All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Leek, Cheese and Potato Pie

By 16 Comments

cheese potato and leek pie ready to serve
I like pastry. I also like cheese and I would happily barge anyone out of the way to get my hands on a cheese, onion and potato pasty. The perfect combination of cheese, potato, onion and pastry can be hard to find and I like chunks of potato and onion not a mush; so I thought I’d best go about making my own version so I can make it just right. It’s also British Pie Week next week so the timing of my pie baking is ideal.

Ingredients

 You will need (for a pie for four):
1 medium potato, peeled and in small cubes
 £0.20
1 large leek, finely sliced
 £0.50
1 tbsp plain flour
 £0.02
75ml milk
 £0.05
125g strong cheddar cheese, grated
 £1.00
Small handful chopped chives
 £0.20
Salt and pepper
 £0.02
Small knob of butter plus extra for greasing
 £0.10
Milk for brushing
 £0.02
Readymade and rolled shortcrust pastry
 £1.50
Total
 £3.61

Method

Boil the potatoes and cook for 7-10 minutes or until tender then drain and put to one side. Fry the leeks on a medium heat in a little butter for around 10 minutes, until softened, then add the flour. Cook for a minute then add the milk and stir well while heating to make a thick sauce. Add the potato, cheese, chives and salt and pepper to the cooked leeks. Preheat oven to 180C and lightly grease a pie dish with butter. Take two thirds of the pastry and line the pie dish. Trim any excess pastry, prick the base with a fork, line with greaseproof paper then fill with baking beans or rice and bake for 12-15 minutes then remove the beans and greaseproof and return to the oven for 2 more minutes. Pour the filling into the pastry case. Brush the edge of the pastry base with milk and roll out the remaining pastry. Top the pie with the pastry and press the pastry well onto the pastry base. Trim any excess and brush the top with milk.

Cut a slit in the top of the pastry then put back into the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

The leeks and chives in this give a brilliant green colour to the pie so it’s not all beige. I liked that the filling wasn’t too wet and stodgy but you could clearly see and feel the potato and leek. Comfort food is always welcome, particularly when it’s mostly carbohydrate based and this was my perfect dinner on a rainy evening this week. Not only exactly what I wanted but also a bargain for four people. You could of course make your own pastry but when I’m as busy as I am now, readymade and rolled is my best friend. read more

Victoria Sponge with Rhubarb and Vanilla Compote

By 20 Comments

It’s always nice to see some bright pink rhubarb poking its head out at the market but as it’s the first of the season it can be quite pricey. So when you have only £1.80, what can you do with two rhubarb sticks? Make a lovely, vibrant rhubarb compote/jam to sandwich in the middle of two fat slices of cake of course. Other things that you can do with two sticks of rhubarb include: jousting, a spot of relay running or making a parasol (if you have the leaves left on) but none of those would be anywhere near as good as this cake. read more

Review: Norwegian Skrei Cod in a simple Butter and Parsley Sauce

By 21 Comments

Skrei Cod in Butter and Parsley
I don’t get to eat much fish at home as the OH isn’t a fan of anything with gills and I certainly can’t be bothered to make something different for both of us! Now I’m working from home I can have all sorts of things for lunch. The mind boggles. In reality it’s almost always toast but I was offered some Skrei cod to try and I thought it would make my midday meal much more exciting.

Skrei is a much loved Norwegian delicacy. Skrei must be caught fully grown and meet the strict quality standards to be labelled as such. This source of cod is a sustainable one and most of the Skrei are line caught. You can read more about Hugh’s Fish Fight here.
I didn’t want to mess around and over complicate this delicate fish so I cooked it very simply. I fried a piece in a little olive oil and butter only flipping it once to prevent it breaking up.
When the cod was almost ready I added a little extra butter, some salt and pepper and a small handful of parsley to make a quick sauce. read more

A Belgian Croque

By 21 Comments

belgian croque allthatimeating (1 of 2)
When I was in Bruges last year there were a few foods that cropped up on almost all of the menus: moules, frites, waffles and croques. There was one café which we went to more than once because their croques (monsieur, madame and various takes on these) were so good. It was something like €8 for one croque and salad but €10 for two croques and salad; a no brainer really. One of the croques they served was full of ham, cheese and tomato then served with a gargantuan amount of bolognaise on the top. Very handy when you want to be full for an afternoon of taking in the culture, or more accurately, beer tasting. Apparently.

ingredients

You will need (per croque):

  • 2 slices thick white bread
  • 2 slices Emmental cheese
  • 2 slices smoked ham (not wafer thin)
  • A few slices tomato
  • Cream cheese with herbs

method

Preheat a grill and toast the bread. Spread a nice thick layer of cream cheese on one slice.

Put the Emmental on the other slice. 

Top the cream cheese with the ham then the tomatoes and place both slices under the grill.

Keep the toast under the grill until the tomatoes are hot and the cheese has melted and started to bubble. 

Stick the slices together, cut up and serve.

If you have a sandwich toaster you can of course use that but sadly I don’t have one of these handy contraptions. A Corby trouser press would work equally well. read more

Malted Chocolate Biscuits

By 23 Comments

Malted Chocolate Biscuits - All That I'm Eating (2)
This recipe comes from a book which is very special to me; it is called Chocolate and was written by Jacqueline Bellefontaine. In case you didn’t know I never really used to like food. I loved cooking and seeing other people enjoy my efforts (whether out of politeness or genuinely) but I would never try anything different. When it came to baking that was a different matter and I would eat and bake anything. One birthday, I guess I was maybe 12 or 13, my Granny gave me this book and I just didn’t know what to make first. I’ve never had a bad recipe from it, the brownies are to die for and it’s my go to book when I need to bake. These malted chocolate biscuits are just brilliant and so simple to make.

ingredients

This recipe is on page 122 of the book.
You will need (I made 8 slices):

  • 100g butter
  • 2 tbsp golden syrup
  • 2 tbsp malted chocolate drink (I used just malted i.e. Horlicks)
  • 225g malted milk biscuits
  • 75g milk chocolate (you can also use dark)
  • 25g icing sugar
  • 2 tbsp milk

Method

Grease and line a cake tin; mine was an 18cm loose bottomed one.

Put the butter, golden syrup and malted drink into a saucepan and heat gently until the mixture is well combined. I find when the butter melts at first it looks a bit separated but keep stirring and it will come together and be thick and glossy.

Bash up the malted milk biscuits until you have crumbs then mix these into the butter mixture.

Press the mixture down well in the cake tin. read more

Cheat’s one pot Paella

By 21 Comments

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. read more

Luxury Leek and Potato Soup with Homemade Soda Bread

By 18 Comments

leek and potato soup topped with chives
When I was younger I didn’t much care for vegetables. The one exception to this was my regular request for ‘Mummy’s Vegetable Soup’. I had tried soup in tins, in restaurants or at other people’s houses but nothing else came close. I think the thing that fascinated me about it was that no matter what amount or combination of vegetables went in (never potato) it would always come out somewhere between green and orange and it would be just right. No stock, no cream, no cheese it was just vegetables and water. It was my Mum’s way of clearing out the fridge, feeding me vegetables (willingly!) and it was even better after a snowball fight.

Ingredients

You will need (for two big bowls of soup):
1 medium onion, sliced
£ 0.10
2 large leeks
£ 0.90
Large knob of butter
£ 0.15
2 large potatoes (around 500g)
£ 0.50
100ml double cream
£ 0.40
850ml vegetable stock
 £ 0.10
Small handful chives
 £ 0.25
Salt and pepper
£ 0.02
For the soda bread:
300g spelt flour
 £ 0.66
10g baking powder
£ 0.06
5g salt
 £ 0.01
230ml buttermilk
 £ 0.75
Total
£  3.90

method

Wash the leeks and then slice them thinly. Heat the butter in a saucepan on a low to medium heat and fry the onion and leeks for around 15 minutes until softened but not brown. Peel and dice the potato then add this to the leeks and put the lid on the pan. Leave the potatoes to soften for around 10 minutes.

Add the stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Boil with the lid on until the potatoes are tender then add the cream and some salt and pepper. Let the soup cool down before blending the soup until smooth. Return to the pan to warm through and then chop up the chives and use them to top the soup. read more

Review: Barber’s 1833 Cheddar and Twice Baked Cheddar Soufflés

By 23 Comments

barbers 1884 cheddar cheese souffle
Who doesn’t like a bit of cheese? Over the last couple of years I think Cheddar has been getting a bit of a bad name. Indeed ‘cheddar’ can be used to describe any cheese where the cheddaring process had been used to make it; hence, a piece of chewy, nasty, plastic cheese can be called Cheddar along with lovely, crumbly, exemplary artisan Cheddars.
Barber’s kindly invited me to the BBC Good Food Show last year in Birmingham and I really enjoyed it. I had a good old chat to Barber’s about their cheese; they use their own starter cultures to make their cheese and I was amazed at the difference each culture can make to the end flavour of the cheese. Some will give it an earthy, Marmite flavour and others will give a slight sweetness. In order to enjoy their cheese Barber’s gave me all the ingredients and a recipe to make a delicious twice baked cheese soufflé.

ingredients

You will need (for 6 soufflés):
  • 225ml milk
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 40g butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 40g plain flour
  • 125g Barber’s 1833 Vintage Cheddar, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 1 tbsp. chopped chives
  • Salt and pepper
  • 150ml double cream

method

Preheat an oven to 180C and butter six individual ramekins.

Put the milk, shallot, bay leaf and peppercorns in a saucepan and bring to the boil then strain into a jug. I always enjoy doing this as it smells so good.

Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the flour and cook for a few minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk then simmer for a few more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cheese before adding the egg yolks, chives and a little salt and pepper.

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then fold these into the cheese mixture. Divide between the buttered ramekins. read more

Boozy Hot Chocolate with Nutmeg Marshmallows

By 12 Comments

homemade marshmallows on top of hot chocolate
Marshmallows have always scared me a little; I thought they were terribly complicated to make and completely not worth the time. As it turns out they take nowhere near as much time or effort as I anticipated and they are so much better than any marshmallow I have had before. So to end my series of festive posts this makes a great winter evening drink. Add a little rum for the adults and a little extra milk for the children, a marshmallow in the mug and even better if you have some forks and an open fire to toast the rest. If you don’t fancy adding any alcohol then leave it out, or you could give these peanut butter hot chocolates a try instead!

Ingredients

You will need (for two hot chocolates):

  • 60g 70% dark chocolate
  • 50ml rum, whisky or Cointreau
  • 225ml whole milk
  You will need (for plenty of nutmeg marshmallows):  
  • 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. read more

Potato, Swede and Bacon Dauphinoise

By 4 Comments

Festive Potato Gratin
Roast potatoes are important in any roast dinner. Sometimes I find I can pay them a bit too much attention and end up spending less time on the other vegetables. This dauphinoise recipe is a great way to use some swede to make a great side dish and also incorporates potatoes so you can do a two in one. Not to be greedy but there’s no reason you couldn’t have this and roast potatoes for a roast!

Ingredients

You will need (for 4 as a side):

  • 350g potato, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 350g swede, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 4-5 rashers smoked, streaky bacon
  • Oil for frying
  • 150ml double cream
  • Salt and pepper
  • Butter

Method

Fry the bacon in a little oil until crispy then set to one side.

Layer up the potatoes, swede, garlic, bacon, and add a little salt and pepper to each layer, finishing with a layer of potatoes and swede in an ovenproof dish.

Pour the double cream over the veg then dot the top with butter.

Place into an oven at 170C for 1 and 1/4 hours or until soft through when tested with a knife.

If you find it’s browning too quickly cover the dish with some foil before returning to the oven. read more


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