Julie Van Rosendaal's tasty TV dinners please any couch crowd

TV dinners no longer consist exclusively of meat and gravy, veggies and a dessert, all frozen in a sectioned aluminum tray.

Most any one-dish meal you can eat with just a fork baked pasta, curries, noodles, stew makes an ideal dinner to eat in front of the television.

But if it's more of a social occasion and you have a few extra people on the couch, here are a few flavourful recipes to feed your crowd and maybe even get them involved in their own dinner assembly.

Pan sliders

Start with a package of those soft dinner buns that are stuck together.

Slice it open crosswise and treat it like a giant sandwich.

Fill it with cooked ground beef, roasted chicken or turkey, scrambled eggs or bacon. Usecaramelized onions and cheese to hold it all together.

Bake it in the ovenand pull apart to eat.

Ingredients

Canola or olive oil, for cooking

1 lb ground beef

Barbecue sauceto taste

1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 package of tray buns

Mayonnaise (optional)

Handful or two of grated aged cheddar or Gouda

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 F/177 C.

Drizzle some oil into a skillet set over medium-high heat.

Cook the beef, breaking it up with a spoonuntil it's no longer pink.

Add enough barbecue sauce to moisten it or more if you love it saucy.

In a separate skillet (or in the same one if youmove the meat to a bowl), cook the onion in another drizzle of oiluntil golden.

Slice the whole sheet of dinner buns crosswise, opening it up like a book.

On the cut buns, spread mayonnaise (or mustard, if that works with your filling) and spread with the meat mixture and onion. Then sprinkle with cheese.

Put the top of the buns on top and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until warmed through and the cheese has melted.

Serve immediately.

Serving: Feeds nine to 12.

Braised pork carnitas

Carnitas,or "little meats," traditionallyare made with braised pork and oranges.

You could use the same technique with beef. Perhaps toss in chili powder, salt and pepper. Brown, then braise with a cup or so of beer or stock.

Traditionally, carnitas are cooked with oranges. Acouple mandarins are perfect; there are always a few squishy ones in the box.

Ingredients

Canola or olive oil, for cooking

1 two to four lb pork shoulder, untied

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 to 2 onions, halved and thinly sliced

2 to 3 garlic cloves, crushed

Beer or chicken stock

2 to 3 mandarin oranges

Small handful of cilantro (optional)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 300F/149C.

Set a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add a drizzle of oil.

Brown the meat on all sides, seasoning it with salt and pepper. Letit sit to develop a nice crust on each side.

Transfer to a plate and add the onions to the pot.

• Hear Julie Van Rosendaal on TV-watching foods for the Grey Cup:

Cook for a few minutes, loosening up any browned bits in the bottom of the pan.

Stir in the garlic.

Set the pork on top of the onions and pour in enough beer or stock to come about halfway up the side.

Tuck in a few halved mandarin oranges, squeezing some of their juice over the meat first, if you like.

Toss in a handful of cilantro (or not).

Cover and cook for three to fivehoursor until the meat is very tender.

If you like, remove it from the oven and prod the meat a bit or flip it over halfway through.

Spoon off any excess fat. If you like, cool and refrigerate, then lift off the excess fat before reheating.

Shred with forks. Tosswith juices and broken-down onions and oranges. Add more saltif it needs it.

To crisp the meat, spread the shredded meat out into a pan and put it into a hot oven at 400 F/204 C or so. Or put itunder the broiler for a few minutes to give it crispy edges.

Serve with small corn or flour tortillas with purple onion, crumbled feta, avocado and cilantro or whatever you like.

Serving: Lots.

Hoisinpork lettuce wraps

These don't have to be pork. Ground turkey or beef also workwell.

You can even try roughly chopped shrimp or veggies, such assweet potatoes, rutabaga or Brusselssprouts. Chop and roastor cookright in the skillet.

Ingredients

Canola or vegetable oil, for cooking

Sesame oil, for cooking

1 red pepper, seeded and diced

1 lb ground pork

2 tbspsoy sauce, or to taste

Small handful of cilantro, chopped (optional)

Few green onionschopped

1/3 cup hoisin sauce, or to taste

Chopped peanuts, for serving

Small red or green leaf or butter lettuce leaves, for serving

Preparation

Set a large skillet over medium-high heat.Add a drizzle of canola and sesame oil.

Saut the pepper for a few minutesuntil it startsto soften.

Add the pork and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon until it's no longer pink.

Add soy sauce, cilantro and onions to the pan.

Breakeverything up and stirto combine until it's cooked and excess moisture has cooked off.

Add the hoisin sauce and stir to heat through.

Serve the pork mixture in a bowl.

Topwith peanuts. Uselettuce leaves to wrap, roll and eat.

If you like, serve extra cilantro and peanuts alongside for people to add to their lettuce wraps.

Serving: Four to six.

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener

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