Bonus Post: Budget Pasta "Salad" plus fruit.

Improvised Caesar / pasta / Waldorf salad

I've been on holiday, so this is a quick filler post from when I had to grab a fast budget picnic lunch, and hope for the best.

I've been on holidays for the last ten days, and it was great.

Short on time to catch a train, a fast lunch was necessary.  I picked up a "Caesar" Salad with pasta, chicken and bacon, plus a mini-pack of apples and grapes from the T.

*munch*

Tasting the dressing tube first, I don't think it's improved an iota from back in the days when I made this Caesar much better.

I'm only going to dot it about and throw the rest the hell away. Too much vinegar, too much mayo.  Yuck.

• The pasta as always is over cooked, but isn't soggy today. Croutons, but yeah, they wouldn't travel... 
• The chicken is dry-ish; edible. 
• The salad - few leaves of iceberg at the bottom; disappointing.  
• The bacon is smoky but not crispy, and that smoke flavour isn't from wood...
• There's some cheese in here as well.  It...works with some mouthfuls, I'll give it that, but it's just T-ShopValueCheddar® instead of a nice Pecorino.

So, today, all I'm doing is tipping fruit into a store bought salad and adding a dash of sauce to balance it. 

 Will apple and grapes turn this into a half-Waldorf,  or a half-baked horrible disaster?

Pasta Chicken Bacon Caesar salad, per person

• 1 serving of pasta - fusili or similar. 
• 4 lettuce leaves, iceberg.  Little Gem also works from scratch.
• 1 half-portion of chicken - say half a breast, or 1 thigh or 1 drumstick.
• 2 rashers of streaky smoky bacon, chopped into 1/2cm strips
• 1 apple, quartered, then chopped into thumb-sized chunks.
• 6 grapes, plus or minus 1.
• A few shavings of your finest (ahem...) ripe cheese.  Parmesan is best but any hard mature cheese is good.

About the dressing:

If I was trying to reverse engineer this dish, I'd do a garlic mayo myself, from scratch.  Otherwise a nice olive oil and vinegar mix  (4/1 ratio) would work.  Some folks do (3/1) oil / vinegar but I don't like the acidity.  But whatever floats your boat.

Method

 If you're cooking it from scratch:

•  Boil pasta for the requisite time, say 7 minutes for fusili.
•  While this is on, fry the bacon.
•  Drain pasta, allow to cool.
•  Shred your salad ingredients and dress appropriately.  I'd add the bacon fat in myself as part of that.  
• - Dress with your dressing of preference, (I'd go for olive oil and white wine vinegar) to your taste, season, chill in the fridge.
•  - Add the apples and grapes last, and serve.

*munch*

I must say for something I have put no effort into, I can report that, if I had shelled out an extra pound on a packet of nuts or seeds, or even 30p on celery, this would have been even better, and probably a very good budget Waldorf.  Not great you understand, but better than what you would get at your company barbecue.



I hope that's given you some ideas for messing around with your pre-bought picnics when you are in a rush to get to somewhere sunny.

I looked online and some recipes for Waldorf Salad and Caesar can be found here, as well as mine.  So yes, maybe it's O.K. to quickly play with your food, when on holiday.

Chicken 3 ways 2/3 - Shakshouka & couscous

For my first post for almost a year, I am lucky - The supermarket reduced section was pretty kind to me the other day - I have a bucket load of Mediterranean grains and veg.






First onto the fork is some couscous "salad" - I'm aiming to eat these mass-produced edible-constructions first, before I play around with them afterwards...

Wasn't great in it's raw state...

*munch*
What I can say for this couscous is that the peppers and chilli it comes with are punchy, but these grains are as dry as the Sahara, and need some sauce if they are to be some form of dinner.

I have been wanting to make this next dish for a while, as I've eaten its Basque cousin Piperade, which is delicious.  

Shakshouka or chakchouka, is an Arab / Mediterranean / Middle Eastern dish of baked eggs, tomato, peppers, onions / other vegetables, and spices.  I've added some leftover chicken drumsticks into the mix as this is normally a breakfast dish served with breads but it's my supper tonight.  I think lots of tomatoes will help rescue the couscous, and what's not to like about everything else, so this recipe should be perfect.

  There's a very comprehensive article here about shakshouka; I've read it, understood it, but I'm going to adapt it to my circumstances.

Ingredients - per person

2 eggs
1 orange (bell) pepper
Lots of tomatoes - 4 salad, 12 cherry is what I used.  
1/2 a small onion
1 chicken breast / drumstick / thigh, cooked*  

* This addition is non-standard but I promised recipes about how to use a whole chicken, and it worked...

About 250g couscous, fresh steamed is probably better.  
A little olive oil, maybe about 2 tsps.
Spices
 - cumin or curry powder
 - harissa paste - today's store cupboard rescue.  £3.50 for the harissa but that'll    add flavour until next March.  Dot that liberally over the ingredients.  
 - pimentón - another store cupboard staple for me.  Hot, dry, spicy, tasty.  
 - 1 + 1/2 cloves of garlic, smashed up with salt.  Poke the  cloves into the tomatoes

Method.

In a casserole or ovenproof dish, lay down the couscous, and add the chopped onions, tomatoes, peppers and garlic over the top of it.  Put into a low oven for an hour, at about 160°C.  
Allow to cool.

Chop the chicken up into rough chunks, almost like "pulled" chicken.
Add a tsp of cumin/ curry powder, 1 or 2 of harissa and half a tsp of pimentón or your nearest equivalent chilli powder,  over the top of the veg and couscous saucery.

Now then - make 2 wells / hollows / spaces in the dish under the couscous & veg, and crack the eggs into them.

Turn the oven back on to about 140°C and leave the eggs to bake for about 20-30 minutes.  Timing's not important, but keep your eye on your oven.  You want the eggs soft and slightly runny, but not underdone.

Hopefully this long slow process will give you slow roasted veg and wobbly baked eggs, and I'm hoping the couscous will not be as dry as it was thanks to all those tomatoes.... but let's see...




*munch*

You can't see the eggs here but I'll take a photo of the leftovers with more baked eggs as it was good enough for me to make again.

The harissa dotted about lifts this into the stratosphere of taste highlights - fiery but flowery.  I am also very pleased with how the juices from the roasted tomatoes have rescued the store bought couscous.  The leftover chicken has absorbed a lot of the tomato as well, and is a nice addition of texture and flavour.  One more way to use your entire chicken, done.

  As for the baked eggs, they are a real treat - absolutely lovely.  But the number one key to the dish, I reckon,  is the cumin / curry powder, just scattered over the top.  

I'm having seconds, and I'll post a photo of them later in the week.

August '16 - Returning from hiatus.

I'm picking up the reins again and posting about how to best use and improve reduced food items and basic brand supermarket produce.  A lot of things happened in the last year that made posting updates...not a thing that was going to happen. 

So here's what went to the pass last year...

Ingredients Impediments

1.  Job - I was working flat out as a software contractor and was living off canteen and client lunches, take-aways, and 6 hours sleep until April; I had no energy to prepare food from scratch or be innovative.  Life was no fun.   Probably the main reason I stopped.

2.  Ingredients.  You can't predict when you'll get something in the Clearance section that will fit in well with your ingredients at home.  If I posted and ate strictly from what was in the budget aisle all the time, this blog would be nothing but "101 Things to do with coleslaw and ham"   Again, not fun for anyone.   


3.  Repetitiveness.  Related to the above.  Soup and sandwiches had been done to death and when I was out of ideas I was repeating myself.  I enjoyed home made tomato & rice soup and leftover bolognese the first 6 times, but these pit-stops were not something I wanted to share. 

4.  Relocation.  I have a new job and have moved home to Belfast from my fun times in Dublin.  With that goes a new kitchen.  More cupboard space, gas fired hob, but the smoke alarms go off regularly.  Took a while to sort that out.  Cooking was...impractical.


But it's time to get back in the saddle and sharpen the old knives up.

Let's get back to what matters - fun, interesting, cheap food!

I came up with a few principles for the blog.  The primary axiom for me is that I have both a useful direction for, and fun, typing words about, and eating, my thrifty cooking.  

So my goals are:

1.  Always Reduced  - I'd like to always include at least one item from the Reduced section.  It may be tenuous and the same one over time, but I want to make best use of the ingredients I have to hand, and it's kinda the raison d'etre.

Always look for a bargain.  These garden veg were 80p down from £4, only because they were upside down.

2.  Challenge Ready Meals - Every month (or so) I'll try to improve a ready meal or low value prepared item, say, a tin of sausage and beansfrom the "Value" or own brand section.  
  It may be pointless trying to supercharge a culinary Nissan Micra, but I think it's fun to try ;-)
  I'll also try and replicate the recipes myself using fresh and discount ingredients to prove the obvious - that you're better making your own food from scratch!

I'm fairly certain I can do better than this myself, but I'll let you know when I open it and taste it first...

3.  If you have it, use it - I reserve the right to use non-budget ingredients when I can afford to make best use of what I have to hand.  So should you, you're making something you want to eat - make it taste the way you like!  If you have ras el hanout and rosewater, brilliant.  If you have to improvise with 59p curry powder and a Turkish Delight bar, more power.

These kebabs were a fantastic eat - it was worth investing in the skewers and harissa sauce.

4.  Health is Wealth - Ideally, the recipes will be healthy as well as cheap.  So expect lots more veg in recipes, even if I have to buy them at full price sometimes.  It's worth it in the long term.

That's a minestrone I did which was not just delicious, but full of bucketloads of healthy veg.

Epilogue

While I didn't post in the last year, I have a lot of notes and photos taken from when I did sit down of a night, and eat something that was made from the "About to be binned" counter.  

So being regular with posts shouldn't be a problem for a while.  It'll also solve issue number 2 as above - if I can't justify buying something in the section to cook, I have plenty of recipes in the archives to be published.

As I type, I've just been to the local supermart - there's going to be Middle Eastern themed dinners posted up on Sunday.

Finally I remind myself of my favourite quote when it comes to quick cheap tasty food:

"There is too much talk of cooking being an art or a science - we are only making ourselves something to eat." - Nigel Slater, Real Cooking.

Chicken 3 Ways - Part 1

Chicken 3 Ways - Part 1

Time for roast chicken

I’ve not posted for as long as I would have liked, as I have been caught up in a new job, and all that entails – crazy commutes, canteen lunches, burgers grabbed on the way home.  Sadly, little time for budget meals at home, or typing.  But I grabbed a spare 10 minutes to type this one up.

A couple of months ago, I picked up a chicken in the discount section.

There are at least three, potentially four recipes that can come off of a delicious piece of meat such as this.  And all for €3.50 for the main event. 

It was the weekend I decamped to my Dad’s house to cook the whole thing.

 

 

Winner Winner Budget Roast Chicken Dinner

Once we get the opportunity to have a roast chicken dinner, we are in full on celebration mode, folks.  And I feel like celebrating my first full attempt at roasting a chicken.  Never done it before. Dad was very happy that I was cooking too.

First up -

Brining the chicken

We're hitting this thing with 24 hours of seasoned saltwater to preserve the flavour.

• Cover your whole chicken in water, in a pan, probably about 4 pints at least. 
• Add about 5-6 tablespoons of salt
• Add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar.
• Things like rosemary, oregano, lemon, bay leaves, boquet garnis, peppercorns, a little wine or vinegar (couple of tablespoons, tops) don’t hurt your brine either.

  This brining process will make your bird very succulent, but also, kill off anything you may have inherited from your SupermarketValue chicken that you may not want.

• Refrigerate overnight.
• Drain the liquid, and dry the chicken with kitchen paper or a tea towel.

Now rub a little oil and salt and pepper over the skin, this will help it crisp it up nicely in the oven. 

Before roasting, I added

• Rosemary - about 5 or six large sprigs inside and outside. Rosemary grows in abundance in local gardens along the road near my house, and is easily aquireable... 
• Garlic - 1 whole bulb, slightly smashed, but still in its skin, into the roasting pan, and a few cloves in the cavity. 
• Lemon - score, zest,  and punch holes in it, and jam it in the cavity.  Sprinkle some of the zest on the outside, and keep the rest for the gravy (see below).  Lemon and chicken are good buddies.

Method

At a pre-heated 200°C , a small chicken will cook through in about a half hour to 40 minutes
Mine took about 50 minutes as my Dad has an Aga, which only goes to about 180.  
HINT:  You know to check the juices run clear and not red, by sticking a skewer or fork in the centre of a chicken, right?   

Chicken is not to be messed around with – under-cooked can and will (from my own experiences), cause terrible awful stomach upsets.  So if 50 minutes isn't enough, put your roast back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

I think this came out OK.Check out the crispy skin the oil rub has given it.

*munch* - Mmm... my first bite of the breast slice I tried is *very* juicy, slightly seasoned from the brine, and the rosemary on the skin gives it a nice subtle crispy flavour. 

So what to serve on the side?  

 

Gravy, mashed potatoes, and carrot and parsnip

•  Gravy made with a little white wine, hot water, a chicken stock cube, and flour mixed with the pan juices, whisked up vigorously until thick.  The trick is to add the flour VERY gradually, so you don't get lumps, and use a sieve if possible.    
• You might even add some of the lemon zest I mentioned you save, earlier.  If you're very brave, retrieve the lemon from the cavity of the chicken and squash some of that nice caramelised jammy citrus flavour into the gravy.  Just a little squeeze, but it gives your gravy a real zing.
• Mash - Dad likes his store bought mashed potatoes, so we went with that.  I'm not going to tell you how to make mash,  I won't insult you ;-)  
• However, champ is the best mash variant, hands down.  Well, maybe with some horseradish...
• Carrot and Parsnip - Again, this was bought from Dad's favourite local convenient veg supplier - Mash Direct  .  I'd probably have made it myself from scratch, but I put a value added twist on it:

Spice up your carrot and parsnip: 

• Chop and boil the veg (or just heat it in the oven if you're my Dad using Mash Direct's lovely pre-prepared version)
• Drain and mash the veg with:
• 1 tsp cumin.
• 1tsp garam masala or mild curry powder
• a little salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp cream. 
• a slug of milk 
• Salt and pepper  

Adding the milk and cream will probably make the veg mixture a little runny, so cook that off until the consistency is a little thicker.  Adjust to taste, as always.   

A little butter goes well with this too (if your Dad’s not on a low-fat diet) 

Cumin and garam masala, really bring out the flavour of the parsnip, countering its bitterness, and complement the sweetness of the carrot.

All this went down very well with Mr SupermarketValueFoodBlog Sr.  

What's next?

So 3 way Chicken Parts 2&3 (and maybe 4) will cover:

• Budget pasta bake featuring the chicken breast we didn't eat.
• Chicken dopiaza curry, using the thighs.
• Jerk Chicken drumsticks.  Dad ate mine, but I found more...

And of course, make stock or soup with the leftover carcass.  

But these will feature another time, and not necessarily next week or month.  But soon.

Enjoy putting some love into your chicken and veg dinners, all.

Versatile Sauces; more Monster Sandwiches

Bonus post – Versatile Sauces; Monster Sandwiches

 

So as I eat a lot of sandwiches and snack foods, as they tend to be the things that are usually reduced, we need something to go with them.  We'll come back to this behemoth above at the end of the article, but first, let's discuss sauces I've made. 

Teriyaki-style dipping sauce

I made this to go with 3 spring rolls I picked up for €0.60

• 2 tbsp dark soy
• 2 tbsp light soy
• Garlic, crushed with salt
• Ginger, sliced and crushed.  I used my good old budget pestle and mortar that I got from the charity shop, but the back of a knife or a heavy implement and a chopping board work as well. 
• Brown Sugar – about one small coffee-shop style packet will do.

Mix the whole lot together and leave for a few hours for the flavours to mingle.  If you have anything like flour or cornflour to thicken the sauce with, this works as well.

Multi-purpose Salad Dressing

Any oil and acidic ingredient will make a fantastic salad dressing, but did you know you can also add it to stale bread to make toasty croutons, or dip a basic supermarket sandwich into it?

So, ideally you want to get the nicest oil and vinegar you can, but even basic oil and a lemon will work.

The ratio is key.  

4 measures of oil to one of lemon is my preference.  
But always - taste and adjust!

Basic cheat’s barbeque sauce. 

I’m now going to reveal the secret of quick barbeque sauce.  I will probably never get service in the less discerning restaurants and cafes in Northern Ireland again, by revealing this...

Here it is:

 - Mix equal parts of ketchup and HP (brown) sauce.

  
That’s it.

 You could add chilli powder or more vinegar if you want, but really, this is the easiest thing you can do to make a burger taste a bit better, on the cheap. 

It works surprisingly well as a marinade, if not better than as a "BBQ" sauce. 

Alfredo sauce

Another sauce I like to throw over my dinner is a cheese sauce, sometimes called alfredo in the US, so let’s go through what you need to do for this.  It’s commonly used for pasta but I’ve found it works well on other dishes like chicken, fish or even on a ham toastie.  Or for nachos.  Cheese sauces are simple, but can catch you out if improperly prepared.  So let’s do it right.  

 - So grate up a couple of fistfuls of whatever cheese you have to hand, but I recommend cheddar or red Leicester (it’s usually quite cheap here)  Don’t use mozzarella for this one, it may be the cheapest cheese you see in the supermarket, but a cheese sauce needs a strong flavour.  

 -  Add a good dust of Parmesan as well.  Proper Alfredo sauce uses about a small tub of grated Parmesan, but for economic reasons, we use what we have. 

- Melt the grated cheese *slowly* in some milk in a saucepan.  Add some cream, and continue to stir.  

This is the tough part.   

Making a roux is a simple thing which can go badly very quickly.  It’s why trainee chefs have to practice this constantly. 

All we are doing is cooking some flour in butter, but it can go lumpy, or burn, in a second.  So pay attention!, watch the consistency by continually stirring it, and the instant it starts to go golden, remove from the heat.  

Whisk the roux into the melted cheese sauce, vigorously.  No lumps, please.  

 There you go.  Taste the sauce, add more cheese if necessary, and when thick, take off the heat.  Note that what you’re putting your cheese sauce on will affect how much roux you want to use to thicken the sauce.  For spuds or nachos, I like a thick sauce.  For pasta, a slightly thinner one.   

But don’t stint on the cheese.

Sandwich time

Now do you remember this sandwich?  It was composed (almost) entirely of leftovers at Christmas last year.  It contains:

On the top layer -

Sausage meat

Mozarella

Sage and onion stuffing

Gravy, just a little to get some moistness in there – leftover food can go dry!

On the bottom layer:

Turkey

Crispy Bacon, which was used to wrap the turkey to keep it moist as it cooked

Avocado – not leftover but works well with the turkey and bacon

Cranberry sauce

Scotch bonnet chilli sauce.

Method
 - Toast the 3 slices bread for a minute, then put the mozzarella cheese on the top slice, and start to melt it in a low oven.  My dad has an Aga at his place but I’d say about 150° in a conventional oven.    I then sliced up everything else, assembled it to my liking, and put the top slice with the melted cheese on the top of the sandwich, and back into the oven, for a few more minutes until things were looking heated and melted.  Easy.

*munch*

It goes without saying that this was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever made for myself.  The key to leftovers, is changing the taste up.  Sauces will feature in future posts, but for now, this filler was all killer.