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!!