Steak and Winter Vegetable Pie

This pie is not much of a stretch from a Cornish pasty, except it's a little quicker to make because you don't have any fiddly pleating to do and if you have a ROARING hangover (and I do!) it's quick to fix, as well as just about the perfect hang-over food.
Again, this is a very inexpensive but nourishing meal which features ingredients available abundantly at this time of the year.
Steak and Winter Veg Pie
Takes 1 hour, Serves 4

For the pastry:
300g (15 oz) COLD* plain (all purpose) flour
1 tsp baking powder
75g (3.5oz) cold butter, cut into 1cm cubes
75g (3.5oz) cold lard (or veg shortening if you must), cut into 1cm cubes
1/2tsp fine sea salt
1 egg
100ml cold* water
1 more egg, beaten

For the Filling:
200g rump steak, cut into 2cm cubes
1 floury potato, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 small turnip, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1/2 small swede (rutabaga), peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 clove, garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp veg oil

First, make the pastry. *If you have time before, put the flour and water in the fridge, and you don't want to take the lard or butter out of the fridge until you need to use it. The point is to keep the fat from melting at all until you bake the pastry. This keeps it super super flaky and light instead of crunchy and hard. You can either do this in a bowl with a couple of cold butter knives or in a food processor. Either way, try to keep your hands out of the mix, as it will warm up the fat and melt it (which is bad!) I used the food processor this time.
In the food processor bowl, tip in all the flour, the salt baking powder, the butter and the lard.
Pulse several times for 15-20 seconds to cut the fat into the flour until you have mixture about the texture of fresh breadcrumbs. Tip this lot into a chilled bowl.
Beat your egg and water together, pour about half of it into the mix and stir with a knife. Add more of the water mixture as needed until you can just about bring the pastry together into a ball without it totally crumbling. DON'T over mix as it will toughen the flour, and use as little water as you can get away with. This again will give you a very light, flaky 'short' pastry.
Wrap your ball of pastry in cling film and pop it in the fridge for at least half an hour, or however long it takes you to make your filling.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the meat for a few minutes without stirring too much, so that the outside gets a nice brown colour on it all over, then remove to a plate.
Lower the heat to medium add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook for a few minutes until golden, then add in the rest of the veggies, salt and herbs. Cook the veg for 7-10 minutes until they're all a little coloured and quite tender. Add the steak back to the pan, stir thoroughly
to combine, then turn off the heat.
Turn the oven to 19oC/375F
Divide the ball of dough into two 40/60 pieces and roll the larger one out between two layers of cling film or baking paper until a little larger than the pie plate you're going to use. Line the pie plate with the pastry, making sure it over-laps the edge a little. Pile the filling into the pie casing, making sure to push it well into the bottom corners, then roll out the smaller piece of dough between two layers of cling film to the size of the pie tin. Brush a little beaten egg around the top edge of the bottom pie case and carefully lay the top sheet of pastry over the top, pressing gently around the outside edge to seal.
Carefully trim the excess pastry form the edge and use a dinner fork to press all the way around, creating a pretty, firm edge. Poke a couple of small holes in the top centre and brush the whole pie with the remaining beaten egg. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the crust is golden brown and crisp.

This pie is nice by itself, but I like to serve it with steamed, buttered broccoli or cabbage.


Steak Pie

Braised Sausages With Puy Lentils and January King Cabbage

This week sees a continuation of the super tight-wad budget for the Martin family, yay fun! :-|

This a super tasty dish full of robust textures and flavour. It's packed with healthy protein, vitamins and minerals and will convert even the most staunch lentil hater.
For this lot you're looking at about £1/$1.50 per person with a healthy appetite.

Braised Sausages with Puy Lentils and January King Cabbage
Serves 4, takes 40 minutes
8 good quality pork sausages*
250g Puy style green lentils
500ml/pint free range chicken stock
2 large carrot, diced small
1 stalk celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt-or to taste
large handful curly leaf parsley, chopped coarsely
3-4 sprigs tarragon, leaves picked
1 tbsp olive oil
1 Medium sized head January king or savoy cabbage, sliced
1 more clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
lots of fresh black pepper

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and cook the sausages for a couple of minutes to brown them well on all sides. Remove the sausages to a plate sautee the mirepoix in the pan for a few minutes until the veggies start to go translucent and tender. Add the bay leaf, garlic and salt and cook for a couple more minutes before adding the lentils, the chicken stock and returning the sausages to the pan. Bring the lot to a low simmer and cook uncovered for 25-30 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed into the lentils and they are tender. Stir the parsley and tarragon a couple of minutes before you've finished cooking.
Meanwhile, get the cabbage going by melting the butter in a large sautee pan until it's foaming, then add the garlic and sautee it for a few seconds before adding the cabbage. Stir the cabbage well into the garlicky butter and cook for a few minutes until beginning to soften. Stir in the red wine vinegar and pour over half a cup of water, then cover and lower the heat to low. Allow to cook covered for 15-20 minutes until soft throughout and all the liquid has evapourated.

Serve the sausages on top of a few spoonfuls of the lentils with a big scoop of the cabbage on the side.

Also gorgeous with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Cook's Note: *Look for pork sausages with at least 80% pork meat. Toulouse or Cumberland sausages are perfect.

Puy Lentils
Sausage

Curry Night On A Budget

Last week, I blew my grocery budget. Like blew it BIG. So big, Hubby got all high pitched when he saw the receipt. The truth was, the store cupboard was running low, so there was a lot of basics stocking up to do and we also ate a lot of meat last week, which adds up quickly.
So I knew that this week I would have to be good and try to be super budget girl. I spent less than half of what I spent last week, so I can stop having to listen to Mr. Naggy-Pants and bathe in the glow of my own smugness.
Tonight I made a Goa-style chicken curry made with dark meat chicken and I served it over a mushroom pilao rice. For the three of us it cost approximately £6.00 total but my two guys eat STUPID-big portions, so this really would serve 4. It's nice and spicy, slightly sour and quite quick to make, so a good one for an evening when your time is limited.
Goan-Stylie Chicken And Cashew Curry With Mushroom Pilao Rice
Serves 4, Takes 45 mins
2 free range chicken thighs, drumsticks and wings.
Large handful raw whole cashew nuts
2 large yellow onions, sliced
100ml white malt vinegar
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground fenugreek
2cm piece ginger root, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp gram flour (chick pea/garbanzo bean flour)

For the rice:
300ml (by volume) basmati rice
1 large red onion, chopped
6-7 large white mushrooms, unwashed chopped
1 tsp garam masala
4 whole green cardamom
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp veg oil
450 ml water

To serve:
coriander leaves
small salad of sliced tomatoes and cucumber, dressed in lemon juice, salt and a pinch of sugar.

For the curry, skin and bone the chicken thighs and drumsticks, cut the meat into 3cm chunks. Cut the tips off the wings, separate into two halves each and remove the skin. You don't need to bother with removing the meat from the wings.*
Heat the oil in a large pan and fry all of the spices for a minute until fragrant and starting to brown a little. Add the onions and stir-fry through the spices for 5-7 minutes until beginning to go golden.
Bring the chicken to the pan and stir through the onion/spice mix for a few minutes until browning nicely all over. Pour the vinegar and 200ml water over, add the cashews, ginger and garlic, bring to a low simmer, cover and cook for approx 20 minutes until onion is very soft and the chicken is well-cooked through.
Stir through the gram flour and leave to cook uncovered for a further ten minutes so that the sauce can reduce and thicken while you make the rice.

For the rice, heat the oil over a medium heat in a large saucepan and fry the onion with the cardamom pods and garam masala for several minutes until the onions are a nice, golden brown.
Stir through the chopped mushrooms and cook for a further few minutes, stirring often until the mushrooms are soft and browning.
Add the rice and salt to the pan and fry for a minute or so until the rice is mixed well in and starting to go fragrant. Add the water to the pan, bring it to the boil, lower the heat to low, cover and cook for 7-10 minutes until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is tender.
Try not to stir it, as you don't want to break up the starch on the surface of the rice and make it sticky.

Serve the curry with the rice and the cucumber salad. Scatter with coriander leaves.
Bathe in your own smug satisfaction!

*Don't throw away the chicken bones, wing tips and skin, use them when you make stock. Mmmmm. Alternatively, you can leave the chicken on the bone if you don't have a family who whines about having to do the work themselves with a knife and fork. (Boo hoo hooo!) This is a more authentic way of doing it, but you should still remove the skin because the texture will not be nice.

Chicken Curry

No! Money

This morning I was sitting with Hubby in a VAT (Sales Tax) For Small Business Owners workshop. I know, you're thinking "My God, so that's how the other half live!" What can I say, mine is a glamourous life. As lunch time and the end of the class approached, I slipped a note to my husband asking him out for lunch. Here's how it went:

Me: "How about we go out for a cheap lunch after this?"
Him: "For us, there's no such thing as a cheap lunch."
Me:" Yo! Sushi" (a chain of conveyor belt sushi places)
Him: "No! Money"

As funny as I thought that was, I also knew that it was true. We came home and I cooked (a tasty) lunch on the cheap and started thinking again about our food budget.
Like millions of other women around the globe, I am responsible for keeping the family fed well, and the grocery bill as low as possible. The cost of most foods have gone up over the past couple of years, while incomes have tended to go down and packages have got smaller (sneaky f@&*ers)
I thought it might be fun to have an exchange of money-saving ideas here. I have listed a few of the things I do regularly that really help me and I'd really welcome your comments and ideas so that I can try those too.

Here are my top tips for trimming the food bill:

1) PLAN AHEAD.
Make a menu every week and then use this to make you shopping list. It sounds more tedious than it is I promise. The time you take to sit down and think the week through will more than make up for several visits to the store and trying to think "what shall I cook tonight??" Also, think about all those separate trips to the store. How often do you only get what you went in for? How much money do you spend on impulse buys? If you make a list and stick to it you'll save money and reduce waste, because you wont be buying things that sit in the fridge unused until they go bad. BEST of all, you'll be beating the grocery stores out of the money they try to make off you with their clever marketing and store layouts.
2) BE PREPARED TO RE-PLAN.
Don't be afraid to go off-plan though. If you get to the grocery store or farmers' market and discover that they have a special on lamb chops when you have pork chops on the menu, if it will save you money, swap! Sometimes Buy-One-Get One offers can be useful if they're on products you regularly use. If you see something on sale that you can't work into this week's menu, maybe get it anyway and work it in next week. You'll spend a bit more this week but that much less the following.

3) EAT SEASONALLY.
And buy locally. When you buy produce that is in season locally, you will almost always spend less on it because it's plentiful, hasn't had to travel far and hasn't had to be refrigerated or packaged to protect it on a long journey. Buying this way helps the environment, local farmers and your family's health, because you tend to eat a more varied diet.
Building relationships with local producers will usually ensure fresher foods at better prices than grocery stores offer for similar products. You can often get great deals on buying in quantity from small meat producers, so it's worth investing a little in a well-stocked freezer.
4) BUY WHOLE.
Every bit of processing a piece of food goes through before it gets to you costs money. Buying carrots that have already been peeled and cut, as opposed to whole and loose cost so much more than they should. Buying a chicken whole and jointing it yourself will save you so much money and once you have the knack will only take a few minutes. The left over bones can be used to make stock, which can be used to make soups, risottos and sauces. Buying larger joints of meat or whole fish can often save you a lot of money per kilo, as long as you're willing and able to take it home, portion it and store it appropriately.
5) LOVE YOUR STORE CUPBOARD.
This can be a treasure trove of healthy bulk and flavour. Dried beans and pulses are a brilliant, super inexpensive way to include huge amounts of protein and fibre to a meal. Keeping a well-stocked store cupboard means that you can turn a few fresh ingredients into a hearty, nourishing supper without spending more than a pound or two per head. I tend to keep a variety of dried beans, lentils, pastas, rices, vinegars, tinned tomatoes, chick peas, coconut milk, and dried mushrooms. It will largely depend on what you like to cook and what your family will eat. Things like chillies, ginger root and garlic store well in the fridge, so it's great to have those around, while tins of anchovies and jars of capers and olives do incredible things to stews and pasta sauces. Having these kinds of thing as permanent residents means you can whip up something incredible even with the most basic fresh ingredients.
6) COOK IN BULK.
Whenever I make Bolognese sauce, Chilli, Stews or anything else that I cook for hours, I will make at least three whole meals' worth, store two lots in air-tight containers and stick them in the freezer. Whenever you can say "It tastes even better the next day" you can usually make this work. It's a brilliant plan for days when you have very little time to cook. All you have to do is defrost a container, re-heat it and maybe boil some rice or pasta. It's wonderful to have slow-cooked comfort in such a hurry.
7) THROW AWAY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE.
This might seem extreme or miserly, but things like carrot peelings, celery tops and bottoms, mushroom stems etc are brilliant for stocks. Odd bits of veg can be used up in soups, risotto or fried rice dishes like this one. These are like free meals, if all you were going to do was throw them away once they get too gross to look at.


8) GROW YOUR OWN.
Seems impossible to think about at this time of the year, when the weather is so miserable, but even if you don't have much of a (or any) garden, you can grow tons of stuff in containers. Potatoes, carrots, salad leaves and herbs grow brilliantly in bags and pots, while tomatoes and chillies can be bought in their own pre-fertilized bags. If you DO have a garden and room for a compost bin, any scraps of veg and egg shells you have, along with fallen leaves and grass clippings make the most incredible free compost. In the peak of summer, with just a few square metres of dirt, you might find that you're hardly buying any veggies at all.
9) STAY AWAY FROM PROCESSED FOOD
A £1 family-sized lasagne is £1 for a reason and it's not because the manufacturer is feeling generous. In fact, 'manufacturer' isn't really a word we should want associated with our food.
If you make it from scratch, you can control what goes into your food (and what doesn't!) and again, not pay for processes you can easily do at home and additives you don't want.

Cheap Chinese Fried Rice

I was sitting this afternoon working, with my recorded cooking shows on in the background and it dawned on me that it's the Chinese New Year. Watching Nancy Lam and Ching He Huang chopping and stir-frying away really made me crave something Chinese-y.

I realized that I had a bowl of left over steamed rice in the fridge, and set about making a quick fried rice dish to share with my beloved for a late lunch. I have used asparagus, celery and peas, because that's what I had hanging about in the veggie drawer, but it would be equally lovely with diced radish, cucumber (wet bit removed) carrot, small cooked shrimp, mange tout and on and on. Just use up what ever you have handy.
Including prep, this will take about ten minutes so is perfect for late nights or days when you don't have a lot of time but do have some left over rice taking up space in the fridge.


Quick Fried Rice with Crunchy Veg
Serves 2, takes approx ten minutes
2 cups cold leftover steamed long grain rice
5 asparagus spears chopped into 1cm pieces
1 stalk celery, cut in half length-wise and chopped into 1cm pieces
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 spring onions, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 cm ginger root, peeled and finely chopped or grated
1 red chilli, seeds removed, thinly sliced
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
2 tbsp ground nut or rapeseed oil

Heat a wok or large frying pan over a high flame and once it begins to smoke, add the oil. Bring the spring onion, chilli, garlic and ginger into the pan and stir-fry for a minute until fragrant. Add the sesame seeds and fry until they start to pop (a few seconds) then add your chosen veggies. Stir-fry this lot for a couple of minutes until they begin to get tender, then add the rice. Fry the rice, keeping it moving for a couple of minutes until it is crackling nicely. Drizzle over the sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine, stir to distribute these flavours and remove from the heat.
Give the dish a taste and add a little more soy if need be.

See? Mere seconds later you have a tasty, cheap-as-chips lunch that satisfies every one of your tastebuds.

Fried Rice