Inside Out Chicken Kiev

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast per person
Garlic butter (I make mine with butter and garlic puree)
Breadcrumbs
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method:

Rub the chicken with a little of the garlic butter. Place in a shallow oven-proof dish or baking tray.

Grill for approx 15 mins, turning once

Meanwhile, mix the rest of the garlic butter and breadcrumbs together, adding the cheese if using.

Remove the chicken from under the grill and smear the butter/breadcrumb mixture on the top of each chicken breast.

Pop back under the grill for about 3-4 mins so the topping goes crunchy and lightly browned.

Quick Microwave Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 oversize mug or glass jug

Method

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for about 2mins 30secs on high power. The cake will rise right to the top of the mug/jug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

Pork Goulash

Ingredients
50g lard or solid vegetable fat
900g skinned, boned leg of pork, cut into 5cm pieces
700g (4 medium) onions, sliced
2 tbsp sweet paprika
2 garlic cloves, crushed
120g tomato purée
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano, plus extra for garnishing
150ml soured cream, to serve

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 150°C/fan130°C/gas 2. Heat the fat in a flameproof casserole, then add the pork in 2 batches and fry until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, lift out onto a plate and set aside, then add the onions to the casserole and fry for 7-8 minutes until golden brown. Return the pork to the casserole with the paprika and 150ml water and cook for 5-6 minutes, until all the liquid has evaporated.

2. Add the garlic, purée, vinegar, caraway, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt and another 150ml water. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook in the oven for between 90 - 105 mins until very tender.

3. Remove from the oven, uncover and leave to settle, then spoon the excess fat from the surface of the stew. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve with a spoonful of soured cream and a little black pepper, then garnish with extra oregano.

Caramel Shortbread

For the base

225g plain flour
100g caster sugar
225g butter
100g semolina

For the topping

175g butter
175g caster sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 x 397g can condensed milk
200g chocolate, broken into pieces (I prefer Green & Blacks Milk Choc for this)

Method
1. Set the oven to 160C/gas2. Lightly grease a 20cm x 33cm oblong tin.

2. Place all the ingredients for the base into bowl and smoosh together with a wooden spoon until they form a smooth dough.

3. Press the mixture into the base of the tin and prick with a fork. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until golden and firm. Set aside to cool.

4. To make the topping, place the butter, sugar, syrup and condensed milk into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the butter has melted.

5. Bubble the mixture gently for five to eight minutes, stirring all the time until thick and fudge-like. Pour over the cold shortbread in an even layer. Leave to cool.

6. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

7. Pour the chocolate over the toffee and leave to set. Cut into small squares and store in an airtight tin.

Damson Jam

3lb of damsons
1 pint of water
3lb of sugar

Put the damsons whole into a pan with the water and bring to boil. Simmer for about 5min to soften the fruit, once the fruit is starting to open and break down, add the sugar. You may not need to add all the sugar.

Bring the mixture back to the boil and simmer stirring regularly and soon the stones will break free from the fruit and ‘float’ for you to remove with a fork.

Simmer for about 8 – 10 min and then do your set test - then jar up and leave to cool.

Rhubarb & Vanilla Jam

Freshly picked rhubarb: 450g/1lbs washed and cut into 12mm-½inch pieces.
Granny Smith apples: 450g/1lbs washed, cored, peeled and cut into very small pieces.
Juice from one lemon.
Sugar: .800g/2lbs.
Water: 300mls
Vanilla Pod: sliced lengthways.

Place Rhubarb and apple ingredients and water in pan, Simmer for a few minutes to soften the fruit. Add the sugar, stirring until dissolved then add the the sliced vanilla pod.

This jam is not boiled as it will burn, Cook slowly, allowing to gently simmer for approx 45 minutes. Pot, cover and label.

Sweet Omlette

OK, sounds a bit odd, but I found this in a Nigel Slater recipe book last night, when I was craving something sweet...

Ingredients
3 eggs, seperated
1 tbsp sugar
Knob of butter
Filling of choice


Method
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until thick.
Whisk the whites in a seperate bowl until they form firm peaks.
Fold the whites into the yolk mixture with a metal spoon.
Melt the butter in a non-stick omlette/frying pan and cook over medium heat until the bottom is set.
Place under a hot grill to cook the top.

Serve with filling of your choice: warm jam, fruit etc. I used about 3 tablespoons of homemade berry jam, slightly warmed in the microwave!

Leek & Cream Risotto

Ingredients

25g butter
3 leeks, thinly sliced
1½ lr vegetable stock
350g risotto rice
175ml single cream
salt + pepper
freshly grated parmesan, to serve

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add 1 tbsp water and simmer for 20 minutes, adding more water if necessary.

Meanwhile bring the stock to the boil in another pan. Stir the rice into the leeks.

Add a ladleful of the hot stock and cook, stirring, until it has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, and stirring until each addition has been absorbed. This will take 18-20 minutes.

When the rice is tender, stir in the cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with freshly grated parmesan.

(Taken from Riverford)

Meal Planning - Part 1

OK, meal planning basics...

Plan for at least a week, if not 2. Sometimes this will depend on how often you shop and how big a freezer/cupboards etc you have.

We got a second freezer from Freecycle/Freegle that lives in the garage, mainly for this purpose.

Right, take a large piece of paper, and make a list of all the meals you cook regularly, no matter what they are. E.g. Spag bol, fishfingers and chips, chicken curry, jackets and beans, pork chops etc.
Even if you only cook them once a month, write them down.

I usually end up with a list of about 20 or so things. My next step is to decide what new things I'm going to try out this month.

I use several sources for recipe ideas - these are in the links list to the right - BBC Food, Riverford etc. I also have loads of cookbooks, and recipes clipped out of magazines.

For example, I'm currently planning April's menus and this month my new recipes are Leek and cream risotto (Riverford recipe), potato, onion and rosemary frittata (Riverford), pollo alla cacciatore (Nigella Express), Pork chops with lentils, cider and cream (New English Table, Rose Prince).

If these are successful recipes, i.e. we like them, they aren't too fiddly and don't call for exotic, expensive ingredients; they will be added to the list of regular recipes.

So, go and make a list of what you eat regularly, and find a few new recipes to try out...

Boston Style Baked Beans

Ingredients:
320g dried haircot beans
4 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp treacle
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 level tsp chilli flakes
50g dark brown sugar
1 level tsp salt
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
150ml boiling water


Method
Soak the beans in cold water overnight, pouring over enough water to cover the beans with twice the depth.

Drain after soaking and rinse well in clean running water. Put the beans in a large pan and ocver with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook at boiling for 10 mins. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 45mins. Drain the beans, reserving 200ml of the cooking water. Put the beans in an ovenproof dish.

Fry the onion for a few minutes and add the bacon. Continue to cook until the bacon is cooked.

Stir the bacon and onion mixture into the beans.

Mix the treacle, ketchup, tomato puree, chilli flakes, mustard, salt and sugar together with the reserved water and pour over the beans. Add the boiling water and stir well.

Cover the dish and put in the oven at 175 C for one hour. Stir half way through cooking.

Cheesy Lentil & Root Veg Bake

Ingredients

3-4 potatoes, washed, unpeeled and diced
2 parsnips, washed, unpeeled and diced
2 carrots, washed, unpeeled and diced
Half a squash, peeled and diced
200g cooked green lentils
50g cheddar cheese, grated
2tbsp single cream
salt and black pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)
2 tbsp butter

Method

Place the potatoes, carrots, parsnips and squash in a pan of water and bring to the boil. Cook the vegtables until tender.

Drain the water from the pan of vegetables and add the cooked lentils, cream, butter, salt, black pepper, parsley and raw onion to the pan. Thoroughly mash the ingredients together.

Transfer the vegetable mash to an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with the cheese and place under a hot grill until the cheese melts.

Lovely served with sausages.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Ingredients
50g/2oz butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 large cauliflower
900ml/1½pt boiling water
50g really strong cheddar, grated
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
50ml/2fl oz double cream


Method
Heat the butter in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and leave to cook on a medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes, until they become soft and clear.

Whilst the onion and garlic are softening, chop the cauliflower as finely as possible. Add the chopped cauliflower to the onions and pour in the boiling water. Bring back to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

When the cauliflower is tender, stir then taste the soup, add the cheese and adjust the seasoning, if you think it needs it.

Whizz the soup with the cream in a liquidiser.

Sausage and Courgette Pasta

Ingredients

Cooked sausages
Courgette
Tinned chopped tomatoes
Garlic
Thyme
Pasta of choice

Parmesan to serve

Method

Chop up sausages into chunks, put in a pan with the tomatoes, a couple of chopped garlic cloves and chopped fresh thyme. Gently heat until sausages are warmed through

Put pasta on to cook

With a vegetable/potato peeler, cut 'ribbons' from the courgette and dry fry in a pan until they are slightly crisp.

Drain pasta, mix in sausages and sauce and courgettes. Serve with flakes of parmesan.

Mexican Lasagne

Ingredients

450g beef mince
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp paprika
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1-2 tbsp tomato puree
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
4 - 6 flour tortillas
150-200g grated cheddar cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C

Heat a large non-stick frying pan and cook the mince, onion and garlic until brown. Add the paprika, canned tomatoes, tomato puree and Worcestershire sauce. Season

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Stir through the coriander.

Place a tortilla into a large round casserole dish (or similar) and spoon over a portion of the mince mixture evenly, and add a handful of cheese. Repear with the remaining ingredients and top with the last tortilla and remaining cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts. Serve with salad and sour cream dip

(OK, so it's not really a lasagne...)
(You can just make up a batch of chilli and include that instead)

Budgeting - Part 2

So, shopping online. I've found, from a money perspective that using a comparison site is the best way to do this. I use My Supermarket. This lets you shop at your usual supermarket (they have a choice of Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys or Ocado) but gives you comparison baskets for the other supermarkets if you want to check you're getting the best deal. You can swap baskets if you suddenly realise Shop A is cheaper than Shop B. The site also gives you the option of alternative choices - offers that save money, changes to brands etc.
Say you put some beef mince in your trolley, you are offered the choice of different brand levels of mince (premium, middle, budget/value), different sized packs that are cheaper per kg (700g instead of 500g sometimes works out cheaper), offers that will save you money (buy 2 packs for £4). You can choose to do this, or stick with your original choice.

If a different brand is available (e.g. Heinz beans to Sainsburys beans) it will tell you how much money you will save.

You can even browse all the special offers by category (dairy, meat, fruit etc), so you won't lose out on deals.

You can book your delivery slot on the site as well, and when you are done you have a choice of printing out the list and actually visiting a supermerket (quelle horreur!) or ordering online. The site transfers your basket to the retailer and you check out as usual. This means you can save money etc, but still get your loyalty points etc from the retailer.

I love it. I can't believe how easy it is (it saves your favourites, or you can shop from your last trolley etc) and love the idea that the site does all the trawling through offers, prices etc for you.

Honestly, try it!!

Freezer Bags

I have found Lakeland's Soup N Sauce bags to be a very useful addition. I freeze all sorts of things in them - both liquids and solids.

Of course, there are cheaper versions of these available in the supermarkets too!

Mashed Potato

I love mashed potato, but I hate peeling potatoes...

So, I cook loads of potatoes at once - 3 or 4kg usually - when we're due to have mash with a meal. Mash them as usual, take out what you need for the current meal, then package up the rest of the mash into portion sizes (I freeze 2 portions in one bag).

Then, I tend to get them out of the freezer the morning we need them for tea and let them defrost all day. To reheat, I put them in a pan on a low-ish heat, with a bit of butter and keep stirring until they return to the appropriate consistency.

They also are good for using as shepherds/cottage pie toppings - as they reheat in the oven.

Southern Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

8 chicken thighs
600ml milk
250g plain flour
1tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp each of dried chervil, parsley, chives and tarragon
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder or granules
1 level tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
Oil for cooking


Method:

Whisk the chilli, cayenne pepper and paprika into the milk. Place the chicken portions into the milk and soak for four to five hours.

Sieve flour and salt into a bowl and stir in the herbs, celery salt and garlic.

Prepare a baking tray with sufficient oil to coat the whole tray thinly. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Lift each piece of chicken out of the milk mixture and shake off the excess liquid, then dip into the seasoned flour and coat well. Place each piece of the chicken on the baking tray and put in the oven.

Cook for 25-30 minutes until crispy and golden.

Budgeting - Part 1

OK, OK, not the most exciting of subjects, I know.

I started doing a 'proper' food budget when I realised we were spending over £250 a month for food for 2 adults. Couldn't believe it, certainly couldn't afford it!

I scouted around for ways to help me with this and found the forums on Money Saving Expert. Loads of people on there are on really tight budgets so need to plan and budget properly for food and other household things.

So, you've now got a budget in mind for what you want to spend. Do you shop weekly, fortnightly, monthly? Do you nip to Tesco/Asda/Co-op every other night to see what you fancy?

I originally started off shopping weekly, as I felt more in control of my budget. I now shop monthly (yes, I know!) and will maybe only need 1 'emergency' trip to the local shops a month.

So, you trundle off to the supermarket, kids and/or partner in tow, and it's a Saturday afternoon. The shop is heaving, there are billions of distractions, and there are some nice looking things on offer, and the kids put something in the trolley; and your partner puts things in the trolley. And you get to the checkout and, even though you've budgeted £50 for the week (example!), you've still managed to spend £100 and your trolley isn't even full.... familiar?

OK, now stop. Stop going to the supermarket! Shop online - you can still get good deals on stuff, you can keep a running total, you're in control. Plus, you can do it in your PJ's... always a bonus!

More later...

First post

Firstly, hello! Secondly, hope you're sitting comfortably? Good, lets go!

I love food, I think I love it more than my bed. I love planning it, preparing it, cooking it and eating it. I want to share ideas and recipes with people, and get them interested in food.

I do a lot of intensive menu planning; I'm organised when it comes to food shopping and budgeting. I'm the Queen of Leftovers and Throw-Together Meals!

I'm also pretty passionate about food traceability, food quality and Growing Your Own (of which, more later).

I hope to inspire people to dust off their cookbooks, use the internet, swap recipes with friends, ditch pre-prepared, pre-packaged rubbish, shop locally and eat better.

So, not a large task or anything...