Get Cooking For Christmas

Have fun with home-made this Christmas.

Yes, creating decorations and cards is fun – but I mean food! Are you like me, rather free and easy in the kitchen? I rarely weigh or measure anything and often play fast and loose with recipe ingredients and methods. Or you might be like my friend who puts a recipe book on a stand to follow everything to the letter using measuring jugs and scales for each ingredient. I suspect she has few disasters!

I love Emma Porter’s recipes and she has an ebook just for Christmas.

So leaf through your recipe books or browse the internet.   Here are a few from my own recipe book:  

Apple sauce

Peel, core and chop a cooking apple.

Put in a pan with a drop of water, some lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a pinch of nutmeg or mixed spice.

Cook until the apple is soft.

Beat in a teaspoon of butter.

Put in a hot clean jar, lid and allow to cool.

After the jar is opened, keep in the fridge and use within a week.

Mince pies

For a rich pastry:

8oz flour, ½ tsp salt, 4oz butter – rub together until resembling breadcrumbs.

Lightly beat together an egg and 20ml water. Sprinkle on and mix using a knife. Draw together and knead briefly into a smooth dough then put in the fridge for ½ h (covered).

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and cut your tops and bottoms.

Grease a bun tin (not muffin tin) with butter and assemble your pies, putting a teaspoon of mincemeat in each. You’ll use a small (410g) jar of mincemeat for this much pastry and it makes about 20 pies.

Put two knife cuts in the top of each one and brush with milk.

Bake in a preheated oven at 220 degrees C for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

These will last a couple of weeks in a tin. They freeze well too and are great warmed up with some cream on.

For Gluten free, low-carb, use a mix of 4oz ground almonds, 2oz coconut flour and 2oz tapioca to give some elasticity. 4oz butter, ½ tsp salt and one egg as above.

 

Sardine pate

The world’s 2nd most nutritious food (after liver) but not everyone is keen on them on their own. This very simple recipe gives a fresh, clean taste and with a bit of salad would make a tasty starter for Christmas dinner. It will keep for a few days in the fridge.

4oz butter

4oz cream cheese

2 tins sardines

Juice and zest of a lemon

1 teaspoon mustard

1 desert spoon fresh chopped parsley

Salt, pepper

If you have a food processor, you can whizz it in that. Other wise, use soft butter, put the all ingredients in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon.

 

Rum truffles

220g dark chocolate

100ml single cream

12g butter

Drop of vanilla essence

15ml rum

A saucer of dry coating of your choice – eg cocoa powder, desiccated coconut, sesame seeds, chopped nuts.

Heat the cream and butter to a rolling boil, then allow to cool and add the vanilla essence.

Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt gently in the microwave.

Mix the chocolate and cream and add the rum.

Pour into a shallow tray or dish lined with greaseproof paper and put it somewhere cool, uncovered for 24 hours.

Take about a teaspoon at a time and form into balls.

Roll the truffles around your saucer until they are coated and not sticky to touch any more. You can pop them into individual sweet papers.

Keep in the fridge. (no pic – I haven’t made any yet for this year!!!)   Top tip – Enjoying cooking up some goodies for Christmas.

Just cook – what’s available!

Who hasn’t been to the shops, list in hand, only to find that some of the things they wanted had sold out?

It’s not a problem really; there’s still plenty of food in the shops. All we need is a bit of imagination and the willingness to experiment.

CAULIFLOWER GREENS

I’ve been using cauliflower greens in soup for years – I usually cut the lot straight away and put it in the freezer to use in batches.

But when I wanted to do a stir-try the other day and couldn’t get any bamboo shoots or water chestnuts, I thought, “I wonder…”

Here’s the result and it was delicious. I threw in some sliced cauli florets too which gave a nice crunch.

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Next I tried some cauli greens cooked with tomatoes, cream cheese and cream to go with a cooked chicken drumstick for lunch.

And of course, I made some soup. (Well the weather has cooled off lately.)

So whatever you can buy, you can cook and who knows what great ideas you’ll come up with. Why not share them here?

Quote of the month – top books

Britain’s biggest seller is cookbooks. The second is diet books. How not to eat what you’ve just learned to cook!

Brian Turner, chef

In Britain we sell more cooking books per capita than any other country – but we cook less.  Have we made it all too complicated?  As a friend of mine said “Cooking is common sense and the application of heat.”

This is the scrummy one-pot chicken from my recipe booklet Eat Well and Save.

Shopping List for Recipes

People have been snapping up my recipes like hot cakes when I’ve had a stand at events. And with a whole week of delicious main meals for £10.50 a head it’s no wonder.  Here’s a list of what I’ve posted:

1. Pasta with salmon sauce £1.60

2. One pot chicken £1.84

3. Spag bol £1.46

4. Liver and onion £0.81

5. Pork Stroganoff £1.87

6. Pork in mushroom and cream sauce £1.65

7. Leek and mushroom tagliatelle £1.27

Plus a bit of luxury

8. Pea and Chorizo risotto with Sea Bass £2.37

I was asked to put together a shopping list for the week and here it is!

I’ve used a limited palate of flavours to make your shopping complement more than one meal. Start by checking what you already have in your house. You can use things you’ve got instead of the ingredients listed so nothing is wasted. Add things to your shopping list that you need to buy.

If you’re new to cooking, break yourself in gently rather than stocking your cupboards with staple ingredients all in one go. Many of these ingredients keep for ages and will be enough for lots of meals once you have them.

Things to keep stock in your:

Cupboards

Brown Rice

Pasta

Stock cubes or bouillon powder

Tinned tomatoes (1 tin does recipes 1, 2 and 7, plus 3 for bolognaise if you make the big batch)

Tomato puree

Cornflour

Dried herbs – parsley, oregano or whatever you prefer

Olive oil

Coconut oil

Vinegar – white wine, balsamic or apple cider

Wholegrain mustard

Pantry

Sadly we tend not to have pantries now but garage or shed works well for long-lasting fresh ingredients.

Onions – why not buy a bag of small wonky ones?

Potatoes – these last for months if kept in paper rather than plastic, in a cool, dark place. We have a farm nearby that sells a big sack for £6 which we eat from October until March. Find out if you have one near you; it’s much cheaper than the supermarket.

Tip – Onions and potatoes last longer if not kept close together.

Fridge

Butter

Milk

Natural yoghurt

Lemon juice

Shopping list for the week

– for the week’s recipes for 2 people:

Fresh produce – the part of the supermarket to spend most time in

1 x lettuce or a cabbage

(Ready chopped salad leaves are very expensive and have been washed in chemicals and packed in an artificial atmosphere. They start to wilt as soon as you open the bag and a couple of days later, whatever is left is getting mushy and smells bad. Whole lettuces last much better. Keep them in the veg drawer at the bottom of the fridge so they don’t get too cold. Cabbage is very versatile. You can shred it finely for salad or steam it for veg. It lasts longer than lettuce, has more nutrients and is cheaper.)

1 x bag of spinach

(Best to buy this later on for recipe 6 then use it for salad or steam briefly for veg on other days.)

4 x carrots

8 x radishes

12 cherry or baby plum tomatoes

1 x bulb of garlic

(Try growing your own. Plant a clove or two from the bulb you buy, between September and December. Harvest in July.)

New potatoes for 2 people

1 x lemon or a bottle of juice

500g mushrooms

1 x large or 2 x small leeks

Cold Section

1 x tub double cream

Parmesan (buy it fresh, grate and freeze in containers)

4 x chicken thighs

2 x pork steaks

1 x pork tenderloin

1500g of beef mince to make the whole 16 portion batch or 200g to make just for 2 people.

300 g of liver

1 pack salami milano

Fresh herbs – parsley, dill (buy them fresh and freeze in bags or containers)

Frozen peas

Dry / tinned

1 x 213g tin of pink salmon (healthiest with bones – buy in brine, not oil)

To add the luxury recipe of the pea and chorizo risotto with sea bass:

2 x very small sea bass fillets

2 x blobs of chorizo

Risotto rice

You don’t need to go down the ready meal aisles at all so you save time as well as money when you shop.

Enjoy your cooking, enjoy your food, enjoy better health when you give up processed food!

 

Bonus Recipe

 

Leek and Mushroom Tagliatelle

Different shapes of pasta interact with different types of sauces. This seems to go well with flat ribbons, hence tagliatelle. I made the one in the picture with pizzoccheri or you can use something else if you prefer. Spiralized courgette (courgetti) makes a good substitute for pasta if you’re avoiding wheat or watching your weight.

(Incidentally, the g in tagliatelle is silent so it should sound like tal  iatelle, not tag.)

Chop a large leek or two small ones 50p

into coins about ½” (1cm) wide. Lay these flat and cut in half.

Wash the pieces well under running water in a colander and shake to drain.

Fry for 3 mins in a knob of butter or tbsp olive oil 8p

in a large frying pan.

Chop two handfuls of mushrooms and add to the pan 45p

Turn down the heat

Add: – 1/3 tin chopped tomatoes 12p

– squirt of tomato puree (~8 or 10”) 5p

– a chopped up stock cube 7p

– (or a desert spoon of bouillon powder 15p)

– good pinch of dried oregano 4p

– good pinch of dried parsley 4p

Season with salt and pepper

Cover with a lid, simmer gently for 10 mins, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta in fast-boiling, salted water 25p

At the end add 10 slices of salami Milano 59p to the sauce

Mix 2 tsp cornflour with a little cold water 2p, add, and heat to thicken

Drain the pasta, stir some butter or olive oil 8p

Top with the sauce and a good sprinkle of Parmesan 25p

Total for this taste of Italy £2.54. That’s £1.27 per person.

For a vegetarian meal, add double the mushrooms at the start instead of the salami at the end, £2.48 or £1.24 per person.

 

Next –  I’ve been asked for a shopping list for the full set – coming soon!

 

Putting Meals Together

Every meal should contain three things: plants, protein and fats.

Some meals seem to go with salad, others with veg but every meal should include some fresh plants (white potatoes don’t count), preferably including 2 or more colours and something non-starchy. When you make real food from fresh ingredients, it’s easy to make sure you always have some. It’s often the plant part that’s missing or cooked to death in junk food.

Pea and Chorizo risotto with Sea Bass

One of my favourites! I had this in a pub near Bath and have been making it ever since.  Recipe serves 2 adults.

Put the kettle on to boil for stock

Put a knob of butter in a large frying pan 10p

Chop 1 x small onion and cook for 3 mins 10p

Add 125 ml risotto rice 30p

Stir around for a minute or two then add a little stock 7p

Simmer gently, adding more stock as it is absorbed.

Slice two ‘blobs’ of chorizo and add to pan 70p

The rice will take about 20 minutes to cook

In a small frying pan heat another knob of butter 10p

Cook two small fillets of sea bass, skin side up first £3.00

Turning fish over after 3 minutes.

5 minutes before the end, add two good handfuls of peas 12p

When everything is ready, add a tbsp of grated Parmesan 25p

to the risotto and stir through.

Total for this totally awesome meal £4.74. That’s £2.37 per person.

I later couldn’t find sea bass at the price originally posted (it must have been on offer), so I’ve redone the costings.  This meal is now >£2 but still much more fabulous and still cheaper than most take-aways and ready meals if you can afford to treat yourself.

To complete my week of meals under £2, I added a bonus recipe – Leek and Mushroom Tagliatelle for £1.27.

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