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Free, from episode 4

10 old British one-pan dinners for one

When it's just you at the table, the cooking's the easy bit. It's the three pans afterwards that put you off. So here are the dinners our mums made in one tin or one frying pan, from pan haggerty to a whole Sunday dinner, with what each costs today.

Download the printable sheet (PDF) Watch Peggy on YouTube

Peggy's three rules for one-pan cooking

  1. Line the tin with baking paper or foil. Except for a Yorkshire pudding: that wants a bare tin and smoking-hot fat.
  2. Hard things go in first: potatoes and carrots before sausages, and fish last of all.
  3. Give it room. A crowded tin steams instead of browning.

Thaw meat in the fridge overnight, never cook it from frozen. Cook sausages, pork and chicken right through, with no pink in the middle. Only a grill-safe pan with a metal handle goes under the grill.

Pan Haggerty

Pan Haggerty

You need

  • 1 large potato
  • 1 small onion
  • 60g grated Cheddar
  • A knob of butter

From the cupboard: Salt and pepper

Hob, then grill · frying pan with a metal handleAbout 40 minutesServes 1About 90p a plate ($1.20)

Method

  1. Slice the potato and onion as thin as you can.
  2. Melt the butter in the frying pan. Layer the potato and onion with half the cheese, seasoning as you go, and finish with potato.
  3. Put a lid on, or a plate, and cook very gently for about 25 minutes, till the potato is soft right through.
  4. Scatter the rest of the cheese on top and grill till golden and bubbling.

A rasher of bacon snipped in between the layers makes it Sunday best.

Leftovers: fridge within 2 hours, eat within 2 days. Reheat once in the pan till piping hot.

Egg and Chips

Egg and Chips

You need

  • 1 large potato
  • 2 eggs
  • A slice of bread and butter

From the cupboard: 1 tbsp oil, salt and malt vinegar

Oven 200°C · 180 fan · gas 6 · 400°FAbout 45 minutesServes 1About 80p a plate ($1.10)

Method

  1. Cut the potato into chunky chips and dry them in a clean tea towel.
  2. Toss them in the oil with a pinch of salt and spread them out on a lined tray.
  3. Roast for 30 minutes, giving them a shake halfway.
  4. Push the chips to the sides and crack the eggs into the gaps. 6 to 7 minutes, till the whites are set.
  5. Salt and vinegar on the chips, and the bread and butter for a chip butty.

Runny yolk? British Lion eggs are fine runny. In the US, the advice is to cook eggs till the yolks are firm.

Eat it straight away, while the chips are crisp.

Fish in a Parcel

Fish in a Parcel

You need

  • 1 white fish fillet
  • 150g new potatoes
  • A knob of butter
  • 1 slice of lemon
  • A handful of frozen peas

From the cupboard: Salt and pepper; a splash of milk and a pinch of parsley, if you like

Oven 200°C · 180 fan · gas 6 · 400°FAbout 45 minutesServes 1About £1.35 a plate ($1.80)

Method

  1. Halve the potatoes and roast them on a lined tray for 20 minutes.
  2. Lay the fish on a sheet of foil with the butter, lemon and peas, and the milk and parsley if you like. Fold it into a loose parcel.
  3. Sit the parcel next to the potatoes and bake 15 to 20 minutes, or 5 to 10 minutes more if the fish was frozen.
  4. It's done when the fish flakes apart when you press it with a fork, and the peas are piping hot.

Cod or haddock if you're flush, a frozen fillet of the cheapest if you're not. Nobody can tell under a bit of butter.

Best eaten straight away, while it's steaming.

Sausage and Onion Traybake

Sausage and Onion Traybake

You need

  • 3 pork sausages
  • 1 potato
  • 1 red onion

From the cupboard: 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp gravy granules

Oven 200°C · 180 fan · gas 6 · 400°FAbout 50 minutesServes 1About £1.10 a plate ($1.50)

Method

  1. Cut the potato into wedges and the onion into quarters. Toss them in the oil on a lined tray.
  2. Roast for 20 minutes. Add the sausages and roast 25 minutes more, turning everything once.
  3. Cut a sausage open to check. Steaming hot with no pink in the middle, and they're done.
  4. Sprinkle the gravy granules over the onions, add a splash of boiling water from the kettle and stir. There's your gravy.

Don't prick them. Our mums always did, and all the flavour ran out into the tin.

Leftover sausages: fridge within 2 hours, eat within 2 days, cold or reheated once till piping hot.

Gammon and Pineapple

Gammon and Pineapple

You need

  • 1 gammon steak
  • 1 tinned pineapple ring
  • A pinch of brown sugar
  • 150g new potatoes
  • A handful of frozen peas

From the cupboard: A little oil

Oven 200°C · 180 fan · gas 6 · 400°FAbout 40 minutesServes 1About £2 a plate ($2.70)

Method

  1. Halve the potatoes, toss them in the oil and roast them on a lined tray for 20 minutes.
  2. Snip the fat round the edge of the gammon so it doesn't curl up. Lay it on the tray with the pineapple ring on top.
  3. Sprinkle the sugar on the pineapple. Roast about 15 minutes, till the gammon is cooked through.
  4. Put the peas in a corner of the tray for the last 5 minutes, till piping hot.

Some pubs gave you a fried egg instead of the pineapple. Egg or pineapple? Tell Peggy in the comments on YouTube.

Leftover gammon: fridge within 2 hours, eat within 2 days. Lovely cold in a sandwich.

Lamb Chops and New Potatoes

Lamb Chops and New Potatoes

You need

  • 2 small lamb chops
  • 150g new potatoes
  • 1 carrot
  • A sprig of rosemary
  • A handful of frozen peas
  • Mint sauce

From the cupboard: A little oil, salt and pepper

Oven 200°C · 180 fan · gas 6 · 400°FAbout 45 minutesServes 1About £3.20 a plate ($4.30)

Method

  1. Halve the potatoes and toss them in a little oil with the rosemary. Roast on a lined tray for 20 minutes.
  2. Add the chops and the carrot, cut into thin sticks. Roast 15 minutes more, turning the chops once.
  3. Rest the chops on a warm plate for a few minutes. Peas in the tin and back in the oven 5 minutes, till piping hot. Mint sauce on the side.

Mint sauce from a jar is fine. Or chop fresh mint with a pinch of sugar and a splash of vinegar, like our mums did.

Best eaten hot, straight from the tin.

Full English Traybake

Full English Traybake

You need

  • 2 pork sausages
  • 2 rashers of bacon
  • Half a tomato, a few mushrooms
  • 1 egg
  • 1 slice of bread

From the cupboard: A little oil; baked beans, if you like

Oven 200°C · 180 fan · gas 6 · 400°FAbout 40 minutesServes 1About £1.60 a plate ($2.10)

Method

  1. Roast the sausages on a lined tray for 20 minutes.
  2. Add the bacon, the tomato and the mushrooms. Roast 10 minutes more.
  3. Make a little gap and crack in the egg. Brush the bread with oil and lay it next to it.
  4. Back in for about 6 minutes, till the white is set. Runny yolks are fine with British Lion eggs; in the US, cook till firm.
  5. Check the sausages are steaming hot with no pink. Warm a few beans in a mug in the microwave, if you like.

From Lancashire? A slice of black pudding goes in with the bacon. I won't argue about it.

Eat it hot, straight from the tin. A fry-up doesn't keep.

Seventies Curry with Sultanas

Seventies Curry with Sultanas

You need

  • 125g beef mince
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tbsp mild curry powder
  • Half an apple, a few sultanas
  • 75g rice (a third of a mug)

From the cupboard: A little oil and a stock cube; mango chutney, if you like

Hob · deep frying pan with a lidAbout 30 minutesServes 1About £1.40 a plate ($1.90)

Method

  1. Fry the chopped onion in a little oil in a deep frying pan, then add the mince and brown it, breaking it up.
  2. Stir in the curry powder, the apple chopped small and the sultanas.
  3. Add the rice and 250ml hot stock. Stir once, put the lid on and simmer very gently for 15 minutes.
  4. It's ready when the rice is tender and the mince is steaming hot with no pink. Mango chutney on the side, if you're feeling fancy.

The rice cooks in the curry. We'd never have dreamt of it, but it saves a pan.

Leftover rice: cool within an hour, fridge it, eat within a day, reheat once till piping hot.

Pork Chop with Apples

Pork Chop with Apples

You need

  • 1 pork chop
  • 1 potato
  • 1 onion
  • 1 eating apple
  • A few sage leaves

From the cupboard: A little oil, salt and pepper; mustard on the side

Oven 200°C · 180 fan · gas 6 · 400°FAbout 50 minutesServes 1About £1.75 a plate ($2.30)

Method

  1. Cut the potato into chunks, toss it in a little oil and roast on a lined tray for 20 minutes.
  2. Add the onion cut into wedges, the apple cut into eight, and the sage leaves.
  3. Snip the fat on the chop so it doesn't curl up, and lay it on the tray.
  4. Roast 20 to 25 minutes, turning the chop halfway, till it's steaming hot and cooked right through with no pink.

A spoon of mustard on the side, and you'll wonder why you ever bothered with three pans.

Leftover pork: fridge within 2 hours, eat within 2 days, reheat once till piping hot.

Sunday Dinner in One Tin

Sunday Dinner in One Tin

You need

  • 1 chicken leg
  • 2 potatoes, 1 carrot, 1 onion
  • Batter: 1 egg, 50g plain flour, 75ml milk

From the cupboard: 1 tbsp oil, gravy granules, salt and pepper

Oven 200°C · 180 fan · gas 6 · 400°F, then 220°C · 200 fan · gas 7 · 425°FAbout 1 hour 15 minutesServes 1About £1.55 a plate ($2.10)

Method

  1. Don't line the tin for this one. Roast the chicken leg, chunks of potato and carrot and the onion in wedges with the oil, 45 minutes.
  2. When it's steaming hot, with no pink by the bone and the juices clear (75°C / 165°F), lift it all onto a warm plate under foil.
  3. Turn the oven up to 220°C · 200 fan · gas 7 · 425°F. Put the tin back in for 5 minutes, till the fat's smoking hot.
  4. Whisk the batter in a jug. With oven gloves on, pour it into the hot fat, away from you. Shut the door for 20 minutes and don't open it.
  5. Sit your dinner in the middle of the pudding, and gravy from granules over the lot.

Gravy from granules, in a jug. Nobody's checking.

Best eaten straight away. Leftover chicken: fridge within 2 hours, eat within 2 days.

Want more? One-Pan Dinners for One has all ten of these and fifteen more.

See One-Pan Dinners

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