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

This week, I'll be posting two recipes as my parents are out for tea tomorrow, so I'm cooking! It will, however, be a fairly basic pasta dish that nevertheless tastes pretty good. Sunday will be chicken with rosti potatoes, so stay tuned.

Week Two: Squashkin Risotto

Sorry it's a bit late! This recipe has been based on 'Sweet potato and sage risotto' from Vegetarian Cooking: A Commonsense Guide published by Sandcastle Books and costs approximately £1.25 per person.


Serves 4 generously
Ingredients
1.25 litres of stock (if using ham stock, use 0.5l stock then top up with water)
45ml olive oil
1 large onion
600g squashkin (You could also use butternut squash or sweet potato)
330g risotto rice
A handful of green beans
70g parmesan or other hard Italian cheese
3 tbs chopped herbs*



Method
Pour the stock into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover and reduce the heat, keeping it at a gentle simmer.

Peel and cube the squashkin (you want bitesize pieces) and chop the onion. Also grate the cheese at this point - on the finest part of your grater. Chop the beans diagonally into short slices.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the onions. Cook until softened over a medium heat. Add the rice and squashkin and stir until mixed thoroughly.

Add a ladleful of hot stock and stir the mixture constantly as the liquid is absorbed. When it's all been absorbed, repeat until all of the stock has been used. Note that near the end of this, the squashkin will become a little fragile, so stir carefully, trying not to break the pieces. Add the beans and continue to stir. After a couple of minutes, the rice should be just about cooked (tender but with a little 'bite'). Add the parmesan and herbs and stir through on a low heat. Once completely combined, serve!

*These can be any combination you want, but take into account the stock that you are using. With ham stock, sage and thyme go nicely; rosemary and thyme go well with chicken stock; any will be perfect with vegetable stock!

Right, one down...

This weekend, I'm hopefully going to be cooking squashkin risotto. For those of you who don't know, a squashkin is a cross between a butternut squash (for flavour) and a pumpkin (for texture and storability). Squashkins look like small, flat pumpkins and taste really nice in soups, stews and (I hope) risottos.

Keep checking back! Recipe and pictures should be up by Monday

Week One: Potsticker Dumplings

(Fed 4)
I was looking around the internet for cheapish meals and found this wonderful recipe for traditional Chinese dumplings called 'potstickers'. They didn't stick to my pot, thankfully, as I'm not the world's biggest fan of washing up. Anyway, I won't retype the recipe for the dumplings as it's done so beautifully on the blog of userealbutter and I don't want to claim any credit for it.
However, I will tell you that the quantity of filling that I made (half of the pork mix) filled my dumplings adequately and left enough for a rather nice burger a day or two later. Also, make sure that you make your wrappers thin enough - my first few ended up a bit doughy.
Be warned: the ginger flavour is quite strong.

I added a stirfry to mine, and although the vegetables used weren't exactly the cheapest and I did use a packet sauce when a homemade one would have been less than half the price, the overall cost was only £1.28 per person.

For the stirfry, I used broccoli, asparagus, red pepper and onion, as well as any leftovers from making the dumpling filling. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large, round bottomed pan (like a wok), then add the vegetables that are going to take the longest to cook - the onions and broccoli for me and fry until just changing colour. Then add the more delicate vegetables (asparagus and red pepper) and cook until nearly done. Add any sauce that you're planning on using then, just before serving and once the pan is off the heat, add things like spinach and put the lid on. Serve!

Just keep chopping... chopping...chopping

Chopped stuff

Lovely (if rather gingery!)

Alright, I know I didn't pleat them properly...

The finished article

Chocolate Log

 This is the log I made for Christmas Day this year. Enjoy!

Cake
5 eggs
20g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
115g icing sugar

Filling
200g chocolate (a mix of milk and dark)
1 jar of nutella / chocolate hazelnut spread (don't worry, you won't use the whole thing!)
500ml double cream

Coating
350g chocolate - any colour cooking chocolate


Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 38 by 26cm shallow tin and then line it with greaseproof paper.
Separate the eggs - you'll use both parts. Beat the egg yolks until they're thick and creamy (keep going for a bit longer than you think) then beat in the cocoa powder and about half of the sugar.
Put the yolk mix to one side.
Beat the egg whites until quite bubbly, then add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.
Add the rest of the sugar 2 tbs at a time and beat well after each 2 tbs. The mix should end up thick and glossy.
Gently fold the yolk mixture into the whites, then spread the batter in the tin. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes; don't worry about the edges - you're going to cut them off anyway!
Put a clean tea towel on whatever work surface you're using, cover it with greaseproof paper and dust with cocoa powder / icing sugar. As soon as the cake is finished, turn it out onto the towel and peel off the paper. Cut off the edges, then roll the cake from a short end with the paper and towel inside. Allow the cake to cool.

Melt the chocolate - this is easiest in the microwave, 40s on high then stir and repeat. While the chocolate is hot, stir in a spoonful of nutella or chocolate spread. Keep doing this until the mixture starts to thicken. Add a small splash of cream and stir it in.
Unroll the sponge and spread with the chocolate mixture.
Whip the remaining cream and spread on top of the chocolate layer.
Reroll the cake and allow it to set.

Melt the covering chocolate and pour over the log; allow it to set.
Finished!

Recipe adapted from: Irresistible Chocolate, Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen

As promised, here are a few photos from this year's lovely Christmas dinner :D

(Just a note: The only part of this that I cooked was the pudding!)