Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.
This is another cheap and cheerful recipe that was recently discovered. Again, it feeds two for less than £3 and counts as two of your five a day. My recipe for gnocchi with bacon, broccoli and creamy garlic sauce is quick, easy and frugal too. It’s really creamy and just what you need when you’re craving a dauphinoiseque meal.
Small head of broccoli – 35p
It’s the end of term and funds are running low. Gone are the days of spontaneous eating out and in are the days of making whatever is edible from the darkest corners of the cupboard.
Never fear. Over the last few days I have made meals which feed two for £3 or less and even if I do say so myself are rather nice. Also, they are at least 2 of your 5 a day! Here’s my recipe for a budget spaghetti bolognese.
What you will need (for two servings):
200g minced beef – 99p
A load of fresh tomatoes from the market – 50p
Onion – 10p
Garlic – 3p
Tomato puree – 13p
Spaghetti – 30p
Milk, stock, seasoning and herbs Total price: £2.05 (not including the milk etc.)
Is it just me who has become strangely attached to the veggies I have grown? Do those who garden also refer to their produce as their prides and joy?
Maybe it is because this is the first time I have done it and so far all is going swimmingly. It turns out growing my own is my guilty pleasure. Currently, I am growing; (from left to right) courgettes, broad beans and spinach. Elsewhere I have tomato (three kinds), sage, pepper- and spear- mint and parsley.
So far I have only been able to eat the herbs and spinach. The beans are so close to ready and I have just been lacking an occasion to show off my sage. I have found so many recipes for broad beans and we all enjoyed eating the top shoots of the plant in a salad last week.
I have discovered that growing your own exposes you to so many recipes that are just not possible with the vegetables supplied in a supermarket. I’ve never seen yummy little broad beans no bigger than the size of your little finger available. I can’t wait to whack mine into a stir fry and eat the whole little popping green lovlies.
As I learn how to treat and respect what I am growing, the produce becomes even more important. I am excited to start to cook with all sorts of bits of my new venture.
Little note…I seem to have stumbled across an interesting gardening fact. As I am growing organic, I refuse to eat things that would be absorbed into my vegetables if I wouldn’t eat them in their raw state. If you won’t sprinkle slug pellets over your roast, why sprinkle them over your cabbages?
Anyway, it seems coffee grounds have an ability to scare most little devils away from my veggies. Perhaps this is a known fact? If you’ve not tried it, give them a go! They smell nice, they are free from some coffee shops and are full of goodness to help your soil as well as your pocket.
All That I’m Eating
This current trilogy will be rounded off by the consumption of another Eggs Benedict at a restaurant I have been to many times.
Summer is almost upon us. Yes to the sunshine, yes to the balmy summer evenings and yes to Pimms. No to the fact that my bingo wings are only just falling short of smacking me in the face if I have to wave at anyone. I suppose in some ways I am glad I shan’t be having more Eggs Benedict in order to attempt to combat my large posterior. In other ways I am not excited for a summer of cucumber and lettuce surprise. The surprise being there are no calories and henceforth no taste or enjoyment.
The second instalment of this trio was devoured in a quaint little restaurant in Leicester. Entropy is outside the hustle and bustle of Leicester city centre and in my opinion Leicester is crying out for more restaurants like this one. The head chef worked at The Fat Duck and also The Vineyard at Stockcross so without contemplation it was obvious this was going to be a corker.
It’s just one of those restaurant come pubs that you wish you had a comfortable walking distance from your abode. I was very pleased to discover they have a breakfast menu at the weekend as well as an exquisite regular restaurant menu. They also make their own sourdough bread which comes served on a charming little bread board with bread knife and having been a few times I can tell you it’s worth ordering one. You can even take it away to liven up the weekly bore of work lunches.
To the most important thing. Breakfast. R had the biggest yet cutest English breakfast I’ve ever seen. I find it’s the little things that make the difference. They had cut out little discs for the fried bread and the ingredients were of such high quality.
As with The Almanack I was served one muffin. This time however it was quality and perfection. It was also nice to find the traditional Eggs Benedict with spinach and Parma ham. The muffin was warm and just toasted so it was still slightly crisp as the hollandaise hadn’t had the chance to soak into it. The spinach was spinach, nothing to report but good to know I had consumed a little folic acid first thing in the morning – an added bonus on top of a mouthwatering breakfast. The Parma ham was also as expected and the saltiness was so nice with the metallic wateriness of the spinach.
In contrast to my previous repast, the hollandaise was light, creamy, rich, luscious, buttery and elegant. I knew then and there that a bar had been set, and it had been set high. I just wanted more. The egg was impeccable. The yolk gushed down the side of the dish like it had the Midas touch. I find it hard to see how it could have been improved. How can the previous two dishes both cost £6 and yet be worlds apart?
4.5 out of 5 – I wanted more!
All That I’m Eating
This restaurant has since closed.
Eggs Benedict is one of my all time favourite, comfort giving, wonderfully satisfying indulgences. Because of this and as I am sure many other people love this ultimate unbeatable combination, I am going to compare 3 restaurants interpretations of this classic.
The Almanack in Leicester is a relatively new opened establishment. I went soon after it opened and I think at this time they may have been cutting some corners to ease themselves in. Or maybe they are just lazy. Either way, I’ve not been back to try anything else because of the poor effort in the Eggs Benedict department.
This classic French dessert sounds so impressive but it’s so easy to make and I didn’t have a food processor with a dough hook either! I used my hand mixer and it did the job perfectly. Raymond Blanc made this recently on the television and I was determined to give it a go. Don’t be put off by the bountiful amounts of butter and the gargantuan number of eggs. It’s a treat and so worth the effort.
What you will need (for a Gateau à la Crème and a brioche loaf):
For the brioche dough
500g strong plain flour
A few pinches sea salt
4 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp yeast
7 free-range eggs
300g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
For the crème filling
6 free-range egg yolks
60g caster sugar
1 lemon, juice and zest
250ml crème fraîche
For the glaze
2 free-range egg yolks
1 tbsp caster sugar
25g/¾oz butter, cut into cubes
You know the drill. Shopping all day, buying little treats and you get to the stage where only a cup of tea can hit the right spot. I say cup of tea but I don’t mean of the PG variety.
Particularly when paying for my tea while out and especially so in London I expect more than a pyramid shaped tea bag for my money.This is where I was lucky enough to stumble across one of those ‘gems’. I guess everyone else is fortunate to know about this place but I had never seen it until yesterday. This amazing place is in Carnaby Street in Kingly Court – Camellia Sinensis.
My friends K and E, and myself needed to rest our weary feet. It was like walking into a mini paradise, it was cool and calm and you’d never know you were in the middle of London. It was so…twee I suppose is the word. There were no doilies and fuss just simple but sweet. It seemed that there was a different kind of tea cup and tea pot for each type of tea. Quite a feat as there were more kinds of tea than one can imagine.
I am surprised that this exquisite restaurant does not have a Michelin star. The restaurant itself is so tasteful – albeit in a rather remote location that’s neither here nor there. The staff were so attentive and extremely helpful and polite. I cannot say that it is the best Sunday lunch in the world as I have not eaten every Sunday lunch on offer but other than a few onions in my Yorkshire pudding, I cannot think of any way it could be better.
To start with I simply couldn’t choose. You know when you look and go through the menu excluding the things you don’t want. I wanted it all. I ended up having asparagus and brioche with a soft boiled duck egg and hollandaise sauce. I thought a bit of Parma ham would have greatly improved things but nonetheless it was divine.
What can I say about the roast beef? Amazing. Most important thing first; they did not skimp on the ‘jus’ portions. Gravy to those who aren’t pretending to be posher than they actually are but either way just enough, and not too thin, not too thick. Yum. Beef was perfect. They did leave a big lump of fat on but it wasn’t exactly hard to remove being as it was all so tender. I think it’s a bit of a sign if you order beef and they swap your knife for a Samurai sword, however, at The Hare the beef is more like butter.
Roast potatoes just how you want them. So crispy and so soft. Yorkshire pudding was so satisfying to break in to – but a little dry. The parsnip was a work of art it was so beautifully draped over the meal and I don’t know what they did to it but I could eat that and that alone forever more. The vegetables that came to share were nothing special but if they had been ostentatious I think it would have been too overdone.
Pudding was a bit of an issue in that again, it was so hard to choose. I settled for a Trio of Tropical fruit. It was so beautiful. Chargrilled pineapple with a vanillary syrup, mango souffle and blood orange sorbet (I swapped the banana ice cream for the sorbet as I’m picky about the form my banana takes). The tuille around the sorbet was so impressive and really delicious.
I’ll be honest, I am running out of adjectives. It was a great lunch, we ended up being there for two and a half hours. One problem though, don’t advertise petit fours and give me one measly bit of honeycomb please. I know four is a bonus but I expect at least two. I would go again just for the level of service I experienced.
Yum. Yum. Yum. Oh…did I mention it was three courses for £26? Bargain of the century.
All That I’m Eating
This was so easy and really what you need when you want warming comfort food.
What you will need, to feed four:
2 lamb neck chops, cut in half
Plain flour
Olive oil
3 onions, peeled and cut into wedges
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into four or six depending on the size
6 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
Fresh rosemary
6-8 small potatoes, cut in half
Stock – I used vegetable
Firstly, when I bought my lamb neck it turned out that getting British lamb from the meat counter was cheaper than pre-packed New Zealand lamb. No bad thing. I did try to trim as much fat and gristle off as I could but that’s just personal preference.