An Easy Saturday - even cooks take it easy

The household kitchen has been working hard this week, and so have I, so no major recipes today as the meals are fairly self-explanatory, as you can see from the photographs below.

The rules and regulations of our household state that weekends begin with a lovely breakfast. In fact the first words out my wife's mouth when she wakes up on Saturday, is "what's for breakfast?". I had a pack of lovely thick un-smoked bacon from a previous Tesco order, so we started the day with buttered toast, topped with bacon and a poached egg, all washed down with a lovely mug of stewed tea.

Breakfast cost approx £1.26p per person
Tea cost approx £1.50p per person

Saturday delight, buttered toast, bacon and poached egg

So for tea (it is tea where I come from), it does not come more simple than a jacket potato with cheese and a seasoned chicken breast quarter. Apart from the few minutes preparation, I can just bung it in the oven and relax. My wife will want cheese on her spud, me I just like it with loads of butter.

It does not get simpler - Seasoned Chicken Breast Quarter and a Lovely Jacket Potato

There is one member of the household, that hasn't been introduced, but who is never too far away, and that is my beloved cat Mr Gonk, who always gets something when I cook. I was a bit disappointed when we took him to the vets recently and they described him as a "COMMON black and white domestic cat", COMMON, there is nothing common about him.

Quick and Easy Tea - Sweet and Spicy Chicken Breast Strips with Fried Mushroom Rice

Last night's meal was a great success, not a single morsel left on any of the plates, with fantastic comments for the steak and ale pie.
I needed a quick tea tonight, as we didn't get home until late, and I did not want to arrive home and say "lets order a take-away", most of which ends up in the recycling food bin - as it is not really good food from our local take-away, plus it defeats the purpose of trying to save money and waste on food. So a quick browse on the internet, I came upon what appears to be a rather nice recipe - http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/9811/sweet-and-spicy-chicken.aspx - so credit must go to the cook who posted this, as it is absolutely fantastic.

So I have gone through the bag of chicken breasts I got on my last Tesco's order, and I have taken out the ones with the least weight to use for tea tonight, to use the larger on for something else.

This dish is only quick if you prepare things in advance, i.e. rice cooked, chicken cut, sauce made, chillies, garlic and ginger chopped - all ready just for assembly.

Note - while the recipe below is for two people, the original recipe is for four people.

Cost - approx £1.50p
Serves - 2 people

Ingredients:

For the fried rice:

• 100g of long grain rice
• 1 TBLSP of olive oil
• 150g of closed cup mushrooms - wiped clean and finely chopped
• 3 TBLSP soy sauce
• 2 TSP of Chinese five spice
• 1 medium chilli - deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

For the sauce:

• 1 TBLSP dark brown soft sugar
• 2 TBLSP honey
• 4 TBLSP soy sauce
• 2 TSP fresh root ginger finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 2 TBSLP hot sweet chilli sauce

For the chicken:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets, cut into 1cm strips
• 1 TBLSP vegetable oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Method the fried rice:

Tip - Make the rice ahead of time, as it needs to be cold.

• Cover rice with water
• Bring it to the boil
• Once the water is boiling reduce the heat to as low as possible and simmer until the rice is cooked
• Rinse and drain the rice under cold water
• Store the boiled rice in a food container and put in the fridge

Method for the sauce:

• Mix together dark brown soft sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl and set aside

Method for the chicken:

• Trim the chicken if required
• Cut the chicken into strips, place chicken in a bowl, add the oil and mix - the oil just stops the strips sticking together
• Lightly salt and pepper the chicken strips

Cooking the meal:

• Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken strips and brown on both sides
• Pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer uncovered until the sauce reduces and thickens, 8 to 10 minutes
• Whilst the chicken is simmering, in a separate frying pan, add some olive oil, and add cook the mushrooms for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic, chilies and five spice and cook for one minute
• Add the rice and the soy sauce, and cook on a high heat, stirring all the time until the rice is cooked through and piping hot
• Serve the chicken and the rice, enjoy..

The finished meal

Steak and Ale Pie

It is a special evening tonight; we are entertaining my wife's parents. It is my mother-in-laws 60th birthday. I always get nervous about cooking for them, as they have very specific likes and dislikes. However the good thing is that they like what I call "proper traditional grub".

So after much thinking and much consultation with my wife, I have decided to make a mouth-watering Steak and Ale pie with short crust pastry, served with mashed potato, green cabbage and carrots.

Ideally I would have made the pie filling yesterday, but I forgot one very important ingredient for Steak and Ale pie - the Ale, so I picked this up today a nice bottle of Black Sheep Ale.

The approximate cost of the meal per person is £2.50p

I looked around for a recipe, but didn't really find one that ticked all my boxes, so this is my version.


Ingredients for the pie filling

800g diced beef
3 TBLSP of plain flour
Pepper
Oil for frying
200g of closed cap mushrooms, wiped clean and halved
2 onions, peels and sliced
1 TBLSP sugar
4 garlic cloves, crushed
300ml good-quality beef stock
300ml brown ale
1 TSP tomato purée
2 TSP of dried thyme
3 TBLSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBLSP of flour

Ingredients for the pastry

200g plain flour
Pinch of salt
100g butter - diced
Cold water
1 egg beaten for glazing the pie

Method for the filling:

• In a bowl add the flour and pepper and mix
• Add the beef into the bowl and mix until the beef is covered with flour
• Add some oil to a frying pan, and cook the beef on a high heat in batches until browned all over
• Once browned remove the beef with a slotted spoon and set aside the beef in a large pan
• Add a bit more oil to the pan, and fry the mushrooms for 2 minutes, and set aside with the beef
• Add more oil, and add the onions and sugar and cook over a medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring often until brown and caramelised
• Add the garlic to the onions and cook for 1min
• Add the TBLSP of flour to the onions and mix well
• Put the onions, beef and mushrooms in a large pan and mix well
• Add the thyme, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, stock and ale to the pan and bring to the boil
• Reduce heat and simmer gently with lid on for two hours
• After two hours taste and adjust seasoning if required, also try some of the meat to ensure it is very tender, if not allow to cook a while longer
• Remove from heat and allow to cool
• After the meat is cooked, take a colander and strain the gravy - you should if everything has gone to plan have a lot of gravy (it will become clear as to why)
• Place the meat into your pie dish, and pour some of the gravy over the meat, you do not want the gravy to be above the meat. See below picture.

• Set aside the remaining gravy to serve with the meal

Method for the short crust pastry:

• Place flour and salt in a bowl
• add the butter
• Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs

The flour and butter rubbed in

• Take a tablespoon and start adding the water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing the water into the flour and butter. Repeat adding the water until the dough comes together

The resulting dough after adding the water

• Put the dough in a plastic food bag/cling film and put it in the fridge for at least half an hour

Method of assembling the pie:

• Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out
• Cut a thin strip and brush egg round the edge of the pie dish
• Put the all-round the edge of the pie dish and then brush with the egg

The pie rim lined for the lid

• place the rolled out lid onto the pie
• Then with a tines of a fork, press gently down to seal
• with the remaining egg brush the top of the pie to glaze
• Cook for 50 minutes at 220 degrees C and serve

The pie ready for baking

Smoked Kippers

We are having some beautiful Scottish smoked kippers tonight, on homemade toasted bread with poached eggs and cold savoury rice. This is a very cheap meal, but delicious meal. So here is tonight's recipe.

Cost - approx £1.00 per person
Serves 2

Ingredients

 For the kippers:

• 2 Smoked kippers
• 1 TBLSP of plain flour
• 1 TBLSP of butter
• Pepper to taste

For the poached eggs:

• 1 TBLSP of vinegar
• 2 Eggs

For the bread:

• 2 slices of thick bread
• Butter

For the savoury rice:

• 100g of long grain rice
• 1 onion finely chopped
• Two tablespoons of oil
• One clove of garlic, chopped finely
• 5 closed cup mushrooms - wiped clean and finely chopped
• One vegetable stock cube
• Pepper to taste *
• 300 ml boiling water **
• Pinch of turmeric

* Note I have not included salt and this will come from the stock cube
** You may need more water, just keep adding a small bit at a time if you do

Method for Savoury Rice

Ingredients for the savoury rice

• In a pan give the rice a quick wash and drain
• Add the water, turmeric and vegetable stock cube to the pan
• Place the pan on a medium heat, with the lid on, stirring once in a while
• When the water is bubbling, move the rice to the lowest heat possible and cook
• Keep a check on the water and top up if required, you are looking for the rice to be soft and the water absorbed
• Whilst the rice is cooking, gently fry the onions, garlic until very soft and translucent about 5 minutes, do not let them brown

The fried onion, garlic and mushrooms

• Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes
• When the rice is ready, add the fried onions, garlic and mushrooms to the rice and stir well, season with pepper
• Now the trick is to cool the rice quickly for food safety reasons. Place the rice mix in a large bowl and set aside for 10 minutes, turning every few minutes
• Place the rice in the fridge

The finished savoury rice

Method for the kippers

• Add the flour and the pepper to a bowl and mix well
• Dredge the kippers in the flour on both sides
• Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the kippers to your preference *

*We like ours very well done

Kippers

Method for the poached egg

• Whilst the kippers are cooking, bring a small pan of water to a rolling boil
• Add the vinegar and turn the pan down to simmering
• Add the eggs
• Cook for 3 minutes
• Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper
• Whilst the eggs are cooking toast the bread and then butter

The eggs poaching

Finally assemble the meal and enjoy. Note. Before serving the chilled rice, get a knife or fork and gently separate the grains by tuning it through the rice as the grains will have stuck together during chilling.

The final meal

Breaded Pecorino Cheese Chicken Breasts and our Tesco Order for the Week

Our Tesco's order for the week got delivered today - so the blog can really begin.

Tesco charge a delivery fee for bringing your groceries to the door, the off peak delivery charge for today's order is £3.

The aim of the listings below is to try to decrease the build up of food over the weeks and thereby reduce the weekly shopping bill further, by only buying what we need for the week, using up what we have and also reducing the amount of food we throw out.

Food left over from the previous tesco's orders:

• 3 Chicken breasts
• 4 pork shoulder steaks
• 500g of pork sausage meat
• 2 smoked kippers
• Chillies - which I have chopped up and frozen, they are easy to pull apart and use
• 3 eggs
• 1 very very large piece of ginger (I got the order wrong on the weight), so I am going to store it in the freezer cut into usable chunks for when I need it - http://www.wikihow.com/Store-Ginger
• 250g of cheddar cheese
• 150g of pecorino cheese
• 6 Onions
• 250g butter
• 5 bulbs of garlic
• 900g of Trex
• 250g of Halloumi

Things like jam, tomato sauce and store cupboard items I have not included, otherwise the list would go on forever.

Total cost of this weeks food order: £44.32p

Items on this weeks food order:

1 X Savoy Cabbage - £0.76p
2 X Chicken breast quarters - £2.38p
4 X 250g of butter - £4.00
2 X 300g Unsmoked thick cut back bacon - £4.00
2 X 410g Diced beef - £7.00
1 X 400g closed cup mushroom - £0.95p
1 X 943g bagged chicken breast fillets - £9.99p
2 X 350g mature cheddar - £4.00p
1 X 1.065KG pork belly - £5.33p
1 X 2.5KG white potatoes - £1.35p
1 X 1KG long grain rice - £1.39p
2 X Strong white bread flour - £1.75p
4 X loose brown onions - £0.37p
2 X baking potatoes - £0.58p
5 X loose carrots £0.47p

During the week, I will show recipes with what I have done with the food, and see how much I have left over by next Tuesday, and see how much we can reduce the next order by.

Recipe

Tonight we are having breaded pecorino cheese chicken breast with pasta and cheese sauce, as I have a couple of chicken breasts left over from my last order, plus some pecorino cheese lurking in the fridge. This is a very cheap meal, and it can be stretched further if you have young children by halving the chicken breasts after they have been flattened.

Ingredients

Servings for 2 people

For the breaded chicken:

• 2 Chicken breasts skinless and boneless
• 8 TBLSP of breadcrumbs
• 3 TBLSP of finely grated pecorino cheese
• 1 Egg - whisked
• 2 TBLSP of plain flour
• 2 TBLSP of butter for frying

For the cheese sauce:

• 12g of plain flour
• 12g of butter
• 150 ML of milk
• 90 g of cheddar cheese grated

For the pasta:

• 150 g of dried pasta

Method

Method for the breaded chicken:

• Trim any excess fat of the chicken breasts

Chicken breasts about to be trimmed

• Lay a strip of cling film on the work surface, place chicken breasts on the cling film and put another strip of cling film over the top

The chicken breasts covered with cling film

• Take a rolling pin and gently hit the chicken breasts to flatten them out

The flattened chicken breasts

• In a separate dish, mix the grated pecorino cheese and the bread crumbs together

The mixed breadcrumbs and pecorino cheese

• In separate dishes lay out the flour, whisked egg, bread crumbs and cheese mix in front of you for ease

The ingredients ready for coating the chicken

• Take your flattened chicken breasts and dip them in the flour
• Then dip them in the whisked egg
• then dip them into the bread crumbs and pecorino cheese mix
• Melt the butter in a frying pan, and place the chicken into the pan. Note. Set the heat to low-medium, if you have the heat too high the outside will cook before chicken
• Cook the chicken, turning occasionally for approx 20-25 mins or until the chicken is cooked through and the outside nicely browned

The chicken cooking

Method for the cheesy pasta:

The sauce ingredients ready to go

• Put your pasta on to cook as per the instructions on the packet
• whilst the pasta is cooking, in a small pan melt the butter
• Add the flour and mix, over a medium heat and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring all the time

The flour and butter combined and cooked through

• Take the pan of the heat, and add the milk gradually and stir. Note - if you add the milk to fast you will get lumps, so add it bit by bit and stir into the paste
• Once all the milk has been added, return the pan to a medium heat and keep stirring all the time
• Eventually the sauce will thicken
• At this point add the cheese and melt it into the sauce
• Drain the pasta and return it to the pan, and pour the cheese sauce into the pasta and stir to coat the pasta
• Plate up, pouring any remaining butter in the frying pan over the chicken
• Serve and enjoy

The finished meal

Our daily bread

Bread, a big part of our daily life for thousands of years and it still is today - so today I thought let's make a simple loaf of white bread, and show how easy it is and fun.

I think we lose something when we buy the packaged loafs from supermarkets. The amount of bread our household wastes by throwing it out when we buy pre-packaged loafs is amazing, however make your own and there is little or no waste - because you have made it and spent a bit of time looking after it - I think you care about it more so there is less waste. There is nothing more satisfying and pleasurable to making and eating your own fresh bread.

People say they do not have time, but they have time to spend hours in front of the television, so lets combine the two. Can you spend 30 minutes to watch a soap opera, then you can spend 30 minutes effort to make a lovely fresh bread loaf. The most amount of effort from a person making bread is 20 minutes of kneading, then bread itself then does all the hard work.

The benefits of making your own bread:

• You know what goes into it - basic ingredients - no shelf life prolonging ingredients
• You will use it  - because you have made it and spent time caring for it
• It tastes better - especially toasted with loads of butter
• There is less plastic packaging so it is better for the environment

Most people fear making bread, but I can guarantee that no matter how your bread turns out, you will enjoy it.

Supermarkets know that the smell of bread is unique so they tend to have open bakeries that let the smell of baking bread waft across the store to tempt you, so why not create your own happiness in your own home. Bread making is not complex, it is simple - we have been doing it for thousands of years, so dive in and create your own loaf of happiness. If you do not have a loaf tin then so what - just put the dough on a tray when you are ready to put it in the oven and end up with a round loaf rather than a square loaf.

So tips on making bread:

• Ignore the recipe on the packet, it usually leads to a heavy bread
• Use strong bread flour
• Spend a little extra on some decent flour and which is not mixed with other ingredients (perhaps to thin it out to make it cheaper)
• Do not let the bread to over rise, there is a thing called oven bounce, which is what pushes your bread up, this is where the yeast organisms munch away and create air bubbles as the temperature in the oven heats the dough and hence make the bread rise
• Pre-heat the oven and when you put the bread in don't slam the door shut, and don't open it to see how it is getting on until it is ready
• Kneading is the key - do not skip this or cut down on the time - 15 minutes of hand kneading is what you are aiming for the first kneading
• Let your dried yeast develop before adding it
• Most recipes say leave the dough to rise in a warm place, actually, if your house is 18 - 21 degree centigrade that is OK
• Be patient
• Finally - just enjoy making it and eating it

So step by step on how to make a loaf of happiness:

Costs:

500g of flour - 20p
Yeast - 8p
Other ingredient approx - 2p
Total cost - 30p

As the price of bread varies differently at Tesco's, I will only show what a loaf of bread costs to make, rather than comparing.

Ingredients:

500g of strong white bread flour
1 1/2 TSP of Salt
1 TSP of sugar
7g of dried yeast
15g of soft butter
300 ML of luke warm water
Flour for dusting

  

OK - lets start making the bread.

Step 1 - Get the yeast going

• Take a measuring, measure 200 ML of cold water and from a boiled kettle top up to 300 ML with hot water, and stir
• Open the dried yeast and add it to the water, give it a little stir into the water and set aside for 10 minutes.

OK - so why are we doing this, the packet says it is ready to use. By doing this you can see if the yeast is active, so you do not waste your flour and your time if the yeast is inactive, all you have lost is the dead yeast

Adding the yeast to the water

The yeast bubbling after 10 minutes

Step 2 - Make the dough

• Whilst waiting the yeast to activate, add the flour, salt, sugar and butter to a bowl
• Rub with your fingers the butter into the flour
• When the yeast is active, add the water and yeast to the bowl (See picture below)

• With a knife start to combine the flour, water and yeast (see image below)

• Pull the dough together, and lightly flour the work surface, tip the dough out and gently start to fold it over itself and begin kneading the dough. I knead the dough for 15 minutes.

The dough initially turned out

The dough after 15 minutes of kneading

Step 3 - Letting the dough rise

• Place the dough back into the bowl
• Lightly oil some cling film and place it over the bowl and leave for 45 minutes

• The dough will rise, and this is what you should have

• Lightly grease the loaf tin with butter
• Then take your dough and push it back down in the bowl (See image below)

• Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead again for 5 minutes
• Place it in to the loaf tin and cover again with the cling film

• turn the oven on - set to 230 degrees C
• Leave the bread to rise once again - you are not looking for the loaf to rise high above the tin, as thanks to oven bounce, that will push the dough up. Below is what you are looking to achieve at this step

• Once the above stage is achieved, usually about 30 minutes, place it in the oven
• After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 200 Degree C and cook for another 20 Minutes
• After cooking turn out on a wire rack and leave to cool

Here is the finished bread

Pancake Breakfast

When I am home at weekend, my Wife always wakes up and the first thing she asks is "What is for breakfast?" As I had used the last of the bacon yesterday, I thought lets use some of the most basic ingredients every kitchen should have and have pancakes.

I was once walking round Tesco's and was staggered to see pre-packaged pancake mix. Staggered why?

• Pancakes are the easiest things in the world made from pure base ingredients
• Pre-packaged pancake mix comes in plastic bottles - not good for the environment
• They cost more than making your own

So I decided that today's blog would go right back to basics and demonstrate how to make great pancakes.

Cost: Approx   £1.11p for 8 large pancakes (or more depending on size of pan)

Ingredients:

• 2 Eggs Free Range
• 1 pint of milk
• 200g plain flour
• pinch of salt

Method:

• In a large bowl sieve the flour and salt
• Add the eggs and blend into the flour with a wooden spoon
• Gradually add the milk stirring so as not to get lumps (the trick is to add the milk a bit at a time)
• Whisk well when all the milk is added
• Lightly grease a frying pan on a high heat, when it is smoking pour in enough batter to just cover the base of the pan
• The pancake is ready to turn when it is easily released from the bottom of the pan
• Turn and cook the other side for a few seconds
• Serve with topping of your choice

The basic ingredients

The mixed batter

Cooking one side of the pancake

Cooking the other side

The finished delicious pancake

Enjoy !



Saturday Morning Breakfast - Simple is always best

Well it is Saturday morning, and what better way to start the day with a simple lovely breakfast to get us ready for the day ahead. We are not great breakfast eaters so Saturday is the only real day we have a hearty breakfast.

What you will find about the food on this blog is that it is not fancy or difficult, but good home cooking that anyone can do, with good, cheap ingredients.

Cost per person: approx 90p

Ingredients per person:

3 rashes of bacon
1 free range egg
Slice of bread - one slice of two day old homemade bread
Olive oil/butter for frying
Course ground black pepper

How?

Note - For simple recipes such as this I am not going to detail the in-depth instructions

Grill the bacon
Fry the bread in a frying pan with olive oil/butter
Fry the egg
assemble
sprinkle with black pepper

The Tesco's Challenge

I was amazed how much we reduced our weekly shopping bill, when we stopped actually going to the local Tesco's store and started to shop on-line. Our average weekly shopping bill when we went to the store averaged £120, now we average about £50 per week.

Long gone is the wandering around, thinking we will try this and that, and wondering if we have this product at home - and because we are not sure we add it to the trolley anyway.

Shopping on-line does take planning, but it allows you seven days to think about what you are eating next week and decide if you really need it, instead of the one hour dash on busy Saturday trying to plan your weekly shopping being jostled about by other shoppers.

Tesco's have a really good website, http://www.tesco.com/ , it is simple to sign up to and simple to use. In my opinion the benefits of shopping on-line are:

• You only buy what you need
• You can plan your meals better - Tesco's have a very good recipe database for ideas
• After a while you become more aware of what you get through so can plan better
• You can see the best deals more clearly
• Sort relevant products easier by price to see the bargains

This blog will only show what food we purchase for the week, and the recipes we make with them. Personally I like to buy base products that I can easily make up into a meal. For example, I tend to make two to three loafs of bread per week, and only buy ready made sliced bread when really required.

For example, I have a thing for homemade pizza at the moment, so I made up some simple pizza dough and froze it, then made up a simple home made tomato sauce and froze that, for a fraction of the price of a shop bought pizza I can have pizza for lunch each day, and it tastes a lot better.

Many of the recipes I use are usually based on someone else's recipes, where this is the case I will post a link to the original recipe.

As with most households we also have store cupboards essentials, that hold spices etc, so herbs and spices may be listed in recipes but you will see they are not on my shopping bill. It is a good idea to build up a spice and herb collection.

Our next order is due next Tuesday, why Tuesday, because the cost of home delivery is cheaper than at weekends, although there are still slots on busy days, but think I would be embarrassed to have my order delivered at 11am at night.

This blog will not compare other supermarket products, but only concentrate on Tesco's as that is the supermarket we use. It will also only concentrate on our food main meal eating habits, so lunches, snacks etc will not be detailed.

So please comment or subscribe with what else you want to see.

Tomorrow I will detail what we had for breakfast and dinner.

Hope you enjoy