Value kebabs with extra punch,

Lamb Kofta Kebab

I'm afraid due to Google Cloud being ridiculous, I lost my lamb kebab picture, but here's a couple of wicked prawn kebabs I did last year.

I love a nice kebab, and while tonight's budget buy isn't perfect, it's better than the usual elephant leg you get in a dodgy eatery after a night out on the town. 

 These ten little lamb mince lollies, below, fed me for dinner and lunch in August.  All it needed was some sauce and some vegetables to go with it.  And I even had enough money for a budget dessert!

I've made kebabs before, although the recipe was a little different, so these aren't souvlaki style shish kebabs, which you may have seen me cook.  These are koftas, that use minced lamb.  I'll give you the recipe for them from scratch, below.

These Value versions are "minted" so the sauce of choice will be tzatsiki, a Greek cucumber, mint, garlic and yoghurt dip, with some of our harissa from last time going in with my leftover tomatoes and some artisanal Dorset Naga chilli sauce adding the firepower.  Plus some lettuce really balances with the yoghurt and the heat.


The method is simple enough.

For 4

Kebabs

1 pack of minced lamb or 10 small SupermarketValue lamb sticks
2 tsps cumin / curry powder.
Mint.  Fresh is best and easy to grow but a handful of dried will help bind the mince.
Salt and pepper.

Method

Roll the lamb mince into small cylinders and then roll in the cumin/ curry powder.  If you have a skewer, all the better, soak it in water first if it's wooden, and place the lamb under a hot grill for about 10-12 minutes.  If not, you can make these as meatballs and use a frying pan.  Or the grill.  Works for both, just make sure you get a nice crust on your lamb.

There's most of what went into the tsatziki, plus the kebas in the corner

Tsatziki

Per person:
1 tsp of jarred mint, or a large bunch of fresh mint, chopped.
2 tbsps Greek or natural yoghurt
1/4 of a cucumber, shredded and drained, with a little salt.
1 clove garlic, preferably cooked off first but half a fresh raw one is OK.
1 large pinch of dried oregano, or a big bunch of fresh if you have it.

Method

Chop everything, mix, and refrigerate.  Easy.

Chilli Sauce

Per person 
One tomato, squashed, with salt.  I used a leftover roasted tomato I had from last time.
1 or maybe two tablespoons of vinegar, a "nice" one if you have it.
1 tsp sugar.
1/2 a small chili, birdeye or similar, or one you made earlier like I did.  
Harissa, 1tsp.  I did pay out for this when doing my shakshouka a few weeks ago so a shame not to use it again to give some flowery subtle heat.
Coriander paste , 1tsp gives this a little twist as well.
And, maybe... 1/4 tsp of ginger.  
And of course, if you have a store cupboard favourite chili sauce to add heat, add some of that to taste

Ideally for a chilli sauce you want to cook it down slowly, make a lot of it in a batch and freeze it, but to each, their own today...

*munch*

Mmm...


These go well with either rice, couscous, or in a pitta, with the shredded lettuce to garnish. 

Normally with a kebab you get pickled red cabbage, but today while I remembered, I had some cheap steamable vegetables to use up, so I pickled them in a mixture of vinegar, salt, chilli, garlic and olive oil, in a clean Kilner jar.

For dessert, I had some mango and watermelon slices dressed with salted yoghurt and honey.  A little like what I posted last time...

There you are - a little healthier than the normal article and a lot more flavour for the pound than stopping off at AbraKebabera, or wherever...

Pasta alla Puttanesca, a variation on...

Cheat's Fast Fresh Pasta alla Puttanesca

I was really hungry after work and wanted something quick and easy - comforting pasta came to mind.  Knowing I had a discounted bag of fusili and some tomatoes in the fridge, but also knowing I didn't want to faff around defrosting my home made sauce, or use shop bought, I improvised one of my favourite dishes.

A Non-standard reduction sticker, but at 25% of normal cost, I don't mind.

Finest* ripe tomatoes for half the price.  Nice.

So I picked up the bag of fresh fusili above for 30p, and those lovely high grade piccolo tomatoes as well at half price.  Bar my, unorthodox, ingredients, more of which later, everything else came from the store cupboard. 

"alla Puttanesca" means "in the manner of a prostitute" - I have no idea what the origin of the term is but it seems to be recent.  One theory is if you're too much of a sk**k to go to the market, you use what's in the cupboard.  Olives, capers, anchovy, garlic, chilli and tomato ragout form the basis of it.

The proper way to make the sauce, and some recipe variants, can all be found online of course, But here's my alternate take on it.

Ingredients (per person)

Tonight's ingredients.  Not quite the classic Italian, but...

• 2 Handfuls of fresh pasta.  Tonight I used fusili but spaghetti is more authentic.
• 6-8 small piccolo tomatoes, chopped.  Any ripe tomato would do but a ragout made with onion, chilli and garlic is, again, nearer the mark for authenticity.
• 2 anchovy fillets, chopped
• 6 olives, chopped.  I used jarred green but black, unstoned, are tastier.
• 1 dash of chilli sauce.  I've used a nice fruity habanero sauce for extra firepower and flavour.
• 1 heaped tsp capers.
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil to dress.
• Herbs - oregano, thyme, basil, parsley, etc.  Probably cook those in your ragout if making from scratch if dried, and use fresh to serve.  See below*

  

Here's where I experiment:

• 1 small portion of feta cheese, crumbled.  This dish would maybe be served with a dusting of Parmesan but not outright lumps of cheese, let alone a Greek cheese.
• 1 tsp pesto sauce - *As I was out of even dried herbs, this gave the dish a bit of extra flavour despite it not being a classic ingredient of puttanesca sauce.
• 3 large iceberg lettuce leaves, chopped.  Bit of a risk but I think this will work; lettuce isn't just for salad - I've made soup with it, for instance.

Method

Boil the pasta for 5-8 minutes if fresh, or however long it says for dried, probably about 12 at a guess.

Meanwhile chop all the ingredients up and add some oil and the pesto to a small bowl.  Combine the ingredients thoroughly.

Our "sauce" taking shape.  Note my blue t-shirt in foreground (not essential to recipe)

When the pasta is ready, drain, reserving some of the water, and add the pasta to the sauce / salad.  Mix well, and add a little dash of the reseved cooking water.

Serve

*munch*

Yum yum.  Light, fresh, salty, savoury, spicy.

Yum.  This hit the spot perfectly.  Not too salty - the olives and capers are mellowed by the fresh tomato and lettuce, making it quite light.  The feta cheese melts slightly in the liquid and with the heat of the pasta, and the pesto gives it body, texture and herby goodness.  There's just a slight kick from the chilli as well.

Absolutely perfect - I could not have asked for a nicer ad-libbed supper.  It's even better when made with a proper tomato/garlic/onion slow cooked sauce.  Tuna also works well with this recipe, but I was feeling very satisfied.  Again, yum.

Quick budget smoothies

Smoothies

You got a bit of a cheat last week with the addition of fruit to pasta salad, so here's an extra post.  I don't write much about snacks,breakfast or dessert. Or even fruit in general.  So here's what I had/have for breakfast, and have been known to have as a dessert.

A big rake of fruit, about to blended with  natural yoghurt and juice.

3 slices watermelon or Galia melon (usually cheaper)
4 chunks of cucumber.
4 slices of mango.
1/2 an apple, sliced.
1 small pot of natural yoghurt.
Top up with apple juice, or whatever you have to hand.

Blend until smooth, and knock back.


The watermelon didn't blend well; it was a bit under ripe when I tried it.  I think I need to invest in a SupermarketValueFood® food processor...

Lots of smoothies or juice drinks will use beetroot, carrots and kale, and I'm guessing you WILL need a proper blender for those recipes, but the ease of which you can put yoghurt, ripe fruit and juice, in a pot, is pretty satisfying.  

Kept me going well into lunchtime.

Other nice things I like to add to smoothies include:

• Oatmeal, for thickness and carbs.  Use a fine oat, normal milled porridge oats work if ground finely first
• Honey.
• Spinach or lettuce - soft greens work well.
• Any soft fruit you like, but nothing too sharp.  Prefer raspberries and blackberries myself, if strained.
• More juice.

I don't like bananas taste wise, but they're pretty useful in smoothies for vitamins and texture, they blend well, so go for it if you like them...

There you go, reduced, healthy, tasty, breakfast.

Normal schedule will resume from now on - once a fortnight, or once a week if I have a small bonus post or aside to share.  Enjoy!