Storecupboard Challenge - New List (plus summer vegetable risotto)

A new list and summer vegetable risotto

A somewhat beleted start to week 2 of my attempt to feed my family for around £36 a week on everyday basics. On the whole last week was a success but the trick, I think, is to do this week in week out and keep it interesting. I found there were some ingredients that I didn't use and wished I had more of other things. In reality last weeks shopping kept us for about 9 days, with a little repitition of dishes, particularly pasta, but to my mind that is better than giving your kids rubbish or having takeaways.

OK my list has changed a little as I have certain ingredients left from last week. Items like chorizo, rice, curry powder, peppers, basil and dried mushrooms I still have. I have replaced some of these items as you will see below.

Staples
4 types of flour - plain, self raising, gram and bread
caster sugar
milk
salt and pepper
sunflower oil for frying
marigold vegetable stock

All of the above I bought a while ago and still have plenty of them

Storecupboard items
Pasta (1kg) x 2 - £1.00
Chopped tinned tomatoes (400g) x 2 - 31p for basics, 59p for own brand and 98p for Napolina
Bread, unsliced (800g) - £1.20
Cashew nuts (90g) - £1.44
Arborio risotto rice - 96p
Tortilla wraps - £1.00
Soy sauce - £1.14
Dried egg noodles (4) - £1.04

Total: £9.04 (basics)

Fruit and veg items
Herbs (coriander) £1.44
Onions - 31p (2)
Garlic - 30p (clove)
Potatoes (baking) - 70p (4)
Carrots - 65p (1kg)
Lemon - 30p
Tomatoes - 72p (450g)
Spinach - £1.50
Beetroot (cooked) - 56p
Courgettes (4) - £1.60
Rocket (salad leaves) x 2 - £1.00
Cabbage - 69p
Ginger - 60p

Total: £11.37

Fridge items
Cheese
- Parmesan - £2.30 (250g)
Cream - 95p (300ml)
Natural yogurt - 54p (basics) or £1.00 (own brand)
Ham - 85p (basics, 200g) or £3.00 (breaded, own brand)
Parma ham - £2.00 (70g) or £2.69 (85g)
Eggs (dozen) - £1.40 (barn) or £2.50 (free range)
Whole chicken (medium) - £4.00 (standard), £6.00 (free range), £8.00 (organic)
Minced beef (500g) - 96p (standard mince) or £2.96 (minced steak)
Bacon (thick cut, streaky) - £1.79
Total: £14.79 (basics)

Basket Total: £35.20 (basics)

Summer Vegetable Risotto

A lovely cheap and healthy meal.

2 courgettes, diced

Handful frozen peas (defrosted)
1 carrot peeled and finely diced
75g butter
½ onion, finely chopped
250g risotto rice
50g grated parmesan
1 ½ ltr veg stock

 How to do it

1. In a large pan melt half of the butter and then add the onion. This needs to be cooked for about 5 minutes but with no colour. Then add the carrots and courgettes and cook for a couple of minutes longer.
2. Now add the rice and stir
3. Now add the stock 2 ladles at a time until it has almost evaporated and so on until rice is cooked(add the peas 1 minute from the end as the don't need much cooking). Ensure it is not too sloppy as you now need to add more butter and parmesan to finish the dish. Turn the heat off.
4. Season as you wish, spoon the risotto into 2 large bowls and serve with a little more grated parmesan.

Storecupboard Challenge Day 3 - Spinach pesto with pasta

I've been forced to take a day off work - my eldest daughter, Ruby, dislocated her knee sometime ago and she is back on crutches, in pain and unable to go to school. So, I have an opportunity to make up some pesto for tea tonight. This is ideal as Seren has a dance competition after school and I won't have much time to cook.

This is pesto with a difference - it contains a few additional flavours such as lemon and chilli and it also contains a large handful of spinach. I've tried spinach with them as a side dish but they didn't like it so i've hidden it. I do this all the time now, with lots of dishes and will do a few more over the coming weeks.

I've got a few ideas in mind for meals for the rest of the week:

• Chicken, chickpea and spinach curry with roti and onion bhaji
• Chorizo and chickpea stew
• Homemade cheeseburgers with onion rings and salad
• Cream of spring vegetable soup

As always my shopping list is below the recipe for pesto.

Spinach pesto with pasta

Traditional pesto is gorgeous and my kids really like it, so I took the opportunity to add spinach to it to see if they noticed and they didn't. It is quick and easy for me to make and depending on how much you use it will last a few days. I've used cashew nuts instead of pine nuts because they are cheaper and to be honest there's no real difference.

150g pasta
1 small bunch of basil
1 large handful of spinach, washed and dried
25g cashew nuts, toasted
1 small clove garlic
zest of 1 lemon
1 tspn dried chilli flakes or 1/4 chopped fresh chilli
75g grated parmesan cheese
100ml olive oil

1) Cook pasta according to packet instructions
2) Make the pesto by placing the toasted cashews and other ingredients (except for olive oil and parmesan) in a large food processor and whizz up. I like mine quite smooth but you can make it to the texture you like. Add the parmesan and then gradually add the oil and if it isn't enough (i.e. pesto too dry) then add a little more.
3) Stir in the pasta and serve with a little more parmesan if you like.

Staples
4 types of flour - plain, self raising, gram and bread
caster sugar
milk
salt and pepper
sunflower oil for frying
marigold vegetable stock

Storecupboard items
Pasta (500g) - £1.00
Chopped tinned tomatoes (400g) x 2 - 31p for basics, 59p for own brand and 98p for Napolina
Medium curry powder (80g) - 99p
Extra virgin olive oil (500ml) - £1.99
Rice - basics long grain 45p for 1kg or £1.46 for 500g basmati
Bread, unsliced (800g) - £1.20
Cashew nuts (90g) - £1.44
Dried porcini mushrooms (25g) - £1.78

Total: £9.47 (basics)

Fruit and veg items
Herbs - 2 for £2
Onions - 98p (kg)
Garlic - 30p (clove)
Potatoes (new) - £1.00 (kg)
Mixed peppers - £1.35 (600g)
Carrots - 75p (1.5kg)
Mixed chilli - 54p
Lemon - 30p
Tomatoes - 72p (450g)
Frozen Peas - £1.75 (900g)

Total: £9.69

Fridge items
Cheese
- Parmesan - £2.30 (250g)
- Cheddar - £1.50 (330g, basics) or £2.50 (300g own brand)
Chorizo (cooking) - £2.39 (225g)
Cream - 95p (300ml)
Natural yogurt - 54p (basics) or £1.00 (own brand)
Ham - 85p (basics, 200g) or £3.00 (breaded, own brand)
Parma ham - £2.00 (70g) or £2.69 (85g)
Eggs (dozen) - £1.40 (barn) or £2.50 (free range)
Whole chicken (medium) - £4.00 (standard), £6.00 (free range), £8.00 (organic)
Minced beef (500g) - 96p (standard mince) or £2.96 (minced steak)

Total: £16.89 (basics)

Basket Total: £36.05 (basics)

School Dinners - Pizza Margherita

Part of my professional life is managing the catering at a large comprehensive school. I took over in January 2010 with the mandate and freedom to transform the school's food. You'd be forgiven for thinking that your kids meals are improving, particularly after the shame of 'Jamie's School Dinners'. There are many reasons why things haven't changed much across the UK. The current guidelines are not legislation and the caterers range from enthusiastic, to well intentioned to downright opposed to changes in their working day. Its a bit of a lottery which cook your kids school has got. Anyway its complicated.

I'm very fortunate that my school wants the kids to eat healthily and the food that we now serve is fantastic. The vast majority of it is made from scratch with a minimal reliance on processed items. We are almost there in terms of our menu having a nutritional 'green light', just a few tweaks here and there. I have been able to prove that all of this is relatively straight forward and not the palaver others make it out to be, although we have had our ups and downs.

The best part and also the most frustrating is getting the kids to try new things and to have them involved in the process, last year we had pupils in the canteen making and serving chocolate and butternut squash cupcakes which was great fun. However, it is heartbreaking to see my Thai salmon fishcakes being wasted. But we are getting there and its safe to say that there's not a smiley potato face or a turkey twizzler in sight.

Today is chip day. Fish and chips or homemade pizza and chips, with the option of salad or peas. I'm not cooking tonight but one of the advantages of having great school food is that I can bring home the occassional meal for my kids. So pizza it is then. Here is my recipe for pizza marguerita.

Pizza Margherita

Home made cheese and tomato pizza is amazing. My advice is to keep it simple. Kids just love making this as it teaches them how to make bread and shows them how healthy pizza can be when you make it yourself. Beats a takeaway anyday!

Makes 4 six inch pizza’s

For the bread dough:

• 500g strong bread four
• 330 ml warm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 7g sachet yeast
• 1 tsp salt

For the pizza:

• 8 tbsp tomato sauce (the recipe I gave recently or make your own simple version by frying 1 sliced clove garlic in 1 tsp oil, add a small tin of chopped tomatoes and a tbsp of tomato puree)
• 2 x mozzarella cheese balls (sliced up)
• Bunch of basil
• Any additional toppings you fancy

1)    First make the dough by putting the flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and mix to a dough. Knead for 10 minutes then cover and put somewhere warm until it doubles in size. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

2)    Knock back the dough, divide into 4 and then roll out into a 6 inch circle and place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough.

3)    Spread 2 tbsp of sauce on the base and then add a few slices of cheese, a few basil leaves and any other toppings you may want. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until cheese is golden. Serve with a green salad. Delicious!

Result - Chicken Dhansak and Spaghetti with Bacon Pangratatto

You would be forgiven for thinking that Britain is enjoying a renaissance in good food. Our shelves groan under the weight of celebrity chef cookbooks and every night on TV there is a programme dedicated to food. Farmers markets have sprung up in most areas and we can tell the difference between Gloucester old spot bacon and Danepack in a taste test. Its utter nonense of course. Well it is for the vast majority of society. This new gastroporn has created a myth that sourcing and eating food in the UK is on a par with the Europeans. But sadly, this 'renaissance' is largely enjoyed by a tiny minority of people or 'foodies' as they are sometimes known.

Getting good food in Britain is difficult - for lots of reasons. This is especially true for 'ordinary' people. I read a shocking report recently saying that in Swansea, my home town, there is a 13 year gap in life expectancy between the wealthiest and poorest electoral wards. There were many factors and one of them was the problem of obesity. Read the report here: http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Shock-life-expectancy-gap-east-west-divide/story-12387293-detail/story.html

So, I think, without getting too depressed about it, good food should be for all of us. But boy is that a challenge and in my opinion we need to start with the kids. As you know I have set myself a challenge - to feed my kids good homemade food everyday. And on a tight budget. So far so good but if you read yesterdays blog you will know that Louis is coming for tea. Parents seem to love giving kids, as a 'treat', turkey dinosaurs or something equally delicious for their tea. Why do we do this? Why can't we give little guests what we think is good for them and enjoyable.

I took a gamble and made my kids favourite meal ever - Spaghetti with Bacon Pangratatto. I needn't have bought the emergency Hotdogs as he loved it. This made me very happy and optimistic. Kids do like good food but we have got a fight on our hands to make sure they are influenced by people who love them and not mega corporations who have junk to sell.

As a final note, my school kids had a gorgeous homemade Chicken Dhansak with basmati rice today. They have no idea that I put lentils and 2 kilos of mashed butternut squash in it!

Spaghetti with Bacon Pangratatto

Serves 3 and costs about 70p per portion

2 - 3 Rashers of thick cut bacon or pancetta, cut into cubes
300g spaghetti
100g breadcrumbs, a bit of stale bread whizzed up in a processor
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and pureed with the back of your knife
A handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

1) Cook your spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet.
2) While this is happening, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large non stick frying pan and cook the bacon until crisp. Now add the breadcrumbs and stir often until they start to colour. Now add more oil and the garlic and stir in. you are looking for a golden colour but watch it doesn't go too for or the garlic will taste bitter. Transfer to a bowl and add the parsley.
3) Drain the spaghetti and coat with a little olive oil. Place a portion of spaghetti in a bowl, spoon over the pangratatto, grate over some parmesan and serve. Great with a simple green salad.

Family Favourite - Ricotta Dumplings with Tomato Sauce

Ricotta Dumplings with Tomato Sauce
I have recently returned from Italy and I have been inspired by the food there. I was struck by how well Italian children eat and pleased to see that junk food played second fiddle to home cooked food. The focus seemed to be on simple, cheap, seasonal foods prepared with love and care. This dish is what family cooking is all about - cheap, easy and tasty and is my daughters favourite dish, to cook and to eat at the moment. I am also going to try using self raising flour, adding some flavours such as lemon or garlic and then frying them to eat as a snack - I will post to let you know the results.

For the dumplings:
200g ricotta cheese
220g plain flour
25g grated parmesan cheese
3 egg yolks
Salt and pepper
For the tomato sauce:
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
6-7 basil leaves

1) Put a large saucepan of salted water on to boil. Make the dough by combining all the ingredients for the dumplings and mix to a smooth dough with your hands. Cut dough into 3 pieces and roll out into a long sausage shape and cut into thumb sized pieces.
2) Make the tomato sauce by heating the oil and frying the garlic for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the basil and season.
3) When the water is boiling add the dumplings. They will rise to the surface when cooked – about 4- 5 minutes. Give about 10 per portion and spoon some of the sauce over. Finish with more grated parmesan and a green salad.

Seasonal delights - Asparagus

The UK asparagus season is short and in my opinion this is not necessarily a bad thing. We seem to be forgetting what is best to eat at particular times of the year and asparagus is a perfect example of the joys of seasonality. It seems all the more delicious as its earthy charms are so fleeting in my food year. Children can learn a little more about seasonality and spring is a lovely time to introduce them to new things. To my mind giving your family a beautiful dish such as asparagus risotto seems quite normal but to others rediculously extravagant. However, it costs around £1.40 per person to make and that makes this dish not only delicious but good value for families too.

Asparagus Risotto

Serves 4

12 asparagus spears (approx)
150g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
500g risotto rice, carnaroli is best but arborio is fine, and cheaper
100ml dry white wine
100g grated parmesan

For the stock

1 carrot , cleaned and roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 litres of water


1) First make the stock by chopping off the woody stems of the asparagus. Then place all the stock ingredients in a large pan and simmer for an hour.
2) Give the asparagus spears a rinse under cold water then cut the tips off, blanch them in the stock for 2 minutes and set aside. Now slice up the remainder of the spears.
3) In a large pan melt half of the butter and then add the onion. this needs to be cooked for about 5 minutes but with no colour. Then add the sliced spears and cook for a couple of minutes longer.
4) Now add the rice and let it get coated with the butter, onions and asparagus for a minute. Add the wine and let it evaporate.
5) Now add the stock 2 ladles at a time until it has almost evaporated and so on. You have to use some judgement here as you may need all the stock or you may not but the best thing is to ensure it is not too sloppy as you now need to add more butter and parmesan to finish the dish. Turn the heat off as parmesan , or any cheese for that matter, does not taste good when boiled.
6) Season as you wish, spoon the risotto into 4 large bowls. Decorate with the reserved asparagus tips and serve with a little more grated parmesan.

Simple pleasures - Focaccia

My Blog title originated as a joke in my home as i do 99% of all the cooking, but it is how i genuinely feel about food. If you give someone a dish of something good you are telling them that you care about them. All food lovers and cooks should be bound by this motto.


Homemade focaccia bread

This will introduce your children to the joys (magic, even) of making bread. We went to Rome recently and made this sandwich for a picnic. The mozzarella was one of the best things i've ever eaten.  Nothing beats freshly baked bread and of course you can make a plain loaf but this focaccia, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt is fantastic. Kids love making bread and it’s a great opportunity to show them the simple pleasures of food.

500g strong white bread flour

300ml warm water (37 degrees)

1tbsp sugar

1tsp salt

7g sachet dried yeast

1tbsp olive oil

1tsp sea salt

1.  Place the water, sugar and yeast in a jug, stir and leave to stand some place warm for 10 minutes (it will start to react).
2. In a large mixing bowl put the flour and salt together and make a well in the centre. Add the yeasty water and mix, initially with a wooden spoon, then with your hands. You should have a smooth dough with no cracks. Knead for 10 minutes.
3.  Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with cling film and put somewhere warm for an hour or so until it doubles in size.
4.  Knock back the dough i.e. push the air out of it and then shape into 1 large or 2 small rectangles. Place on a greased baking sheet and, if you like, press indentations into the dough. Leave to prove for 20 minutes. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 20 minutes.
5.  Eat warm or leave to cool slightly, slice through the middle and fill with mozzarella cheese, sliced tomato and parma ham.