Week Eleven: Breakfast Frittata

The weather has been really sunny and the temperature has rocketed to a massive 25 degrees C! I decided to do a summer recipe, so this can be served either hot or at room temperature, either way with plenty of fresh salad and bread. Serves 4. Cost: £1.40 pp

Ingredients
6 eggs, beaten
4 sausages, cut into 1/2" pieces
200g chopped bacon / pancetta
A handful of fresh herbs (thyme, sage, bay...)
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying



 Method
Heat the oven to about 200 degrees C.
In a large frying pan, fry the sausage pieces in a little oil until browned. Put these to one side, then repeat with the bacon / pancetta.
Mix the herbs and seasonings into the beaten eggs, then add 2/3 of the meat and stir.

Pour into the hot frying pan, then immediately add the remaining sausage and bacon.

Allow to cook until the edges turn pale and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, then place in the oven. Cook until the top is just set, then either serve or cover and allow to come to room temperature.

Week Ten: Pulled Pork

This recipe was based on an original from Waitrose and makes a really nice meal that can be served with bread or rice. Cost: approx. £2.00 per person.

Serves 4.
Ingredients:                           
1/2 tsp ground ginger                 
1/2 tsp mustard powder               
1/2 tsp salt                                 
1/2 tsp smoked paprika               
1 tsp tamarind paste
10ml Worcestershire sauce
300g creamed tomatoes
250g tomato sauce (ketchup)
500ml chicken stock
175g dark brown sugar
175ml cider vinegar
4 pork shoulder steaks (or equivalent weight
                                      belly pork in chunks)
1 shallot, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped








Method:
Gently fry the shallot in a little oil until starting to turn golden and caremalised. Add the garlic and fry for another minute. Add the rest of the ingredients (apart from the pork), starting with the spices.

Sear the steaks in hot oil in a frying pan - about a minute on each side.

Add the steaks to the sauce and bring to a gentle simmer. Braise for 1h 30m, half with the lid off and half with it on. Leave the pork to cool in the sauce.

Remove the steaks and pull them apart with two forks.

Depending on the amount of liquid left, you may want to bottle some of the sauce (make sure any jar you use has been sterilised and bring the sauce to a boil before pouring it in).

Return the pulled pork to the remaining sauce, then heat through until piping hot before serving.



(Original recipe: http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/h/heston_s_slow-cookedpulledporkwithcabbageslaw.html)

Week Nine: Green Chicken

This recipe originally came from the July edition of the Sainsbury's Magazine and isn't particularly cheap - I cooked it on skewers on the barbeque instead of in whole pieces under the grill. 
Note: this needs to be marinated for several hours. Cost: £2.70 pp

Serves 4
Ingredients
Spices: 1tsp each cumin and fennel seeds
            1/2 tsp each black peppercorns and cloves
            Seeds from 4 cardamom pods
            7.5cm root ginger, peeled and chopped
            A large handful of mint leaves
            4 cloves of garlic, chopped
            1/2 tsp each turmeric, cinnamon and nutmeg
            2 green chillies, chopped

Others: 10 chicken breasts
            Juice of 1 lemon
            250g natural yoghurt
           
Toast the cumin, fennel, black peppercorns and cloves in a dry frying pan until you can really smell them, then grind with a pestle and mortar or a food processor, along with the cardamom seeds.
Blend the mint, ginger, garlic and chillies in a blender with a little water until you have a paste, then mix this into the yoghurt with everything on the spice list. Add the lemon and mix again.
Chop the chicken into strips about an inch wide and 2 long and toss in the marinade. Leave to infuse (in the marinade) for at least 2 hours. Put some bamboo skewers in water to soak.
Thread the chicken onto the soaked skewers.
Barbeque over a medium heat for approx. 15 minutes, depending on the heat.

Revision Biscuits

I know that most people have trouble with staying motivated while revising... I have problems with actually starting to revise. These biscuits were because I needed to do some chemistry revision and I was feeling lazy, so there's very little cooking involved!

Ingredients:
An even number of digestive biscuits
Some whipping cream
Some icing sugar                                        Precise, I know!
Some vanilla essence
Some chocolate
Some icing

Method:
Melt the chocolate.
Whip together the cream, icing sugar and vanilla.
Sandwich together two digestives with cream, then spread the top with chocolate and allow to set.
Ice with whatever facts need to be remembered, then only eat the ones that you have thoroughly committed to memory!

Week Eight: Cakes and Biscuits

Ok, I know that this isn't exactly a meal, but it was my sister's birthday party and I also wanted some way in which to revise without dying of boredom (revision biscuits to come later...).

Gooey, rich chocolate cake
This will stay moist for several days and is amazingly chocolatey. Don't be put off by the long ingredients list - it's incredibly easy to make!
The decoration is up to you - I haven't included any ingredients for it. My cake was "Cowboys and Indians" themed, to tie in with the party.

Ingredients
85g Plain flour
85g Self-raising flour
200g Caster sugar
200g Brown sugar
200g Unsalted butter
100g Milk chocolate
100g Dark chocolate
75ml Cream / Buttermilk
25g Cocoa powder
3 eggs
1 tbs coffee granules, dissolved in 125ml water
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease (or line) a round tin - about 8" or 20cm diameter.
Break up the chocolate then melt together the chocolate and butter, then stir in the coffee.

Mix together the dry ingredients (sifting is desirable but not entirely necessary).

Beat together the eggs, cream / buttermilk and vanilla, then mix thoroughly into the dry ingredients.

Stir in the chocolate mixture; the final mix is very runny - this worried me, but apart from slight leakage on the part of the tin, it was fine. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

Put in the oven (TIP: If there's any chance of your tin leaking, put a baking tray on the shelf beneath to prevent that burnt toast smell from haunting your oven) and cook for anywhere between 1h 15m and 1h 30m. The top should feel firm to touch.

Leave in the tin until just warm, then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool.

Week Seven Pictures

A note about onions...

If you're anthing like me, you'll find that chopping and even peeling onions causes you to tear up like mad. Here are the solutions I've discovered:

• Sunglasses. Seriously. These only work for a limited amount of time, but they work well for that time!
• Food processor. If you're going to be chopping onions for burgers or something else where you don't need neat slices, this is great.
• Water. Keep a jug of water near by when preparing onions. Once you've topped, tailed and peeled them, dunk them in the water and then again once you've cut them in half. This works really well and the most onions I've ever prepared this way with no tears is 4!

Good luck with your onions!

Week Seven: Turkey burgers with onion marmalade

 Serves 4  - £1.70 per person
Ingredients:
500g turkey mince
1 egg
60g fresh breadcrumbs
A handful of fresh herbs- thyme, sage, bay...
Oil for frying

400g onions. finely sliced
2 dsps brown sugar
3 tsps red wine vinegar
Oil for frying

Method
First, mix together the breadcrumbs and herbs, then add the turkey mince and combine thoroughly with either your (clean) hands or a fork. Put this mixture into the fridge.

Now, start to make the onion marmalade by heating the oil and then adding the onions. Turn the heat down and leave to cook for about 15 minutes with a lid on, adding the sugar after 10.
Next, add the vinegar and cook without a lid on a higher heat for another 10 or so minutes, then remove from the heat and put to one side.

Return to the burger mixture. Shape this into 8 thinnish patty shapes. Heat the oil in a frying pan and place the burgers in - leave enough space to be able to turn them over easily. Leave for about 3 minutes then turn them over and continue to cook for another couple of minutes. Depending on the size of your pan, you may want to keep the cooked burgers hot in a dish in the oven while you cook the rest.

Warm the onion marmalade through then serve with the burgers, some bread rolls and salad.
Enjoy!

Week Six: Vegetable Pie

 Serves 4 Costs less than £1 per person!
Ingredients
For the pastry:
150g Self raising flour
75g Suet - I  used vegetable suet but either's fine
Water

For the filling:
A selection of vegetables.
I used:
1 leek
3 sticks of celery
1 turnip
4 carrots
6 shallots

For the gravy:
About 2 tbs oil
About 3 dsps flour
Marmite
Redcurrant jelly

Method:
 Heat oven to around 220C.







First, make the pastry by mixing the suet and flour, then adding water a tablespoon at a time until you get a firm but not sticky dough. Cover and put to one side.

Chop the vegetables into largish and similarly sized chunks.

Blanch each vegetable in turn, roughly 5 minutes for the turnip / carrot / shallots and 2 minutes for everything else. Don't throw the water away! Put the vegetables into the pie dish that you're using.

Now it's time to make the gravy. The first part is like making a roux but with oil; try to make sure you don't get any lumps by mixing thoroughly. Add the flour to the oil gradually until it's all mixed. Next, add the water from the vegetables a bit at a time, stirring each time until you end up with a thinnish gravy. The next part's down to personal taste. I added some marmite and redcurrant jelly to my gravy; you might like oxo, pepper or other seasonings.

For the last bit, pour the gravy over the vegetables, roll out the pastry and cover your pie. Cook for approx. 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Week Five: Moroccan vegetable stew with couscous

Sorry for the silence over the past few weeks; work's been catching up with me a bit!

Serves 4
Ingredients:
1/2 carton of creamed tomatoes
1 small squashkin (about 300g)
1 onion, chopped
1 small handful of pinenuts
1 small handful of cashew nuts
16 dried apricots
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
400g dry couscous
500ml strongly flavoured stock

Method
Fry the onion and turmeric in oil, then add the squashkin. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the tomato and the rest of the spices. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, then add the remainder of the ingredients. I personally like the apricots to be nearly falling apart, so after about 5 minutes, cook the couscous by adding the boiling stock. Leave to stand for 5 - 10 minutes then serve with the stew.

An Ode to Creamed Tomatoes

As you may have noticed if you've been following my blog, I'm a big fan of creamed tomatoes. This is because, if I'm perfectly honest, I don't like tomatoes. I don't eat raw tomatoes and I'm not overly keen on whole tomatoes even when they're cooked, though I like the flavour.
There is a point to this!
In any of the recipes that I put up that include creamed tomatoes, you can switch them for chopped tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato puree, pasata...
I'm just a bit boring ;)

Falafel pictures

Here are the pictures I promised!

Week Four: Falafel with salsa

Pictures to follow.
Cost: approx. £1.50 per person
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the falafel
2 cans of chickpeas
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 large handfuls of parsley
1 dsp of rosemary
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin

For the sauce
2 peppers, one red, one yellow
Sundried tomato paste
3 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp caster sugar
White wine vinegar
1 carton creamed tomatoes

Method
Drain the chickpeas then blitz in a food processor (if you have one) until coarsely ground. If you don't have a food processor, mash the chickpeas with a fork.
Add the rest of the falafel ingredients and blitz again until smooth. Put to one side while you make the sauce.

Chop the peppers into 1 - 1.5 cm squares. Chop the onions roughly and add with the peppers to a pan with a tablespoon of oil and fry. Add the sugar and continue to fry until softened. Add the remainder of the ingredients (sundried tomato to taste) and cook until hot and completely mixed.

Heat 2 tbs of oil in a frying pan. Shape egg sized amounts of falafel mixture into flattened rounds. Place them carefully into the pan and fry until golden underneath. Flip and repeat. *Warning! They are fragile!*. Continue until all cooked then serve with the sauce, bread rolls and salad.

Week Three Part 2: Chicken with potato rosti

Sorry this is so late! Keeping up with blogs and A levels is pretty hard work... Anyway, here's my version of chicken with potato rosti.
 
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts
500g all purpose potatoes such as desiree, peeled
1 onion
1 tbs rosemary, chopped
4 sprigs of rosemary
2 tbs oil / 30g melted butter     (I don't really like butter...)



 A warning: Grating onions is hard on the eyes. This week, I discovered the wonders of a food processor, so where it says to grate the onions, feel free to blitz away! (Don't do this to the potatoes. You will end up with paste.)

Method
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C (425F / GM7).
Grease a 12 hole muffin tin with either the butter or the oil - this is what will hold your rosti.
Boil the potatoes for about 7 minutes or until they're just tender (if they're too well cooked, this next part may get a bit messy!) Drain.
Grate the potatoes and onion into a bowl and add the rest of the fat and chopped rosemary. Mix well. Put forkfuls of the mixture into the holes in the tin and push down gently. Bake for approx. 45 minutes or until golden all over.
While the rosti are cooking, cut each chicken breast in two and shallow fry. When nearly cooked (going crisp golden brown), add in the sprigs of rosemary and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Run a pallete knife around the rosti and serve with the chicken and either salad or vegetables.

Week Three: Quick and easy pasta

Sorry for the lateness! Approx. £1.75 per person

Serves 2

Ingredients:                    

1 carton of creamed tomatoes  (You can also put in any leftover tomato sauce that you've made on a previous day)

1 red pepper, diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped                               

200g bacon lardons                                                      

1 onion, chopped

150-200g of pasta

Tomato puree to taste

Mixed herbs*(see picture)

Method:

Fry the lardons and garlic in oil and add the onions a couple of minuted before the bacon's done.

Put the pasta on to boil. This takes on average about 8 minutes but check the packet.

Add the creamed tomatoes to the lardons and stir constantly over a medium heat.

Add in the herbs and tomato puree, tasting and adding more as you wish.

Drain the pasta and pour the sauce over the top. Enjoy!

*I used basil, thyme, rosemary and sage and about twice what's on this plate.

Any type of pasta's fine - I used penne because it happened to be in the house.

Serve with salad and bread