All That I'm Eating

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

Kung Pao Chicken with Mushrooms

By 17 Comments

kung pao chicken with mushrooms and rice

I remember the first time I tried Kung Pao chicken and how much I loved the numbing sensation you get on your tongue from the Szechuan pepper. In order to use up more of the vegetables from my veg box I made my version of Kung Pao chicken with mushrooms. This is definitely not a traditional Kung Pao chicken recipe, it doesn’t even have peanuts, but this version in particular is known in our house as: the best stir fry you’ve ever made. High praise indeed.

Ingredients

You will need (for two portions): read more

Vegetable Box Recipes

By 14 Comments

If you’re sat there looking at your kohlrabi wondering why on earth you’ve been sent a vegetable that has tentacles, fear not. I’ve been getting an organic veg box for years and I wanted to share some of my favourite vegetable box recipes. Sometimes you can end up with a vegetable you’ve never cooked with before so hopefully you can find a recipe for almost everything here! In this post I’ll take you through the contents of my most recent veg box and how I used everything up. read more

Vegetable Keema Rice with Crispy Paneer

By 13 Comments

vegetable keema rice with crispy paneer

At this time of year I get all the spices out of the cupboard and start to use those that I forgot about over the summer months. I found a tub of my homemade keema spice mix and although I know it’s delicious with lamb I wanted to try and make a veggie version. After trying out a few different vegetables and quantities I decided that I like this version of my vegetable keema rice the best. Not only is it easy and filling, it’s also got four different veg in and loads of texture from that crispy paneer.

ingredients

You will need (for two):

  • Rapeseed oil for cooking
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 dsp keema spice mix
  • 125g basmati rice
  • 300ml water
  • 2 nuggets frozen spinach (about the same as 4-6 tbsp blanched and chopped fresh spinach)
  • 1/2 mug frozen peas
  • Salt

For the crispy paneer:

  • Rapeseed oil for cooking
  • 1 heaped tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • Handful mushrooms, sliced
  • 225g paneer cheese
  • Salt

method

Heat a little oil in a lidded saucepan on a medium heat and add the onion. Fry for around 10 minutes or so until it’s starting to turn golden brown.

Add the garlic and the keema spices to the pan and cook for another minute or two.

Stir the rice into the pan so it gets all coated with the spices then pour in the water with a little salt. Pop a lid on the pan and leave for 12-15 minutes.

After this add the peas and spinach to the rice, stir the pan and then pop the lid back on and leave for another 8-10 minutes.

Test the rice to ensure it is cooked, all the water should have been absorbed by the rice, and add a little more salt if needed.

While the rice cooks you can get on with the crispy paneer. Start by heating a little oil in a non-stick frying pan on a medium/high heat. Add the turmeric and cumin and cook for a few minutes until smelling fragrant.

Tip the mushrooms and paneer into the spices and fry for 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the mushrooms are soft and turning golden and the paneer is crispy on the edges. Add a little salt and check the seasoning.

Serve up the vegetable keema rice with the crispy paneer and mushrooms on top.

I really like the combination of veg in this meal. You’ve got sweetness from the onion and peas, a slight earthiness from the spinach and a rich mushroom flavour. By using a spice mix that you’ve already made (and which you can alter to suit your taste) means most of the hard work is already done and you can just sprinkle in those flavours! The crispy paneer is a fantastic way to add texture and it would be delicious to use some marinated paneer if you fancied.

Batch Cooking Pizzas

By 20 Comments

pizza dough ready for freezer

When I make pizza there are no shortcuts. Making it all from scratch from fresh ingredients does take a little longer but it is so worth it, and, good news, batch cooking pizzas is so easy and they freeze really well. Most of the pizza preparation time is waiting for the dough to prove or the sauce to reduce so you can mostly leave it to itself and then reap the rewards in the weeks to come. Coming home and knowing that dinner will be ready in 20 minutes is even better when you know it’s a fantastic homemade pizza.

Ingredients

You will need (for 6-8 pizzas worth):

For the pizza dough:

1kg strong white bread flour
14g fast action yeast
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
600ml warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt

For the tomato sauce:

1 kg fresh tomatoes
1 small onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Small handful fresh basil, roughly chopped

Toppings of your choice

Method

Part of the reason this is so easy is because I chuck everything into my mixer and leave it to do the hard work for me, but, if you’re so inclined you can make it by hand.

Put all of the dough ingredients, apart from the water, into the mixer bowl and give everything a quick stir together. Get the mixer on a low speed and slowly add the water. Keep mixing until combined then increase the speed to knead the dough for five minutes.

Leave the dough in the bowl covered with a damp tea towel and put aside for an hour until risen.

While you are waiting for the dough start making the tomato sauce. Add the onion and a splash of oil to a saucepan on a low heat and leave the onion to soften, stirring from time to time, for 15 minutes.

Chop the tomatoes roughly and remove as many seeds as you can, don’t worry if a few slip through.

Add the garlic to the pan and leave to cook for a few minutes then tip in the tomatoes. Stir everything together well then leave the pan, lid partly on, to simmer for half an hour. Stir occasionally.

Once the sauce has reduced by about a third, add the salt, pepper and basil and then leave the lid off for the sauce to cool.

Turn the pizza dough out onto a floured surface and knock it back. Divide into six or eight, depending on how big you would like your finished pizzas.

Put the dough into freezer bags and divide the tomato sauce up into bags or pots too and pop into the freezer.

I always leave some dough and sauce out so I can make a pizza straight away; it smells too good not to.

Pre-heat an oven to 220C. Lightly oil a large baking tray.

Roll the pizza dough out on a floured surface until it’s the right size for your baking tray. Square, rectangle, round, they all taste the same!

Put the dough onto the baking tray, spread over the tomato sauce and then add your toppings. My most recent topping was mozzarella, speck and mushrooms and you can add whatever you like.

Put the pizza on a high shelf in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden and the cheese is bubbling.

I made this most recent batch of tomato sauce using red and orange tomatoes; the orange ones added such a sweetness to the sauce and the red ones a real depth of flavour. This tomato sauce also makes excellent sauce for pasta too and I’ve used it for Bolognese in the past. Proper homemade pizzas do take some beating, I love that I know exactly what’s in them and you can add as much or as little of the toppings as you like. The dough is best defrosted in the fridge the morning before you want to eat it in the evening and once the dough and sauce are done it takes no time at all to throw it together.

Vegetable Singapore Noodles

By 22 Comments

Vegetable Singapore Noodles close up

The thing I like most about these vegetable Singapore noodles is that you can throw in whatever you have left in the fridge at the end of the week. Add a few simple store cupboard staples and voila, dinner in 15 minutes. I have been perfecting this recipe for a little while now to get a good balance of sweet, salt and spice and by Jove I think I’ve cracked it. No more takeaways needed! You really can play around with this recipe too; try using different noodles or rice, different vegetables and nuts.

Ingredients

You will need (for four):

  • 4 rice noodle nests £0.90
  • Small handful unsalted peanuts £0.30
  • 3 tbsp sesame seeds £0.20
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce £0.30
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine £0.30
  • 1 tsp sugar £0.02
  • Black pepper £0.02
  • 8 spring onions, ends removed and sliced £0.50
  • 2 carrots, peeled and grated £0.20
  • 8 mushrooms, finely sliced £0.40
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced £0.10
  • 1 chilli, finely sliced £0.20
  • 1 small tin sweetcorn, drained £0.50
  • 2 tsp curry powder £0.15
  • Oil for frying £0.05

    • read more

    Creamy Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pasta Bake

    By 15 Comments

    Creamy Chicken, Mushroom and Leek Pasta Bake

    This is the first of a series of recipes aimed at giving you a few new ideas for the next time you’re after pasta for dinner. I’m sure I am in the majority of people who eat pasta at least once a week. And why not? It’s a carbohydrate that goes with everything and sometimes is at its best simply served with butter and cheese; because you chose to not because the fridge is empty. Of course. The first of these new pasta recipes is for Creamy Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pasta Bake.

    You will need (for four):

    • 2 small chicken breasts, diced or in strips
    • Oil for cooking
    • 2 medium leeks, washed well and sliced
    • 4 portabello mushrooms, wiped and sliced
    • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
    • 350g pasta (I used penne)
    • 125ml chicken stock
    • 150ml single cream
    • Salt and pepper
    • 30g Parmesan cheese, grated

    In a large frying pan heat a little oil over a medium heat. Add the chicken and fry until cooked through and lightly golden brown. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep to one side.

    Put the pan back on the hob and reduce the heat slightly. Add the leeks and cook for around 10 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and the mushrooms and continue to cook for a further 10 minutes or until the moisture has come out of the mushrooms and they have shrunk slightly.

    Add the chicken back into the pan with the stock, cream and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer gently for around 10 minutes until the mixture is slightly thickened.

    While the chicken mixture is reducing cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water for 8-10 minutes, drain when cooked al dente.

    Preheat an oven to 180C. Mix the pasta into the chicken mixture and ensure everything is coated with the sauce. Tip the mixture into an ovenproof dish and scatter the Parmesan over the top.

    Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is golden.

    Pasta bakes have to be up there amongst my favourite comfort foods. I made enough of this for four people and kept half for the next day; it makes delicious leftovers. There is just enough sauce to make sure everything is coated but not too much that it’s swimming in cream; the mushrooms and leeks are earthy and full of flavour and the chicken works really nicely with these classic flavours. I think it would work with leftover roast pork too.

    Garlic and Honey Mushrooms

    By 14 Comments

    Garlic Mushrooms - All That I'm Eating (1 of 2)

    I went to Madrid last year in search of tapas, paella and Rioja and I was not disappointed. I think I ate more often each day I was there than anywhere else I can remember. If memory serves the meals were thus: breakfast, snack at lunch, late lunch, tapas then dinner. Amazing. It took some adjusting on the return home to get used to a mere three meals a day I can tell you. One of the most remarkable meals I had while there was at a roadside restaurant; the sun was going down, it was wonderfully warm and I was complemented on my excellent Spanish. I mean, I can’t be 100% sure the waiter said it was good but I like to think he did. The starter was translated on the menu as garlic and honey mushrooms and I thought I’d have a go at recreating it.

    You will need (for two):

    • 250g mushrooms, quartered
    • Olive oil
    • Drizzle runny honey
    • 10g butter
    • 10g plain flour
    • 200ml milk
    • 2 cloves garlic
    • Salt and pepper

    Fry the mushrooms in a little oil on a medium heat until softened and lightly golden.

    Put the mushrooms into an oven proof dish and drizzle a little honey over the top. You want to just lightly coat them, about a teaspoon should do it.

    Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the flour. Cook for a minute before slowly stirring in the milk to make a thick sauce. Crush in the garlic cloves and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook until the sauce has bubbled and is thick.

    Top the mushrooms with the garlic sauce then place under a hot grill to brown the top.

    This starter really was unforgettable and as much as mine wasn’t exactly the same; I ate it inside, in February, in England for a start I think it was a very close second. The earthiness of the mushrooms works so well with just a small amount of honey for sweetness. The sauce on the mushrooms in Madrid was wonderfully creamy but very thick too and there was so much garlic it almost burnt your mouth. My sauce was a little less creamy but just as garlic laden. I really enjoy trying to recreate food I have had while on holiday but there is one problem: it makes me want to jump straight on a plane and go back again.

    Keema Rice

    By 8 Comments

    Keema Rice - All That I'm Eating (2 of 2)

    I don’t know about you but during the week when it comes to cooking dinner I want something quick, easy and full of flavour. It’s also a winner if it’s cheap to make and uses up a few bits and bobs I have hanging around in the fridge too. Keema rice is one of my guilty pleasures; I love the heavily spiced lamb, golden onions and fragrant rice. I thought it was about time I attempted to make it at home.

    You will need (for 4):

    • 250g easy cook, long grain rice  £0.35
    • 2 cloves  £0.02
    • 2 cardamom pods  £0.02
    • 1 bay leaf  £0.02
    • 300g lamb mince  £2.40
    • 1 small tin peas, drained  £0.30
    • 1 onion, finely chopped  £0.10
    • 2 garlic cloves, crushed  £0.10
    • Handful mushrooms, chopped  £0.35
    • Oil for cooking  £0.02
    • 2 tsp garam masala  £0.02
    • 1 tsp ground cumin  £0.02
    • Salt and pepper  £0.02
    • Fresh coriander £0.15

    Total £3.89

    Gently fry the cloves, cardamom and bay in a saucepan with a little oil. Add the rice and stir well to coat in the oil and spices.

    Pour in 500ml water and put a lid on. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer.

    Simmer for 10 minutes, check occasionally and top up with water if needed. Remove from the heat and leave to stand for five minutes; the rice should be perfectly cooked. Remove the spices.

    Put the onion and garlic into a large frying pan and fry for 10-15 minutes on a medium heat.

    Add the mushrooms to the pan and turn the heat up. Keep everything cooking until golden brown.

    Mix the lamb mince with the cumin, salt, pepper and garam masala. Add the lamb to the frying pan and fry until brown.

    Add the peas for a minute or two before adding the rice and giving everything one final mix.

    Serve up and top with some fresh coriander.

    I really liked the flavours and textures in this; the rice had a lovely fragrance from the spices it was cooked with, the peas added a sweetness, the mushrooms gave an earthy flavour and the coriander a freshness. The lamb was nicely spiced; I’d be tempted to add a little chilli powder next time for a bit of heat. Although not identical to my takeaway favourite at less than £1 a portion this will be making a regular appearance on the dinner table.

    In case you were wondering, I would have preferred to use frozen peas but as I now don’t have a freezer I have switched to tinned peas. They aren’t quite as green but for dishes like this or cottage pie they add a lovely texture and sweetness. I think I’m officially a tinned pea fan.

    Cheat’s one pot Paella

    By 21 Comments

    cheat's 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.

    ingredients

    You will need (for two):
    225g rice (preferably easy cook)
     £0.35
    1 large onion, sliced
     £0.10
    2 garlic cloves, sliced
     £0.05
    175g cooking chorizo, diced
     £1.96
    150g small mushrooms, quartered
     £0.75
    200g frozen peas
     £0.20
    900ml chicken or vegetable stock
     £0.10
    Salt and pepper
     £0.02
    1 tbsp olive oil
     £0.02
    Total
     £3.55 

    Method

    Add the oil to a large frying pan on a medium heat and add the onion. Fry until softened then add the chorizo and garlic and fry until the chorizo is nice a brown. Add the mushrooms and fry for a few minutes more. read more

    Steak, Chips and Mushrooms with Maille Pepper Sauce

    By 23 Comments

    Is it just me that is prone to insatiable food cravings? When I get one I am unsatisfied (and sometimes unapproachable) until I have devoured my wanted meal. It could be cheesecake, fizzy cola bottles or pizza but most recently I had a desire for steak and I wasn’t going to stop until I’d eaten one. It can be a little awkward in some situations to try and explain to those near you that the reason you are frowning, grumpy and on edge is because you desperately need some smoky bacon crisps. I had my mind set on a juicy steak with peppercorn sauce and thank goodness that I only had to wait a few days to fulfil this particular culinary requirement. Any longer and I’d have probably alienated all my friends. read more


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