All That I'm Eating

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

Spring Green and Bacon Potato Cakes with Cheddar and Chive Sauce

By 23 Comments

spring green and bacon potato cake
Spring greens offer so much in their name. They suggest that either spring is here or is just around the corner, they have disguised their cabbage relations with their seasonal pseudonym. I happen to think that spring greens also deliver a lot. They look shrivelled and unwelcoming with their leaves closed to the outside world but once you start to snap them off and slice them up they are wonderfully versatile. As a relation to the cabbage, spring greens lend themselves particularly well to a pairing with bacon. Spring greens and bacon are a delectable combination but don’t make for much of a meal on their own. However, when mixed into some mashed potato and smothered in a rich cheese and chive sauce, what a meal it makes.   
For the potato cakes:
600g potatoes (Maris Piper are ideal)
£0.54
Milk and butter (for the mash)
£0.20
6 rashers smoked, streaky bacon
£1.50
4-5 big leaves savoy cabbage (or Spring greens)
£0.20
Salt and pepper
£0.02
For the cheese sauce:
25g butter
£0.15
25g plain flour
£0.02
300ml milk
£0.10
75g strong cheddar cheese
£0.85
Small handful fresh chopped chives
£0.40
Total
£3.98

 
First and foremost make some mashed potato. Maris Pipers I found to be particularly good; they are fluffy enough to make mash like a cloud and yet waxy enough to hold the greens and bacon in. Mash your potatoes as you see fit; add milk, butter, cream and anything you fancy but don’t forget the salt and pepper. While the potatoes are boiling away, slice some bacon and fry in a pan. Snap the leaves of the spring greens off and shred it finely. Add to the bacon and carry on frying until lovely and golden. For two people I used four rashers of bacon and five large spring green leaves. read more

Boeuf Bourguignon with Dauphinoise and Purple Sprouting Broccoli

By 12 Comments

Boeuf Bourguignon ingredients
Beautiful, traditional and French; a perfect meal for Valentine’s Day. This one’s a winner because the bottle of wine you need for the boeuf bourguignon you can then drink with the meal or yourself during the preparation as a reward for all your hard work. Being a slow cooking dish means once it’s on the go you don’t need to worry about it and you can get on with other things. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also incredible and actually quite cheap. 

Preparing the meat can be as difficult or easy as you like. Valentine’s Day brings out our flirtatious side and, not that I would advocate it of course, projecting a little of this new found eyelash fluttering on your butcher may result in your chosen cut being prepared for you. I’m not sure it would work with your greengrocer though. I used brisket for mine which needed a fair bit of trimming and preparing but I quite like doing that. read more

Purple Cabbage Soup

By 15 Comments

Cooked cabbage and a wet flannel have an unfortunate amount of textures in common. Particularly if, like me, you were put off cabbage at school where it was boiled to what can only be described as wallpaper paste. Things have moved on since then and I wanted to give the cabbage a chance. I’ve baked it, boiled it, steamed it and fried it. Apart from frying, none of these yielded any spectacular, life changing results. Nevertheless I wasn’t about to give up on them; they are pretty much the only thing in season right now so I have no choice. If I have learnt anything about the cabbage it is that determination is key. read more

Game and Root Vegetable Stew

By 10 Comments

Game is a difficult food. It’s hard to convince people to try it when they are absolutely determined they hate it, if you’ve never handled it before it can be intimidating to try and skin a rabbit and despite your best efforts sometimes you wonder why you bothered buying venison when you might as well have bought beef. Regardless of all or any of these, game is tremendously delicious.

I don’t tend to have ‘healthy’ recipes on here, nor do I discuss the fibrous merits of the many vegetables I feature but game is a treat without that feeling of guilt. I heard tell that venison contains less fat than a chicken breast without skin. Marvellous news. Venison is obviously trumping the chicken right about now but not only is it pretty much making you lose weight, it is local and seasonal. This game stew makes the most of all game available at this time of the year and some wonderful seasonal vegetables. read more

Vegetable Patch Recipes

By 15 Comments

Home grown vegetables
Recently it has become apparent that most of the meals I eat are vegetable orientated. There are two reasons for this; firstly I have a cornucopia of vegetables in my garden at present and each one needs celebrating in its own way and secondly meat is so expensive.  

I can go into Sainsbury’s and pick up four chicken breasts for £6. Not the extra special ones, not the organic ones, just the standard ones. My alternative is to go to the farmer’s market and pick up two whole chickens for £10. These are free range chickens and I would still get four chicken breasts but I would also get four drumsticks, four wings, four thighs and two carcasses for making beautiful stock with. It’s a no brainer really.  read more

Broad Bean, Bacon and New Potato Salad

By 8 Comments

Broad Beans in the pod
I planted my own broad beans back in February full of anticipation and excitement for that day when I could finally snap the pods from the plant, lightly cook them and enjoy them just as they are. To say I was jealous of the broad beans at the farmers’ market is an understatement. I couldn’t possibly buy any and cheat on my home grown ones…could I?  Some of my broad beans are at the mangetout stage and I enjoy the occasional one immensely straight from the plant. They’ve a bit more growing to do before I can make my broad bean houmous. Until then the big, fat, shiny green beans from the farmers’ market will keep me going. To make the most of the seasonal ingredients available I cooked up this broad bean, bacon and new potato salad.

One of my favourite things is popping the broad beans out of their fluffy pods. I love the smell. I used around 20 pods if not a few more to get enough beans for this meal. The more the merrier I say.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):

  • Around 20 broad bean pods
  • 4 rashers bacon
  • 10-12 new potatoes, peeled and quartered (or halved depending on the size)
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • Fresh herbs, small amounts of each (I used chives and mint), chopped
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 small garlic clove, crushed

Method

Remove the broad beans from their pods and boil them in salted water for about 4 minutes. 

Keep the water and then boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and put to one side.

When the beans have cooled you can begin one of the most satisfying pursuits imaginable. Squeeze the beans out of their grey, papery cases. Some will come out easily with just a small pinch whereas some require the insertion of a fingernail to get things moving.  read more

Mini Bubble and Squeak

By 10 Comments

Cabbage for bubble and squeak
As one of those people who would rather sit down and pick at fifteen different dishes instead of a complete meal a BBQ is perfect for me. I wish I had the energy to create authentic Tapas on a regular basis but until then I am finding all sorts of little things to throw into the standard BBQ line up.  Potatoes will always crop up in some form or other at a BBQ. Chips, baked, in salads, boiled and any other form you can find. I wanted something that hit the potato spot but that was also a little different; mini bubble and squeak. As usual, this dish is made from ingredients I get from my local farmers’ market. I call these mini bubble and squeak but call them potato cakes or what you will. They have potato, a hint of onion, a bit of earthy cabbage with a golden, crispy, salty outside and delicate white fluffy middle…what more could you want?

Ingredients

You will need (for 6-8 small potato cakes):
  • 500g potatoes
  • Small bunch spring onions
  • Handful spring cabbage
  • Small handful chives
  • Salt and pepper
  • Butter for frying

Method

Start by peeling and then boiling the potatoes until soft. Drain the potatoes and leave them to cool. While they cool, chop the spring onions, cabbage (as much or as little as you like) and chives. I like to put the chive flowers in too if not just for the colour. Mash the potato, mix in all the other ingredients and season. Take small handfuls of the mixture, form into balls and then squash to make them flatter. 

Heat some butter in a pan until foaming. If you want the outside golden and with the slight saltiness you must use butter, it’s just not the same with oil. I do add a little oil to stop the butter burning but not much. These little cakes like to soak the butter up so have some spare to dot around the pan. Place the cakes in the pan, you may have to do more than one batch, and wait until they are golden until you turn them over. Turn them too early and you might end up with a right mess. 

They are done when they are golden brown enough for you. Keep the heat low/medium as you don’t want any burning before browning. A treat for a BBQ but great with anything else too.   

All That I’m Eating  read more

Smoked Trout and Potato Salad

By 12 Comments

Local smoked trout
I have been doing many things recently that I have not done before. I recently de-boned a chicken, which I was pretty apprehensive about because it was new to me, but I am pleased to confirm it couldn’t have gone better. This recipe is another example of trying to do something I was thoroughly convinced was complicated and time consuming.  I had never previously bought a whole fish and so I bought two strikingly golden smoked trout from the farmers’ market. I wanted something light and filling and so I made a potato salad where the dressing (I suppose you’d call it) was more trout orientated. 

Ingredients

You will need (for one large bowl of salad):
  • 2 smoked trout
  • 500g potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 250g crème fraîche
  • Wholegrain mustard
  • Fresh tarragon, dill and parsley
  • 1 lemon
  • Salt and pepper

Method

I got home and I unwrapped the trout. I looked at it somewhat diffidently and with remarkable concentration. I lopped the heads off and was relieved that it was at least half complete. How do I take the skin off? By now there was a faint glisten of moisture about my brow. Due to its being gutted my life was made awfully easy. I took the bottom fin and gave it a pull. It was like peeling an orange.

I can’t tell you how simple it was. What I thought would be a right kerfuffle turned out to be one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done. Once the skin was off, the meat just fell off the bone and I was left with a pile of meat and a complete pile of bones. There were a few strays that I found amidst the pile but I got the blighters. 

During my adventures with the trout, a pan full of potatoes had been merrily bubbling away in the background. Once cooked they were drained and left to cool while the dressing was made.  read more

Venison Burgers, Chips and Purple Sprouting

By 9 Comments

It was a picturesque morning when I hopped on the bicycle and cycled to the farmers’ market. On setting off I was very pleased with myself for saving the planet and burning calories at the same time. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and I was thoroughly convinced I was the modern day Snow White. It wasn’t particularly far or mountainous but to say I arrived less than glamorous and somewhat flustered would be an understatement. Let’s just say there was a bumble bee that seemed certain its hive was my nostril.  read more

Beef, Vegetable and Red Wine stew

By 9 Comments

beef stew vegetable mix
I needed something slow cooked and full of goodness. Fortunately I had a fridge full of treats from the farmers’ market. I had some seriously good braising steak from Challow Hill and a congregation of fantastic veg from the greengrocer.

Ingredients

What you will need (for four to six portions):

  • Braising steak (at least 500-750g)
  • Seasoned flour
  • Vegetables of your choice – carrots, swede, onions, leeks, pasnips – a few good handfuls of each
  • Potatoes – 4-6 medium
  • Red wine (1 small glass)
  • Stock (750ml)
  • Oil and seasoning

Method

Cut up the steaks and roll them in seasoned flour. Fry them in a pan that you can also then put in the oven. Keep all the goodness in one place. I am not fortunate to own one of these modern day contraptions.

Get chopping! It’s not that bad once you get going and you get lots of goodies to go straight into the compost bin. It’s true when they say you don’t get something for nothing.

Into my cauldron of lusciousness I added a healthy (large) glass of red wine, a stock cube (I know, I’m sorry) and some water. I threw in a bay leaf for good measure and a load of seasoning. I find when I think I’ve seasoned enough, I season some more. read more

Recent Tweets

  • Error: Invalid or expired token.