After my last £6 supper on BBC Radio Berkshire, Paul Ross was quite disappointed that the recipe included no frozen peas. It got me thinking that actually there’s plenty to celebrate in the humble frozen pea. They’re cheap, you can always keep some in the freezer and they are a welcome shot of greenness and sweetness at this time of year. This quick, easy and cheap meal is a little mid-week fanfare of the frozen pea.
Cheat’s one pot Paella
I didn’t realise how much rice I had been eating until I thought about the last time I ate pasta or potatoes and I can’t remember when that was. I like rice as a plain side to something, a herb encrusted rice salad or as a risotto. This quick and easy rice dish (or a cheat paella) is not a paella by any means but it’s a great dish to knock up after a hectic day with a nice bit of chorizo for a mid-week Spanish pick me up. Get out your flamenco.
Boozy Hot Chocolate with Nutmeg Marshmallows
Ingredients
You will need (for two hot chocolates):
- 60g 70% dark chocolate
- 50ml rum, whisky or Cointreau
- 225ml whole milk
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- Vegetable oil
- 8 sheets of gelatine
- 2 egg whites
- 450g unrefined caster sugar
- Nutmeg
Method
Sift the icing sugar and cornflour together. Rub a tin lightly with the vegetable oil then dust with the cornflour sugar mix.
Put the caster sugar in a pan with 200ml water and bring to the boil. Boil until it reaches 127C on a sugar thermometer.
While you wait for the sugar to boil put the gelatine sheets into 150ml water.
When the sugar syrup is ready add the gelatine with the soaking water and mix well. Grate around 1/2 tsp nutmeg into the syrup.
Whisk the egg whites in an electric mixer until stiff then continue to whisk them while you pour in the hot sugar syrup. Keep whisking until the marshmallow is stiff.
Chicory, Walnut and Pomegranate Salad with Walnut and Clementine Dressing
Ingredients
You will need (for 2 as a light main, for 4 as a side):
2 chicory heads
Small handful walnuts
1/2 pomegranate
2 tbsp walnut oil
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clementine
Salt and pepper
Method
Chop up the chicory so you have individual leaves. Arrange these on a large plate so everyone can dig in.
Roughly chop the walnuts and toast these in a dry frying pan. Once toasted sprinkle these over the chicory.
Bash the seeds out from the pomegranate (or whatever method you choose) and add these to the salad.
Mix together the walnut and olive oil then squeeze in the juice of the clementine. Stir through some salt and pepper before pouring the dressing over the salad.
Baked Vacherin Mont D’or with Rosemary Flatbreads
Ingredients
You will need (for two):
1 Vacherin Mont D’or (or Camembert)
1 clove garlic
250g strong white bread flour
1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
60ml extra virgin olive oil
100ml water
Method
Mix together the flour, salt and rosemary. Mix in the olive oil and water. Using your hands, bring it all together into a ball then knead on a floured surface for a few minutes. Set it to one side for a few minutes more.
Preheat an oven to 200C. Slice the garlic and then cut slits in the top of the cheese. Put the slices of garlic into the cheese and then put into the oven for around 10 minutes.
Gnocchi with Broccoli, Toasted Walnuts and Blue Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
You will need (for four):| 2 500g packs of gnocchi (not the refrigerated ones) |
£1.30
|
|
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
|
£0.80
|
|
1 small onion, finely chopped
|
£0.10
|
|
Oil or butter for frying
|
£0.02
|
|
300ml double cream
|
£1.10
|
|
150g creamy blue cheese (I used Blue Monday)
|
£1.20
|
|
75g walnuts, roughly chopped
|
£0.85
|
|
Salt and pepper
|
£0.02
|
|
Total
|
£5.39
|
Method
Start by getting a frying pan on a low to medium heat and adding a glug of oil or knob of butter. Add the onion and fry slowly for around 20 minutes or until softened but not browned. While the onion is frying get another small frying pan on a medium to high heat. Add the chopped walnuts and toast them in the dry pan for a few minutes until you can smell they are toasted. Watch them carefully though as they can burn easily. Put to one side when done. When the onion is around five minutes from ready bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the broccoli and boil for two to three minutes.When the onion is soft, pour in the cream and stir frequently until it just starts to simmer.
Add the gnocchi to the pan with the broccoli and continue to boil for one to two minutes more or until the gnocchi floats to the top.
Crumble the blue cheese into the cream sauce, reduce the heat to its lowest setting and stir frequently.
Drain the broccoli and gnocchi and put to one side.
Ensure the cheese has melted into the cream and then add plenty of black pepper. Taste the sauce and add a little salt if needed; it will depend how salty your cheese is.
Caribbean Spicy Bean Burgers with Pineapple Chilli Sauce
Ingredients
You will need (for four):
| For the burgers – | |
| 2x 400g cans of mixed beans, drained | £1.58 |
| 50g breadcrumbs | £0.30 |
| 2 tsp ground allspice | £0.10 |
| Few sprigs thyme, leaves only | £0.10 |
| 1 egg | £0.35 |
| 3 spring onions, sliced | £0.35 |
| Salt and pepper | £0.02 |
| For the pinepple sauce – | |
| 1x 227g canned, chopped pineapple in juice | £0.43 |
| 125g caster sugar | £0.19 |
| 175ml water | £0.00 |
| 4 tbsp white wine vinegar | £0.18 |
| 2 garlic cloves, crushed | £0.05 |
| 1/2 scotch bonnet chilli, roughly chopped | £0.08 |
| 2 tsp cornflour | £0.03 |
| Salt and pepper | £0.02 |
| 4 crusty white rolls | £1.20 |
| Total | £4.98 |
Method
Put the drained beans into a large bowl and roughly crush them with a masher or the back of a spoon.
Add all the remaining burger ingredients, except the egg, and thoroughly mix together.
Taste the mixture to check the seasoning and when you are happy crack in the egg, mix well and then form into burger shapes.
Put to one side while you make the pineapple sauce.
Drain the pineapple and then put into a saucepan with all the remaining ingredients except the cornflour.
Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring occasionally, and boil for around five minutes.
Mix the cornflour with a little water to make a paste and then mix this into the sauce.
Bring the mixture back to the boil then remove from the heat.
Blend the pineapple sauce until mostly smooth but with some pineapple chunks still left.
Put to one side to cool down.
Cardamom infused Porridge with Raspberries
Ingredients
You will need (for 2 bowls):
- 1 cup of milk
- 1/2 cup of oats
- 1 cardamom pod
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Handful raspberries
Method
Crack open the cardamom and add to the milk in a saucepan. Heat the milk and cardamom very gently for about 20 minutes. Remove the milk from the heat when done.
Put the oats into another saucepan and then sieve the milk into the oats. Cook the oats, stirring often, on a medium heat to the texture that you like; some like it so rubbery you could bounce it and others prefer it very thin. I go for somewhere in between the two.
When the porridge is ready remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar. Stir half of the raspberries into the porridge and then put the remaining berries on top. I enjoyed this with a nice cup of tea.
Lime Macerated Cherries with Caramelised Brioche
Ingredients
You will need (for two):
- 300g cherries, de-stoned
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- Juice 1 lime
- 2 slices brioche
- Butter
- Demerara sugar
Method
I quite like de-stoning cherries. I find it a therapeutic thing to do and once you get into the swing of things it takes no time at all. I have to admit that my fingers were stained for days afterwards which is not something I’ve ever encountered with cherries before. Put the de-stoned cherries into a bowl with the caster sugar and lime juice and then leave to macerate overnight. Remove the cherries from the fridge an hour or so before you want to eat them so that they are at room temperature. Lightly toast the brioche and then spread generously with butter. Sprinkle over a little demerara sugar and then put under a grill so that the sugar lightly caramelises. Remove from the grill and top with the cherries.For an impromptu dessert I was pretty pleased with this. The cherries create their own sweet and sour juice which soaks into the sweet bread. It’s crunchy at the edges and gooey in the middle. The lime freshens everything up and the cherries were a lovely shade of deep crimson which looked great on top of the sugar topped bread. Perhaps it was because these were free cherries, maybe it was because I had to work for them but there was something a bit more special about this sweet treat than normal.
New Potato, Green Bean and Iberico Salad
More and more I am cooking Spanish food and dishes. It’s a cuisine I have dabbled in while dining out but not one that I am terribly experienced in; I’ve made a few paellas and tapas in my time but I’d like to delve deeper and cook some more unusual meals in the future. This dinner was a bit of a hodge podge mix of ingredients but it worked wonderfully well.
Ingredients
You will need (for two):- 500g small new potatoes (I used Jersey Royals), scrubbed
- Small handful green beans, sliced in inch sized pieces
- As much Iberico ham as you can spare
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sherry vinegar
- 1 small garlic clove
- Salt and pepper
Method
This is a throw it together really simple recipe. Put the potatoes into cold salted water and bring the potatoes to the boil. When the potatoes are almost cooked, add the beans into the same water for the last 2 or 3 minutes of cooking. In the meantime mix together three parts oil to one part vinegar (make extra if you have some spare bread to dip in afterwards) then crush the garlic clove in and add the salt and pepper. When the potatoes and beans are cooked, drain them and pour the dressing over to warm through. Serve up and top with the Iberico ham.It’s such a simple meal but it delivers so much flavour. Earthy potatoes, sweet beans, sharp dressing and creamy Iberico ham make each mouthful different in flavour and texture. It took around fifteen minutes from start to finish and with a nice glass of wine makes a delicious, quick Friday night dinner. Well with a bit of imagination you could be on the Andalucian coast.
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