This is a slightly different version of a Nigella recipe (from Simply Nigella) which I used when I was on the look out for fennel recipes this summer. Fennel is really expensive in the supermarket – about £3.50 per bulb – but at Surrey Street market in Croydon I could buy three bulbs for £2. Bargain!…
Tag: Food bloggers
Spicy pumpkin soup
This tasty seasonal soup uses small eating pumpkins/butternut squash, not the giant Jack o’Lanterns people use for Halloween. I used a pumpkin the size of a large grapefruit and half a butternut squash I had left over from another meal. I also bought a couple of adorable munchkin pumpkins but I struggled to chop them…
Spaghetti with minty aubergine and sun-dried tomato sauce
Aubergines are cheap and nutritious and make a great base for a spaghetti sauce. I watched Rick Stein make something similar to this recipe based on a Sicilian dish but he used tinned tomatoes which I didn’t have (very unusual for me) so I made it with a few sun-dried tomatoes and tomato puree instead….
Celebrating a win with slow cooker beef bourguignon
I made this on Saturday to have something for myself and my son to have ready to eat after football (we support Crystal Palace). I wanted something easy and comforting to come home to after what we thought would be yet another demoralising defeat – we were yet to score a goal (or gain a…
Chicken Caesar salad
I love Caesar salad and I love its origins. A quick look on Wikipedia attributes the salad to Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who owned restaurants in the US and Mexico in the early part of the last century. The salad was invented in 1924 when a Fourth of July rush depleted the kitchen supplies…
Big batch vegetarian chilli
Batch cooking is one of the best ways to keep costs down and you don’t have to lose out on flavour just because you’re on a budget. I regularly make up a big pot of vegetarian chilli which I freeze and then cook with other ingredients to bulk out the meals. Using this recipe as…
Focaccia
I struggle a bit making my own bread as so often it doesn’t rise very well. It frequently ends up dense, heavy and a bit sad. But I still really love the whole process of baking bread because kneading dough is so relaxing and most shop bought loaves lack character and are full of additives….
Stuffed aubergine rolls
I made this regularly when my children were growing up because my son used to be a vegetarian. Aubergines are cheap (45p each at Aldi), versatile and nutritious. They absorb different flavours very well and provide enough bulk and fibre on their own so you don’t really need to serve an additional carbohydrate. Having said that…
The first supper
I was away in North Yorkshire at the weekend and on the way home my friend and I started talking about what we were going to cook for our respective suppers. I always think that first supper home after a trip is important – you want something easy and tasty but also something that keeps…
Cheap, fresh and easy 