In my house soups happen more by accident than by design – usually because I need to use up some vegetables before they go off. Having said that, on Friday I made gazpacho as the weather had been sweltering and a friend was coming for lunch so I planned to make that traditional cold Spanish…
Mushroom Wellington
This is a recipe from Miguel Barclay’s book ‘Vegan one pound meals’ and like all of his recipes it’s beautifully simple and easy to make. I love the way he creates tasty food with a small list of ingredients and all his recipes are for one, so you just multiply quantities for more people. I…
Smoked mackerel pasta
This is my version of a Nigella recipe (from her Nigellissma book) which in turn is based on a traditional Sicilian recipe – pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines). I’ve eaten pasta con le sarde in Sicily, in a small village, in a traditional family run restaurant where it was the house speciality. The…
Carrot and coriander soup
Carrot and coriander are two ingredients I always have in my fridge and often need using up. This soup is so easy, quick and dead cheap (and it’s vegan too). It has been a godsend recently when I was running out of ideas for lunch and didn’t want to go to the shop (trying to…
Soy and sesame salmon tray bake
I normally love cooking but I currently have a kind of lockdown lethargy where I want to eat delicious fresh food without spending any time in the kitchen. Tray bakes are the answer and I’m kind of obsessed with them at the moment. What could be easier than spending five minutes washing and chopping some…
Lentil cottage pie
This used to be one of my staple meals but I haven’t cooked it for a while. But then my son requested it for dinner a couple of Saturdays ago (he’s in my lockdown bubble so he comes over most weekends at the moment). Lentil cottage pie is such a comforting recipe and I think…
Tiramisu
I made tiramisu twice over Christmas. The first time I managed to achieve a lovely peaked effect with the topping but the next time I think I over did the coffee and marsala and the result was more like a cocktail – but just as delicious. I’m not keen on Christmas pudding or mince pies…
Roast fennel salad
I think fennel has gone to the top of my list of favourite vegetables (nudging courgettes and then runner beans into second and third place respectively). I can’t seem to get enough of fennel at the moment. I’ve been making a traybake most nights for dinner at the moment to save time on cooking. This…
Seafood chowder
The starting point for this recipe was my craving for the type of chowder I ate on my last big summer holiday, in 2019. This was a holiday of a lifetime whale watching trip on Vancouver Island with my son and daughter. We stayed in a gorgeous apartment in Victoria and nearly every other day…
Roast squash
I was trying to think of a Halloween themed recipe but in all honesty I almost never cook pumpkins. When my children were small we loved growing our own pumpkins to carve for Halloween, or getting them from the local pick your own farm. But unlike other people who made soup or desserts out of…
Paprika chicken
Recently I’ve been looking for recipes which are really quick, as well as cheap, fresh and easy. This paprika chicken recipe only takes about 15 minutes but doesn’t compromise on flavour. Using chicken thighs also adds to the depth of flavour – I nearly always prefer chicken thighs to breasts (they’re cheaper too). I absolutely…
Ratatouille
You couldn’t get more cheap, fresh and easy than ratatouille. In fact I’m struggling to think of a recipe in this whole Cheap, Fresh and Easy blog (which I’ve been writing for four years) which is cheaper and easier than ratatouille. How fresh it is, depends on you. Ratatouille is in fact a great way…
Cheap, fresh and easy 