The Frugal Cook

The Great Fresh Herb Rip-Off

2012-01-29T11:27:00.005Z

I've banged on about this before and probably will again but I just wanted to have another moan about the extortionate price of fresh herbs in supermarkets. Witness this 25g bag of flat leaf parsley that was on sale at Waitrose yesterday for 89p. That's £35.60 a kilo, more than the cost of fillet steak.

I can buy a bunch roughly 10 times that size from my local greengrocer for just over £1 and so, I'm sure, can you. It's really time supermarkets stopped ripping us off.

That said I did find quite a useful product in the frozen cabinets as part of Waitrose's Cooks Ingredients series which was a pack of Thai mix - a mixture of lemongrass, coriander, ginger, chilli and garlic - which would be quite handy to keep in the freezer. It won't pack quite the punch of fresh ingredients but is probably more economical than buying them individually, certainly for a single dish. Normally £1.49 a pack at the moment they're on offer at 2 for £2.50. You can also buy frozen coriander that way.

Do these pesky packets of fresh herbs annoy you too or is it just me?

A weekend to buy whisky

2012-01-21T18:08:00.007Z

With Burns Night coming up this week and many celebrating it this weekend, now's a good time to stock up on your favourite whisky brand. Almost all the supermarkets have got special offers. Here's my pick of the bunch (meaning the best deals, not necessarily the best whiskies - see comments!)

Asda
1 litre bottles of Famous Grouse for £16 instead of £18.97 - standard bottles for £13.47 (£16.50-17 elsewhere)
Glenmorangie 10 y.o. for £21.97 (£33-£34 elsewhere)
Isle of Jura 10 y.o. for £19 (£28-29 elsewhere)

Morrisons
Grants £12.99 instead of £14.99

Sainsbury's
Halves of Famous Grouse for £7.29 instead of £8.29
Whyte & Mackay £12 instead of £15.79
Talisker at £25 instead of £31.99
Glenlivet French Oak reserve at £25 instead of £34.79

Tesco
Aberlour 10 y.o. for £21 (£25-27 elsewhere)

Waitrose
Ardbeg £34.50 instead of £40.50
Knockando £24.75 instead of £30.75

Booths also seem to have some good whisky offers with £10 off a number of leading malts including Ancnoc 12.y.o. and Old Pulteney 12 y.o., though they unhelpfully don't say what the discounted price is on their site. Apart from Isle of Jura 12 y.o. which is down to £20.95 from £30.95.

And Lidl has a decent own brand whisky called Hunter's Glen (yes, naff I know but it's fine) for £11.99.

How to make the best marmalade you’ve ever tasted

2012-01-15T09:14:00.015Z

I’m not a great one for ‘the perfect this’ or ‘the perfect that’ in recipes but if you’re a marmalade aficionado I promise you this is as good as it gets. Intensely fruity, thick and sharply flavoured.

OK, I’m biased. It was my mum’s recipe so it carries a bit of emotional baggage. I can remember the kitchen filling up with a warm, comforting marmaladey fug and sitting alongside her as a child slicing the oranges. She wasn’t a wonderful cook but this was her pièce de resistance. I still have the original written neatly in blue ink on a piece of Basildon Bond notepaper.

I’d got out of the habit of making it but she died just after Christmas so I wanted to make it in memory of those companionable times. Besides seville oranges are in season so now’s the moment.

First a few practicalities to keep down the cost because you can of course buy marmalade much, much more cheaply than it will cost you to make it. But it won’t taste anything like as good.

* Assuming you don’t have a preserving pan you need a large saucepan. A large stainless steel pasta pan is perfect. The bottom of a pressure cooker will do.

* You need jars. You can buy them from sites like Jam Jar Shop but that does add to the cost so beg or borrow some from neighbours. Not pickle or chutney jars in which the smell of the previous contents tends to linger. The jars need to be as clean as possible. Old recipes suggest sterilising them by putting them in a hot oven but I find a recent run through the dishwasher will do the trick.

* You need a muslin square or something to act as a muslin bag (I used a J Cloth). See why below. Oh, and some fine string

* You need waxed paper discs if you’re to keep the marmalade any length of time. And labels. Again from a specialist like Lakeland or the Jam Jar Shop.

* You need a couple of saucers in the fridge to test the set

* and finally, and most importantly, you need seville oranges, unwaxed lemons and sugar in the following quantities. The original recipe states preserving sugar but this is now so hard to get and twice as expensive as granulated so I would (and did) use that. No problem.

1.35 kg (3lb) Seville oranges, preferably organic
1 large or 2 small lemons, preferably unwaxed
1.7-1.8kg (3 3/4-4lb) granulated sugar

This makes about 7-8 400g jars but your jars will probably be all shapes and sizes and the quantity always turns out different depending how long you boil the marmalade so make sure you have slightly more than you need.

Wash and scrub the oranges and lemons with a vegetable brush and put them whole into a large pan with 1.3 litres (2 1/4 pints) of cold water.

Cover the pan with a lid or a large sheet of foil and bring slowly to the boil. Simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, turning them occasionally until they are soft enough for you to pierce the skins with the end of a teaspoon. (You can probably remove the lemons after an hour and the oranges progressively after that). The kitchen will smell heavenly.

Remove the fruit and measure the remaining liquid. If there is less than 1.1 litres (just under 2 pints) add enough fresh water to bring it up to that level and return to the pan.

Cut the fruit into quarters, scoop out the pulp and separate out the pips. Cut the skins into small thick slices and add along with the pulp to the pan of water.

Tie up the pips in a piece of muslin (there’s a useful video here) and hang it over the handle of the pan and into the cut up fruit. This might seem a bit of a faff but the extra pulp and pectin helps the marmalade to set.

Put the sugar in a warming drawer or very low oven to warm up. Bring the fruit up to boiling point then remove the bag of pips and squeeze and scrape the outside of the bag to release any remaining pulp. Add the warm sugar to the fruit and leave over a low heat, stirring occasionally until dissolved.

Bring back to the boil and boil the marmalade for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent it sticking. Skim off the thick yellowish foam that forms round the edges from time to time.

Test a little on a chilled saucer after 25 minutes to see if it’s set. It should crinkle when you push it with your finger. If it doesn’t continue boiling it until it does. As the marmalade reaches setting point it will darken and grow thicker.

Once the marmalade has reached setting point, remove from the heat, skim off any remaining scum and allow to cool for about half an hour.

Warm your jars if they’re not already sitting in the dishwasher and ladle or pour the marmalade into them (I find a small jug is easiest for this). Cover with a disc of waxed paper, if using, and seal with screw top lids or clear covers. Wipe any splashes off the side of the jars while they’re still warm.

Leave until cold before labelling otherwise the labels won’t stick.

Feel smug and happy.

You can of course cut the amount of work involved by mincing the peel but I like proper looking chunks in my marmalade. Just get someone to sit alongside you as you do it. It’s a nice thing to do with your kids, a mum, gran or sister or a friend. Actually my husband helped me with this batch while we listened to Bob Marley. Good marmalade music.

Oh, and a final tip. You can freeze seville oranges successfully if you haven’t time to make all your marmalade in one go or run out of jars. Just wash and dry them before you freeze them, use them from frozen and increase the boiling time until they’re cooked through.

Is this how you make your marmalade or do you reckon you have a better version?

Waitrose Low Alcohol Cider

2012-01-13T16:48:00.014Z

If you're finding it hard to give up booze for the month you might want to snap up a bottle or two of Waitrose's low alcohol cider which is only 1% ABV.

Now I'm not saying it's the best-tasting cider ever - it's a little too thin and too sweet, for my palate at least* - but it does taste recognisably like cider in a way that apple juice doesn't and if you were drinking it with roast pork, a chicken casserole or even a nice hunk of cheddar it would rub along fine. It's actually made in Herefordshire in old oak vats so I'm guessing it probably comes from Weston's.

The price is pretty attractive too. It only costs £1.15 a 500ml bottle - online at any rate. I somehow ended up paying £1.21 for my bottle in store, maybe because it's classified as a 'Little Waitrose'. Not a huge outlay anyway.

* However my neighbour who just popped in tried it and said 'really nice'. So there you go. I should also have pointed it's 180 calories a glass so it's not exactly a low calorie option - though not much more than a large glass of shiraz.

Change of domain name for Beyond Baked Beans

2012-01-10T11:05:00.004Z

Following yesterday's post the good news is that my student cookery site Beyond Baked Beans is back up and running but at a new domain name www.beyondbakedbeans.org.

If you link to the site please change your link. And if you don't, do link to it which will help students - and other first time cooks on a budget - find it more easily.

What's happened to Beyond Baked Beans?

2012-01-09T07:50:00.008Z

Some of you may have arrived at this blog looking for my student website beyondbakedbeans.com. I'm sad to say it no longer exists. (See update on my more recent post. There is a happy(ish) ending. It now has a new domain name www.beyondbakedbeans.org.)

Due to my inattention and a mix-up on who should renew the domain name it's expired. Someone else has snapped up the name and is running ads on it. It was never a moneymaker so I can't afford to buy it back. The domain registration site GoDaddy even wants to charge me commission for finding the buyer (surely they know?) and negotiating a sale. On top of a fee. I can't afford to pursue that.

It's a sad day. The site, which was founded at the same time as my first cookbook came out in 2003, has been going for over 8 years, encouraging students to cook and eat healthily. But it's not all bad news.

* There is a Beyond Baked Beans Cooking Page on Facebook which I'll be updating more frequently while I sort out what's to be done

* The books - Beyond Baked Beans, Beyond Baked Beans Green and Beyond Baked Beans Budget are still around and available for next to nothing on Amazon. Plus there's a full-colour illustrated compendium of all the best recipes called The Ultimate Student Cookbook which also contains recipes from three of our ex-students James, Sig and Guy.

* Plans were already in hand to pass the website over to the students of Bath Spa university to give it a comprehensive makeover. I'm sure a better, more interactive site will result.

* And there are plenty of simple, low-cost recipes here on this blog for students or anyone else on a budget.

But it's a useful warning if you have a site of your own - don't ignore reminders about domain name expiries and make sure the credit card you pay with is up to date.

And if you're the person who bought the site, just think about it. The site helped many young people to learn how to cook. It would be nice if you gave it back.

Chestnut, chorizo and lentil soup

2011-12-31T18:52:00.007Z

I meant to post this just after Christmas to suggest what you might do with your turkey stock and other leftovers but events overtook me (including rather disastrously spilling a glass of wine on my computer) and here we are on New Year's Eve. Still, this is a great soup, whether you have turkey stock or not, which I've adapted from Sam and Sam Clark's excellent Moro cookbook.

The point I was going to make about turkey stock - and which you might like to bear in mind for next year if you haven't thought about it already - is that it's really rich and strong and therefore doesn't lend itself well to delicate soups or sauces. This one includes chestnuts, though in lesser quantities than the Sams use, chorizo and saffron and I also added some outer Savoy cabbage leaves I'd saved after making a slaw to go with the ham on Christmas Eve which adds a bit of colour as well. When I heated up the leftovers of the soup I dropped some torn pieces of sourdough toast which were also a good addition. (Note: this is less of a soup than a stew. You won't need much else, if anything, to eat!)

Serves 4-6
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions or one large one, roughly chopped
1 carrot, chopped into small pieces, roughly the same size as the onion
125g semi-soft chorizo, chopped (Tesco has a good one in its 'Finest' range)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chilli flakes or a crushed whole red chilli
1 tsp finely chopped thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried thyme or oregano
1/2 a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes or a couple of whole tinned tomatoes, chopped
200g vac packed or roasted or boiled chestnuts, roughly chopped
75g green or brown lentils
a pinch of saffron threads infused for 10 minutes in 3-4 tbsp hot water (optional*)
about 1 litre turkey stock or water
4-5 outer cabbage leaves or cavolo nero leaves
salt and black pepper

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, carrot and chorizo, season lightly with salt and cook for about 10 minutes over a low to moderate heat until beginning to brown. Add the garlic, cumin and chilli flakes or crushed chilli and thyme and cook for a minute, then add the chopped tomatoes, chestnuts, lentils and saffron, if using. Add the stock or water, bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the lentils are cooked. Remove the central rib from the cabbage or cavolo nero leaves, shred finely and drop into the soup about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

* If you haven't got any saffron you could use half a teaspoon of turmeric which I'd add at the same time as the cumin. If you want to keep the soup veggie use 1-2 tsp sweet pimenton or paprika instead of the chorizo and maybe a touch of hot if you've got it.

Unstuffed stuffing

2011-12-21T07:11:00.004Z

I'm never convinced of the virtue of stuffing a turkey. It just increases the cooking time and makes it harder to get the breast cooked at the same time as the legs. Maybe a bit in the neck but that's never quite enough to meet the family's stuffing needs. So here's a simple stuffing to make on the hob which also has the virtue of getting it browned and a little bit crusty. Yum.

Pan-fried pork, apple and prune stuffing

Serves 6-8 with a turkey or chicken

A 454g pack of sausagemeat or traditional English sausages (e.g. Cumberland) with the skins removed
About 3-4 tbsp dried natural breadcrumbs (i.e. not the bright orange ones)
1 medium egg, beaten
1/2 a small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 small flavourful apple (e.g. Blenheim or Cox), peeled and finely chopped
100g ready to eat prunes, finely chopped or snipped (it's easiest to cut them with scissors)
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp oil

Put the sausagemeat in a bowl with the breadcrumbs and the beaten egg and mix thoroughly together. Prepare the rest of the ingredients then mix them in too. Heat the oil in a small to medium size non stick frying pan and tip in the stuffing. Pat it down with a wooden spoon or fork until it resembles a cake then let it cook over a moderate heat for about 6-7 minutes, covered with a lid or foil. Turn the stuffing over. (Don’t worry if it breaks up, just mash it together again) Continue cooking for another 6-7 minutes or until till the stuffing is lightly browned and cooked through.

(No picture I'm afraid. Old recipe.)

Two good champagne buys this weekend

2011-12-17T06:47:00.013Z

Christmas is always a big discounting time on champagne at the supermarkets but as I've pointed out in the longer piece I've just posted on my website you need to be careful about ridiculously cheap offers on brands you don't recognise.

Here are two that I think represent the best value this weekend - Sainsbury's creamy Blanc de Blancs Champagne at £13.99 down from £20.99 and the toasty Champagne Bredon Brut which is on sale at £13.49 (down from £26.99) at Waitrose until the shops close on Monday 19th. This has now reverted to its 'normal' selling price. The best offer from Waitrose now is the Duval Leroy Fleur de Champagne at £14.24, also a good deal. Updated 21.12.11

If you don't have a branch of either of these stores near you here's what the other supermarkets have to offer, along with some good deals on vintage fizz and a rather spectacular magnum from - guess who? Lidl!

Hill lamb hotpot

2011-12-13T09:56:00.006Z

Returning from high summer in Oz to the weirdest of weather back home in Bristol (this morning we had hail, thunder and bright sun, all in the space of five minutes) I feel the need for comfort food and can't think of a better option than a hotpot. Unfortunately I'm unlikely to have time to cook one until the weekend but thought you might fancy trying it too.

The recipe is from my book Meat and Two Veg and the very professional photo not by moi but the talented Jason Lowe. It's not authentic - no self-respecting Lancastrian would use something as poncey as white wine - but it is very tasty especially if you make it with hill or rare breed lamb. (How frugal that is of course depends where you live and whether you can source it direct from a farmer or farmers' market.)

The white pepper does make a difference with this kind of old-fashioned dish so do use it if you've got some.

Serves 4-6
6 lamb shoulder chops (about 750-800g)
2 level tbsp plain flour
3 tbsp vegetable or light olive oil
40g butter
3 medium to large onions, peeled and thinly sliced (about 450g)
1 large carrot (about 125g), peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium turnip (about 110g) peeled and thinly sliced
750g waxy red potatoes (e.g. Desiree)
125ml dry white wine (e.g. basic French vin blanc, muscadet, pinot grigio)
300ml chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 bay leaves
Salt and ground white pepper

You will need a large round or oval lidded casserole

Trim any excess fat off the chops and pat them dry with kitchen towel. Put the flour into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Dip the chops into the flour, lightly coating both sides. Heat a large frying pan, add 2 tbsp of the oil and 15g of the butter. Once the butter has melted brown the chops on both sides (about 2 minutes a side) and set aside. Add the sliced onions to the oil and butter mixture and fry gently for about 5 minutes, stirring. Add the sliced carrot and turnip and any remaining flour, stir well and set aside. Peel and finely slice the potatoes.

Heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Pour the remaining oil in the casserole and wipe it round the base and sides. Put a good layer of sliced potato in the base of the casserole then a layer of vegetables, seasoning each layer lightly with salt and pepper. Arrange the chops on top and tuck in the bayleaves. Tip over the rest of the vegetables spreading them out evenly then arrange the rest of the potato slices on top.

Heat the wine and stock in the frying pan and pour carefully over the hotpot. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Melt the remaining butter in the frying pan and pour it over the potato slices. Cover the casserole and place in the oven for about 25 minutes until bubbling gently.

Turn the heat down to 150°C/300°F/Gas 2 and cook for a further two hours, spooning the juices over the potatoes half way through.

Turn up the heat back up to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6, remove the lid from the casserole and return to the oven for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are well browned. Serve with something green and leafy like brussel tops.

The Frugal Cook is away

2011-11-27T04:53:00.001Z

No credit crunch drinking recs this week or next I'm afraid as I'm away on a work trip to Australia. (Yes, jammy, I know) Normal service will be resumed after December 11th.

Pears in mulled cider

2011-11-24T07:41:00.006Z

Given how much leftover wine we have in the house (I'm also a wine writer for those of you who don't know) I normally poach pears in red wine but I tried them again the other day in cider and I'm not sure I don't prefer them that way. It seems to preserve the pear flavour better. (You could also use an off-dry perry, of course)

This is a great way to use those greenish brown conference pears which never look very appealing but have a superb flavour. You want them not quite ripe enough for eating but not rock-hard either. I'd pick them out by hand rather than buy a bag of them even though they tend to be cheaper that way. You can tell the stage they're at by pressing the top of each pear gently by the stem. There should be a tiny bit of give.

A great dessert for when you’ve had an indulgent carb-laden main course like a pie!

Serves 4

4 evenly sized, not quite ripe conference pears
330ml medium dry cider
4-5 heaped tbsp unrefined caster sugar
A fine strip of lemon peel + a little lemon juice to taste if needed
1 small cinnamon stick
Pouring cream or vanilla ice cream to serve

Keeping the pears whole remove the peel carefully with a small sharp knife, leaving the stalk on. Fit them side by side in a medium-sized saucepan and pour over the cider. Add enough water to cover the pears. Remove the pears from the liquid and set them aside.

Add 4 heaped tbsp of unrefined caster sugar and place the pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Taste the liquid and add a little extra sugar if you don’t think it’s quite sweet enough (ciders vary).

Return the pears to the pan along with the lemon peel and cinnamon stick and bring the liquid to the boil. Turn down the heat, cover the pan and simmer for about 45 minutes until the pears are soft. Remove them carefully from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to a shallow glass dish.

Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon then turn the heat up and boil the remaining liquid by about two thirds until thick and syrupy. Check for sweetness adding a little lemon juice if needed. Pour the syrup over the pears and leave to cool.

Serve just warm or at room temperature with double cream or vanilla ice cream and some crisp home-baked biscuits or shortbread.

Oh, and a happy Thanksgiving to my American readers. I suppose this should have been a pumpkin pie really but I'm sure you've got zillions of recipes for that. This might make a nice change ;-).

Wine of the Week: La Metropole Rouge

2011-11-19T08:58:00.003Z

It's always good to have a standby wine that will go with virtually everything and La Metropole rouge fits the bill. Sure, the 'ooo-la-la' label isn't going to impress wine snobs but the content - a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Carignan and Cabernet Franc from the Roussillon region of southern France - is more than generous for the £4.99 price tag. They suggest drinking it with rich stews such as Lancashire hotpot or boeuf en daube or with simple grilled meats - I'd add stalwarts like sausage and mash, shepherds pie and lasagne. Just the sort of lipsmacking red you need for everyday drinking.

Although I wasn't overly impressed by the accompanying La Metropole Blanc when I tasted it back in the spring, it may well have settled by now and at the same price it's worth a punt too. It's a typically southern blend of Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Viognier with a touch of Chardonnay and should work well with robust seafood dishes like grilled prawns with garlic or Spanish-style fish stews.

And while you're in the Co-op you might try a bottle of the Crouzes Old Vine Carignan, which is currently on offer at £4.39. I haven't tried the 2010 vintage but it's a reliable stalwart - a big chunky southern French red that would again work well with dark beefy stews or pies. Or as a base for mulled wine.

Tacos: the perfect food for kids

2011-11-15T14:40:00.011Z

One of the biggest problems about bringing up four children was getting them to eat the same food. Indulgent you might say - they should have eaten what they were given - but it doesn’t somehow work like that these days. There were meals that 3 out of 4 liked like sausage and mash but even then my eldest son bewilderingly disliked the mash. MASH! Who dislikes mash?

The most popular meals (apart from roast chicken and spag bol and even they didn’t work when the girls periodically went veggie) were dishes they could assemble themselves, top of the list being pizza and homemade doner kebabs. To this I’d have now added tacos which strike me as the perfect kids food. And thrifty too.

True you have to have the tortillas and I’m afraid wheat ones won’t do. There’s something about corn tortillas that turns this from a sandwich into an exotic, snack that makes you feel as if you're on holiday. You can of course make them yourself and that would be a fun thing to do but just as you don’t always have time to make pizza from scratch it’s good to have some ready made tortillas on standby.

I’m lucky enough to have a shop up the road in Bristol called Otomi that sells two kinds - one long-life product imported from Mexico and one from the Cool Chile Co which also sells them online. I tried both the other day and preferred the flavour of the Mexican ones but the texture of the Cool Chile ones was much better. (In both cases you need to warm them in a dry frying pan otherwise they’ll snap when you attempt to wrap them round the filling.)

The filling is the cheap bit. You can basically use what you have though I consider a fresh tomato salsa (and therefore some fresh coriander and lime) essential and some avocado nice.

As I had some chorizo, onion and potato I decided to use those, borrowing an idea from Thomasina Miers excellent Mexican Food made Simple. I’d also bought a small tin of chipotles en adobo from Otomi (£1.50) which gave them a nice smoky edge.

Chorizo and potato tacos
Enough to fill 6 tortillas
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 large potato, peeled and cut into small dice
110g semi-soft chorizo (Tesco has a good one in their Finest range)
1 finely chopped chili from a tin of chipotles en adobo + some of the juice (optional) or a teaspoon of mild chilli powder or smoked pimenton
1-2 heaped tbsp fresh coriander
Salt and pepper
1 avocado and the juice of half a lime
6 soft corn tortillas
Heat a small frying pan, add the oil and fry the onion and potato over a moderate heat until soft and beginning to brown (about 8-10 minutes). Add the chorizo and finely chopped chilli and fry until the chorizo starts to char a little. Take the pan off the heat, season with salt and pepper and stir in the coriander. Peel and cut up the avocado and toss in the lime juice. Warm the tacos one by one on both sides in a hot dry frying pan (i.e. without any oil) and top with the chorizo mixture, some salsa (below) and chopped avocado. Eat in both hands. (They’re dead messy)

Salsa fresca
1/2 a small mild onion or a shallot
6 small to medium-sized ripe tomatoes, skinned if tough
juice of half a lime
1 fresh chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Salt and pepper
Finely chop the onion, tomatoes and chilli, if using and mix together with the fresh lime juice and coriander. Season with salt and pepper. Eat with tacos or tortilla chips

This is a good veggie version. Home-cooked beans would be even better.

Red bean tacos
2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
A pinch of ground cumin
1 finely chopped chili from a tin of chipotles en adobo + some of the juice (optional) or a teaspoon of mild chilli powder or smoked pimenton
1 tbsp tomato paste or 2 tbsp passata or other tomato-based pasta sauce
1 tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed or an equivalent amount of home-cooked red or black beans
1-2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Salt and pepper
Grated cheddar or a white cheese like Wensleydale or Cheshire or some feta
6 soft corn tortillas
Heat the oil and fry the onion until beginning to soften and change colour. Add the cumin powder, crushed garlic and chili or chilli powder, stir, then add the tomato paste and cook for a minute. Add half a glass of water, tip in the beans and leave on a low heat while you make the salsa and prepare the avocado, as above. (The bean mixture is actually better left to cool down a bit before you use it to fill the tacos. Mash it up a bit first so the beans don't go rolling all over the place.) Heat the tortillas as above and top with the beans, grated cheese, salsa and avocado (for those who want it).

You can also make great tacos with shredded beef or chicken as they do on the taco trucks that are so popular in the US (and increasingly here) Now, kids would absolutely love that.

For more ideas for taco fillings check out Thomasina’s chicken tinga tacos which it strikes me would adapt well to turkey leftovers and Baja California fish tacos (which I reckon you could cheat and make with fish fingers and a spiced up homemade slaw). Or, even better, add the book to your Christmas list. It's got lots of other recipes I want to make.

Have you ever made tacos for the family or what dish do you find all members of the family like?

Wine of the Week: Vidal-Fleury Côtes du Rhône 2009

2011-11-12T09:39:00.003Z

Here's a really good bottle to put on your Christmas table - or pull out for supper with friends. It's a smashing Côtes du Rhône from the excellent 2009 vintage - a warm, generous, spicy blend of grenache, syrah, mourvèdre and carignan. It would work brilliant with roasts, beef stews, hearty bean dishes like cassoulet and cheese.

It's normally sells for around £10-11 but is on offer at Majestic at the moment at £6.99 if you buy two bottles as part of their current 20% off Rhône offer.

As you have to buy six bottles at Majestic (if you pick them up from a store - 12 if you order online) two other good buys are the classy Wither Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2011 (on offer at £6.99 - Majestic always has good offers on New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc) and Anakena Single Vineyard 'Deu' Pinot Noir 2010 (£7.99) a heady, sensuous pinot that knocks spots off any burgundy at the price.

Cauliflower cheese with parmesan and almonds

2011-11-10T09:26:00.005Z

They had some really nice cauliflowers in the greengrocer the other day which prompted me to make this cauliflower cheese with a twist. My husband isn’t mad about cooked cheese anyway so I decided to cut the amount of cheese and top it with flaked almonds which I reckoned would go well with cauliflower. (They really do). I think some chopped ham would be nice too if you want to make it more substantial.

The main thing is to use a strong, dryish cheese so you don’t have to use too much and can keep the flavour and texture light. I used some mature Old Winchester which I happened to have after a cheese festival but you’re probably more likely to have parmesan which would be fine. (Frugal cooking is, of course, about using what's in the fridge.)

Serves 2-3 as a supper dish, 4-6 as a vegetable

1 medium-sized cauliflower
30g butter
25g plain flour
350-400ml semi-skimmed milk
25-30g mature Pamesan or Grana Padano or 50g strong hard cheese like Old Winchester, Comté or Cheddar, grated
2 tbsp light cooking oil
50g flaked almonds
Salt and white pepper

Cut the outside leaves off the cauliflower but keep any tender, inner leaves. Cut the florets off the stalk and divide them into even sized clusters. Steam or boil the florets and inner leaves until just tender (about 6-7 minutes), drain and tip into a shallow buttered baking dish.

Melt the butter gently in a small non-stick saucepan, stir in the flour and cook over a low heat for about 30 seconds. Take the pan off the heat and gradually add the milk bit by bit, stirring between each addition. When you’ve added half the milk you can pour most of the rest of the milk in one go, holding back a little to see if you need it.

Bring the sauce to the boil, turn the heat right down and simmer for 5 minutes until thick and smooth. Take off the heat and add most of the cheese. You should be able to taste the cheese but it shouldn’t be overwhelmingly cheesy. Add more if you like then season with salt and white pepper to taste. If the sauce is too thick add the remaining milk or a couple of spoonfuls of the water you’ve used for cooking the cauliflower. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower florets.

Preheat the grill to a medium setting. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the flaked almonds over a low to moderate heat until they begin to colour then sprinkle them over the cauliflower. Place the dish under the grill (not too near the heat) until the almonds are light brown and the sauce starts to bubble.

Do you have any favourite additions to cauliflower cheese or do you prefer the classic version?

This week's best drink buys

2011-11-04T14:56:00.012Z

You might be the kind of person who thinks the beginning of November is FAR too early to start planning what you're going to eat and drink over Christmas (me too) but the supermarkets have decided otherwise.

When I walked into Sainsbury's yesterday the drinks deparment was packed with special offers - and some quite spectacular ones too. Leaving frugal options aside for the moment you can pick up the particularly lush Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or whisky at the moment for just £25 instead of £39.99 (and £42.95 at royalmilewhiskies.com) Aged in Sauternes casks it's a lush cross between a sweet wine and a whisky that would be superb with the Stilton and maybe - though I haven't tried it yet - with mince pies. A terrific gift for any whisky lover.

They also had a couple of good champagne deals: Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top for £14.99 instead of £29.99* and the much improved Lanson Black Label for £21.99 instead of £31.99 - but then Morrisons currently has it for £15 according to The Wine Detective.

In terms of budget buys you probably couldn't do much better than Dow's Trademark port - that's also reduced by 50% in Sainsbury's from £13.43 to £6.71. The style is referred to as Finest Reserve which means it's halfway between a basic ruby port and a Late Bottled Vintage in quality. If you're looking for a sweet, brambly warming Christmas port from a reputable producer it would fit the bill perfectly. (I also like adding a dash of this style of port to a mulled wine).

Rather less good value is the current offer on Baileys cream liqueurs which are reduced in Sainsbury's from £19.79 to £9.89. I know it's a good reduction for a litre bottle but since when did they go up to that kind of price? Asda's regular price for the same size bottle is £14 and they currently have it down to £9 but there are loads of perfectly good own label versions around for a fair amount less.

Marks and Spencer, for instance, has its new Toffee and Pecan Cream liqueur on offer for £6.99 currently. I don't much like cream liqueurs but I must admit I did find it a bit moreish. M & S told me this week that toffee and pecan flavours are HUGE for them.

Anyway if you miss these offers don't panic. There will be plenty more where they came from over the coming weeks but don't leave it until the week before Christmas when I'm pretty sure a lot of the prices will shoot up again

* Asda also has it for £15

Note: this prices applied the day I wrote this post but may well have changed by the time you read it.

Sausage, potato and dill pasties

2011-11-01T22:52:00.004Z

I suddenly realised we were almost half way through this week and I hadn't posted a recipe. Not having done any cooking for the last few days (long story) I've had to dig out an old one but an apposite one as it's British Sausage Week.

To tell the truth I'd completely forgotten about it but I do remember it being extremely tasty. It comes from my book Sausage and Mash and was inspired by one of The Ginger Pig's butchers Paul Hughes who told me they used to make a Swedish potato sausage flavoured with dill. Apparently there wasn’t huge demand for it so they dropped it but it seemed a brilliant idea to me and one that would make a great filling for a pasty.

The pastry is really easy and well worth making from scratch. The technique comes from Delia Smith’s Cookery Course, published back in 1978.

Makes 6 pasties

For the filling
425g new potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
6 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
400g coarsely cut traditional pork sausages, at least 85% meat
2 rounded tbsp finely chopped dill (about 5g)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the pastry
200g butter
50g vegetable shortening e.g. Cookeen or Trex (I think they still do it - if not use lard)
350g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
6-8 tbsp iced water
1 medium egg, lightly beaten, for glazing

Measure out the butter and shortening for the pastry, wrap it in foil and put it in the freezer for half an hour.

Put the potatoes on to boil in boiling salted water. Cook for 7-8 minutes then drain.

Heat a large frying pan, add the oil then the butter. Fry the onion for a couple of minutes until softened then turn off the heat and roughly crush the potatoes into the pan. Season with salt and pepper and leave to cool.

When the fats are really cold, measure the flour and salt into a large bowl. Coarsely grate the semi-frozen butter and shortening into the flour, dipping each block into the flour as you go, and lightly working it in with a flat-bladed knife.

Cut the fat into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs then make a well in the centre and add about 5 tbsp of iced water. Work the pastry mix into the liquid and gradually pull the pastry together, adding as much extra liquid as you need to form a ball. Turn the pastry onto a floured board, pat into shape, put in a plastic bag and refrigerate for half an hour.

Take the sausages out of their skins, break up roughly and add to the potato mixture along with the dill. Take the pastry out of the fridge and divide into four. Roll out each portion thinly into a circle then cut round an 18cm plate or flan tin base, saving the offcuts. Pile 2 tbsp of filling into the centre of the circle and form it into a lozenge shape. Brush round the edges of the pastry with beaten egg. Bring the edges together in the middle, seal firmly then crimp to get a wavy line down the centre.

Repeat with the rest of the pastry then roll the offcuts to make two more pasties.

Refrigerate the pasties for at least 30 minutes then bake at 225°C/425°F/Gas 7 for 20 minutes. Turn the heat down to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 and cook for another 30-35 minutes until the pasties are thoroughly cooked and well browned. Cool for at least half an hour before eating but don't refrigerate them.

Six wines under £6 from Sainsbury’s

2011-10-28T09:33:00.004+01:00

This week it’s Sainsbury’s turn to knock 25% off any wine in their range if you buy six bottles. I thought their wines were showing particularly well at their recent press tasting, especially their own label ‘Taste the Difference’ range. Here are six bargains under £6

Macon Villages ‘Les Côtes Blanches’ 2010 (down from £7.99 to £5.99)
A good chance to pick up a very decent basic white burgundy at a knockdown price. Very useful Christmas drinking - would work particularly well with Christmas leftovers and smoked salmon.

Taste the Difference Coolwater Bay Marlborough Sauvignon 2011
If you’re a Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc fan you’ve got to go for this. It’s already down from £8.49 to £6.49, now £4.87 when you buy 6 bottles. (That doesn’t mean I think you should take advantage of the other cut price offers being advertised on top of the 25% off deal which are by and large pretty dull.)

Taste the Difference Tuscan Red 2009 (down from £5.99 to £4.49)
At the full price this is a good value Chianti alternative. At the discounted price it’s a steal. Great drinking with pasta and pizza

Flor de Nelas Seleçao, Dao 2009 (down from £7.99 to £5.99)
Portugal is currently offering some of the best value drinking in Europe and this is a rich, spicy characterful red that you should enjoy if you’re a fan of wines from the Rhone. Good with roasts, braises and pies - posh enough to serve at a dinner party

Taste the Difference Fairtrade Carmenère 2010 (down from £6.99 to £5.24)
A typically Chilean red - very lush and ripe so possibly not for you if you’re a fan of more classic French styles but a great wine to drink with spicy stews and curries - and even with the turkey. And it’s Fairtrade which is always worth supporting.

Chateau David Bordeaux Supérieur 2010 (down from £6.49 to £4.87)
Bordeaux under a fiver? Yes, hard to believe but it’s true. An attractive young fruity claret that would drink well with cold turkey, ham and other Christmas leftovers. Or with hard British regional cheeses like cheddar.

If you don't want to buy six bottles Sainsbury's also has a 'buy 4, save 10%' offer on its range 'in selected stores' (but not locals) which will save you a bit but I'd go for the six if you can run to it. Both offers finish at midnight on November 1st.

Hachis parmentier (aka French shepherd's pie)

2011-10-25T08:13:00.005+01:00

I've been thinking of making this French take on shepherds pie for a while but what prompted it was having a large bunch of parsley in the fridge. (You can't win with herbs - either you get a ridiculously small packet that costs the earth or a huge bunch that you end up wasting.)

There are of course many ways of making hachis parmentier which is basically a leftovers dish. A lot of recipes base it on a stew but you can make it with mince which is what I've done here having picked up a cut price pack in the Co-op reduced from £2.50 to £1.65. You can add some fried onion and garlic to it (which I did) and some finely chopped carrot and celery if you want. You don't really want it gravy-ish so chuck in half a glass of red wine if you have some and a splash of beef or chicken stock. (It's worth keeping frozen stock in an ice-cube tray when you need this kind of amount.)

The parsley is a touch I remember from a French cookery writer called Mireille Johnston who presented a BBC series back in the 90s. The books that accompanied the series were great but I left the relevant one in France so had to cook it from memory. If your kids don't like 'green bits' as many children don't you could cut the amount of parsley back to a single layer or mix it up with the mince so they don't (hopefully) notice, although, of course, the little blighters always do.

I can't remember if it had a layer of mash at the bottom of the dish but it's a good idea because you get some delicious stuck on crusty bits at the bottom of the pie.

Hachis Parmentier
Serves 2-4 depending on whether teenage boys are involved
2-3 tbsp light olive or sunflower oil
450g minced beef or lamb
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 level tbsp tomato paste
75ml beef or chicken stock (or frozen stock cubes)*
75ml red wine (or 1 tbsp red wine vinegar and an extra 75ml of beef stock)
Pinch of cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A good big handful of fresh parsley, stalks removed and finely chopped

For the potato topping
800g boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into even-sized pieces (halves or quarters depending on size)
25g soft butter
A good splash of warm milk (about 3 tbsp)
40g comté, gruyère or cheddar cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper

You will also need a medium sized shallow baking dish (I used a rectangular dish that was 26cm x 21cm)

Heat a large frying pan, add 1 tbsp of the oil and fry half the mince until lightly browned. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon, letting the fat run back into the pan then discard the fat. Add the remaining mince to the pan, brown it and drain off the fat in a similar way. Add the remaining oil and fry the onion over a low heat for about 5 minutes until soft. Stir in the crushed garlic and tomato paste and cook for a few seconds. then add the wine, if using and beef or chicken stock. Tip the mince back in the pan, bring to simmering point then season with salt, pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. Turn the heat right down and leave on a low heat for about 20 minutes. (If it gets a bit dry add an extra splash of stock or some of the potato cooking water.)

Meanwhile put the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Cook for about 20 minutes until you can stick the point of a knife in them easily. Drain the potatoes, return them to the pan and cut them up roughly with a knife. Mash them thoroughly with a potato masher or fork. Beat in the butter and warm milk. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Butter your ovenproof dish well and cover the base with a thin layer of mash (just over a third of the total). Sprinkle half the parsley over the top (as above) then cover with the mince. Add the remaining parsley then and spread the potato evenly over the top, roughing up the surface with the prongs of a fork. Sprinkle with grated cheese, if using. Place the dish on a baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is crisp and brown. (If you make it ahead and cool it down before baking it it'll take more like 45 minutes)

* when you make a batch of stock it's worth reducing it then freezing it in an ice cube tray when you need a small amount of stock for a recipe like this

Wine of the Week: Sainsbury's Moscatel de Valencia

2011-10-22T07:10:00.004+01:00

Moscatel de Valencia, a sweet wine from Southern Spain, has always been good value but it's extraordinary that it still costs only £3.89 a bottle (in most branches of Sainsbury's). A whole bottle, not a half, like most other dessert wines.

OK, it's not particularly fashionable but it tastes just gorgeous. It has a deliciously orangey character that would make it a fantastic pairing for apple tart, pie or crumble (served with cream rather than custard), light chocolate desserts (plain rather than with berries) and - thinking ahead to Christmas - Christmas pudding which is always a tricky one to match. You could also partner it with a Spanish style 'flan' or crème caramel.

As the name indicates, it's a muscat, fortified with a little spirit to bring it up to 15%. Drink it nice and cold.

Aggie's Granny’s scones

2011-10-18T08:34:00.006+01:00

It's taken me a couple of days to get the recipe I promised you from Aggie MacKenzie's new book. I went for these scones because they look so delicious and involve so few ingredients. I suspect there's more to them than meets the eye - they look so fabulously light but have a go. This is what Aggie says about them:

"These are legendary. My mother’s mother made them almost daily (bread was a once-a-week delivery in the remote north-west of Scotland) and they were eaten with crowdie, which is a cream cheese that’s sharp and dense. My mother does these too, and they are the talk of the area. And of course it’s the recipe I always use. A few ingredients to get together, sure, but my goodness the results are unbeatable."

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: around 10 minutes
Makes 16 scones

40g/1½oz/3 tbsp butter
1 level tbsp golden (light corn) syrup
1 medium egg
300ml/10fl oz/1¼ cups buttermilk  (if you can get it) or milk
450g/1lb/3¼ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 heaped tsp cream of tartar
1 heaped tsp salt

Preheat the oven to the hottest setting (Have checked this with Aggie who says 240°C/Gas 9)  and place a large baking sheet inside. Melt the butter and syrup together in  a pan. Mix the egg and buttermilk together. Put the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add both the wet mixtures to the dry  ingredients and stir with a large metal spoon. (If you use milk instead of  buttermilk, the mix might seem too wet  but fear not.)

Have lots of flour on your work surface  and empty the mix on to it. Sprinkle on a good layer of flour. Gently roll out into a rough circle about 2cm/¾in thick. Cut up into 16 pieces; some will be square, some will be corners, but they’ll all taste  gorgeous.

Arrange on the hot baking sheet (no need  to grease), spaced  a little apart. Put in the oven for about  7-8 minutes until nicely golden. Cool on  a wire rack.

From Aggie's Family Cookbook, published by Pavilion Books, price £20.

Six wines for under £6 at Waitrose

2011-10-15T08:19:00.005+01:00

Waitrose has one of those increasingly popular 25% across the board discounts if you buy six bottles offer (12 if you buy online) which lasts until next Tuesday. Trawling through my tasting notes I must admit I struggled to reach my self-appointed target of six bottles to recommend under £6 which shows how much prices have crept up lately but here's a half dozen I think you'll enjoy:

Cuvée Chasseur 2010 (down from £4.35 to £3.26)
This warm southern blend of carignan, grenache and merlot is a reliable standby at its full price but well worth snapping up at this reduction if you're planning to mull wine for Hallowe'en, Bonfire Night or even Christmas. Fine with robust pasta dishes and stews too.

Castillo la Paz Tempranillo/Shiraz 2010 La Mancha (down from £6.99 to £5.24)
Something of a poor man's rioja though to be honest there's a lot of cheap rioja around the £5-6 mark at the moment. Has that appealing gentle soft cooked strawberry fruit that's typical of Tempranillo - with a generous lick of vanilla. A good wine for roast lamb or a cheeseboard.

Chapel Hill Pinot Noir 2009 Hungary (down from £6.99 to £5.24)
It's hard to find a good sub £10 Pinot Noir but this is a real steal. Quite light and delicate it could easily pass for a red burgundy twice the price. If you're lucky enough to be able to source cheap pheasant or rabbit this is the bottle to serve with it. (And if you miss the 25% off deal it will be on special offer at £5.24 until November 8th)

Inycon Grower's Selection Fiano 2010 Sicily (down from £6.69 to £5.02)
If you like chardonnay you'll love this rich, full-bodied Sicilian white which would go well with creamy chicken or pasta dishes or recipes with butternut squash. Good party drinking too.

Excelsior Heritage Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2011 Robertson, South Africa (down from £7.29 to £5.47)
A slightly different style from New Zealand sauvignon blanc - less gooseberryish, more citrussy with a lovely streak of lemon peel - this would go well with all kinds of seafod especially dishes flavoured with chilli and coriander. A lot of wine for the money. (Also available on offer at £5.79 from the 19th to November 8th if you miss this offer.)

Tabali Encantado Late Harvest Muscat 2010 Limari Valley, Chile (£7.79 down to £5.84)
You might find this slightly less useful given that it's a) only available in half bottles and b) only in 173 branches but if you can lay your hands on one as part of your cut-price haul it's a real treat. Exotic, honeyed with a fresh lemony finish - and just a touch of orange - it would be delicious with a whole range of desserts from apple crumble to Christmas pud.

Aggie's Family Cookbook: review

2011-10-11T07:01:00.009+01:00

You may be thinking 'not another celebrity cookbook' and, if so, I don't blame you. If I didn't know Aggie MacKenzie I'd probably be thinking that too.

But it may surprise you to learn her background is in food rather than hygiene - I used to work for her on Sainsbury's magazine and Good Housekeeping before she became famous for How Clean is Your House. So the cooking thing is not just made up to trade in on her fame.

And this is a real family cookbook. Of things she cooks, her sons cook, her mother cooks and even, her ex and her late mother-in-law cooked (now that is saintly!). It's as if your best friend who's a fantastic cook just handed over all her favourite recipes.

There's lots of fun stuff that's suitable for kids too like 'My take on chicken twizzlers' and Clissold Fried Chicken (a Stoke Newington version of KFC) and tips on how to get your kids cooking. The baking section is particularly good - I'll be posting a recipe later this week, hopefully - but love the sound of Tear-and-share Cheesy Rolls, Scottish Morning Rolls and her 'legendary' Granny's Scones.

The reason why I'm reviewing it on this blog is that - unusually for a celeb - she keeps the cost of food very much in mind, witness the Baked Chicken Casserole she makes "when I need to see off those lonesome bits at the bottom of the fridge", A Great Veg Dish for Leftover Cheese and Eggy Bread with Fudgey Plums "dead quick when you haven't planned a pud." And there are loads of useful tips on meal planning and saving money when you're food shopping.

This is a brilliantly down to earth cookbook that you'll use again and again. You can currently buy it for just over £11 on Amazon but even at the full price of £20 it's well worth the money. One for the Christmas list, defo.

Wine of the Week: Gran Vega Garnacha

2011-10-08T07:24:00.004+01:00

I was thinking of making a white wine my wine of the week this week but since the weather has turned chilly and now finally feels like autumn I'm reverting to red again. This time from Asda which seems to permanently have its entire range on special offer.

Don't let that encourage you to go mad in the aisles. There's some pretty dreadful stuff on Asda's shelves but here's one that's a fantastic bargain, even at its full price of £4.18.

It's a modern Spanish red called Gran Vega Garnacha from Bodegas Borsao in the Campo de Borja region, a big lush, ripe blockbuster of a red that would make great drinking with hearty stews or gutsy plates of sausage and beans. And it's currently reduced (until October 17th) to £3.78 which is ridiculous. Make sure you get the 2010 vintage (it needs to be drunk young) and lay in some for mulling on bonfire night.

Rosewater cupcakes

2011-10-06T14:31:00.000+01:00

So scornful have I been of the world's obsession with cupcakes I'd conveniently forgotten that I included a recipe for them in my book Food, Wine & Friends back in 2007. And when I was trawling through my photographs just now I didn't think they looked too bad. Even though they were - for heaven's sake - pink.

To be frank they're more like a fairy cake - they haven't got the ludicrous amount of icing of today's pumped up specimens but I think they're the better for it. Try them and see.

Rosewater cup cakes
Makes 24 cakes
250g soft butter
250g caster sugar
4 large eggs, beaten with 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
250g self-raising flour, sifted twice
125ml milk (whole, not semi-skimmed)

For the icing
50g soft butter
a few drops of pink food colouring
200g icing sugar, sifted twice
1/4 tsp rosewater
A small pinch of salt (about 1/3 of a tsp)
2-3 tbsp whole milk
sugar roses or other floral cake decorations (obviously the simpler the more frugal. Or you could just dot them with silver balls)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4

You will need two x 12 hole muffin tins and some slightly kitsch paper cases

Tip the butter into a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth. Add the sugar about a third at a time and continue to beat until pale yellow and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla essence gradually, adding a spoonful of flour with the last few additions. Fold in the remaining flour alternately with the milk taking care not to overmix. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for about 20- 25 minutes until well risen and firm to the touch. Remove the baking trays from the oven for 5 minutes then transfer the cakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Rinse and dry the beaters then make the icing. Beat the butter until soft. Pour a few drops of pink food colouring onto a teaspoon (easier to control than pouring straight from the bottle) then carefully add to the butter, pouring back any excess into the bottle.

Gradually add the sifted icing sugar 2-3 tablespoonfuls at a time. Add the rosewater, salt and enough milk to make a spreadable consistency. Spread on the tops of the cupcakes and decorate with the sugar roses or flowers. Leave for 2 hours before serving.

Storecupboard spaghetti with garlicky prawns

2011-10-03T14:05:00.008+01:00

One of the few advantages of being under the weather is that you don't want to go to the shops and make do with whatever you have in the fridge, freezer and cupboard. Hence last night's spaghetti which was also designed to blast through a cold.

It's not the most beautiful creation, I admit - if I was making it again I'd definitely add something green - most probably some chopped coriander or snipped chives but it's dead tasty. A slightly ritzed up version of the thrifty Italian classic spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino

Serves 2-3*

2-3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 fresh chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced (or 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 a small glass of white wine (optional)
A few drops of fish sauce (recommended - a bottle lasts for ages)
180-200g frozen prawns (the cheap North Sea ones not pricey king prawns)
A good chunk of fresh ginger, peeled
200-250g spaghetti depending how hungry you are
Salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon if you think it needs it
A couple of tablespoons chopped coriander or fresh chives (optional but looks good)

Heat a frying pan, add the oil and tip in the sliced garlic and chilli. Cook over a very low heat until the garlic begins to change colour. Add the wine if using, reduce by half then add the fish sauce and prawns. Stir and cook over a low heat until the prawns are completely thawed and hot through (about 4-5 minutes) then take off the heat.

Meanwhile pour a kettleful of water into a large pan bring to the boil, add salt and cook the spaghetti for the time recommended on the pack. Drain, saving a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water. Put the prawns back on the heat, grate in the ginger and heat through with the reserved pasta water. Season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice if you think it needs it. Stir in the coriander if using then tip in the cooked spaghetti and toss together. Serve in warm bowls.

If you wanted to do a veggie version you could replace the prawns with broccoli which I'd cut into small florets and stir-fry in the garlicky/chilli-laced oil.

* We managed to get 2 reasonably-sized portions out of it plus 1 to warm up for today's lunch. Which is why it's in a frying pan.

What's your favourite food when you've got a cold?

6 good wines to buy at Tesco

2011-10-01T07:48:00.006+01:00

Unless, like the residents of Stokes Croft in Bristol, you wouldn't be seen dead stepping through the doors of a Tesco supermarket it's the place to be buying wine this weekend. They've got their autumn festival on plus a 25% off offer if you buy any six bottles from them online.

That doesn't mean you should snap up everything you can lay your hands on. A lot of the bottles are priced at an artificially inflated level so the 50% reductions aren't nearly as good as they look. Still, there are deals - here are six that would tempt me. (Offers end on October 4th)

Tesco Finest Picpoul de Pinet 2010 (above, down from £7.99 to £5.29)
I thought we'd left summer behind us but not at all. If you're down by the sea or just eating fish and chips this crisp, fresh-tasting white from the south of France will fit the bill perfectly.

Sketches Chardonnay Semillon, S.E.Australia (down from £7.99 to £4.99)
Semillon-Chardonnay used to be a popular Aussie blend that's slightly fallen out of favour so it's good to see it back. The semillon grape adds a touch of freshness to the rich chardonnay. A bright breezy white that would make good party (or barbecue) drinking. (I'm not so keen on the red which is a bit jammy.)

Chukker Argentinian Torrontes (£36 a case of 6 from Tesco Wine)
Torrontes is a fragrant floral white from Argentina that you'll enjoy if you like riesling and gewurztraminer. Great with mild seafood curries and kormas and spicy Indian nibbles like pakoras. I don't rate the Malbec under the same label as highly, though.

Tesco Finest Touriga Nacional 2010, Alentejo, Portugal down from £7.79 to £5.79
A big, warming gutsy red made from one of the grapes used in port. A good wine to drink with hearty casseroles and braises. One to save for colder days ahead

Tesco Finest Howcroft Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (down from £8.99 to £6.49)
Another good red from the Finest range - a delicious smooth, blackcurranty Australian Cabernet. I wouldn't normally advocate buying an inexpensive red as old as this but this should have the concentration to be still drinking well. Perfect for a steak pie.

Tesco Finest Amontillado Sherry down from £5.49 to £4.12 for 50cl
And the biggest bargain of them all if you like sherry. Gorgeously rich and nutty, it's a great buy at £5.49 but totally unmissable at £4.12. Stock up if you find it*

*Note: Tesco now has some 2500 outlets so you won't necessarily find these wines in smaller branches - including ones like my local Metro (unfortunately) and possibly in Scottish branches given the new legislation outlawing wine promotions.

Incidentally if you want to keep tabs on offers on your favourite wines check out Find Top Wines

Half a duck = 2 meals for two

2011-09-27T08:44:00.005+01:00

One of the things I like best - and I guess why I ended up writing the book and this blog - is finding cheap ingredients and conjuring up something tasty from them. So I literally fell on this half duck at the Co-op which was reduced from £5.37 to £2.75.

What to do with it? Well I was thinking of duck burritos (mmmm) but then settled for a slow roast duck with braised peas and chorizo (below). Extra expenditure: a bag of frozen peas, a chorizo ring and a soft round lettuce all of which could be used for the following night's meal.

We didn't stint ourselves either. I had half the breast, my husband the other half and the leg and a good helping of peas. Mash would have been good too but we're trying to lay off the carbs.

The following night, I decided I would make a version of the Portuguese dish Duck Rice so I stripped the meat from the carcass and made a stock from the bones (overnight in the Aga but you could easily make it on the hob).

I then chopped about 75g of chorizo (still leaving half the sausage for another meal) and fried it in a little fat, adding a finely chopped onion once it had begun to brown. Then a scant teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander and a good pinch of oregano, and the finely chopped duck meat fried for another 3-4 minutes. I tipped in 125g of basmati rice, stirred it and poured in 250ml of the duck stock then transferred it uncovered to a hot oven for about 10 minutes, forked it over, added the leftover peas from the previous night and gave it another 5 minutes. The thing about duck rice is that it needs to get a bit crusty. We had it with the remaining leaves from the previous night's lettuce + a few extra salad leaves

You can do this kind of savoury rice or pilau with anything you have left over - a bit of chicken or pork would also be good or you could use bacon instead of chorizo. You do need an onion and some kind of spices though and a few mushrooms never go amiss

There's still enough duck stock to make a tasty soup - probably an onion one as that's what I've got hanging around in the kitchen at the moment but if you've got a couple of beetroot it's perfect for a borscht.

Slow roast duck with peas and chorizo
1/2 a duck, split lengthways
Salt, pepper and a touch of 5 spice if you have some
For the peas
2 tbsp olive oil
50g chorizo or bacon
1 onion or half a bunch of spring onions
A pinch each of smoked paprika (pimenton) and cumin (optional)
350g frozen peas
250ml hot vegetable stock made with a tsp of Marigold bouillon powder
3 to 4 outer leaves from a round lettuce

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Trim any excess fat off the duck (but not the covering fat), stab it a few times with a sharp knife then place it on a roasting rack in a tin and pour boiling water over the skin. Leave it to dry for 10 minutes or so then pour away the water, pat it dry with kitchen towel and season with salt and pepper.

Put a little oil in the roasting tin so the base of the duck doesn't stick then place the duck in the tin and roast for about 15 minutes until it begins to change colour. Turn the heat right down to 140°C and continue to cook the duck for about 3-4 hours turning the temperature down a bit more if it seems to be cooking too quickly. (I left it in the Aga lower oven for about 5 1/2 hours.)

Meanwhile cook the peas. Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the chorizo or bacon until it starts to colour. Stir in the chopped onion and cook until soft. Add the smoked pimenton and cumin if using then tip in the peas, stir and add the stock. Half cover the pan and simmer until the peas are cooked - about 20 minutes. Wash and shred the lettuce and add to the pan then adjust the seasoning.

If you like you can remove the skin from the duck and crisp it up in a dry frying pan or a hot oven but it cooks so long I don't think you'll find it tastes fatty.

Wine of the Week: Tagus Creek Trincadeira Shiraz 2010

2011-09-24T08:36:00.009+01:00

Yet another great value Portuguese wine. This one struck gold at at the Decanter World Wine Awards where it picked up the trophy for the best red blend under £10.

I tried it yesterday and could see why. It has that deliciously lush brambley fruit that tends to characterise Portuguese reds - almost like a lighter version of port. You could drink it with spicy meat dishes like chilli con carne, barbecues and even meat curries such as Rogan Josh. It would also be a great red to serve with a cheeseboard.

The best deal on it comes from Tesco Wine where you appear to be able buy it for £27.30 though (unsurprisingly) it's currently sold out. Keep an eye on the site though in case it comes back. You should also be able to find it in Tesco stores, Morrisons and Booths for around £5.99. Waitrose has another blend of international and local grape varieties from this producer, a gutsy Cabernet Sauvignon/Aragonez for the same price.   

Why it's worth buying organic bananas

2011-09-21T14:45:00.008+01:00

It might seem strange on this blog to advocate spending more on an ingredient but frugal eating is not about buying the cheapest food you can find but eating as well as you can on a limited budget.

I spend over the odds for organic milk and eggs, real bread from a local bakery, Italian-manufactured pasta (as opposed to own brand) and some organic vegetables like carrots because there is such a marked difference in taste - and in the case of ingredients like bread they stretch further.

To that list I'm now going to add organic bananas.

I bought them by accident the other day thinking they were Fairtrade and couldn't believe how different they tasted. Even the green ones my husband insists on buying because he hates speckled bananas tasted sweet. Just really banana-y, as you'd expect.

I also recall that conventionally grown bananas are heavily sprayed then treated with more chemicals to ripen them - a practice reported on here in the New York Times and here in the Sunday Tribune, India

Organic bananas are not a ridiculous amount more expensive than standard ones: £1.85 a kilo in the Co-op compared to £1.15 which came to £1.35 for 5 bananas or 27p a banana. You couldn't buy a chocolate bar for that.

What foods do you think it's worth paying extra for? And - as a matter of interest - do you like your bananas green, yellow or speckled? ;-)

Sampford Courtenay elderflower cider

2011-09-16T07:20:00.001+01:00

No wine of the week this week because there's a great cider deal to highlight - 25% off all ciders at Waitrose.

That brings the delicious Sampford Courtenay Elderflower cider I tasted earlier this year down to a very affordable £3.74 a full sized bottle instead of £4.99. I'm not normally mad about flavoured ciders but this is a natural product made from apples picked on the Sampford Courtenay estate in Devon and free from artificial flavours, colours and sweeteners and elderflowers picked and steeped in their own spring water. Or so the blurb says and I've no reason to disbelieve it. Although this is a quintessentially summery drink I'd still be happy to drink it for the next month or so (I suspect Waitrose was banking on a hotter summer, hence the promotion). It's available in 204 branches and also from North Coast Wine.

Other good deals would be Waitrose's own range (particularly the perry) which is always good value and the excellent Orchard Pig which are made on our doorstep here in Bristol - possibly only available in selected West Country stores.

How to entertain on a budget

2011-09-12T20:45:00.013+01:00

Before my holiday fades into the mists of time I want to tell you about a meal we had on the way home at the Auberge de Chassignolles in the Auvergne, my new favourite place in France.

Their evening meal is a no choice, 5 course prix fixe dinner which basically makes use of local ingredients they've bought from local suppliers or grown themselves. At 24 euros (£20.62) they're not making that much of a margin on it, particularly when you bear in mind that includes service*.

The meal that evening included:

A ham, fig and rocket salad (above). Slivers of country ham - probably not much more than 30g per person, I'd say - home-grown figs and rocket.

A fresh tomato and basil soup. Could have been home-grown but even if they'd bought the tomatoes they'd have been dirt cheap at that time of year (end of August). Soup is a great filler.

Lamb boulangère. Probably the most expensive part of the meal though I imagine the lamb was sourced from a local farm and the potatoes and onions of the boulangère (potato bake) would have been cheap. That was served with a green salad - more home-grown leaves.

A local cheeseboard. Cheese too is costly but again they probably bought it direct from the producer. You could help yourself, though, which was generous.

Apricot soufflé - a wildly impressive dessert but cheap as chips. Home-grown apricots, I'd guess, eggs and sugar.

It was a delicious, balanced, healthy meal which perfectly reflected the time of year and goes to show if you make use of produce which is in season - and are lucky enough to grown some of your own - you can entertain your guests royally at very modest cost. All you need to know is how to make the best of it . . .

* If you're staying there for a few days you can get a half board rate of 110€ per day, per couple for dinner, bed and breakfast

* Afterthought. Are these kinds of meals are easier to put together in France than in the UK? I think not - it's just a question of the mindset with which you approach them - but what do you reckon?

Wine of the Week: Vina Decana Tempranillo Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

2011-09-10T07:28:00.006+01:00

A fantastic deal this week from Aldi whose wine department you should definitely check out if you haven't already done so.

It's the Vina Decana Tempranillo Cabernet Sauvignon Crianza 2008, a rioja-like red from Utiel Requena in Valencia in southern Spain. With its old-fashioned presentation it's obviously designed to look like rioja, right down to the gold netting that covers the bottle but it's the taste that's so impressive - a really smooth red, with soft, ripe plummy fruit.

You could easily serve it for sniffy guests who would think it cost at least twice as much as it does. Which is just £3.99. Amazing.

It would go with a wide range of food but would be particularly good with roast lamb.

A taste of The Frugal Cook

2011-09-06T13:45:00.007+01:00

If you want a taster of The Frugal Cook you can find excerpts in this month's Vegetarian Living and Fabulous Food both of which carry recipe features on the book.

Fabulous Food has my caramelised cauliflower soup, seared salmon with creamed leeks and chives and peach and blueberry cobbler while Vegetarian Living went for the pizza giardiniera, spicy cashew and mushroom rice and carrot, oat and cinnamon muffins.

And while I'm in bragging mode if you know anyone who's off to uni this autumn my Ultimate Student Cookbook has just been listed in the Independent's top 10 student cookery books.

Actually all this is just an excuse to use the 'Grab' function on my Macbook which enables you to take a shot of any window you have open. Fun.

Wine of the Week: Bons Ventos Tinto

2011-09-03T08:34:00.007+01:00

At £6 a bottle, this Portuguese red from the Lisbon region isn't bargain basement, I know, but it's here for a reason. Which is that it marks a change of direction for the 37 remaining branches of Oddbins which went belly up earlier this year.

It used to sell for £6.75 which, since duty and VAT as well as other costs have gone up in the meantime, reflects a significant reduction. No longer are Oddbins going to base their pricing on the fact that you get 20% off if you buy six bottles, I was told by the temporary manager of our local store in Bristol. And there are to be no weaselly 99p's hence it being priced at a clear and honest £6.

The wine, which is made from local Portuguese grape varieties - a blend of Castelão, Camarale, Tinta Miuda and Touriga Nacional, since you ask - is soft, appealing and brambly, a good wine to have around for the autumn days ahead. It would be good with sausage and mash, stronger cheeses like cheddars and blues and even a meat curry like a rogan josh, I suspect.

If you've got an Oddbins nearby (you can find the list of branches here) it's a good value option. Oddbins is a pale shadow of its former self but at least it's around in some shape or form rather than leaving us entirely at the mercy of the supermarkets.

In what way is a tub of cheese sauce 'essential'?

2011-09-02T09:43:00.007+01:00

Coming back on the ferry from France yesterday I spotted two full page ads promoting Waitrose's budget 'essential' range and how easily you could run up a ham and leek pasta bake with it.

Most of the ingredients were fair enough. A pack of penne, a pack of sliced ham and a couple of leeks (though £2.70 a kilo isn't particularly cheap) but then I spied not one but two 350g tubs of ready-made cheese sauce at £1.59 each which would bring the cost of the dish to well over a fiver.

OK, I get where Waitrose is coming from - we're all short of time these days but how long does it take to make a cheese sauce? Particularly if you use the Delia all-in-one method which couldn't be easier. And which instead of costing you £3.18 would probably work out just over £1, even allowing for the fact you'd have to buy a pack of cheddar.

The fact that Waitrose is spending so much promoting this way of cooking also underlines how determined supermarkets are to wean us off low value basic ingredients and onto 'value added' ones. By implying we don't have the time or knowledge to make a cheese sauce they undermine less experienced cooks' confidence in their ability to make a meal from scratch and make them spend more than they need.

I don't know about you but I think that's a shame.

PS another thing that's odd. How come the recipe has a five star rating when no-one appears to have rated or commented on it? Just askin'.

How not to waste open jars and packets

2011-08-29T09:15:00.007+01:00

One of the main things that stops me - and I guess you - being frugal is the tendency to use an ingredient for a single recipe then fail to use the rest of it. The problem is it requires constant thought - remembering it's in the fridge (or cupboard) and incorporating it into - or even letting it inspire - another meal.

But this week on holiday in France with slightly less on my mind I managed it.

When we arrived at the house we found there wasn't much to go with the sausages we'd picked up at the local shop. We had a tin of haricots blancs, a jar of red peppers, some garlic and a few shallots. I sweated off a couple of the shallots and a clove of garlic, sliced about a third of the peppers and added those to the pan along with the rinsed beans. French tinned beans break down more easily, I find, so you get a kind of rough-textured garlicky purée that's particularly good with sausages. A holiday staple.

The next day I made a piperade (spicy scrambled eggs - above) with another of the shallots, another third of the peppers and a pinch of hot paprika, let it cool slightly then stirred in 5 lightly beaten eggs and scrambled them. You need to cool your pepper mixture first otherwise it turns the eggs an unappealing shade of salmon pink or, worse still, pink and green. Hot peppers and eggs are a great combination.

And the next I concocted an impromptu hors d'oeuvres with hard boiled eggs, sardines, some tapenade toasts (toasted leftover baguette spread with olive paste) and the remaining peppers which finished off the jar.

Part of it I think is being aware you have limited time in a place so you don't want to stock up with a lot of food you can't use. And maybe being too idle to go to the shops in the heat. (Sorry, shouldn't rub it in. It has been gloriously hot and sunny here.)

But it's a good way to eat and use up what you buy.

How good are you at using up leftover ingredients? Any two or three-way recipes you can recommend?

Wine of the Week: Tesco Finest Manzanilla sherry

2011-08-26T13:26:00.005+01:00

I make no apologies for being a sherry fan. In fact it amazes me that it's still so unpopular and still so underpriced.

This classic style from Bodegas Barbadillo is a real treat. Ultra dry, nutty and ever so slightly salty, it's designed to be drunk well chilled with tapas such as nuts, olives and slices of chorizo (Tesco has a good one which works well in cooking too). It's also really good with fried fish.

This is the first of a weekly slot where I'll highlight a wine I think offers good value for money. At £5.49 a 50cl bottle (£5.21 a bottle if you buy a case online) - enough for 5-6 glasses - this is bang on the mark.

Available in 286 (i.e. larger) Tesco stores.

Now Credit Crunch Drinking posts will appear on this blog too

2011-08-25T14:47:00.005+01:00

I've come to the conclusion I have too many blogs. Five, at the current count which is ridiculous.

The logical step is to drop Credit Crunch Drinking as a separate blog and incorporate it here. Regular readers will remember I did this once before then rather weakly resuscitated it.

I should have stuck to the original decision. After all if you're interested in keeping down the cost of your food shopping, chances are the same applies to wine and other drinks. And if you're a fan of the Credit Crunch Drinking blog you may appreciate a few frugal recipes too.

So win/win, I hope. There will continue to be posts like this under £6 selection of bargain buys from M & S which ends on September 4th and this well-priced cider from the Co-op. Let me know if there are any drinks you'd particularly like me to cover.

Two great things to do with corn

2011-08-23T15:02:00.009+01:00

As I'm away on holiday I'm taking the easy way out and posting links to two inventive recipes for sweetcorn which is cheap and in season right now.

One from Helen Graves of Food Stories who says she paid just £1 for 5 cobs last week. She barbequed them over hickory chips as you can see from her post here and served them with paprika and lime-flavoured butter.

And a delicious-sounding Roasted Corn Custard from Saveur which dropped into my inbox this morning.

Grilling undoubtedly adds a smokey edge to corn which offsets the sometimes excessive sweetness of new varieties. I shall be trying them out when I get back from France.

How to cook purple potatoes

2011-08-16T11:47:00.006+01:00

Having whinged about veg boxes for years, I'm now giving them another try. Why? Because I've found a really good scheme on my doorstep. Well, 7 odd miles away at the Barley Wood Walled Garden in Wrington.

This week's box (amazingly good value for £10) included purple potatoes so I've been debating for a couple of days what to do with them. My friend Elly had told me they disintegrated quite fast and ended up paler than she'd expected but I wanted to see if I could keep more of the shape and colour. (A similar challenge to my recent chiogga beets experiment.)

My initial idea was to buy a bunch of beets and combine them with the potatoes which I hoped would stain them a deeper red but when I cooked them (slowly, and for a shorter time than conventional potatoes) they actually looked quite pretty on their own.

I dressed them with a mustardy dressing, scattered over a few pieces of the red onion I was cooking with the beets, crumbled over some feta-like sheeps cheese in oil that had been lurking in the fridge, drizzled over a few drops of balsamic and a little extra oil and scattered over some parsley. A few edible flowers would have provided the perfect finishing touch.

I did however prefer the flavour of the roast beet and potato salad combo (see top of post) wich streaked the potatoes with an amazing magenta colour. I also added in the roasted potato skins, a super-thrifty touch which accentuated the potato flavour and crunch. My husband and I were discussing what would go well with this and came up with Stilton (or other blue cheese) and leek tart, German style sausages or other salty/smokey porky products and smoked mackerel. Not all on the same plate, obviously.

Anyway, try it for yourself:

Roast beetroot, red onion and purple potato salad

Serves 6-8

2 large beets or 3 medium-sized ones
500g purple potatoes
2 red onions
About 2 tbsp chopped parsley
A few chives
For the dressing
1 good tsp Dijon mustard
1 large clove of garlic crushed with 1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
6 tbsp light olive oil or 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 3 of sunflower oil
A little balsamic vinegar (optional)
A pinch of cumin
Freshly ground pepper and more salt if you need it

Set the oven to 190°C. Cut off the beet leaves*, scrub the beets clean and wrap loosely in lightly oiled foil. Place on a baking tray and roast for about an hour to an hour and a quarter, depending on size until you can pierce them with a sharp knife.

About 20 minutes before the beets are ready peel and cut the onions into quarters or eighths, place on a baking tray, drizzle with a little oil and roast for about 15-20 minutes. Set the beets and onions aside to cool.

Meanwhile scrub the potatoes and cut into even sized pieces (small potatoes whole, bigger ones into halves, still larger ones into quarters, etc). Place in a saucepan cover with boiling water and bring to the boil. Add salt and simmer (not boil) the potatoes for about 10 minutes until you can easily pierce them with a knife. (They don't take as long as conventional potatoes.)

Make the dressing. Put the crushed garlic and mustard into a bowl, whisk in the wine vinegar, ground cumin, salt and pepper then gradually add the oil or oils until the dressing thickens.

Drain the potatoes and set aside until cool enough to handle and remove the skins. (You'll probably already find them peeling away as above). Put the skins on the baking sheet you used to roast the onions, trickle over a little oil and crisp them up in the oven. Remove and cool.

Cut the potatoes into large chunks, tip into the dressing and turn them carefully so they are well coated without breaking up.

Peel the beets and cut into large dice and add to the potato along with the roast onion, most of the crisp potato skins, parsley and chives if using. Tip onto a plate and decorate with the remaining skins and a scattering of herbs.

I reckon the basic purple potato salad would also be good with raw rather than roast onion and perhaps a few capers if you wanted to ring the changes. And you might get an even better texture and colour if you steamed them.

* You can use the leaves as suggested in my recent post here.

Devilled eggs

2011-08-09T11:10:00.003+01:00

I've been thinking for a while about making devilled eggs since I spotted this feature in Saveur.

They are, of course, ridiculously old-fashioned. My grandmother used to make them as a cocktail snack, I remember. (She was a great one for drinks and nibbles for which she used to get dressed up in a gold braid-trimmed kaftan, right into her '80's. Even for me.)

You forget how delicious dishes like this are if they're freshly made. With a few crunchy Little Gem lettuce leaves they make a nice light summery lunch. Or even, if you dare, a retro dinner-party starter.

Serves 2
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 tbsp mayonnaise
a pinch of curry powder or a 1/4 tsp curry paste
a few drops of Worcestershire sauce
a few drops of Tabasco or a pinch of cayenne or chilli powder
1 tbsp finely snipped chives plus a few longer lengths for decoration
1 Little Gem lettuce or the inner leaves of a round lettuce
Olive oil
Crispbread to serve

Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and carefully lower in the eggs. Bring back to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes then drain the eggs and run cold water over them. Leave until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile separate the lettuce leaves and wash in cold water. Drain and dry.

Crack the eggs lightly and carefully peel off the shell. Cut the eggs in half lengthways and ease the yolks into a bowl. Mash them and add the mayonnaise then season with a little curry powder or paste, a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco or cayenne pepper and a little salt. Mix in the chopped chives.

Arrange the lettuce leaves on individual plates and arrange the halved egg whites on top. Spoon the seasoned egg yolks into the hollows in each egg white. Drizzle a little olive oil over the lettuce leaves. Scatter a few longer lengths of chives over the top and serve as soon as possible with crispbread. (Leaving them around discolours the egg yolk and dries it out.)

There are a number of different ways of doing this depending on what you have to hand. Anything fishy works well with eggs so you could mix the yolks with a little anchovy paste, crab paté, mashed sardines or tuna or that Scandi-style salmon paste in a tube. (If you wanted to jazz it up you could top the eggs with a bit of salmon roe.) Or you could mix in some finely chopped ham and spike it up with a bit of English mustard. Good party eating too.

Would you eat devilled eggs or would you feel embarrassed to serve them. What retro recipes (if any) do you make?

Strawberry cinnamon toast

2011-08-04T08:37:00.002+01:00

Those of you who follow this blog will know that you get short-changed when it comes to desserts and other sweet things. Every so often I feel I ought to remedy that so I've been thinking for a while about writing about strawberries which are still plentiful and cheap despite being past their peak season.

Prompted by Niki Segnit's brilliant The Flavour Thesaurus (a fantastic book about how to marry flavours in your cooking) I was thinking along the lines of strawberries and cinnamon. Initially a crumble, though I worried that it might make the strawberries unappealingly squishy then I hit on the notion of strawberry cinnamon toast.

Segnit is right, the combination is brilliant - not as obvious as cinnamon and apples or plums but it gives even the dullest strawberries that extra lift that makes them taste utterly delicious. Perfect for a weekend brunch - less soggy than French toast, easier than pancakes.

Serves 2

2 tbsp caster sugar
1/3-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, depending how strong it is
About 1 tbsp flavourless oil
About 300g strawberries
2 thick slices good quality sliced bread - I used a Co-op white farmhouse batch loaf. You don't want anything too dense for this
Some soft butter
Half fat crème fraiche, fromage frais or Greek yoghurt to serve

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5. Mix the sugar and cinnamon. De-stalk the strawberries and cut in half. Put the strawberries in a lightly greased baking dish or tin and brush lightly with the oil. Bake for 5 minutes, sprinkle over 1 tsp of the sugar and return to the oven for another 5 minutes or so then remove from the oven. (They should be warmed through rather than cooked and smell gorgeously strawberryish.)

Meanwhile toast the bread on both sides and spread one side generously with butter. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the buttered sides. Put the slices on a baking tray under the grill and heat until the topping is bubbling. Spoon the strawberries and their juices onto the hot cinnamon toast and add a dollop of half-fat crème fraîche, fromage frais or Greek yoghurt. Eat and be happy.

How to make tap water taste good

2011-07-31T16:04:00.013+01:00

I was blogging this week for The Guardian about soft drinks - mainly from the point of view of what to drink when you don't drink alcohol. One of the points that came up, however, is how expensive many soft drinks are - volume for volume, often as much as wine.

It prompted me to point out (in the unlikely event that you're not already aware of it) how good basic tap water can taste if you tart it up a bit. Step one obviously being to chill it and add some extra ice cubes then to add some extra ingredients as they did in this hotel I stayed in in Chile (above) where they flavoured it with peaches, melon and strawberries.

Coils of cucumber also look cool: simply halve a cucumber, peel it and trim off the end then cut it in fine slices with a mandolin or vegetable peeler and drop them in. Lemon and lime obviously taste good too: so much better - and cheaper - than those artificially flavoured waters.

Serving it in a water jug or decanter - easily picked up from a charity shop - makes it look swish too.

If you prefer your water fizzy - which I sometimes do - it's worth shopping around. Sainsbury's own brand sparkling water for example is just 40p for 2 litres compared to 69p for the same amount in the Co-op and £1.01 for a 750ml bottle of San Pellegrino, which is over five times as expensive. If you give it the same treatment (added citrus or other fruits) you really won't notice the difference unless you're a mineral water geek.

Leftover patatas bravas

2011-07-19T20:22:00.012+01:00

Or, to be more accurate, leftover roasties given the patatas bravas treatment ....

Here's how it came about. We roasted a chicken last night with some new potatoes, rosemary and garlic having started a meal with a green bean and tomato salad. I had two large roast tomato halves left over plus some roasted garlic cloves and enough potatoes to feed four (although I have to admit we managed to demolish them between the two of us which wasn't exactly healthy or frugal).

It suddenly occurred to me that I could make patatas bravas by reheating the potatoes (easy in the Aga but I could have dry-fried them over a low heat) and making a spicy tomato sauce based on the tomatoes and garlic.

Only I thought it needed a bit more garlic so I heated some olive oil, and fried off a large crushed clove of garlic over a gentle heat. I added a good teaspoonful of sweet pimenton, fried it for a few seconds then tipped in the tomatoes, having first removed the skins along with the roast garlic, jellied chicken juices, a squeeze of harissa paste and a good seasoning of salt. I cooled it for 5 minutes or so then blitzed it in a food processor, reheated it and poured it over the potatoes.

And that was that. It occurs to me that you could equally well use this 'brava' sauce with frozen chips or sauté potatoes or make it with tinned tomatoes if you haven't got any ready-roasted. And you could, of course, use hot pimenton, chilli sauce or cayenne pepper instead of the harissa but it does need that spicy kick.

One of those dishes that tastes much, much better than you'd expect. I'll be doing it again.

Why isn't soup sexy?

2011-07-14T17:25:00.007+01:00

This week I ordered a chilled watercress soup (not the one above) in a smart London restaurant. Nothing remarkable about that you might think but in fact it's an all-too-rare occurrence. So rare in fact that they clearly didn't know how to make it. Blending it with cucumber rather than with some sweated off onion and potato, chicken or vegetable stock and a dash of milk or cream, resulted in a dark green pool of what looked - and I suspect tasted like - pondweed.

So why don't we see soup more often? It's great for restaurants - a cheap and easy dish to make and good for lunchtime customers who want something light to eat too.

The French have always appreciated soup more, as a way of keeping down the cost of a fixed price menu - this picture was taken a couple of years ago at a Parisian bistro called Les Papilles. But now restaurants seem to want us to go for starters for which they can charge almost the same price as a main course.

I suspect many of us take the same attitude at home, preferring fancier, flashier starters instead of one that could really keep down the cost of a meal - and be made ahead rather than at the last minute. When was the last time you had soup at a friend's house - or served it at your own?

Anyway here's my watercress soup recipe, first published in the Daily Mail back in the early '90's which I remember feeling very proud that my local watercress grower stuck up on his wall. (It is of course much better to buy watercress by the bunch rather than pre-washed in a packet.)

Easy watercress soup
Serves 4
1 large or two smaller bunches of watercress
2 tbsp olive oil
15g butter
1 medium to large mild onion peeled and chopped or a large leek, trimmed, washed and sliced or half a bunch of spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 medium floury potato, peeled and finely sliced
About 600ml chicken or vegetable stock
A little creamy milk or double cream (optional, but nice)
Salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon

Wash the watercress thoroughly, chop off the stalks and roughly chop the leaves. Heat a saucepan or casserole and add 2 tbsp olive oil and a small slice of butter. Add a chopped onion and cook for 3-4 minutes then add a finely sliced medium sized potato, stir, cover the pan and cook on a low heat for another five minutes or so. Add the watercress stalks and 600ml chicken or vegetable stock, bring to the boil and cook until the potatoes are almost cooked (about 10 minutes) Add the chopped watercress leaves bring back to the boil, cook for a couple of minutes then take off the heat and cool slightly. Pass the soup in batches through a liquidiser until smooth then return to the pan and reheat gently without boiling. Add milk or cream if you want to thin the soup or give it a creamier texture. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a small squeeze of lemon juice. You can serve it hot, warm or cold. I prefer the former.

Rescuing beet greens and bean skins

2011-07-02T09:31:00.013+01:00

Frugality, as I've said before, isn't just about buying cheap but making the best use of what you buy. And nowhere is this more true than of beetroot leaves and broad bean skins, that get discarded from the now seemingly compulsory double podding process. This week I've found uses for both.

First the greens, because that was a triumph, though I say so myself. I turned them into a Greek style spanakopitta by wilting them then mixing them with chopped spring onions and a little garlic softened in a mixture of oil and butter and some feta-style ewes' milk cheese I'd impulsively bought in the farmers' market then stuffing them into a filo pastry case. Really pretty and really tasty.

Beet Green Spanakopitta
Serves 4/5
the leaves from a bunch (or two) of beets
2 tbsp olive oil
60g butter
a bunch of spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced (or a leek)
1 clove garlic, crushed
150g-200g feta or similar white crumbly cheese (you could use something like Caerphilly or Wensleydale and add a squeeze of lemon)
1 lightly beaten egg
A pack of filo pastry
Freshly ground black pepper and possibly a little salt

Wash the beet leaves and rip the leaves off the central rib. (If you're feeling exceptionally frugal you could stir-fry these) Pile them up in a saucepan without any extra water, put on a lid and leave over a low heat until the leaves collapse, turning them once or twice. Don't cook them or you'll lose the colour. Drain them in a colander then squeeze out the water and chop.

Meanwhile warm the oil in a small frying pan and add a quarter of the butter. Add the crushed garlic and spring onions and cook for a minute or two until soft. Set aside to cool then add the chopped leaves and crumbled cheese and about two thirds of the beaten egg. Season well with pepper and a little salt if you feel it needs it.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and let it come to for 20 minutes. Remove the packaging and wrap the filo sheets in a damp tea towel so they don't dry out. Melt the remaining butter. Take the filo sheets one by one and brush them lightly with melted butter and lay them into your dish or tin. Use just under half the filo sheets, layering them up so the whole base of the dish/tin is covered. Cover with the beet green filling then lay the remaining buttered filo sheets over the top. Tuck the edges in neatly (the beauty of filo is you don't have to do it evenly) and brush with the remaining beaten egg. You can cut the pastry into diamond shapes as I've done but you don't have to.

Cook in a hot (225°C) oven for about 20 minutes until the pastry is well browned then set aside. Serve warm or cool but don't refrigerate.

I was about to chuck my broad bean skins, I must confess, when it suddenly occurred to me you could make a nice little tapa with them. So I sweated off a bit of chopped pancetta - again from the farmers' market - in some olive oil with a couple of chopped spring onions and a crushed clove of garlic then simply turned the beans in the flavoured oil to warm them through. Actually I cooked them for a minute, hence the rather dull colour, but you don't need to provided the skins aren't too tough. And if they are you wouldn't want to make the dish anyway. Not a great photo but you get the idea.

And this is what I made with the actual beets and skinned beans ...

Is shopping once a week the best way to save money?

2011-06-25T15:52:00.007+01:00

Whenever a conversation about budget eating comes up, it almost always comes down to how often you shop.

My view has always been that doing a large weekly shop is potentially wasteful as you never know exactly how the week is going to pan out. I prefer to shop just before the weekend for what we're going to eat over the next three or four days then take stock once I see how much I've got left in the fridge or the storecupboard and when I know what our movements are for the coming week.

It's easy for me admittedly because there are only two of us at home now, I live in a town where the shops are open 'til late and I work from home. But I still think that buying food 7 days ahead can result in buying more than you need.

Against that you might argue that the more times you go to the shops the more likely you are to be tempted. And that if you're on a tight budget you need to cost things carefully and that's more easily achieved in one shopping expedition. There's also for many the cost of getting to the shops.

What may be worthwhile, either way, is costing exactly what you spend in a week as Linda of With Knife and Fork revealed she'd done recently on Twitter. (The answer was £7-10 a day for two. And she wrote down everything, including teabags!) And then try shopping an alternative way. If you go to the shops regularly try a weekly shop. If you do a big shop try two or three smaller ones as I do. See if there are savings to be made.

You might also try and have what I've previously described on the blog as a No Food Shopping Day - a day when you live off what you have in the storecupboard, freezer and fridge. I suspect a lot of us could manage for the best part of a week like that, essentials like milk and fresh fruit and veg apart - and even then you probably have frozen veggies you could use up.

What have you found is the most economical way to shop?

Making your own drinks

2011-06-18T10:01:00.008+01:00

In all the time I've been writing about frugal food I've never thought of making my own drinks. Actually, I lie. I did post this idea for an apple lemonade a couple of years ago and very delicious it was too which makes my lack of interest in the subject even more lame.

If I'd had Susy Atkins new book 'How to make your own drinks' before now I might have been better motivated because it's full of brilliant ideas for cheap healthy, mainly non-alcoholic drinks you can make from seasonal gluts of fruit and vegetables. Or even - and as a townie without a garden this appeals to me - by bartering with others who have gardens or allotments in return for bottles of your finished potion. (You may get the better deal out of this.)

For those of you who feel nervous about the idea - and frankly I was a little too - the book is packed with clear and reassuring instructions about sterilising and sealing bottles and troubleshooting tips. Maybe start with drinks that can be made and drunk almost immediately like lavender lemonade (lovely for this time of year) and fruity ginger ale then progress to ones that need a bit more skill and patience like nettle beer, plum wine and mead.

Many drinks can be made for free from hedgerow ingredients - sloe and damson gin being the obvious examples - but I also love the sound of Susy's Crème de Mure (blackberry liqueur) and homemade rosehip syrup which apparently has higher levels of vitamin C than citrus fruit. ('Kids adore it' she says.) You can also make perfectly good drinks from frozen fruit which can sometimes be cheaper than fresh.

All in all this book a is good investment - with the added bonus of being a fun way to create your own delicious drinks. A great diversion, I'd have thought, for the forthcoming school holidays . . .

Have you ever made your own drinks and if so which ones?

How a Michelin-starred restaurant uses leftovers

2011-06-12T08:34:00.012+01:00

I've just spent the past week on a work trip in Alsace (I know, I know, alright for some ... ) and stopped the night on the way back at a hotel we've often stayed in - the Hotel d'Angleterre in Chalons-en-Champagne. It's not as cheap as it used to be but we like it so much we occasionally treat ourselves.

What's particularly interesting about the place (and the relevance to this blog) is the fact that the bistro Les Temps Changent (times change) clearly uses the leftovers from the Michelin-starred restaurant alongside which enables them to keep the price of their set menu down to a very reasonable 21 euros*.

There were three dishes on the menu where you could spot this. A really delicious 'salad' of lightly cooked green beans (above) lined up over a finely chopped salad of cold roast beef, shallots and carrots dressed with a good gutsy dressing and topped with a sprinkling of garlic chips.

A fish terrine - almost certainly made from different kinds of leftover fish, some blitzed smooth, others left in bigger pieces. (More delicious than it sounds or looks!)

And a guineafowl breast stuffed with a boudin like stuffing that I suspect was made from leftover chicken. (I like the use of in season fresh cherries too.)

Of course I'm not suggesting that you slave away for hours to create similar dishes although the green bean salad is perfectly easy to achieve but simply want to make the point how well the French still do this sort of thing and what you can get away with if you present leftovers cleverly.

I still think there's a bit of a stigma though in serving up leftovers to your friends (shepherds pie apart though I always think that's better made with fresh mince). Personally I wouldn't hesitate but how about you? And what are your favourite leftover dishes?

* Bear in mind that price (English equivalent £18.55) includes service.

Thai trout and cucumber bake

2011-06-04T09:20:00.008+01:00

I hesitate to put Thai recipes in this blog because they involve a significant outlay on ingredients but chances are if you're into Thai or other spicy food you'll have a fair number of them already. And if you haven't you can pick them up reasonably cheaply at an Asian store or stall.

I hesitated even more this time with cucumber in the spotlight over the recent e-coli scare but at the time of writing the connection has not been proved and so long as you wash and peel the cucumber there shouldn't be a problem. There's been absolutely nothing to link British cukes with health scares.

Trout I admit doesn't sound as nice as salmon (the very word is offputting) but it's generally quite a bit cheaper than salmon fillets. They do have a slightly coarser flavour but one you don't notice with the zingy marinade.

It's also low fat, low calorie and so long as you don't overdo any accompanying rice, low carb. Hooray!

Serves 4
350-400g trout fillets or salmon tail fillets
Juice and rind of a lime, preferably unwaxed
1 crushed clove of garlic
A small cube of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tbsp Thai fish sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp each water and sunflower or vegetable oil
1 small red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped (optional)
A handful of fresh coriander + a bit of chopped mint if you have some
1/2 a cucumber

Rinse the fish fillets and lay them in a single layer in a lightly oiled baking dish. Mix together the lime juice and rind, garlic, ginger, fish sauce and soy sauce and whisk in the sunflower oil and water. Add the chilli, if using together with the coriander stalks, washed and finely sliced. Pour the mixture over the fish and leave to marinate for half an hour.

Heat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Peel the cucumber, cut lengthways and scoop out the seeds with the tip of a teaspoon then cut each half into little half moon shapes. Chop the coriander leaves and mint if using then scatter the cucumber and herbs over the fish, spooning over a little of the marinade (See pic for what it looks like just before it goes into the oven) Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 15 minutes until the fish is cooked. Serve with boiled rice. (Also surprisingly nice cold.)

Do you ever use trout and if not what puts you off? Is it the T-word or the bones (not obviously a problem with this recipe) or don't you like salmon either?

Brined pork chops with crushed sage and apple potatoes

2011-05-30T21:53:00.010+01:00

One of the biggest challenges of cooking on a budget is making cheap meat taste good. It can of course be done by long slow cooking but you don't always have the time. One solution, which works particularly well with pork chops is brining - leaving the meat in a lightly spiced salt and sugar solution* for several hours (although I suppose that takes a fair amount of time too. Or forethought at least). I'm sure the health police will get me for this but I have to say it makes a world of difference turning bland, tasteless, sometimes slightly tough cuts into tender, tasty but not overly salty ones. Give it a try.

Both recipes - the crushed potatoes make a really good accompaniment - serve 4

For the chops

75g coarse sea salt
40g unrefined granulated or caster sugar
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp juniper berries
a few allspice berries or a pinch of ground allspice
2 bay leaves
4 pork chops
2 tbsp light olive oil or sunflower oil
25g butter
Freshly ground black pepper

Measure out 1.5 litres of water into a saucepan. Add the salt and sugar and heat gently until both are dissolved. Add the peppercorns, juniper, allspice and bayleaves stir and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes then remove from the heat and cool.

Lay the chops in a single layer in a roasting tin or baking dish, pour over the brine and leave for 12 hours in the fridge. Preheat the grill to high. Rinse the chops and pat them dry with kitchen towel. Heat the oil gently and add the butter. Put the chops in a grill pan, brush generously with the oil and butter mix, season with pepper and grill for 6-8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chops. Turn over, brush the other side with the oil and butter mixture, season and grill for another 6-8 minutes. Rest in a warm place for 5 minutes. Serve with the sage and onion spuds below
You can obviously also fry the chops which is what I did tonight.

For the crushed sage and apple potatoes

600g washed new potatoes
3 tbsp light olive oil or sunflower oil
1 bunch of spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 medium eating apple (e.g. Blenheim or Cox)
A small handful of sage leaves, woody stalks removed
Salt and pepper (white for preference)

Cook the potatoes in boiling water for 8-10 minutes or until just tender. Drain and cool slightly. Heat a large frying pan and add the oil and heat for about 2 minutes. Add the onions, apple and sage and stir fry for a minute then slice the potatoes into the pan. Crush the potatoes with a wooden spoon or fork and fry for about 7-8 minutes, turning the mixture every couple of minutes until it's lightly browned Season well with salt and pepper

* This recipe originally came from my book Meat and Two Veg. Looking at it through more frugal eyes I can see that the spices in the brine might be a bit of an outlay if you don't already have them although you can get allspice quite cheaply from afro-caribbean grocers and juniper berries from health food stores and both last a good while. If you haven't got them don't fret just add a few more peppercorns.

The new Frugal

2011-05-20T15:54:00.008+01:00

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while may like to know that a new edition of The Frugal Cook has just been published. And for others who are coming across it for the first time I’d just like to say a bit about the approach I took in the book.

I got a bit of flak when the first edition was released for not concentrating enough on traditional recipes. One reviewer asked why I didn’t focus more on cuts like hearts, tripe and pilchards (because I don't much like them, is the honest answer). Another said “If the author thinks this is frugal she should have a word with my mother who cooked her way through the Second World War both domestically and running a night canteen for firefighters”. But that was nearly 70 years ago, I need hardly point out. Tastes have changed.

What I tried to do was create a budget cookbook that took account of the fact that people had less time, most probably less cooking experience and and access to a much wider range of ingredients. So there are Asian dishes like this Chicken broth with Coriander and Noodles (above) rather than an old fashioned chicken soup and a frittata rather than an omelette (below). There are meals to cook in bulk and make ahead (Basic Bolognese) as well as ones to rustle up from the storecupboard (Linguine with Stilton and Onions is a treat if you've got a piece of Stilton in the fridge)

There are tips for salvaging often discarded ingredients like spinach or broccoli stalks (Stalky Spinach, Pea and Mint Soup) or the leftovers from a barbeque (Chargrilled Chicken, Pepper and Herb Couscous Salad). And ones for cutting down the cost of family favourites like my Frugal Fish Pie. In fact there are tips for substituting ingredients and saving money throughout.

There are also treats - would I deprive you of treats? - like Empress of Puddings (a poshed up version of Queen of Puddings based on humble eggs, breadcrumbs and frozen berries as well as jam) and good old profiteroles. Who doesn’t love them?

In short there’s something for everyone whether you’re living on your own, feeding kids or entertaining friends and some lovely pictures (by Mike Cooper and Genevieve Taylor) to inspire you. At £9.99 - less than the original edition - it's cheap enough to treat yourself and a good gift for a friend. End of sell!

PS if you want to buy the new illustrated edition make sure it’s the one with the red cover not the green one!

How does Sainsbury’s Feed Your Family for £50 campaign stack up?

2011-05-05T11:11:00.005+01:00

Can you feed your family healthily for £50 a week? That’s the question Sainsbury’s is posing in an expensive new advertising campaign which is plastered all over the papers today.

Obviously they wouldn’t be spending this kind of money if they didn’t think it would be profitable for them but could you stick to the Sainsbury’s meal plan which you can find on their website here?

I was one of three food writers The Guardian asked to contribute to the debate - in the ‘yes you can’ camp. As the comments below the posts from readers show it is doable though I have reservations as to how many families who are not already living on that kind of budget could manage. As I said in my post it’s not only a question of what you buy but whether you can persuade your family to eat it - and to eat round the table at the same time. And how used you are to cooking meals from scratch.

Now that I’ve seen the meal suggestions in detail I have to say it looks more appealing than I thought - a good deal better than the details one reader posted by mistake from a similar Sainsbury’s offer that was made several years ago which included bought meat pies and canned beef and vegetable soup.

Whoever has devised the plan has managed to cram a surprising amount of fruit and veg into the weekly budget though I haven’t scanned it in enough detail to see how they’ve worked out the costings. If they’ve costed carrots for example pro rata they must be assuming that people would by them loose which I’m not sure the majority would do. It’s managing to use up the food you buy that really saves you money.

There are also some imaginative suggestions. Whizzing up bananas with your breakfast milk to make a banana flavoured milk to pour over your cereal is a great idea as is sprinkling cheese on bread crusts and grilling them to make cheesy croutons for a tomato soup.

There are some surprisingly unfrugal suggestions though like putting on the oven just to roast some tomatoes for breakfast, using ready-made tomato and stir fry sauces rather than making your own with a can of tomatoes or using soy sauce and failing to use the carcass from Sunday’s chicken in some way to make a meal for Monday or Tuesday.

I’m not sure it stands up from a health point of view either. Recommending toast and jam as a suitable breakfast for hungry teenagers three days a week doesn’t seem particularly good advice. In fact I’m not sure how a strapping teenage boy would survive on these relatively meagre rations. And surely it would be better to serve more veggie options than dish up cheap frozen sausages twice a week?

There are also many ingredients that you could buy cheaper than the price Sainsbury’s is charging for them. Most market stalls and a fair few shops would charge less than 80p for a cucumber, for example.

Obviously the week’s plan will come in on budget if you stick to it - but that’s a big if. My guess is that Sainsbury’s is hoping that you won’t.

What do you think of Sainsbury’s menu plan? Do you reckon it’s possible to feed a family of four for £50 a week and what would be your best tips for economising?

Remember lettuce?

2011-04-27T17:49:00.004+01:00

I've been in the south of France for the last few days where we're lucky to have a fantastic fruit and veg shop down the road. The most impressive bit is the salad section which generally has 5 or 6 different kinds of lettuces - all local and really fresh.

This particular one cost 70 cents - 62p at the current rate of exchange - and is easily enough for a green salad for six. At home it would cost twice that to buy a bag of mixed leaves for two.

It's really easy to get into the bagged leaves habit but how long does it take to wash and dry a lettuce? Three minutes, if that? If the French can spare the time why can't we?

Roast cauliflower with coriander and lemon

2011-04-19T11:21:00.008+01:00

I'm beginning to realise I have a bit of an obsession with cauliflower. It wasn't that long ago I was blogging about cauliflower cheese and here I am at it again.

The reason was a bargain from Bath Farmers' market - two small, but very fresh cauliflowers for £1.20. I originally thought I'd be really showy and cook them three ways - one roasted, one puréed, Heston-style and a stir-fry from the leaves but in the end I ran out of time and just did roasted cauli and leaves.

Although we had it as a side it was a fairly substantial one and would make a main course dish in its own right. I fancy it with felafel if you wanted to keep it veggie but it could also take a bit of finely chopped anchovy and capers like this version here. I served it hot but you could serve it lukewarm or cold. My husband who, as I've remarked before, is not big on vegetables, actually asked if we could have it again . . .

Roast cauliflower with coriander and lemon
Serves 2 as a main course, 4 as a side
1 medium or 2 smaller cauliflowers
A good glug of olive oil (probably about 4-5 tbsp)
1-2 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
1 heaped tbsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed with 1 tsp Maldon sea salt (or 1/2 tsp fine salt)
a pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
a good squeeze of lemon
2 heaped tbsp finely chopped parsley or coriander (maybe coriander if you use chilli otherwise I prefer parsley)
20g butter
Black and white pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Divide the cauliflower into largeish florets, saving the leaves. Put in a roasting tin with the oil and cook for 15 minutes, turning the florets over half way through. Just before you think it will be ready add the chopped garlic and crushed coriander seeds and chilli flakes if using, mix in and return to the oven for 5-7 minutes or so. Remove from the oven, stir in the parsley or coriander and season with black pepper and a good squeeze of lemon.

While the cauliflower is cooking pick over the leaves, removing the coarser ones and the tough central rib from the larger remaining ones. Simmer with a little water until the water has evaporated. Add the butter and season with salt and white pepper (or black if you don't have any white)

Arrange the leaves on a warm serving dish and spoon over the cauliflower.

The secret of dealing with cooked leftovers

2011-04-10T06:44:00.004+01:00

I was reminded this week just how easy it is to make something delicious out of leftovers - and also how easy it is to forget the fundamental principle which is to do something with them while they’re still hot - or at least warm.

I decided to pot roast a joint of beef I bought a month or so ago from a very good farm shop nearby. Admittedly with the temperature in the 20s the timing could have been better but I was trying to clear the freezer for summer. (Too late. It seems already to have come.)

I cooked it with onions and diced bacon and a fair amount of wine (I also write about wine so am inundated in the stuff: you could equally well use a mixture of stock and beer or cider) and added roasted carrots at the end to keep their colour. Then I served it with buttered cabbage and mash.

I guess there was just about enough meat for two portions at the end of the meal but as it had been slow cooked it would have ended up dry if I’d simply wrapped it in foil. So I chopped it, and the carrots, as small as I could, mixed them with the remaining gravy of which there wasn’t a lot but enough to moisten the meat and put it in a pie dish. Then I covered it with a layer of cabbage and the remaining mash. One cottage pie with five minutes effort and nothing to do the next day.

It turned out pretty well - more than enough for two although we managed to make short work of it. I liked the texture of the chopped meat as a change from mince - I think the only change I’d have made would have been to mix the greens with the mash for a bubble and squeak topping.

It’s not so much that I couldn’t have made this the following night (though I don’t think it would have been as good) it’s just that it would have been less appealing - leftovers to be dealt with rather than a meal that simply needed reheating. That's the way leftovers tend to lurk in the fridge until you give up on them and throw them away.

The same applies to other kinds of leftover food. If you want to make something of it it’s generally better to do it straightaway. Like dressing pasta, rice, beans or potatoes for a salad, making fish cakes or turning pasta into a bake, with, say, some leftover roast peppers or courgettes if you have some. Or stripping the remaining meat from a chicken and adding it (and maybe some ham and/or mushrooms) to a creamy sauce which can then be used as a pie filling. You can of course freeze it too if you do it quickly.

What are your favourite ways of dealing with cooked leftovers?

Smoked salmon tartare

2011-04-03T16:30:00.006+01:00

Too busy to blog this week so here's a nice little recipe I rustled up for the Guardian student cookbook I put together last year. It was made with Sainsbuy's Basics smoked salmon offcuts which are ridiculously cheap and with cottage cheese a product I confess I loathe with a passion but which adds a lovely moussey lightness to this Scandi-style spread.

Serves 6

125g smoked salmon pieces
1 lemon, preferably unwaxed
150g cottage or curd cheese
1-2 tbsp crème fraiche
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill or chives or chopped capers
Freshly ground black pepper

Chop the smoked salmon up small if necessary (with some packs you won’t have to), removing any tougher pieces and put in a bowl. Grate the rind from the lemon and set aside. Squeeze the lemon juice and spoon about a tablespoon over the salmon. Drain and sieve the cottage cheese or whizz it in a food processor to break up the curds. Mix it with the salmon along with the crème fraiche, a little of the lemon rind, chopped dill, chives or capers and plenty of black pepper. Chill for at least an hour and stir again before you serve it. Really good with thinly sliced rye bread or crispbread or as a baked potato topping.

So how do you feel about cottage cheese? Love it? Hate it? If it's the former what do you do with it?

Pressure cooker 0 Remoska 1

2011-03-28T21:29:00.009+01:00

This pressure cooker thing has been bugging me so I thought I'd remake the recipe in a Remoska, a Czech tabletop cooker that also claims to be energy-saving.

I tweaked it slightly, leaving out the mustard and adding a bit of chorizo but the whole thing was much, much tastier than Saturday night's effort. OK it took longer - about 40 minutes - but I didn't have to do anything while it was cooking.

I also rescued the leftovers from the abortive pressure cooked chicken by taking the chicken off the bone, putting it back with the onions and stock, heating it up and stirring in a good dollop of wild garlic pesto I bought at the Love Food Spring Festival at the weekend. This transformed it into a really quite passable chicken and wild garlic soup. I can imagine poaching (note, poaching not pressure cooking!) a whole chicken and serving it with new potatoes and spring veg, the chicken broth and a dollop of wild garlic pesto - like a cross between an aioli and a salsa verde.

Anyway this is my adaptation of Richard's original recipe. For the Remoska or oven, not for the pressure cooker, if you please . . .

Spanish-style chicken
Serves 2
1 tbsp olive oil
75g chorizo, cut into cubes
4 chicken thighs
3 small onions, peeled and quartered
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
75ml dry sherry or white wine)
125ml chicken or vegetable stock
8/9 green olives
Handful of chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil and fry the chorizo until the fat starts to run. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, brown on both sides and place in the remoska or a casserole. Quickly fry the onions in the chorizo-y oil then stir in the garlic. Tip in the sherry and bring up to the boil then add the stock and pour over the chicken. Stir in reserved chorizo and the olives. Cook for about 40 minutes in the Remoska or cover with a lid and place in a low oven until the chicken is nicely browned. Stir in the chopped parsley and serve with rice.

Pressure cookers are just not for me

2011-03-27T08:39:00.006+01:00

Ever since I last blogged about pressure cookers (three years ago I discovered, to my amazement) I’ve had this sense of unfinished business. They are such a frugal way of cooking it seemed wrong not to give them another try. I was prompted to have go by the publication of a really inspiring book by my colleague Richard Ehrlich called 80 Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker.

Now you can see how many of the recipes I fancied from the number pink post-it notes marking the pages. I really thought this was going to be it. The big breakthrough. I unearthed the pressure cooker from the back of a cupboard, dusted it down, managed to find the instruction book (no small feat) gave it the recommended checkover and was ready to go.

I chose a delicious-looking recipe for chicken with sherry, mustard and olives as I had most of the ingredients and followed the instructions to the letter. Everything seemed to go fine - the pressure indicator went up, steam emitted, the cooker burbled comfortingly - the 10 minutes recommended cooking time was up and .... the chicken wasn’t cooked.

I put the lid on again brought it back up to pressure, cooked it for another 5 minutes which did the trick but worryingly it didn’t smell particularly appetising despite the presence of onions, garlic (my addition) and fino sherry

The end result while looking just about presentable was almost inedible. The skin, despite the fact I’d browned it, was wet, limp and colourless. The onions were devoid of flavour. No taste of mustard, olives or even sherry despite the fact I’d used the full 100ml Richard recommended. My husband laboured manfully through it but basically it was crap.

There are a number of reasons why that might have been the case:

* I could have failed to follow the instructions. Always possible but I was careful to read them through again carefully

* My AGA plates might not have been sufficiently hot to get the wretched thing up and running. Maybe but the thermostat didn’t show it was running slow. And I couldn’t find anything that suggested you shouldn’t use a pressure cooker on an AGA

* Maybe the gasket needed replacing. Again possible but I’d only used it a couple of times (and the result had been equally unsatisfactory then). And it didn’t look or feel as if the rubber had perished

* It’s not a particularly good model. Could be. Tower is a reliable make, long associated with pressure cookers, however it doesn’t get very good reviews here

* Richard’s recipe didn’t work. No way. It sounded good - it should have been good. I’m sure if he’d made it it would have been good . . .

* Pressure cookers and I are just incompatible. The most likely explanation. I’ve never liked microwaves either . . .

Anyway if you ARE a pressure cooker fan let me recommend the book. It’s got lots of lovely frugal - and not so frugal recipes - in it I can’t wait to try including a couple of cracking meat loaves, a great-sounding shin of beef with an Asian dipping sauce you seem to be able to rustle up in a quarter of an hour and an awesome New England blueberry pudding. Only I’m going to have to find another way to cook them.

So, you pressure cooker lovers out there - what do you think I did wrong? And tell me why you like yours?

Why tortilla chips are cheaper than crisps

2011-03-20T14:24:00.011Z

There's one of those run-up-to-the-Budget articles in the Observer today about how you can ease the pain of the impending tax rises and one of the areas they focus on is food.

Apparently the Food Price Index rose for the eighth successive month last month (by 2.2% since January) as I'm sure you'll have noticed yourself with commodities like tea, coffee, pasta, bread and veg having taken the biggest hit.

The advice is not rocket science - substitute own brands for branded goods, shop at a less expensive supermarket, set a budget and shop online (not sure about that last one) but the best specific tip is one I was about to post myself which is that tortilla chips are much cheaper than crisps because they don't attract VAT. In Tesco you can buy a big pack of their 'Value' tortilla chips for just 25p.

Other anomalies are that cream gateaux are cheaper than arctic roll, chocolate chip cookies cost less than chocolate covered ones and unshelled nuts are cheaper than shelled nuts. According to this article in the Telegraph if you buy dried fruit and nuts in the baking section you're likely to pay less than if they're packaged as a snack.

Oddly ready made desserts like mousses are also cheaper than sorbets or ices which incur VAT. And takeaway food is VAT-rated whereas ready meals aren't making a supermarket pizza almost invariably cheaper than one you buy from a pizza delivery firm. In Waitrose today I spotted two huge Pizzeria pizzas for £5.

How much you save obviously depends how much you spend on processed, snack and takeaway foods but it's good to be aware that there are bargains to be had.*

If you want to plough through it you can find the official HMRC list here.

Instant French fish paté

2011-03-15T13:58:00.005Z

I had to spend last week unexpectedly in France for a family funeral - hence the absence of posts - but we went out for the odd meal and I was very taken with the presentation of this fish paté which was brought to the table as an 'amuse' at a restaurant called Larcen.

My guess is that it was whizzed up from some leftover cooked fish along with some spices, a few cooked chickpeas or haricot beans and - I think I heard the waiter saying to the next door table - some mayonnaise. Looks like there was a bit of finely chopped red pepper and cornichon on the top and possibly even some grains of quinoa (or that could have been what was blitzed with the fish). Add a few baked or toasted slices of leftover baguette and you've got yourself a pretty and ridiculously inexpensive starter.

Still catching up on the work I missed last week but hopefully normal service will resume shortly . . .

Cauliflower cheese with brown butter and onion

2011-03-01T21:16:00.009Z

One of my favourite pastimes when visiting foodie friends is rooting through their cookery books though I have to admit it's rare to find many I haven't got. But the other day I turned up one called English Country House Cooking by someone of the splendid name of Fortune Stanley. Turns out she - she is a she - wrote in the 70's and has an illustrious background according to this page on the Stanley family tree.

The recipe that caught my eye was a cauliflower cheese with onion which seemed an intriguing addition. I didn't have time to jot it down so made up this version when I got home.

Serves 3 as a light supper, 4 as a vegetable

1 onion
400ml milk
a sprig of thyme
1 medium cauliflower
40g butter
30g plain flour
150g of grated or crumbled cheese (I used half and half Gorwydd Caerphilly and Cheddar which is what I happened to have in the fridge)
Salt and white pepper

Peel and thickly slice the onion and put it in a pan with the milk and thyme. Bring to the boil and leave over a very low heat for the onion to cook but you don't want it to boil.

Meanwhile divide the cauliflower into florets and steam or boil until not quite cooked (about 7-8 minutes). Drain, saving some of the water.

Melt the butter in a non-stick pan and stir in the flour. Cook the roux over a low heat until it it begins to darken in colour and smell nutty. Then tip in the hot milk and onions all at once and stir. It should thicken pretty well immediately - if it's too thick add a splash of the reserved cooking water. Or more milk, if you prefer. Remove the thyme.

Add half the grated cheese and season to taste and tip into an ovenproof dish. Heat the grill, top with the remaining cheese and cook until the top is golden and bubbling.

The effect of the onion was quite interesting, making the cauliflower cheese milder if anything although that could have been the Gorwydd which is quite subtle and delicate. It would have been particularly good with boiled ham or indeed with some bacon or ham in it though I was trying to keep it veggie. (This blog is sometimes too meaty by half).

I didn't take the roux quite as far as I might have done in terms of browning it. I reckon I cooked it for about 3 minutes - I think I'd cook it a minute or so longer next time to get an even nuttier taste. And a little blue cheese might have been interesting. But a nice twist on a family classic.

Thankyou, Fortune, for the inspiration.

Incidentally the surface of the cauli cheese shouldn't look as crinkly if you flash it under the grill. I had to put mine in the top of the Aga which takes an age to brown things. One of the things that drives me nuts about it.

The new cheap cuts: tips from The Ginger Pig

2011-02-20T09:25:00.010Z

All of us I guess like to think of our meat coming from a farm where the animals graze freely and are well looked after but few can have such a good life as at the Ginger Pig. I visited one of their three farms up near Pickering in North Yorkshire the other day and it made me feel I never wanted to buy supermarket meat again.

The problem is good meat is pricey - too pricey for most families to afford you’d think but in actual fact so long as you avoid the prime cuts - and, ironically, the humble cuts that have become so fashionable like pork belly and lamb shanks there are bargains to be found.

Who would have thought that topside and silverside were among the best-priced joints on the butchers’ slab these days but according to farmer Tim Wilson everyone wants ribs. And pork legs are better value than belly. He also told me he can hardly give away lambs’ liver and hearts so reluctant are we to eat offal.

My own view is that we’d all be better off if we ate less meat and saved it, as our grandparents did, for a once a week treat - with leftovers if you were lucky. And if we took the advice of our local butcher rather than a telly chef and only decided what to make once we found out what was cheap that week. That means being more flexible about what we cook and eat - not easy in a generation of fussy eaters. (I’m not being holier than thou here. At least two of my children wouldn’t touch offal.)

Another problem is that not everyone lives close to a butcher these days but I reckon if you ring up one of the many online suppliers and tell them you’re looking for good value cuts they’ll respond. And if you band together with some neighbours on a delivery it shouldn’t cost too much. At the time of writing, for example, Sheepdrove has an offer on organic pork shoulder at £6.40 a kilo (though I’m amused to see they lump offal with ‘doggy bags’. Hardly encouraging . . .)

And if you’re lucky to live within striking distance of one of Tim’s Ginger Pig shops - in Borough Market, Marylebone and Hackney - you can drop by and see what he's got. He was telling me about a cut called lamb 'Henrys' which is a shoulder of lamb divided into about five or six big chunks, which he says is cheaper than buying lamb shanks and can be cooked exactly the same way. You’ll find more suggestions in his forthcoming book The Ginger Pig Meat Book which is written with a cookery writer friend of mine, Fran Warde. (Quick plug there for Tim and Fran.)

So what’s your attitude to buying meat and how often do you eat it? Do you buy direct from the farmer, from a butcher or do you mainly use the supermarket? (Incidentally Tim said that he thinks that Morrisons has the best meat of the big chains) What are your favourite cheap cuts?

March 1st
I actually did call by the Ginger Pig's Borough Market shop the other day. Disappointingly they didn't have much in the way of cheap topside and silverside but there were some great pork bargains including pork ribs for £4.95 a kilo, hand of pork for £5.95 a kilo and pork hocks for £3.80 each. (I'm sure you could find them cheaper out of London that's fair for rare breed pork). They also - impressively - knew what Lamb Henrys were!

What you pay for convenience

2011-02-14T21:18:00.004Z

I was going to write about my amazing trip to The Ginger Pig farm up near Pickering this week but I've been so insanely busy it'll have to keep for a day or two more. So let me highlight instead the ridiculous amount you pay to have your cheese chopped up into squares.

Spotted at Sainsbury's in York: a 200g pack of feta for £1.60 for 200g next to a - wait for it - 150g tub of feta cubes for £2.15. That's £14.33 a kilo compared to £8 a kilo.

I don't know what to get more worked up about - Sainsbury's for ripping off its customers or our apparent inability to cut a piece of cheese into squares which would take all of - oooo - 45 seconds? A minute, max. Who doesn't have time to do that? Or who considers the time saved worth £1.27*? Plain daft, if you ask me.

Anyway, good opportunity for a rant. Have you spotted any pre-prepared products that get up your nose? Or, come to that, ones you think are worth buying?

* The difference in price between 200g of the uncut cheese and 200g of the pre-cut cheese. I think. Maths was never my strong suit.

Creamy cardamom rice pudding

2011-02-08T10:36:00.006Z

I’ve been thinking for a while that rice pudding is the perfect frugal dessert and it was time I made it again but it’s quite hard to track down old-fashioned pudding rice these days.

A food writer friend of mine, Andrea Leeman, suggested I try her recipe which uses arborio rice, an ingredient you may well already have in your store cupboard. She also uses evaporated milk which gives it a wickedly creamy texture - and cardamom - which bestows the exotic, scented taste of a kheer.

Evaporated milk is again hard to find in the small tin she recommends which bumps up the cost a bit. Unless of course you make double the quantity which is probably not a good idea given that I’ve already been digging into it as a fridge snack for the past couple of days.

I made it in the Aga but not following the recommended Aga method which involves giving it half an hour in the top oven before transferring it to the lower simmering oven. I found the rice clumped together a bit in between stirring it which could possibly have been avoided if I’d washed it first. And it needed a slightly shorter time than the Aga book recommended - hence the pale caramel colour.

I served it with forced rhubarb poached with a little ginger, a perfect seasonal accompaniment though I do find it a bit ironic that a home grown ingredient that’s in season should be more expensive than imported strawberries.

Here’s Andy's recipe with my notes in italic:

Serves 4 or one person for 4 greedy days

50g arborio or pudding rice (I used 55g)
500ml whole milk
50g caster sugar (I found this a tad sweet. I’d probably reduce it to 40g another time)
170g tin evaporated milk
2-3 cardamom pods (I used 3, crushing them lightly before I added them)

Pre-heat oven to 150°C/Gas mark 2

Stir the rice into the milk in a saucepan (it might be an idea to wash it first). Add the sugar and heat slowly, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the evaporated milk and cardamom. Spoon into a baking dish, cover it with foil and cook for 2½ hours, stirring once an hour (maybe every 45 minutes).

Andy says: "This looks a pathetically small amount of rice and disproportionate quantity of milk liquid, but it all gets absorbed in the cooking. If necessary, add more milk once the pudding has cooled and thickened" (a good idea, this).

Andy’s version doesn’t include skin, of course, which may outrage those of you who think no rice pudding is complete without it. Where do you stand on skin (as it were . . . )

When boiled chicken is better than roast

2011-01-29T12:29:00.010Z

My husband's not been feeling too good the last few days - some strange bug that's made him feel a bit queasy - so I decided to make him some boiled chicken. How unappetising does that sound - or indeed look? You have to say there are no comparisons between the colour and aroma of a roast chicken and the slightly pallid, slithery looking appearance of a poached one.

Get over that, however and you've got yourself a feast. I covered the chicken - a basic free-range one from Tesco (oops, sorry, but it's been hectic this week) - with water, added a cut onion, two carrots, a bayleaf and a few white peppercorns, brought it to the boil, skimmed it then put it in the Aga simmering oven for about 50 minutes. Breast side downwards for the first 20 minutes then I flipped it over. You can obviously do it without an Aga but don't let it boil. The cooking liquid should barely tremble.

I cut up a leek, two more carrots and a stick of celery and put them in a shallow pan with a teaspoon of bouillon powder and a ladleful of the chicken stock and half-boiled/half-steamed them, adding extra ladles of stock as the stock evaporated until the veg were just cooked. I prefer that to putting them in the cooking liquid as they they get too soggy. Once they were done I added about half the remaining chicken stock, fished out the onion, sliced it and added it to the veg and chucked in a handful of parsley.

I took one of the breasts off the chicken and cut it thickly on the slant, put the slices in two shallow bowls and spooned over the fresh veg and stock. Meal one which would have made four portions (or seconds if we'd been hungrier).

Last night I skimmed the rest of the stock and added a finely grated chunk of ginger, a large grated clove of garlic, a small red chilli, some finely sliced coriander stalks and a finely sliced spring onion brought it to the boil, seasoned it with a little soy sauce and set it aside to infuse.

I took all the meat off one chicken leg and shredded it and cut one of the carrots into fine strips, cooked them in a little of the broth then added them back to the soup. Then I added the chicken, a shredded spring onion, a good handful of coriander leaves and brought the soup to the boil, simmered it a minute then served it. Again, a meal that's delicate on the stomach but full of flavour. Enough for 2-4 helpings

Finally I chopped the meat from the other leg up finely, added a finely sliced spring onion and stick of celery, a dollop of mayo, a bit of chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon and voilà a sandwich filling for two large sandwiches.

So from one five pound(ish) chicken (£5.35 actually) I got 10 servings which isn't bad. You get less shrinkage from boiling a chicken, more moistness and certainly better flavour for these kind of dishes. And perfect food if you're not feeling 100%!

How to make 2 meals out of a 15p bag of carrots

2011-01-16T15:33:00.008Z

One of the problems of buying cheap veg, particularly ones that have neared their sell-by date is that they don’t taste of much. Which means they’re not going to taste that exciting raw or steamed. There’s also the challenge of ringing the changes enough not to tire of them, particularly if you’re catering for one.

The best way to overcome that, I reckon, is to apply fierce heat to them - i.e. roast, grill or fry them over a high heat - and/or spice them up. That’s exactly what I did with a bag of carrots I picked up in the Co-op for 15p.

I roasted enough to make two recipes - a roast carrot and chickpea soup and and a roast carrot houmus recipe I’d been eyeing for a while in Alice Hart’s Alice’s Cook Book.

I don’t think the carrots had quite enough flavour for the houmus - or else the tahini I was using was too strong but the soup was great. Here’s how I’d go about the two recipes another time:

To prepare the carrots you need
450-500g carrots, peeled and sliced thickly on the slant
1 medium onion, peeled and cut into eighths
1 rounded tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Pre-heat the oven to 400°C/Gas 6 (or better still use it when it’s on for something else). Put the carrots and onion in a small roasting tin with the oil and cumin seeds, mix well and roast for about 25 minutes until the carrots are tender and beginning to colour. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes.

For the roast carrot and chickpea soup (enough for 2 bowls)
a quarter of a 400g can chickpeas
half the roast carrots and onion
375ml vegetable or chicken stock
a pinch of turmeric
salt and pepper
Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Put the roasted carrots, onion and chickpeas in a blender with just enough stock to blitz to a smooth paste. Gradually add the rest of the stock and whizz until smooth. Tip into a pan, season with salt, pepper and a pinch of ground turmeric and bring to simmering point. Leave over a low heat for 5 minutes, season and serve.

For the roast carrot houmus you need (enough for 4)
the other half of the roasted carrots
the rest of the chickpeas
about 2 tsp tahini paste
1 tbsp plain yoghurt
a clove of garlic, crushed
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
Whizz all the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste adding a little more tahini or yoghurt if you think it needs it. I'd serve this with wholemeal pitta bread.

For more ideas about what to do with carrots check out this post

Do you have any favourite ways of using up carrots or other cheap veg?

Which three recipes would you pass on?

2011-01-08T08:16:00.006Z

There's been a huge stir this week about US food writer Mark Bittman's post on 'Three recipes to change your life and the world'.

Bittman, a columnist for the New York Times and author of How to Cook Everything (also available as an App, incidentally) starts from the premise that no-one is cooking any more and that many see home-made food as more expensive than ready made meals. Which to be fair it can be but largely because we tend to eat way too much protein.

His argument is that anyone can master three simple recipes and that "the more we cook the healthier we and the planet will be." A great idea, simple to communicate but the crucial question is which recipes?

He chooses a stir-fry, a chopped salad and - this is the odd one - lentils with rice - all straightforward, wholesome and healthy but to be honest not that appealing to the average red-blooded male - or woman - going through one of the harshest winters in recent memory.

Having written a number of student cookbooks I've given quite a bit of thought in the past to this and I think mine would be:

A simple tomato-based pasta sauce to which you can add any number of other ingredients

A basic vegetable soup which can be adapted into all kinds of soupy stews

And, yes, perhaps that stir-fry

What would be yours? Remember they have to be simple, healthy and cheap. Not necessarily vegetarian but using a minimum of meat or fish.

If you want to see Bittman in action making his dishes there's a video of him on the Today show here.

What I made with my bargain buys

2011-01-01T09:59:00.008Z

First of all a very happy new year to you all. I hope you had a good Christmas and have managed to wade through the leftovers!

You might indeed wonder what I got round to making with my bargain buys - or even if I ended up chucking them away (no, I didn't!)

The turkey was roasted and kept us in cold turkey and fry-ups with madeira-spiked gravy (our youngest son's favourite way of eating it, devised by his dad) for days. (I should say our youngest is 25.)

I made a turkey and leek pie filling with the last of the white meat which is sitting in the freezer. I prefer to make it as a filling so we can have it how we choose - with a pastry lid, with rice, with potatoes or even as a pancake filling though that seems like a bit too much hard work right now after Christmas. And there are two big tubs of turkey stock in the fridge for a reviving bowl of noodles or broth.

But the £4.94 leg of lamb was the big triumph. I made a Lebanese recipe called Ouzi from Claudia Roden's Arabesque which involved rubbing the lamb with spices (cinnamon, allspice, cumin and cardamom), roasting it for 20 minutes then adding half a head of garlic, an onion and a litre of water to the pan and cooking it very slowly for 3 hours. Result, amazingly tender, delicately spiced meat with a delicious fall-apart texture.

It was served, as recommended with a dish of mince, rice and nuts using many of the same spices plus some nutmeg. The only downside was that it was all rather brown so I cooked some multi-coloured carrots I'd bought from the local greengrocer with a little ground coriander, folded in some chopped parsley and piled them up on the platter too (as seen in the quickly snatched and rather blurry shot above).

It's one of those dishes that can be cheap or expensive depending on what you have in the storecupboard. I didn't have to buy any extra spices and had the recommended pinenuts so the only extra expense was some pistachios which were ironically about half the price of the lamb.

As I've said before it is easy to feel you must go out and buy the ingredients recommended in a recipe but you have to think about why an ingredient is there - for texture or flavour. Nuts and spices would obviously be fairly cheap in the Lebanon but they're not here. If pinenuts, say, are too pricey you could use cashews. If you can't get whole almonds at a reasonable price you could use flaked ones. And I'm not sure that you really need the mince. But I am a believer in having a wide range of spices you can use to jazz up inexpensive ingredients (best bought from a specialist shop rather than a supermarket).

I reckon you could also make the dish with shoulder of lamb which would normally be cheaper than a leg.

Anyway my new year's resolution - or one of them - is to try and go through some of the food in my freezer and storecupboard this month rather than keep buying new stuff. What's yours?

My cut-price Christmas turkey

2010-12-24T16:45:00.006Z

As you can see I managed to get my cut-price turkey - just. I had a moment's panic when we went to Sainsbury's at 3pm and found there wasn't a single turkey left.

But Waitrose had several including this under half price offer on a 5.5kg organic bronze which was reduced from £57.77 to £27.19. I could have got a cheaper one still for about £9 from their Essentials range but this seemed too good a deal to pass up. Some more free-range birds came out as I was queuing to pay.

The checkout assistant told me that last year the last turkey in the store - an outsize organic bird - had been reduced from £74 to £5.99 just before they closed at 7 o'clock so if you hold your nerve - or are prepared to cook something other than turkey if you miss out - you can probably get one cheaper still. But I'm pretty pleased with my bargain.

Have a very happy Christmas everyone, however you spend it x.

Anti-flu soup

2010-12-23T06:30:00.005Z

Having sailed through the winter so far without a cold I've fallen victim to one just before Christmas. Isn't that always the way? The only consolation is I'm not alone. Practically everyone I know is coughing and spluttering including most of my family.

In a vain attempt to ward it off I made what I hoped would be a healthgiving onion soup. It didn't work in the end but it made me feel a lot better at the time and - who knows - I might have been more lurgified still without it.

It's basically a French onion soup with extra garlic and without the croutons and cheese which makes it lighter though you can obviously add those at the end if you have time and/or are feeling more robust. I also used French onions - one of those strings of Brittany ones - which I think improved the taste and texture as they're not as wet as English ones though obviously you're not going to set out on the ice looking for an onion man if you're feeling like death.

Onions, like garlic, have anti-bacterial compounds and are a recognised method of treating colds and flu according to this site although getting any definitive answer on health out of the internet is always an uphill struggle. But I seem to remember reading it elsewhere.

Onion, garlic and thyme soup
Serves 2-4

5-6 medium-sized onions, preferably French
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried thyme (optional)
3 tbsp olive oil
About 15g butter
800ml vegetable, chicken or beef stock
Salt and (preferably) white pepper though if you're stuffed up you may not be able to tell the difference

Peel and finely slice the onions and garlic. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole, tip in the onions, garlic and thyme, stir and cook uncovered over a low heat for about 20-25 minutes until the onions have completely collapsed and begun to colour. (It will depend on the onions and how fast you cook them how brown they get but it's better to keep the heat low. Having said that I cooked them in the top oven of the Aga.) Pour over the stock, bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve in warm bowls, adding some grated cheese if you like. To make it more of a meal, top with baked bread slices and grated cheese and return to the oven or melt under the grill.

I'm sure I've asked you this before but do you have any favourite ways of dealing with lurgies?

Cutting the cost of Christmas food shopping

2010-12-18T17:49:00.012Z

With the weather being so atrocious at the moment you may be simply grateful to get out and find anything in the shops but I’m going to suggest a strategy for cutting your Christmas food shopping bills. Which is not to shop with a preconceived idea about what you’re going to cook and just see what's on offer.

There is admittedly a danger that you’ll just snap up every bargain you find but if you buy things that will keep or which you can freeze you can pick up some really good deals as I’ve done a couple of times over the past week.

Last weekend I picked up some packs of game casserole in Waitrose, normally £4.69, reduced by 20% to £3.75 then slashed to 99p each to clear. We used them to make a game pie filling which we served with what I call floating pastry lids rather than as a pie, a trick that speeds up the cooking process, ensures your pastry remains crisp and can even leave you a couple of lids for leftovers.

Then this week I hit the jackpot in the Co-op with a leg of lamb for £4.94 which will do for dinner for six sometime over the Christmas period.

I also picked up an 800g pack of mince for a lasagne or a batch of bolognese, a 700g bacon joint for £2.50 which should feed four with lentils or butter beans and a Bury black pudding for 49p which the two of us had for lunch yesterday with a potato, apple and onion fry (all from ingredients already in the cupboard)

Tonight we’re going to have chicken casserole based on a £2.19 pack of Freedom Food chicken thighs with a 73p pack of chestnut mushrooms. OK, it will be zipped up with some leftover wine or cider and a little cream but it’ll still cost us no more than a couple of quid a head.

We’ve also decided as there are probably only going to be three of us on Christmas Day to take it to the wire and leave our shopping until the afternoon of Christmas Eve and simply see what we can pick up. That may result in us having a chicken or a joint of pork rather than a turkey but we can still make a stuffing and all the trimmings that go with the traditional Christmas lunch and I don’t think we’ll enjoy it any the less.

I admit I don’t always shop like this but occasionally it’s good to see how little you can manage to live on especially over Christmas when the pressure to spend far more than you need on food is at its greatest.

It's not as if we're laying in for a 10 day siege. (Well, unless you're unlucky enough to be snowed in). The shops will be back open again on Boxing Day and the chances are you've got enough in store to survive till the New Year even if they weren't. We certainly have.

How do you handle your Christmas food shopping? Do you find you tend to buy more than you need or have you developed strategies for keeping the cost - and waste - down?

Is it worth baking your own cakes?

2010-12-11T09:07:00.007Z

I baked a really brilliant cake last weekend. No credit to me - I'm not a great baker - but the recipe came from my friend and erstwhile commissioning editor Sarah Randell, who is.

Sarah has been brought up in the Delia school of patient and exhaustive recipe testing - she used to work on Delia's books, hence the unusual credit on the front of her own new book Weekend Baking. (Delia almost never gives endorsements for cookery books.) She's now the Food Director of Sainsbury's magazine (which is where I worked for her) and tweets as @sarahbonviveur for those of you who are on Twitter.

The cake's particularly delicious taste owes a great deal to the amount of dried fruit in it and the agave nectar, a natural fructose sweetener. It's an ingredient you might well not have at home which got me thinking about the cost of baking.

No doubt about it, it costs more to bake your own cakes than buy them ready made, particularly fruit cakes. They obviously taste much, much better, make the kitchen smell great, give you a glow of satisfaction and probably feed more people than a shop-bought cake - but those people will probably eat far more than they would of a shop-bought cake as well.

I know baking is more about love than economics but what is the frugal cook to do? Adapt the recipe to use ingredients you already have for a start. Sarah already suggests a range of different nuts so you could use what you have, toasting them first if they've been hanging around the cupboards for a while. I didn't have prunes so I used apricots and figs instead which was lovely. And I didn't give the cake its final crust of crushed sugar lumps but used the demerara sugar I had instead.

The other strategy is to find another way to use the ingredients you have had to buy, such as the agave nectar. The most obvious being to make another cake and as we're not mad about conventional Christmas cake I plan to make this again instead. (Sarah suggests that if you want to make the cake more celebratory you can brush warm, smooth apricot jam over it and decorate it with small dried apricots and pecan halves.) And there are shedloads of suggestions if you Google 'agave nectar recipes'.

There's also the question of tins. I didn't have the 18 cm square tin that Sarah recommended so used a round 21cm tin instead. It made the cake slightly shallower than it should have been but it was fine. If you're an infrequent or inexperienced baker it's easy to fall into the trap of feeling you have to buy a new tin every time you make a cake. There's a useful chart on how to adjust the size you use here. (I should ideally have used a 20cm round tin)

Anyway, try it - for Christmas or not - it's a really great recipe.

Sarah's Simple Fruit Cake
Serves 12

100 g ready-to-eat dried apricots or figs
125 g stoned, soft Agen prunes
125 g shelled pecan nuts, almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts, or a mixture
150 g butter, softened
125 g light brown soft sugar
175 g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
150 g sultanas
juice and zest of 1 orange
juice and zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
2 tablespoons agave nectar (or runny honey)
2 pure cane rough-cut sugar cubes, roughly crushed

an 18-cm square tin, 7 cm deep, lined with baking parchment and buttered

Preheat the oven to 150˚C (300˚F) Gas 2.

Using scissors, snip the dried apricots and the prunes into small pieces. Roughly chop the nuts.

Put the butter and sugar in an electric mixer (or use a large mixing bowl and an electric whisk) and beat until combined and fluffy.

Sift the flour and cinnamon into another bowl.

Add the flour mixture and beaten eggs alternately to the butter and sugar, whisking on a low setting all the time.

Using a large metal or wooden spoon, stir in the chopped fruit and nuts, the sultanas, orange and lemon juices and zests and the agave nectar. Mix well.

Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and spread it evenly with a spatula.

Sprinkle the crushed sugar over the cake, then bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/4 hours. Leave to cool in the tin.

Recipe taken from Weekend Baking by Sarah Randell, published by Ryland Peters &Small £16.99.

Do you regard the cost of home baking as an issue? If so how do you keep down the cost? Do you ever feel it's simpler/easier to buy a ready-made cake or does the pleasure of baking your own generally outweigh that?

Chilly con Carne

2010-12-03T14:38:00.013Z

I don't know about you but this weather is making me crave rib-sticking soups and stews and I suddenly really fancied making a chilli or - maybe more appropriately - Chilly con Carne.

I was thinking of making this south-west American version (in the rather messy, quickly snatched photo, above) which I included in my beer book An Appetite for Ale and which uses chopped rather than ground beef. What clinched it was finding a one and a half kilo joint of top rump in the Co-op reduced to £3.72 instead of £9 odd a kilo for braising beef. (There was even enough left over to make another stew.)

My original (for which I've given the recipe below) used a mild chile called Chile Molido from Santa Fe which gives a particularly good rich texture but as I didn't have any left I used a tablespoon of mild chilli powder, a heaped teaspoon of sweet pimenton, a teaspoon of hot pimenton and about the same of some smokey ground chile I brought back from Chile earlier this year. (You can buy Chile Molido aka New Mexican Red from the Spice Shop in Blenheim Crescent or online if you want a more authentic south-western flavour)

I also used 2 tins of kidney beans rather than cooking them from scratch because I couldn't face going out in the cold to buy some!

Serves 6

For the beans
250g dried red kidney beans
1 bayleaf
1 tsp epazote - a Mexican herb which is often used for cooking beans (optional)
A few black peppercorns

Or use 2 x 400g tins of red kidney beans

For the chile
5-6 tbsp sunflower or other cooking oil
800g-1kg braising steak, topside or top rump, whatever's cheapest
2 onions (about 250g in total), peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 heaped tbsp tomato paste
5-6 tbsp chile molido (or a mixture of mild and hotter chile as described above - about 2-3 tbsp in total. You want something, ideally to give it a smoky edge)
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 level tbsp plain flour
300ml beef stock
175ml lager (optional - you could just add extra stock but it gives it an edge)
1 tbsp cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Soak the beans overnight in cold water. Drain them, cover with fresh cold water and bring to the boil. Skim off any scum and boil hard for 10 minutes then turn the heat down and add the bayleaf, peppercorns and epazote if using (it flavours the beans and makes them less flatulent!). Cook for about an hour to an hour and a quarter until the beans are tender, topping up with boiling water as necessary. Set aside till the chile is cooked.

Meanwhile pat the meat dry, remove any fat or gristle and cut into very small cubes. Pour a little of the oil into a frying pan and brown the meat in batches, transferring it to a casserole as you complete each batch.

Add the remaining oil (you’ll need about 3 tbsp) and fry the onions until soft but not coloured. Add the crushed garlic, cook for a minute then stir in the flour, 2-5 tbsp of ground chile (see above) and 1 1/2 tsp cumin.

Cook for a few seconds then add the stock and lager, if using, and bring to the boil. Pour the sauce over the meat, stir well, bring back to the boil then turn the heat right down and simmer for 2 hours or so till the meat is tender adding a little water if the sauce gets too thick.

Drain the beans and add to the meat and cook for another half hour. Taste the sauce and add a few drops of cider vinegar and a little more chilli powder just to lift the flavour. Serve with baked potatoes and homemade coleslaw or corn or wheat tortillas and an avocado salsa.

* Actually if you can leave this overnight and reheat it it tastes even better. Like most stews.

What's your favourite way of making chilli? And favourite way of serving it?

Chakchouka

2010-11-27T10:54:00.005Z

I'm still buzzing with ideas for meals to cook from my trip to the Lebanon last week but with a weekend of work ahead I know I'm not going to be able to spend much time in the kitchen.

This spicy egg dish which I cooked for the Guardian Student Cookbook I wrote back in the summer will have to do in the meantime.

Cooking eggs with tomatoes, chillies and sometimes peppers is popular all over North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Basque country but this particular version originated in Tunisia. I love the way the egg whites leach into the sauce marbling it red and white.

Serves 2-4
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium to large onion, peeled and sliced
3 small or 2 medium peppers, quartered, seeded and sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp hot pimenton, paprika or chilli powder
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes - or 400g fresh tomatoes, skinned and 1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp chopped coriander (optional)
4 eggs
Salt and pepper
Feta and pitta bread to serve (optional but good)

You’ll also need a large frying pan preferably with a lid or some foil

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the sliced onion and peppers and cook for about 10-15 minutes until they begin to soften. Stir in the crushed garlic and cook for another minute or two then add the cumin and pimenton, paprika or chilli powder and coriander, if using and cook a minute more. Tip in the tomatoes, stir and leave over a low heat for another 10-15 minutes until the sauce is thick and jammy. Check the seasoning adding salt and pepper to taste. Make four hollows in the surface with a large tablespoon then crack an egg into each hollow (or crack it in a saucer then slide it into the sauce). Cover the pan with a lid or a large piece of foil and carry on cooking until the whites are lightly set but the yolks are still runny. Serve with warm pitta bread with some extra coriander sprinkled over the top. Some crumbled feta is also really nice with it.

Do you make baked egg dishes like this? If so what's your favourite?

Parsnip, potato and truffle gratin

2010-11-22T21:02:00.006Z

OK, before you point out that truffles are hardly frugal, I know. If you had to buy them that is. But we were given a huge one by a (Somerset) farmer who had so many on his estate he didn't know what to do with them.

Unfortunately it started to stink out the fridge so swift action was called for. We had pasta last night with an outrageous amount of truffles and tonight a parsnip, potato and truffle gratin I invented on the spur of the moment and which was actually rather good. (So good that we'd scoffed most of it before I got round to taking a photo.)

Serves 4 as a veggie (it would go well with lamb), 2-3 as a vegetarian main course (we had it with cumin-braised carrots and red kale with garlic and chilli.

2-3 large parsnips
1 medium to large potato
1 small onion
Generous shavings of black or white truffle or a drizzle of truffle oil (but don't overdo it. It's probably safer to mix a few drops into some sunflower or vegetable oil until you get the intensity of flavour you want.)
600ml light vegetable stock
Butter for greasing the dish and dotting over the gratin
Salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6

Scrub, peel and halve the parsnips, cutting away the woody central core. Slice on a mandolin or finely with a very sharp knife. Peel and slice the potato, onion and truffle to a similar thickness. Lightly butter a largeish baking dish, tip in the vegetables and truffles (or truffle-infused oil) season and mix, then pour over the stock and dot with butter. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the top crisp and brown. Serve as a side dish with lamb, for example, or as a main with a couple of other veg.

Personally I'd have been tempted to add some cream to this somewhere along the line but my husband is dairy-intolerant :(

Peppered mackerel and potato salad with mustard dressing

2010-11-09T20:46:00.004Z

My husband seems to have taken over in the kitchen recently which isn't too good for this blog so I'm having to raid the back catalogue for recipes. This is another that went into the giveaway Guardian student book I wrote for them a couple of months ago. I'm not mad about smoked mackerel but it's fantastically good value and works brilliantly in this chunky potato salad

Serves 3-4
45 mins including cooling time

450-500g new potatoes
1/2 a small onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 level tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp wine or cider vinegar
6 tbsp light olive oil or sunflower oil
200g peppered smoked mackerel
A handful of chopped parsley or some snipped chives (optional but adds a bit of colour)
Salt and pepper

Wash and scrub the potatoes clean leaving on the skins. Cook in boiling salted water until just tender (about 12-15 minutes) then drain and leave until cool enough to handle (another 10 minutes or so). Meanwhile whisk together the mustard and vinegar in a bowl and season with salt and pepper then gradually whisk in the oil plus a tablespoon of water if it seems a bit thick. Slice the potatoes roughly into the dressing and leave for another 15 minutes if you’ve time for the flavours to absorb. Pull the mackerel off the skin and break up with a fork into largeish pieces, removing any bones and lightly mix with the potatoes and parsley. Serve straight away (potato salads are never as good if they’re chilled)

IMO you can never have too many potato salad recipes. What's your favourite?

Iscas

2010-11-02T21:12:00.005Z

The bargain of the week has to be lambs liver in Tesco which is currently selling at £1 a pack. I'd been vaguely thinking in terms of cooking it with mash and onion gravy but my husband offered to make one of his specialities, a Portuguese dish called Iscas.

I can never pin him down to quantities but basically it involves coating the liver with flour flavoured with dried rosemary and sage, frying it lightly then deglazing the pan with port (no, not particularly frugal unless you have some, which we do), vinegar and squeezing in a good dollop of tomato paste. Oh, and 2 or 3 sliced up cloves of garlic are cooked in the oil first. We usually have it with spinach or broccoli then feel very virtuous and smug about the amount of iron we've taken on. Conveniently forgetting the port which will probably give us gout.

There are other rather more precise versions online of which this one from Cookipedia looks about the best.

Do you eat liver and if so, what's your favourite way of cooking it?

Cornish Pasty Pie

2010-10-28T07:27:00.008+01:00

I still seem to be insanely busy since I came back from France so thought I'd post an old favourite I haven't made for a while which comes from my book Meat and Two Veg. Since you can now buy it for 4p on Amazon (how humiliating is that?) I might as well give it away.

You might not be convinced of the virtues of making your own Cornish pasties given the number of pasty shops nowadays but I promise you that the taste of this freshly baked pie and the smell coming from the oven as it cooks will make you change your mind. I’ve made it as a pie as it’s much easier than trying to cram the filling into individual pasties (and also less fattening, I kid myself)

Do use good quality beef for it - the traditional skirt is perfect. And don’t be tempted to put the veg and meat through a food processor. They really are better chopped by hand.

Serves 4-6

400-425g beef skirt or lean braising beef, trimmed of fat
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Half a small swede, peeled (about 225g)
450g waxy potatoes, peeled (e.g. Desirée)
2 medium sized onions, peeled (about 225g)
1 rounded tsp sea salt
1 rounded tsp white or black peppercorns, freshly ground
For the pastry
250g plain flour
110g block margarine (e.g. Stork) or butter
75g Cookeen or other vegetable shortening
A good pinch of salt
4-5 tbsp iced water
1 medium egg lightly beaten

You will need a large shallow pie dish

Measure out the margarine or butter and lard, wrap each piece in foil and place in the freezer to harden for at least half an hour. Cut the beef into very small cubes, put in a large bowl and mix with the Worcestershire sauce. Cut the swede into similar sized cubes, quarter and finely slice the potatoes and finely chop the onion. Add the vegetables to the meat, season well with salt and pepper and mix well.

Measure the flour into a bowl and grate in the semi-frozen fats, dipping each block into the fat as you go. Cut the fat into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs then sprinkle over 4 tbsp of the iced water. Work in the liquid with a flat-bladed knife, adding enough extra liquid to enable you to pull the mixture together into a ball. Put the pastry onto a floured board, shape it into a flat disc then place in a plastic bag and chill it in the fridge for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Grease the inside of the pie dish lightly with margarine or butter, tip the filling into it and pack it down well. Moisten the rim of the pie dish with water. Roll out the pastry to a circle slightly wider than the diameter of the dish and carefully lay it over the meat mixture. Press it down lightly inside the rim and trim off any overhanging pieces with a sharp knife. Cut a slit in the centre of the pie and brush the surface with the beaten egg. Decorate the pie with the trimmings if you feel inspired.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes then turn the heat down to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and bake another 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with a simple green or mixed salad.

There's been a bit of a ding dong on Twitter over whether I should have called this Cornish Pasty Pie. Two Cornishmen (well, one man, one woman) were outraged but my argument would be that it's a pie with a Cornish pasty-type filling - hence the name. What do you reckon - and what would you call it?

How (not) to cook a pig's cheek

2010-10-20T18:04:00.018+01:00

I've been meaning to post this for about a month but events have overtaken me. First landing the Guardian wine column which meant a frenzied few days tasting before going away on a long overdue holiday to France. I was going to blog there but managed to get sidetracked by visiting winemakers. I suspect this will be the story of my life for the next few months.

Anyway, pig's cheeks. Or rather pig's cheek. I found one on sale (below) at Source in Bristol for around a fiver I seem to remember and having never cooked one thought I'd give it a go. I was a bit disconcerted to find that one of the recipes I looked up called for more like a dozen cheeks which would have made it about as expensive as fillet steak so decided to give my solitary one the pork and beans treatment following a recipe I'd been given by a friend for hand of pork.

The boys at Source suggested I brined it first which I did but am not convinced it made a huge amount of difference*. The end result was pretty tasty but there was so little lean meat on the cheek that it was more like a pork-flavoured dish of beans. To satisfy the average healthy male appetite I think you'd need at least a cheek per person which really negates the idea of pig cheeks as a cheap cut.

Anyway here, for what it's worth, is what I did but I suggest you make it, like my friend Sue, with hand of pork

Brined pig’s cheek and beans
1 pig's cheek

For the brine
100g granulated sugar
300g seasalt
4 juniper berries
3 cloves
1 bayleaf
1 litre water

For the beans
500g dried butter beans
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 carrot peeled and cut into chunks
175ml white wine
vegetable oil
rosemary and /or thyme

Put the beans in a large bowl of water and soak overnight.

Put the ingredients for the brine in a saucepan and heat gently until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Bring to the boil and cool. Immerse the cheek in the brine for at least a couple of hours.

Pre-cook the beans in a large pan covered generously with clean cold water and boil fast for 20 minutes. Don't add salt. Drain but reserve the liquid.

Preheat oven to Gas 3/160°C (I used the lower oven of the Aga)

Very finely chop the onion, garlic and carrot or blitz in a food processor. Heat a large casserole big enough to take the pig’s cheek, add a couple of tablespoons of oil and cook the finely chopped vegetables until soft.

Add the part-cooked beans and the wine, and pour in 1 litre of the reserved stock from the beans (If you need more stock then make up some chicken stock from a cube and use that)

Add rosemary and/or thyme to taste - if you have sprigs then use these, if not, dried herbs will be fine - and plenty of black pepper.

Place the pork joint on top - with a bit of oil rubbed onto the skin and season with sea or rock salt.

Put the roasting pan in the oven and roast for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. (Mine took more like 6-7 hours) Check every now and then that there is enough liquid in the beans - add more stock/white wine if needed.

At the end of cooking the pork should be deep golden brown with crackling worth fighting over! (Mine didn't get this consistency but the cooking temperature was lower)

Serve straight from the roasting dish in the middle of the table - the pork will be best cut into chunks rather than trying to slice it.

* Not that I'm against brining. I've brined pork chops to very good effect.

Have you ever cooked a pig's cheek/s and if so how did it go?

Swapcrop - trading fruit for jam

2010-09-20T18:50:00.008+01:00

Swapcrop is the latest in a series of initiatives encouraging us all to be more community minded and gain something in the process. (Other examples being Landshare and Freecycle). The basic idea is that people who grow more veg or fruit than they know what to do with should make it available to keen jam and chutney-makers who don’t have a garden or allotment in return for a few jars.

The idea comes from the newly formed Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers whose mission is to ‘promote and encourage jam and preserve making' and to provide a forum for jam makers to swop tips. It’s been set up by Rosemary Jameson, founder of the incredibly useful Jam Jar Shop which provides all kinds of jam-making supplies. Pam Corbin who wrote the excellent River Cottage handbook on Preserves is the president.

Seems like there’s a bit of a jam revival going on at the moment. The WI is holding its first Real Jam Festival at Denman College in Oxfordshire from the 20th-21st of November which sounds like a good old-fashioned village fête with competitions, demonstrations, fresh produce stalls and ‘refreshments’ (when did you last hear that word?). I like some of the tongue-in-cheek categories which include 'Jam in the Public Eye' for celebs and 'people of high office e.g. MPs and archbishops', 'Man Made Jam' (for men) and Children’s Jam.

And then there’s a return of the National Trust’s Chutfest, a two day event at Barrington Court in Somerset on October 2nd and 3rd where jam and chutney makers can swop their produce - and others can buy it. Their categories are rather more conventional though the idea of one devoted specifically to rhubarb and ginger chutney has an endearingly eccentric ring to it.

What I like about both these enterprises is the element of self-help - the barter and the swapping. Something that's always gone on in the country on an informal basis but which can benefit us townies too.

Do you make your own jams and chutneys or do you let your produce go to rot? I have to confess we lived for years in a house with several apple trees and never managed to eat our way through them all. Much to the disapproval of my mum who patiently used to wrap them in newspaper and store them in the garage whenever she came to stay - often to find them rotting away several months later. I still feel guilty when I think of it.

Squash and saffron risotto

2010-09-11T08:34:00.011+01:00

I don’t know why risotto is thought of as special occasion food. I suppose because it seems complicated to make if you’re unfamiliar with it but it is frugal food par excellence - and comforting at that.

Sure, the rice is more expensive than most but you don’t need a lot of it. It also pays to use good parmesan (below) which I get from my local deli for no more than you’d pay in a supermarket (£16.95 a kilo). Don't buy ready grated - it's more expensive and the flavour isn't nearly as good.

Saffron is expensive, I grant you, but you only need a pinch and if you buy it by the box from a deli or online from a supplier like this you’ll have enough for a couple of years.

Risotto is also a great way to use butternut squash - or pumpkin come to that - a vegetable with which I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. It always needs something bitter or spicy to counteract its excessive sweetness. Sometimes I sprinkle it with crushed chillies and coriander before I roast it or sprinkle it with crisp-fried sage leaves but this time I used saffron because that’s what I happened to have.

A lot of recipes call for mascarpone but that seems to me too rich - and just another expense. I used a dollop of the crème fraîche I had in the fridge and it tasted fine as would a little double cream though you’d probably need to correct its extra creaminess with a squeeze of lemon.

Serves 2

1 small butternut squash or half a larger one
3 tbsp light oiive oil or sunflower oil
15g butter
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic (optional)
Pinch of saffron threads
1 small glass white wine
1/2 tsp sweet pimenton or paprika
600ml chicken stock made with 1 dsp vegetable bouillon powder
150g risotto rice
25g freshly grated parmesan
1 generous tbsp crème fraiche or 2 tbsp double cream and a squeeze of lemon
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley to serve if you have some.

Wipe the squash clean and cut it lengthways into quarters - or, if using half a squash, in half. Scoop out the seeds then cut each piece across into 4 or 5 big chunks. Cut the skin off each chunk.

Preheat your oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Pour 2 tbsp of the oil into a roasting dish. Turn the chunks of squash in the oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for about 15-20 minutes until almost cooked. Take out about a quarter of the squash, turn over the remaining chunks and give them another 10 minutes or so until completely soft. Set aside.

Meanwhile start the risotto. Peel and finely chop the onion. Heat a heavy pan on the hob, add the remaining tbsp of oil then add the butter. Cook on a low heat till the onion is soft, stirring occasionally (about 3-4 minutes)

Heat the stock and pour over the saffron then leave in a warm place to infuse.

Once the onion is soft add the garlic and pimenton, stir then turn the heat up slightly and tip in the rice. Cook it for about three minutes stirring continually so it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan. Pour in the wine and when the sizzling has died down and it has evaporated add the fully roasted squash and give a good stir.

Bring the stock up to boiling point and add a cupful. Stir until the stock has been absorbed then add more stock and repeat until the rice is creamy but still has some ‘bite’ and most of the stock has been absorbed (about 20 minutes).

Turn off the heat and stir in 2 tbsp of the parmesan and the crème fraîche. Cut the part-cooked squash you set aside into small cubes and add to the risotto then cover and set aside for 5 minutes. (The heat of the risotto will finish cooking the squash.)

Check the seasoning adding more salt and pepper to taste and a little more stock or boiling water if the risotto has got too thick and spoon into warm bowls. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and a scattering of chopped parsley if you have some.

Do you make risotto regularly and if so what flavours do you like best?

Two meals for teens

2010-09-06T07:18:00.012+01:00

This post was prompted by an exchange with one of my most longstanding followers notsupermum, a single parent of two teenage girls. Actually she clearly is a super mum but is far too modest to say so. She was saying the other day that she was pleased the blog was back as she was having to ‘tighten the purse strings’ again and we got to talking (on Twitter) about what her girls would and wouldn’t eat. One of them doesn’t eat much meat and neither are that keen on veg. “They like carrots, sweetcorn, cauli and broccoli” she tweeted. “They dislike peppers, green beans and most others!”

Having had four kids of my own I could identify with that so I thought it would be good if I could come up with a couple of recipes that wouldn’t break the bank, both made from the same set of ingredients. I headed for Sainsbury’s and picked up a pack of British pork shoulder steaks (£3.04 for 600g), a couple of large carrots (27p - cheaper loose than buying them by the bag), a head of broccoli (on special offer at 47p) and a 1 kilo bag of frozen sweetcorn (£1.19).

Sadly at a time when sweetcorn is bang in season it was far cheaper buying it that way than on the cob (the cheapest fresh corn was £1.50 for four ‘cobettes’ - i.e. half sized cobs.) I also got a 55g chunk of fresh ginger (26p) of which I used about a quarter and put the rest in the freezer.

The first meal I made was a stir-fry, which is generally popular with teens. The advantage of them is that they cook quickly and use very little meat. I used about a third of the pork which could easily be replaced with Quorn for a teen who was having an 'off meat' day. We had it with rice but you could serve it with egg noodles for rice-haters. I’d actually like a bit of chopped chilli with it but it’s better to underseason dishes for kids and serve with spicy sauces for those who want more oomph.

Pork and Veggie Stir-fry
(You may think this is a boring name for a recipe but let me assure you it’s better that way with teens. The more ingredients you mention the more reason they find not to like a dish before they've even tasted it. And DON’T whatever you do mention the ginger!)

Serves 3

200g lean pork or chicken (a chicken breast would be fine - or Quorn if you want to turn it veggie)
1 2cm square chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 medium onion or half a bunch of spring onions (which I refused to buy as they were 79p a bunch. In season. Total rip-off!)
1 large carrot
1/3 of a head of broccoli and the stalk
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
100g frozen or fresh sweetcorn
Sweet chilli sauce to serve. (This is good. Wean your kids off ketchup. Buy it in Asian stores where it’s much, much cheaper than in supermarkets.)

Cut the pork or chicken into fine strips. Put it in a bowl with the grated ginger, crushed garlic and soy sauce, mix well and leave it while you prepare the other ingredients. Finely slice the onion, cut the carrots into thin strips, cut the broccoli into small florets and peel the stalk and cut into fine strips. (Broccoli stalks are great for stir-fries). Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and stir-fry the pork for a minute until lightly coloured. Set aside, add a little more oil and fry the onion for a minute or so, then add the carrot, fry for another minute, then the broccoli - another minute - then the corn. Add back the pork and carry on stir-frying until the veg are tender, adding a splash of water if the stir-fry starts to catch. Serve with rice, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce for those who want it.

The following night I turned the remainder of the ingredients into a quick casserole

Creamy pork casserole
Again, not the world’s most inventive title. Doesn’t need to be. Don’t mention the mustard!

Serves 3 easily - 4 with a baked potato

350-400g pork shoulder steaks - or 3 skinless, boneless chicken thighs or 300g Quorn
2 tbsp oil
25g butter
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
Pinch of dried thyme or mixed herbs (optional)
1 dsp plain flour
225ml chicken or veg stock
1/2 a head of broccoli, cut into florets
100g frozen or fresh sweetcorn
1 - 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard (essential - this makes the dish)
A heaped tbsp crème fraiche or a couple of tablespoons double cream if you have some
Salt, pepper and possibly a squeeze of lemon

Trim any excess fat off the meat, cut into cubes and season with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan, add the oil then add half the butter. Once it stops foaming add the pork and fry until lightly browned on all sides. Transfer to a casserole. Add a spot more oil and fry the sliced onion and carrot for about 5-6 minutes until beginning to soften. Sprinkle over the thyme, if using, and stir in the flour then add the stock and bring to the boil. Pour over the pork, bring back to simmering point, cover then leave over a low heat for about 30-40 minutes until the pork is tender. Meanwhile microwave or steam the broccoli until just cooked. Pour boiling water over the corn to thaw, drain and toss in the remaining butter. When the pork is cooked take the casserole off the heat and add the mustard and crème fraiche or cream and squeeze of lemon if you think it needs it. Add a little water if the sauce is too thick. Add half the broccoli and corn leaving a little to spoon round the casserole and heat the meat gently without boiling. Serve with new or baked potatoes and the rest of the veg.

So there we are - two good hearty meals for just over £4 (I’d forgotten how filling sweetcorn was) and hopefully two happy teens. Let me know how it goes notsupermum!

Anyone else want to set me a frugal recipe challenge? Just write to me at the address on my profile telling me what you like and dislike . . .

What to do with a glut of tomatoes

2010-09-01T07:21:00.009+01:00

This really is the best time of the year for fresh produce. Almost too good. Temptation lurks round every corner as I found to my cost when I bought an insane amount at a veg stall in the lovely old-fashioned town of Wells the other day. But the bargains! 6 peppers, 8 apples and 1 1/2 kilos of courgettes for a pound each. Massive trays of plums and, best of all, a 4 kilo tray of tomatoes for £2.

Although we've been munching heroically through healthgiving quantities of veggies since Saturday - much to the disgust of my OH who thinks 1 a day is excessive, never mind 5 - it's the tomatoes that have been the greatest success. Not that they were brilliant in quality. I started off using 500g odd for a ratatouille (you can find the recipe I used on my student website Beyond Baked Beans here) but they were really too small and too unripe to peel easily, thus scotching my initial plan to stash tubfuls of fresh tomato purée in the freezer.

Instead I cut them in half horizontally, laid them out on a well-oiled baking tray, seasoned them with salt, pepper and za'atar and drizzled them with more olive oil. I started them off at the top of the AGA then transferred them to the cool oven for about 3 hours. They came out wonderfully sweet, just like those posh 'Sunblush' ones you buy in cartons. You can obviously just cook them in a low oven if you don't have an AGA.

I blitzed half into a sauce in the food processor and froze that then drizzled more oil over the other half and put them in the fridge. We've been having them bruschetta-style on sourdough toast and they've been delicious but I've found myself thinking of making them into a salad with dressed lentils and parsley, and crumbling some feta on top. I think that's what I'm going to do with the next batch.

I have to say it was all unbelievably satisfying and I felt ridiculously smug at my domestic goddessery. But I still have to finish the rest of my box otherwise my 'bargains' won't be as brilliant as they seemed.

Have you been cooking up any seasonal produce like tomatoes in bulk? Or pickling or preserving? Do share any good tips.

Fish couscous

2010-08-25T10:52:00.006+01:00

Fish couscous might sound an odd idea but it actually works really well, particularly at this time of year when you can get your hands on properly ripe tomatoes without them costing a fortune. (I would also say that it's perfect for summer weather but that seems a bit ironic given the deluge forecast for the West Country today)

It also suits the frugal cook as you can use fish offcuts for it - or even those brick-like fish steaks - and those strange bags of frozen mixed seafood which are tremendously good value but which I can never think quite what else to do with.

I first came across on the west coast of Sicily - it's a speciality of the town of Trapani. (I've just discovered that Ryanair fly there and that it's 33°C there today. Grrrr!) This is the version I put in The Frugal Cook. Apologies for the quality of the pic which was taken as an afterthought . . .

serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 1/2 tsp Moroccan spice mix (see below)
1 tbsp tomato paste
350g ripe tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
150g small frozen (or chilled) prawns (the North Atlantic ones are cheapest - and sweetest)
250g skinned white fish fillets or frozen fish 'steaks', cut into small chunks
100g cooked mussels or frozen mixed seafood (optional)
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander or parsley or a mixture of the two
250g instant couscous
Vegetable stock (I use Marigold bouillon powder)
Salt and pepper

Heat a large frying pan over a moderate heat, add the oil and fry the onion for a few minutes until soft. Add the crushed garlic and spice mix, stir and cook for a minute then stir in the tomato paste. Tip in the tomatoes and half a small wine glass of water then simmer over a low heat for about 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened, mashing the tomatoes with a fork as they soften to break them down.

Meanwhile make up the couscous following the instructions on the pack but using vegetable stock instead of water. Add the prawns, fish and mussels or seafood, if using, to the tomato sauce, mix lightly and heat through until cooked (about 5 minutes). Season and stir in the coriander and/or parsley, adding a little more water if needed (you want quite a wet, soupy consistency) Fluff up the couscous with a fork and serve with the fish.

You could also obviously serve this fish stew with rice.

* I think I've mentioned this Moroccan style spice mix before. I make it up in bulk - say 20g each ground cumin and coriander, 10g turmeric and 3-5g hot paprika or chilli powder

Any other bright ideas for frozen - or chilled - seafood mix? Or other frozen fish for that matter. Do you use it?

Which store-cupboard ingredients could you not live without?

2010-08-19T16:18:00.011+01:00

One of the problems about being a food writer or blogger is that you very quickly lose touch with the number of ingredients that your readers actually possess. Unlike you they probably don’t have whole cupboards full of herbs, spices and seasonings and groan when they see you list something that involves an extra expense. And fair enough.

I’ve been particularly thinking about this in conjunction with students going back to uni. They don’t have a huge budget - or much room to store things. On the other hand cheap food is immeasurably improved by being well-seasoned. I’m not counting salt and pepper which I think most people would have automatically though I admit that's a bit of a cheat.

Here are my top 10. What about yours?

Herbes de Provence
If I could only have one herb it would have to be this classic French mix which typically includes thyme, rosemary, basil, savory and marjoram. Ideally a French blend. Generic ‘mixed herbs’ just don’t taste as good

Cumin
Possibly my favourite spice for its aromatic lemony lift. I have both ground and whole seeds but if forced to choose would go for the seeds every time. I love them toasted.

Spanish smoked pimenton
The ultimate paprika - adds depth and richness to all kinds of dishes, especially stews. There are two kinds - dolce and piccante (sweet and spicy). I’d have to go for the sweet.

Cinnamon
It was a toss-up between cardamom and cinnamon as I adore the taste of the former but cinnamon is far more flexible, especially for desserts and baking. And you can add a pinch to savoury dishes too.

Curry paste
Probably the cheapest, most efficient way of making a curry. The jars (I like Patak's) keep for weeks once opened. Much more effective than curry powder though you do need to doctor them a bit with . . .

Lemon
Ideally fresh though they are more expensive. Essential when you’re creating something lemon flavoured but if you just want a dash of sharpness bottles of lemon juice - especially the Cypriot ones - are fine.

Garlic
Again, has to be fresh - garlic salt doesn’t count.

Soy sauce
I prefer a light one which I buy in big bottles from Asian supermarkets. Cheaper and more natural-tasting than stir-fry sauces.

Vegetable bouillon powder (Marigold)
I use this all the time as a base for soups. Much less synthetic and salty than stock cubes.

Fresh parmesan
Or Grana Padano at a pinch which is cheaper. Ideally aged for at least 18 months (a worthwhile expense - it tastes better and goes further). You can make a meal out of spaghetti with butter and parmesan

I've already got to 10 and that doesn't even include condiments such as mustard, olive oil and vinegar which are essential if you want to make salad dressings from scratch. There are no fresh herbs - I usually have parsley at least - but students typically wouldn’t. No fresh ginger, another favourite. No fish sauce :( But I could survive.

What couldn’t you live without if forced to choose just 10?

The rise and rise of Rise

2010-08-17T17:50:00.004+01:00

No sooner am I back then I'm going to stray off-piste and write about music and books. And, even more maddeningly, a shop that's only of interest to people who live in Bristol, Cheltenham and Warwick (odd trio, all with a student population which I guess explains it).

It's called Rise and they sell an brilliant selection of CDs, DVDs and books at extraordinarily cheap prices. A whole lot of jazz greats for £3 an album for example. And a hardback of 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen', originally £12.99 for a fiver which strikes me as the perfect holiday read. (I'm not actually on holiday but am trying to kid myself I am.)

My husband has been going there for months sneaking cut price CDs into our collection which is now spilling out over the carpet behind a conveniently large armchair.

But I can't object. With bookshops and record shops in the doldrums it's good to come across such a great place to browse.

Anyone else come across Rise - or any place like it you can recommend?

Return of The Frugal Cook and some musings on veg

2010-08-12T14:32:00.010+01:00

Well, here I am back again. You might well wonder why when I already have two other blogs (Food and Wine Finds and The Cheeselover) but the fact is that more people still visit this blog than both of the other two combined. Which some might say is an reason for not blogging at all but, ever the optimist, I'm not taking it that way.

The other reason is that we're by no means out of the woods economically. A lot of people are losing their jobs. Even more - and I'm thinking of recent graduates - are having trouble finding them. Money is tight for many people who have never had to think twice about what they spend or may never have got round to acquiring cooking or shopping skills.

I'm not going to be overly ambitious about this. I probably won't post more than two or three times a month but I hope it will be useful and occasionally inspiring - not least for the very helpful comments that visitors have always left on this blog.

So, to start with, a reminder about the virtues of farmers' markets which are at their best at this time of year. And here (above) is what I bought at ours the other day. It came to £6.60 which I think is pretty good and will certainly keep us in veg for the week. To give you a price comparison a small vegbox from Abel & Cole would cost £7.99 + 99p delivery. The 580g of runner beans I bought for £1 would have cost twice that in Tesco and I doubt would have been half as fresh. So it's a good deal.

I also like the fact that having such great produce I can build whole meals round them, cutting the costs of the other food I buy. The onions actually cost more than I'd pay in a supermarket but because they're large and sweet I can use them for an onion-based dish like Jill Dupleix's baked stuffed onions with parmesan cream or even, given this unseasonal weather, make a creamy onion soup.

The cabbage witll make a slaw and a stir-fry, the courgettes can be grilled, anointed with oil and served with feta and the beans can be cooked as a veg or sliced and frozen for less plentiful times. Or use them as I did today, to make this variation on a salade niçoise for a quick, healthy lunch for one

Mackerel, tomato and bean salad
Serves 1
150g runner beans, trimmed and sliced
4-5 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
2 tinned mackerel fillets, roughly broken up*
1 tbsp finely chopped onion, spring onion or chives
About 2 tbsp oil from the mackerel can or jar if it tastes nice, otherwise use olive oil
A few drops of wine vinegar or lemon juice
Salt and pepper
A heaped tablespoon of parsley or a little chopped mint if you have some

Trim and thinly slice the runner beans, put them in a saucepan and pour boiling water over them. Bring back to the boil add a little salt and cook until tender but still crunchy (about 4 minutes). Drain and rinse with cold water and pat dry. Put in a bowl with the cherry tomatoes, mackerel, chopped onion or chives. Drizzle with a little oil a few drops of wine vinegar, season with salt and pepper and lightly mix together. Scatter over some parsley or other fresh herbs if you have some.

*Another economy. Mackerel is cheaper and more sustainable than tuna!

Any other good ideas as to what to do with runner beans which are at their peak - and lowest price - right now?

So farewell Frugal Cook . . .

2009-10-27T14:19:00.006Z

How long should a blog last? It's a question, I guess, that more and more bloggers will be asking themselves over the next year or so. This one has lasted just over 21 months which isn't bad but I feel its time has come.

The online world has changed a lot in the past couple of years. When I started in January 2008, with the specific purpose of recording my progress writing The Frugal Cook book, there weren't nearly as many blogs as there are now. But the big change has been Twitter which has in some ways made blogging superfluous - especially if you already have a website. I know you can't tweet a recipe but you can tweet ideas with an immediacy and an effectiveness it's hard to match in a blog.

It's also true that you can get to a stage of casting round for things to write about, particularly if your remit is as narrow as frugal cooking. I do write about other aspects of food and drink which I'd like to explore more. I don't want to get to the stage of repeating myself.

Of course I won't give up writing about frugal eating altogether - after all I've always cooked frugally - but you'll now find my recipes and tips on my student and budget eating website Beyond Baked Beans.

The biggest wrench is the very personal interaction I've had with those of you who have followed this blog and contributed so many useful tips and comments. I hope I won't lose touch with you. Please sign up to the Beyond Baked Beans fan page on Facebook and/or follow me on Twitter where I now 'tweet' as food_writer. Fellow cheeseaholics may also like to know that I have - for the moment - a cheese blog called The Cheeselover (so you can see why I had to give something up!)

Anyway thank you all for visiting, for reading and for sharing. This blog has been richer for it.

The cost of a recipe is relative . . .

2009-10-25T06:17:00.005Z

The other day I roasted a mallard duck (which I'd found at a good price at our local butcher, I hasten to add). Mallards are quite small so there was only enough for 2 plus a carcass with a fair bit of meat on it for stock. I left it overnight in the AGA and the result was superb so I started thinking of dishes to set it off.

Beetroot risotto, inspired by a recipe from The Larder Lout, one of the students who collaborated on my recent student cookbook, emerged at the top of the list but I hadn't got any beetroot and had run out of risotto rice. I also fancied some horseradish in it and a dollop of crème fraiche so ended up spending over a fiver to make a dish for two - not so frugal after all.

It made me think how relative frugality is. If I'd already had most of these ingredients in the fridge or storecupboard - apart from the beets - it wouldn't have been expensive. Good cooks tend to have well-stocked storecupboards. Less well-off and less knowledgeable ones like students don't so are not generally able to make such interesting and complex dishes. The knack of frugal cooking - which I occasionally forget in my enthusiasm - is to be able to make a delicious dish from not a lot.

Anyway here's the recipe, for those of you who do have a well-stocked larder and a spare mallard (or other duck) carcass going begging. (Apologies for lack of picture. I was experimenting with new light settings - unsuccessfully!)

Duck and beetroot risotto
Serves 2

3 tbsp duck fat or olive oil
1 small red or other onion, finely chopped
a sprig of fresh thyme (optional)
150g arborio or other risotto rice
125ml red wine
750 ml hot duck (or other game) stock
half a bunch of beetroot (about 2 medium-sized beets, peeled and grated)*
25g parmesan cheese, grated
1 tbsp grated horseradish and 1 heaped tbsp creme fraiche or 2 tbsp creamed horseradish
leftover duck meat, cut into short lengths
a handful of the beet leaves, washed and shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat 2 tablespoons of the duck fat in a large sauté pan or saucepan and cook the onion and thyme over a gentle heat until the onion is soft. Season with salt and pepper, increase the temperature and stir in the rice. Stir for a couple of minutes before adding the wine.

When the rice has absorbed the wine, add beetroot and stir for few seconds then add a ladle of the hot stock. Continue to stir regularly, adding a ladle of stock each time the rice has absorbed the previous batch. After 17 minutes or so taste the risotto. It should be almost cooked with just a little bite remaining. Cook for a minute or two longer if not. Remove the thyme sprig and stir in in the parmesan, horseradish and crème fraîche. Add a final ladle of stock, turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave for a few minutes.

Briefly fry the duck pieces in the remaining duck fat until crisp. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain them on kitchen paper. Wilt the greens in the same pan, adding a splash of water if necessary. Season them well with salt and pepper.

Stir the risotto again and dish up in warm bowls, topping with the stir-fried greens and the crisp shards of duck.

* Grating beetroot, if you don't already know this, is messy. I suggest acquiring some of those cheap, disposable plastic gloves to do it! (Another expense - but they are useful for other things!)

How big a store-cupboard do you have - in terms of range of ingredients rather than physical size? And, another issue, if you have an extensive one, do you get round to using all the ingredients before they go out of date?

Floyd's Greek Mushrooms

2009-10-18T07:52:00.005+01:00

My husband continues to upstage me on the frugality stakes, bearing bargains back to the house on an almost daily basis.This week's triumph was 750g of mushrooms, reduced to 79p in the Co-op. Needless to say it's yours truly who has to make good use of them and ensure they don't go to waste.

For those of you who can't envisage 750g of mushrooms, it's a lot. About 1 1/2 lbs and mushrooms are really light. Of course there are a number of things I could have done with them - mushroom soup, mushroom quiche, Mushroom duxelles (a thick, delicious paste of cooked down mushroom and onion) but flicking through a new reprint of Keith Floyd's first cookbook Floyd's Food I'd just been sent by my publisher Absolute Press I found a recipe for Greek Mushrooms - a Floydish spin on champignons à la grecque. And very good it was too. (My comments in italics)

Serves 4-6

1 lb (450g) small button mushrooms
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sherry vinegar (not having sherry vinegar I used 1 tbsp cider vinegar and 1 tbsp amontillado sherry)
1 tbsp coriander seeds, coarsely crushed (don't use ground coriander)
1 bay leaf
1/2 lemon cut in very, very thin slices (sounds odd but delicious. Makes the recipe)
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 tin of tomatoes and their juice (assumed that was half a 400g tin)
Salt and pepper

Wash and dry the mushrooms. Salt and pepper them. In a pan heat the olive oil and vinegar with the coriander seeds. When hot drop in everything else including the mushrooms and cook wildly (love this!) for 5 or 6 minutes. Lift out the mushrooms and allow the sauce to reduce by half (I didn't find I needed to do this - will depend on hte moisture content of your mushrooms). Pour back over the mushrooms. Chill for ages and eat them later (with some crusty bread and maybe another couple of mezze.)

And the rest of the mushrooms? I added them to the tail end of a coq au vin, adding a good Floyd-like slosh of extra red wine and served the resulting sauce with pappardelle (thick pasta ribbons). Which was also a success. Maybe I should let my husband do the shopping after all . . .

Were you - are you - an admirer of the late, lamented Keith Floyd? And have you ever tried one of his recipes?

A salad, a stir-fry and a soup

2009-10-07T08:07:00.000+01:00

It's been a super-frugal week in the Beckett household so far, thanks not to me but my husband who has been trawling for bargains in the local Co-op/Somerfield. As you may know the Co-op took over Somerfield some months ago and finally seems to be in the process of introducing its own lines. That seems to be good news in the case of fresh fruit and veg which have improved in quality and gone down in price.

At the weekend he managed to pick up a decent-sized cos lettuce for 25p which I turned into a faux-Caesar salad (above) then yesterday proudly brought home some reduced sprouts (35p) and cheap parsnips (50p for a 500g pack) - with no particular purpose in mind, it has to be said.

I initially wondered whether I could turn them into okonomiyaki (but then I'm wondering whether I can turn everything into okonomiyaki since my induction last week) but having consulted a couple of recipes I realised I hadn't got vital ingredients like tempura flakes. However I knocked up a makeshift stir-fry instead which actually wasn't half bad and which I've just posted on my student website here.

The remaining veg together with some green beans I found lurking in the fridge went into a hearty minestrone-style soup along the lines of my Sad Unloved Vegetable Soup. I added a spoonful of tomato paste (diluted with some stock) as I didn't have any fresh tomatoes, a frozen tub of home-made chicken stock I hadn't got round to using and a tin of cannelini beans and topped each helping with plenty of parmesan. It made easily enough for four so there are leftovers for my husband today while I go waltzing off to London.

In both cases I grated rather than chopped the parsnips which I think gives a better texture - unless you're going to boil and purée them or roast them. In fact I'm wondering if you could add parsnip - and even sprouts - to okonomiyaki . . .

A beginner's guide to okonomiyaki

2009-10-03T08:48:00.014+01:00

This week I was introduced to okonomiyaki by a couple of friends who had spent time in Japan. On the face of it it didn't sound that much of a draw - a sort of Japanese pancake with cabbage and various other bits in it - but after I'd eaten it I could completely understand why they'd been raving about it.

In fact it's more like a particularly delicious bubble and squeak. You can order various varieties which are cooked by the server on a hot plate in front of you teppanyaki-style or at least you can at Abeno in Museum Street which is where we all went. I had a Tokyo Mix which included prawn, squid and belly pork (although it looked and tasted rather more like bacon) (plus spring onions, ginger and (according to the website) tempura batter.

They have a particularly good series of pictures on their website which are better than my rather blurry shots but basically the process goes like this:

1. They present your ingredients in a bowl with the pork (aka bacon) on a plate on the top

2. The server mixes the ingredients in each bowl vigorously, turns them out onto the lightly oiled hot plate and shapes the mixture into a cake

3. She (or he but there were more waitresses) fries the bacon separately on one side on the hot plate then places the slices, cooked side down on the cake, then flips over the cake to cook the other side. This cooking process takes a good few moments, I'd say 5 minutes a side.

4. More flipping continues until the crust is beautifully brown.

5. Each cake is then sprinkled with ground nori, anointed with a sort of brown sauce and mayonnaise squirted in circles round the surface and dusted with a sprinkling of bonito flakes which amusingly flutter on the top like feathers.

6. You then use a small palate knife to cut up your okonomiyaki into wedges (by this time you're quite starving) and eat it. With more mayo, chilli sauce and soy sauce if you want plus pickles like kimchee (fermented cabbage) and seaweed and cucumber pickle which we scoffed before we had even started.

If you have much the same reaction as I did when I was told about it don't let it put you off. It really is one of the most delicious fast(ish) foods imaginable - a real umami flavour bomb. Not having an okonomiyaki restaurant in Bristol I'm trying to work out how to do it at home. It must be one of the ultimate frugal dishes . . .

No sooner have I said there isn't one in Bristol, I've discovered there is. Obento near the Old Fish Market for fellow Bristolian okonomiyakiphiles.

When cheap food is too cheap

2009-09-27T09:16:00.003+01:00

Pride comes before a fall they say and my smugness at my bargain buys these week met with an appropriate reminder that even experienced cooks can make mistakes. My £3 rabbit was inedible. Or, to be precise, since it smelt so bad we didn't eat it I'm pretty sure it was inedible. Bad enough to have to chuck the whole dish away, along with the bacon, onions, carrots, apples and very nice cider I'd added to it.

It wasn't off otherwise I'd have picked it up before I cooked it. It just had that unappealing whiff of stale meat you get from meat that's been kept too long in the freezer. My suspicions should have been aroused by the fact that there was an unusual amount of blood with it, usually a sign that something's been frozen. The pieces were also quite large which led me to suspect it might be tough (usually remedied by slow cooking) though not that it would be rank

The total cost of this disaster - £5 odd on the rabbit and other ingredients, another £5 on picking up a pizza and a pack of rocket to have instead. (Yes, I know I could have made my own and that would have been cheaper but I'd been out all day - and looking forward to my rabbit casserole)

Together with the woolly peaches I bought for a song the other day (largely to write about for this blog) it's a timely reminder that cheap food has its price . . .

Have you had any let-downs from buying so called 'bargain' ingredients?

How to cook breast of lamb

2009-09-25T08:36:00.006+01:00

I bagged a couple of terrific bargains on my way back to Bristol yesterday at an extraordinary shopping complex called Darts Farm just outside Exeter. Farm shop doesn't even begin to describe it: it's a gourmet shopping mall on an epic scale - more like the out of town shopping centres you find in the US.

You'd expect it to be expensive but it isn't, suprisingly. Or, put it another way, it needn't be. I picked up some good value fruit and vegetables grown on their own farm (including over a pound of rhubarb for 49p), a whole rabbit for £3 and a breast of lamb for £1.50.

Personally I don't like breast of lamb the traditional way, boned and rolled as you never seem to get rid of the fat so I had them chop it up into chunks which I then roasted much as you do spare ribs until it was crisp. I cooked it unseasoned (apart from salt and some smashed garlic cloves) for 20 minutes, poured off the accumulated fat then sprinkled over the za'atar I wrote about the other day and some ground cumin. If you don't have za'atar you could grind up some salt, thyme, sesame seeds and cumin.)

In keeping with the frugality of the dish I decided to use up some storecupboard ingredients as accompaniments. I cooked some rice and Puy lentils Lebanese-style, flavoured them with a pinch of cinnamon and topped them with roasted diced courgette and carrot. (If I'd had some coriander handy I'd have added some chopped up stalks and forked through a few leaves at the end. I'd also have squeezed a little lemon juice over the meat before serving it).

We had our lamb 'ribs' with yoghurt, harissa and a green salad (see the rather fuzzy picture above) and a mighty feast it was too - ample for three although the two of us managed to polish it off without much difficulty. All except enough rice and lentils to make a salad for lunch today which makes me feel doubly virtuous. Later I'll cook the rabbit - with bacon, cider and apples, I think. Happy days!

Do you have any favourite ways of cooking breast of lamb?

Homemade crostini

2009-09-20T21:32:00.007+01:00

One of the economies that gives me most satisfaction is my homemade crostini bases. They're one of those things that are invariably overpriced in smart delis - you can pay £3 plus for a pack.

If you bake them yourself you can make them for about 80p. You just need a stale(ish) ciabatta or similar shaped long loaf - I tend to pick up mine reduced in the supermarket. Slice thinly and place on a couple of baking sheets that you've drizzled with olive oil, moving them around so they get evenly smeared with oil then drizzle a little more oil on the other side and bake in a medium hot oven for about 10-15 minutes until crisp and golden - or a cooler one for a little longer. I'm lucky to be able to shove mine in the AGA but to save fuel just cook them when you have the oven on for something else.

Once they're cooled keep them in an airtight tin - they'll happily keep for a week or so. And you can spread them with any kind of dip or paté for a snack, nibble with drinks or an easy first course.

What's your favourite way of salvaging stale bread?

Chicken, Za'atar and other stories

2009-09-16T18:20:00.015+01:00

It's been a hectic few days since we got back from France. Trying to finish one book, publicising another and launching a student cooking campaign. I'm not sure where the time has gone

It hasn't left much time for cooking that's for sure but this weekend we made best use of the annual Organic Food Festival in Bristol and did our weekend shopping there.

Interestingly it wasn't that expensive. Sheepdrove, our local organic butcher had a special offer on frozen chickens for £5 each which was unmissable so Sunday night's meal was built around that. Because it had been a balmy late summer's day (what on earth's happened to the weather since?) we served it warm having stuffed it with herbs and garlic. We also had a huge platter of yellow and green courgettes (above) I'd lightly fried in olive oil and tossed with some blanched green beans and some new crop Desirée potatoes, boiled in their jackets, all from one of my favourite local organic suppliers Wrington Greens. I tossed the courgettes and beans with a fantastic dried herb mix I'd bought in Nice earlier this summer (a fines herbes blend of parsley, tarragon, chervil and chives) which really enhanced their flavour though fresh herbs would have obviously been good too. (Most of ours seem to have shrivelled up while we were away).

The next day we had cold chicken with the remaining veg, some fried up potatoes and garlic and some mixed leaves from Wrington which are always wonderfully flavourful. And there's a huge batch of stock which I'm going to use for noodles tonight and risotto tomorrow. Ten servings from one medium-sized bird which isn't bad.

The other good buy at the festival was a huge bag of Za'atar, a Middle-Eastern blend of dried thyme, sumac and roasted sesame seeds. This particular one had been imported from Palestine by a company called Zaytoun which also brings in a very nice olive oil. You can use the Za'atar to scatter over flatbreads, dips and grilled meats or simply dunk bread in oil and then in the mix. It was actually more than I needed but I felt I wanted to support the producer so I've been giving small jars and bags of it away to my friends.

The only disappointment of the weekend were some ultra-cheap peaches I bought at the local greengrocer which had that awful woolly texture that imported peaches tend to have even at this time of year. I rescued them by skinning them, submerging them in sweet wine, scattering over a few crushed cardamom pods and chilling them for a few hours but they still weren't wonderful. Which underlines yet again that locally grown food is best, organic or not.

Why DON'T Frenchwomen get fat?

2009-09-05T15:20:00.004+01:00

Having blogged the other day about how easy it is to eat healthily in France a totally contrary thought occurred. Why don't Frenchwomen - and men - get fat?

By all rights they should. French restaurants always have a prix fixe menu - usually two or more - alongside the à la carte which are almost always better value than ordering dishes individually. We have deals here in the UK too but they're usually two course ones which makes it easy to eat moderately. In France menus almost always include a dessert and sometimes cheese as well so it's more economical to eat 3 courses than two starters.

So how do Frenchwomen do it? I can only assume they don't eat everything on their plate but as someone who was brought up to do just that I find that well nigh impossible. I also find it hard, as a self-styled frugal cook, to resist a bargain so always find myself going for the set price option.

This may well be why I inevitably come back from holiday a good kilo or two heavier than when I went away. And why I'm now facing the inevitable post-holiday diet.

So I'm asking those of you fellow foodies who remain enviably trim, how do you do it? And what do you think is the Frenchwoman's secret?