All recipes serve six
Fishcakes
1 418g tin wild Alaskan pink salmon
500g potatoes, peeled, boiled
1 egg
Plenty of chopped parsley
Plenty of finely chopped chives
Pepper and salt
Breadcrumbs or flour to coat
Mash potatoes to the consistency you like - a few lumps in a fishcake won't go
amiss. Mix in the salmon (add another small tin if it doesn’t look enough)
and chopped herbs. Beat an egg and mix that in well to bind. Season with a
little salt and plenty of ground black pepper. Shape into cakes and coat in
flour or bread crumbs if you have any. Fry until golden on either side.
Meatloaf
400-450g good quality, simply flavoured sausages e.g. Cumberland
400-450g lean minced beef
100g finely chopped smoked bacon rashers, lardons or bacon bits
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 heaped tbsp chopped parsley
50g coarse oatmeal
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 tbsp milk or oat milk
Ground black pepper
900g loaf tin or ovenproof dish, lightly oiled
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Cut through the skin of each sausage
and pull it off. Put the sausagemeat into a large bowl with the mince. Add
the bacon, crushed garlic, chopped onion and parsley and mix well together
(easiest with your hands, to be honest). Sprinkle over the oatmeal, add the
egg and milk and mix together thoroughly (this time with a wooden spoon).
Season generously with pepper and mix again. Pack the mixture into a lightly
oiled large loaf tin or an ovenware dish. Place the dish in a roasting tin
and pour boiling water around it up to the depth of about 1.5cm. Bake for
about an hour or until the meatloaf has shrunk well away from the sides of
the tin. Carefully pour off any fat that has accumulated then tip the
meatloaf onto a serving plate. Turn it back upright and slice it thickly.
From The Frugal Cook by Fiona Beckett, priced £14.99, published by Absolute
Press
Chorizo, flageolet and savoy cabbage casserole
3 cans flageolet beans or 350 dried soaked overnight, boiled
olive oil
150g+ chopped chorizo
6 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped
2 tsp paprika
2 onions, red or white, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
200g firm potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
500ml vegetable or chicken stock
1 small or 1/2 large Savoy cabbage, finely shredded
Heat 2-3 tbsp olive oil in a large pan, add chorizo, stir and cook for 2 mins,
add bacon, stir and for 4-5 minutes, add paprika. Add onions and garlic and
cook for 5 minutes until softened. Pour in stock, add potatoes. Bring to a
boil, add cabbage and beans and simmer for 15 minutes or so until the
cabbage and potatoes are tender. Check seasoning; it shouldn’t need salt,
may need pepper but there’s already the paprika...
Adapted from a Gordon Ramsay recipe from www.timesonline.co.uk
July 4 2007
Roast squash pasta
2 butternut squash
5-6 red onions
6 garlic cloves, leave skins on
Any sage or thyme from garden if you have and like
600g fusilli or penne or however much you like to eat
Parmesan cheese
Peel, scoop out seeds and cut squash into chunks. Peel and cut onions into
wedges. Heat oven to 200oC, add 3-4 tbsp olive oil to the tin, tip in veg
and mix to coat in oil, sprinkle over some herbs if you like. Roast for 30
minutes or until browning at the edges.
Cook pasta. Just before you drain it, squeeze the roast garlic out of the skin
and gently mix with the veg. Drain pasta and add to the tin, mixing gently
to combine. Serve with grated parmesan.
Sweet potato, spinach and chickpea bake
3 medium onions
6 tbsp light olive or sunflower oil
600g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 red peppers, quartered, de-seeded and cut into thick strips
2 large cloves of garlic
2-3 tsp ras al hanout or Moroccan spice mix
400g can whole or chopped tomatoes
250 ml vegetable stock
400g can chickpeas drained and rinsed
A good handful of fresh spinach leaves or 200g defrosted frozen spinach
1 small carton sour cream or plain yogurt
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
Peel two of the onions and cut each into eight wedges. Pour 4 tbsp of the oil
in a large roasting tin. Add the onion, cubed sweet potatoes and peppers and
mix well with the oil. Turn the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6, put the tin in
the oven and roast the vegetables for about 35 minutes, turning them half
way through. Meanwhile peel and roughly chop the other onion. Heat the
remaining 2 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion until
beginning to soften. Add the garlic and spice mix and stir well. Add the
tinned tomatoes and their juice, breaking them up if necessary with a wooden
spoon and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the stock then check the
seasoning adding salt and a little sugar to taste. Stir in the chickpeas.
When the vegetables in the oven have been cooking for 35 minutes pour over
the spiced tomato and chickpeas and mix well. Turn the oven temperature down
to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 and cook for another 20-30 minutes until the vegetables
are well cooked, turning them half way through. Just before the end of the
cooking time wash the spinach, remove any tough stalks, slice the leaves
finely and stir them into the bake. Or add defrosted frozen spinach. Return
the tin to the oven for another 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream or yogurt.
From The Frugal Cook by Fiona Beckett, priced £14.99, published by Absolute
Press
Chicken, cauliflower, potato and pea curry
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Chicken drumstick and cauliflower curry
6 chicken drumsticks
2 large onions, chopped
2cm knob fresh ginger, grated
4tbsp korma or stronger curry paste
1tsp garam masala powder
400g tin coconut milk
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 cauliflower, chopped into florets (or frozen cauliflower)
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
200g frozen peas
100g frozen beans
Salt and pepper
Fresh chopped coriander leaves if available
Heat the oil in a large shallow pan or something like a wok with a lid. Fry
the drumsticks and sear all over for around 5 minutes. Add the onions, fry
until they start to soften, add ginger, curry paste and garam masala powder,
stir well, add potatoes and stir for 1 minute. Add cauliflower if using
fresh, coconut milk and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for
20-30 minutes until the chicken is done and the potato not too soft. If
using frozen cauliflower add after 15 minutes, then add peas and beans.
Check seasoning and add more garam masala if needed, salt and pepper to
taste. Serve with fresh coriander leaves and basmati rice.
Shin of beef casserole
Vegetable oil
350g onions
1kg shin of beef
Plain flour
Salt and pepper
400g carrots
4-6 sticks celery
500ml stout + 250 ml water or beef stock
Few sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
500g mushrooms, sliced
Pre-heat the oven to 140oC. Heat vegetable oil in an ovenproof casserole and
fry the onions until softening. Add celery. Turn off heat. Put flour in a
large bowl, season, and first coat the meat in it, and add them to the
casserole, stirring into the onions, then coat the vegetables if using, and
add them stirring everything together. Turn on heat, pour over the beer,
stir everything together and bring to a simmer. Transfer to the oven for 3
hours or more. If addingmushrooms, after 2 hours, fry them in butter until
the juices run out then add to the casserole and give it another hour.
Adapted from a recipe in www.deliaonline.co.uk
