Cooking is an activity where a helping hand is always welcome—provided you can work together closely as a team and aim to have fun. All recipes are twice as satisfying when they’ve been made with two pairs of hands, so get to it: put on some music, open a bottle of wine and light the hob. Now all you need to decide is who does what… who’s the chef and who’s the kitchen hand? To help you out, here are some ideas for two in the kitchen:
Cannelloni: a classic for helping hands
Cannelloni are just the thing, because while one of you is working on one stage, the other can be getting on with the other. First you need to make the filling: tuna, tomato, mince and pâté (to bind it together and make it smooth and tasty), spinach and pine nut. And cook or hydrate the pasta sheets.
Once it’s ready, the kitchen hand should spread the strained pasta sheets on cloths, arrange the filling and roll the cannelloni. Meanwhile, the chef should make the béchamel sauce: extra-virgin olive oil, flour, milk, salt, nutmeg, plenty of patience and lots of stirring. You want to get a light, smooth sauce without any lumps. Pour the sauce over the cannelloni on an oven tray and cook au gratin.
Turkey breast stuffed with king prawns and port sauce
Teamwork! While one of you fillets and halves the turkey breasts, the other can be peeling the fresh king prawns. Once you’re done, place some fresh spinach leaves on top of each piece of turkey, along with 3 or 4 king prawns, and roll them up and tie with kitchen string. Gently poach some onion in extra-virgin olive oil and sear the rolls. Put by.
Now, one of you should place the breasts in the oven, and keep watch until the prawns are cooked. Take them out and remove the kitchen string. The other one should be making the sauce on the hob: you’ll need a glass of port, a glass of chicken stock and 200 ml of evaporated milk. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with the meat.
Mexican style: I’ll make the guacamole; you make the fajitas
One can slave over the hot stove, while the other keeps cool. For the guacamole you’ll need 2 avocados, 40 g spring onions, 80 g tomatoes, half a lime, half a teaspoonful of chopped, fresh coriander and salt. Chop all the ingredients up finely (leave the avocados until last as they’ll go brown quickly) and mix together. Add salt, a dash of lime juice and flavour to taste. You can add chilli pepper or tabasco for an extra bite.
Meanwhile, the chef can be making the fajita filling: for example, strips of beef with green, red and yellow peppers, chunks of onion, peeled, cubed tomato and a pinch of chill pepper or tabasco. Fry everything together in extra-virgin olive oil.
Warm the tortillas and serve the guacamole with totopos. Time to take off your aprons, pour yourselves another glass of wine and enjoy the food and company.
