Oven Chips

Cut up a potato or two in whatever sized chips you fancy. Leave the skin on.

Put into a bowl sprinkle with a little oil and salt and pepoer. Mix with your handa until evenly coated.

Put in a hot oven on a metal ovwn tray for about 20 minutes. Turn once after ten minutes.

Can also add chili powder, cumin seeds, anything you fancy really.

Low fat and cheap!

Burritos

Son's favourite.

Tin of chopped tomatoes
Tin of kidney beans
2 chopped onions
2 chilis
Oregano

That's the basic recipe but I also added

Diced butternut squash
Chopped red pepper
Cumin powder

Also - cooked rice, cheese and wraps.

Chop all fresh veg and chilis and sweat in a little oil until soft. Add drained beans and tomatoes and herbs. Simmer until no longer sloppy. Pop into a wrap with grated cheese and just cooked rice.

This can be as simple as the first five ingredients or add in any other veg too.

Chili Chopping Tip -   I buy a packet of fresh chilis and pop them in an open pot in the fridge. They dry out eventually which is fine. Hold the stalk and snip over the pan with scissors - saves your chopping board and fingers from getting chiliey!

End of Veg Soup

When I cook a roast I use the ends of the veg to make soup. This one is all the dark leek enda, a carrot, a potato and the thick stalk of broccoli.

Chop small and sweat in some oil or butter until soft - this means coat with the warm oil quickly and pop the lid on the pan, cook on low until soft. Add water or stock simmer until potato is soft. Add salt and pepper and blend or just leave chunky. You can add a stock cube or dash of milk or cream too.

Mushroom, Spinach and Cream Sauce

I don't usually cook with cream but we had a pot of Elmlea lurking in the back of the fridge which I bought when I had friends over and forgot to get out!

Mushroom, Spinach and Cream Sauce

Softened Mushrooms

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• oil or butter
• punnet/tub of mushrooms
• 1/2 a bag of spinach
• cream
• salt and pepper

Chop onion and crush garlic, gently fry until softened.
Throw in the chopped mushrooms, cook until soft. 
Add salt and pepper and cream, heat through gently.
Tip in spinach and stir until wilted.

We had it on some whole wheat pasta.

Luxury version - add walnuts and grated cheese

Spicy Version - add a little smoky paprika

Meaty Version - I think chorizo would overpower this but it might be good over a grilled chicken breast

Rosemary & Garlic Potatoes

As mentioned in the previous post  - cut unpeeled potatoes in halves or quarters, add to a pan with rosemary, garlic cloves, oil and salt. Pop in a hot oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Very tasty 

Roast Potatoes

• A bag of potatoes, not floury ones (read the label it will tell you what the potatoes are good for; roasting, mash etc)
• Olive oil, sunflower oil, butter, lard or goose fat - whichever you prefer
• Salt

Quick Cook

Put enough fat in a large baking tin to just cover the bottom. If you want to use butter use oil too or it's likely to burn. Put in a hot oven.

Cut potatoes unpeeled into quarters or halves depending how big they are. Take out the tray from the oven, put the potatoes in the pan, sprinkle with salt and then turn then over so they are coated with fat. 

Put back in the oven on hot for about 30 to 40 minutes, it depends how hot your oven gets, despite what the dial says they are all different.

These are also lovely with a few cloves of garlic and a couple of sprigs of rosemary thrown in, great with whole small new potatoes too.

Proper Roasties

Peel potatoes whilst fat is getting hot (as above) Put them in a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil and boil for five minutes. (My other half does them for longer and would argue he does better roasties than me!) 

Drain thoroughly and then put back in the saucepan, sprinkle with salt and put the lid on - give them a big shake to roughen the surface up a bit.
Put in the baking tray as above. Turn once during cooking time.

Classic Sunday Roast Roasties - If you're cooking meat you can just add either of the above to the fat that the meat is cooking in.

Cauliflower Cheese

Cauliflower Cheese

• A cauliflower or cauliflower and broccoli mixture
• Olive oil, marg or butter
• Whole milk
• Cheddar Cheese
• English Mustard
• Plain Flour
• Salt and Pepper

Cut the cauliflower into small pieces, steam or boil until just tender, not soggy.

Drain and leave in the colander.

Heat 3 tablespoons of fat gently and when hot stir in 3 tablespoons of flour. Keep stirring and heating gently until it bubbles. Stir it like this for a couple of minutes to cook the flour. It should look like this for a thick sauce.

Take the saucepan off the heat and add half the milk (you can use skimmed or semi-skimmed but soya doesn't work very well) whisk it until all the flour mixture is mixed in. 

Add salt, pepper and half a teaspoon of mustard. Put back on the heat and keep stirring whilst you heat it. It should thicken up and you can gradually add the rest of the milk. If it boils it will quickly boil over the side of the pan so keep an eye on it. 

When you've added all the milk - or reached the consistency you want - remove from the heat. Add a pile of grated cheese and taste, add more if needed, it will depend on how strong your cheese is.

Put the cauliflower in a shallow oven proof dish, cover with sauce, top with more cheese and bake for about 20 minutes until brown on top. If you're cooking a roast just pop it in with whatever else you have there - it is already cooked you're just browning it up really.

Luxury version - use blue cheese

Meaty Version - My Mum used to sprinkle fried bacon and mushrooms on top!

The Sauce - before you add the mustard and cheese this is a plain white sauce and is really versatile. You can add wholegrain mustard or parsley to make another couple of sauces too. Leftover sauce can be frozen.

Chickpea Casserole & Purple Sprouting Broccoli

So here we go; Chickpea Casserole - which is what gave me the name of the blog. This was a quick store cupboard staple when my kids were little and they still love it now. It is not a casserole but you can dress cheap ingredients up in all sorts of titles to make them sound much more fancy then they are.


Chickpea Casserole

• 1 tin of chickpeas (or if you are very organised pre-soak and cook dried ones)
• 1 tin of tomatoes
• salt and black pepper
• dried basil or oregano or a bay leaf - or all three!
• Squirt of tomato puree or ketchup if you have it.

Tip everything in a pan. Heat through. That's it.

Serve with rice, pasta, jacket potato, on toast, in pitta or with mash,

Luxury version - add fried peppers and onions with some crushed garlic and top with grated cheddar cheese.

Spicy Version - add a chopped chilli or chilli powder and a tin of kidney beans instead of chickpeas.

Meaty Version - fry either bacon or chorizo or add cooked sliced sausages.

Fresh ingredient of the week

Purple sprouting broccoli. Looks gorgeous and tastes delicious. 

• Try it raw, sliced thinly in a salad. 
• Stir fry it with other veg and add a dash of soy sauce.
• Steam it, and drizzle butter over the top
• Steam it, cover in cheese sauce and sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top and grill.
• Steam and crumble blue cheese and walnuts on top.
• OR just lightly boil it and serve it with bangers and mash or may be a poached egg.

And YES, you can eat the stalks!