as it’s needed to cook them! Sprinkle with salt and pepper then move them around to make sure they’re coated all over. I cook them in the oven directly on the shelf rather than in a baking tray, but I pop a tray underneath to catch any drips!
Bake in a 180C preheated oven for at least an hour or until golden brown and crispy.
Now pick a sandwich filler, any sandwich filler of your choice! This is the beauty of this dish, a sandwich filler is basically just mayonnaise with a combination of different ingredients. I used chicken and sweetcorn, but you can pick any you like.
Let the potatoes cool a little then scoop out the insides into a bowl, but don’t go completely down to the skin so it still has some strength. Pop the sandwich filler into the bowl too and mash until it’s as smooth or chunky as you like, then spoon back into the potato skins.
Bake these in the oven until the tops are just browning, delicious!
Main: Garlic Chilli Pasta
I had originally planned to do this using chorizo, just cooking that down in the pan to release the oils for a sort of sauce, then the chorizo adding that extra bit of texture. But I wanted to make it suitable for a vegetarian diet too, so this was what I came up with! You could use any type of pasta and get more creative – like wholewheat, green pea etc.
Fill a pan with boiling water, then tip in a splash of your garlic chilli oil. Apparently this is a hack to stop it sticking together, but I’m also thinking that it will start the flavour off and dress it a little when we drain it off – plus we’re going to reserve some of that water for later! Pop in the pasta and cook to packet instructions.
Once the pasta is cooked, pour the reserved water into a smaller saucepan and save for your dessert (I promise this will make sense!), then add a good (and I mean good!) drizzle of the garlic chilli oil. Shake it up, add some pepper and more oil if you need it, and it’s done!
Dessert: Snickers Ravioli
Who doesn’t love the idea of chocolate pasta?! Well, probably a few of us, but this is a good one, I promise!
You could use any chocolate bar or chocolate you like here, but Snickers is a good shout as it has the chocolate, caramel, nougat and nuts – Kinder Bueno would be insane though!
Cut the puff pastry into strips, then chop your Snickers into bite size pieces, but save some for later. Lay them out on a strip of pastry with a gap in between each big enough so that when you lay another strip on top, you can seal it (bayaya). Crimp the edges with a fork to encase it, then pop them into the fridge while you make the others.
Bake these in the oven until they go a gentle golden brown, don’t let them go too far!
Now that reserved pasta water comes in handy here! Pop the rest of your Snickers into a bowl over the saucepan of hot pasta water and let it melt down, then drizzle across the top of your Snickers ravioli for an instant Snickers sauce!