h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Cous cous.

Try a bit less passata to get a thicker, drier sauce.

Then, 5 mins before the meatballs are ready make cous cous.

Put 250 G of couscous in a bowl with a whole stick of cinnamon, and a couple of bay leaves. Add 1/2 pint of good tasty veg stock and a knob of butter and stir in. leave for 5 mins, then fork over.

Serve the lot and proceed to eat with fingers, remembering to dribble and make a mess. Finish with some flat bread to mop up.

Yummy! Nice one!

Cous cous. I'll have to try that one (usually too skint to afford anything other than rice )

How is this a recipe? There are no quantities for things other than 'half an onion'.

I had a hard time deciding on how big a vat to use for a side of lamb (and it did say that the size was crucial).

My uncle had a restaurant and he made bran muffins by the hundreds using a recipe in which things were measured by handfulls, bags, buckets, etc but for incomprehensibility this puts his recipes in the shade.

Sorry, I prescribe to food for fun way of cooking. Unless you're baking a cake, most of this stuff is to however you personally like it. In fact couscous is the perfect dish to begin making cooking into a laugh and not a chore - you cannot go wrong. You like it dry, add less stock, or make it soupy by adding more. Want it hot?- add chilli flakes. Light scented for say with fish, just add hot water, lemon grass & some lime juice. Whatever. Recipes really should just be a guide or basis for a meal. Take the idea and let your imagination flow. Not sure about something ?, check the recipe. If you stay a slave to recipies though, cooking will never be anything but stressful. The more you practice, the more you get a feel for how YOU like it.
NB. The odd glass of wine whilst cooking can make the job even more fun, so open a bottle and think of the possibilities. Chefs are just posh cooks who've got the hang of it.

These are *meatballs*. It's hardly rocket science. I'm assuming that people can estimate how much or little is needed. I never used any measurements for it, so I can't really be more precise than this:

-one 'pack' of minced lamb from the supermarket; how much is that? 250 grams?
-about 400-500 ml of passata.
-2 or 3 chillies.
-2 or 3 cloves of garlic.

Does this help?

Yes it does help. (Refraining from commenting on metric units and the sad day when Britain gave up its Imperial units .)

If I had a clue I wouldn't need the recipe. I know there are a lot of people who can whip up a feast just starting with some tomatoes and a fry pan...

Thanks!

Sorry - how much is 'some'? Is it a metric or imperial 'some'?

No idea, I never actually measure the amounts I'm using when I make this dish.