Walking past the butcher just now made me think there's a lot to be gained by doing the opposite of what everyone else does. Bank holiday weekend coming up - what's going to be in the shops? Burgers, kebabs and marinated chicken. What does the smart frugal cook do? Make a stew. Bake a pie. Use the cuts that nobody else wants (well nobody except the people reading this blog!)
Lamb breast I noticed had come down to £4.76 a kilo - that's about 43p less a kilo than it was last week. There were large organic guineafowl on sale for £4.99 - with care that's enough for six helpings and some quality stock.
Checking out the weather forecast this weekend looks like it's going to be chucking it down in the West Country anyway so it's not exactly ideal barbie weather. What are your plans, foodwise?
Cooking all the foods I soon won't be able to try. So this weekend it's rabbit stew with Marmite roast potatoes on the side.
ReplyDeleteYou need a good bit of fatty bacon with the stew because the meat's so lean but if you know the right butcher rabbit itself is easy to come by and very cheap, especially if sold unprepared.
Rabbit is great - and you're right about the bacon. Fascinated about Marmite roast potatoes though. Tell me more!
ReplyDeleteYou follow the standard roast potato recipe but then add a thin coating of Marmite before popping them into the roasting tin.
ReplyDeleteThis means you can't do them with meat in the tray as well unless you want the whole roast tasting of Marmite (which some might consider no bad thing), but if you're doing them to accompany a stew then they are perfect.
Wow! That certainly sounds very Marmitey. Shall have to try it.
ReplyDeleteHere's a suggestion in return which I came up with for gravy-deprived students.
Dissolve a teaspoon of Marmite in a mug of boiling water. Melt a tablespoon (15g) of soft butter in a small pan, stir in a tablespoon of plain flour, cook for a few seconds then stir in the Marmite stock. Bring back to the boil and simmer till thick.
Much better than gravy granules.