I have some and will post them when found.
I'm not very experienced at cooking and I'm also trying to save money. Please tell me if you have any favorite recipes that are cheap and easy.
Thanks!
I'm in the catering business, so know my stuff. I'll get you some more later as it's late now.
Okay, here we go...
http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking#subs
Cheap and easy recipes
Thyme and garlic chicken wings
Sweet and sticky, and as good cold as hot.
Serves 3-4, depending on the size of your wings
thyme about 12 bushy stems
garlic 2 cloves
thick honey 4 tbsp
dried chillies a couple of good pinches
lemon 1 large
chicken wings 1 kg
lemon 1, to serve
Pull the leaves and flowers from the thyme branches, measure 2 lightly heaped tbsp of them and put into the bowl of a food processor. (If you are making your marinade by hand, then put the thyme into a mortar.) Retain extra leaves and discard the stems.
Peel the garlic and drop the cloves into the thyme together with a generous grinding of black pepper, the honey and the pinches of chillies. Grate the zest of the lemon into the mixture, then squeeze in all of the juice. Blitz for a few seconds till the ingredients become a sloppy paste, or, if you are doing it by hand, pound with the pestle instead.
Transfer the paste to a nonstick roasting tin and add the chicken wings and reserved thyme, turning them over in the marinade so they are thoroughly coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or even overnight. Turn from time to time, so the wings stay in contact with the marinade.
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Season the wings with salt, then roast them for 40 minutes, or until they are deep, golden brown and the marinade has turned dark golden brown. If there is a lot of liquid in the tin then cook for a further few minutes until dark and sticky.
Season the wings with salt, then roast them for 40 minutes, or until the wings and their marinade are deep, golden brown. If there is a lot of liquid in the tin then cook for a further few minutes until dark and sticky. Cut the lemon in thick segments and squeeze over the chicken wings as you eat.
This is also good for a barbecue, but it is essential to make sure the coals cool to grey before adding the chicken, otherwise they will scorch outside before being cooked within. They will probably take 15-20 minutes' total cooking time, turned once, but the exact time will depend on the heat of your coals.....
... Partners really well with:
Grilled spring onions with grilled tomato sauce
I like to pile 2 or 3 of the onions on to a piece of roughly torn French bread or sourdough, then to spoon over a dollop of warm, rough-edged tomato sauce.
Serves 2 as a snack or part of a light lunch
fat spring or salad onions 12
olive oil
vino cotto or balsamic vinegar 2 tsp
For the tomato sauce:
cherry tomatoes 225g
oregano 3-4 stems
garlic 2 cloves
olive oil a little
red-wine vinegar 1 tsp
crisp crusted bread to serve
Make the sauce. Pull the tomatoes from their stalks, cut each one in half and drop into a shallow roasting tin or grill pan. Remove the leaves from the oregano (you need 1 tbsp, loosely heaped) then add to the tomatoes and discard the stalks. Squash the garlic cloves flat with a heavy weight, the side of a knife or the palm of your hand, then add to the dish. (We are only after a faint whiff of garlic here.) Pour over enough oil (about 2 tbsp) to thoroughly moisten the tomatoes. Grind over some salt and pepper, then place under a heated grill for 8-12 minutes or until the tomatoes start to colour and their juices run. Tip them into a bowl and stir in the vinegar. Set aside – the sauce is to be served warm rather than hot.
To prepare the spring onions, cut off the roots and darkest green tips, leaving plenty of green stem in place. Put the onions on a grill pan or shallow roasting tin (I use the tomato tin, rinsed and dried) then trickle over a little olive oil – just enough to moisten them – and grill till they are tender and start to brown very slightly here and there.
Remove the onions from the grill then transfer to a serving dish. Spoon a little vino cotto or balsamic vinegar over them. They are unlikely to need salt or pepper. Serve the onions warm with the tomato sauce scooped up with roughly torn bread.
Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires but according to our powers.
Asparagus Soup
Serves 4
a good litre of home-made chicken stock
a large stalk of lemon grass, or 2 of the little supermarket ones
150g / 5 oz podded broad beans
250g / 8 oz thin asparagus spears
a double handful of young chard or spinach leaves
essential herbs: mint, coriander
good herbs if you happen to have them: lovage, lemon balm, lemon thyme, etc
Pour the chicken stock into a pot and bring it to the boil. Put a pan of water on for boiling the broad beans. Meanwhile, peel away the tougher outer leaves of the lemon grass and slice each stalk across very, very thinly to give hundreds of paper thin rings. Tip them into the chicken stock, and if the stock has boiled, turn it down to a brisk simmer. The lemon grass needs to cook for a good 10 minutes to soften.
Drop the beans into the boiling water. They will need about 8 minutes or so, depending on their size (baby ones need little more than 5 minutes). Cut each stalk of asparagus into short lengths - nothing longer than the bowl of your spoon - and discard any tough ends. Drop the asparagus into your stock along with whatever you fancy and let it simmer to tenderness, a matter of 6 or 7 minutes.
While the asparagus is cooking, drain the beans under running water and pop them from their skins, then drop them into the stock. Wash the spinach or chard leaves (sand can get caught in the leaf folds) and tear them into reasonable sized pieces. Push them down into the stock and let them cook until soft and silky - maybe only a minute or two for spinach, a little longer for chard.
Chop the herbs roughly. You do, really, need both mint and coriander, but the rest are very much up to you. I like to add lemon thyme, even with the lemon grass already in there, for the ultimate freshness of taste. Ladle the soup in to warm bowls, then stir in the herbs. Serve very hot, so that the fragrant oils from the herbs rise up in the steam.
Six sandwich special: Roast chicken ciabatta with lemon and thyme
Enough for six sandwiches
6 free-range chicken pieces, bone in (thighs and breasts)
For the marinade:
a nice bunch of thyme
2 juicy cloves of garlic the juice of two large, juicy lemons
an equal amount of fruity olive oil
To serve:
6 soft, floury baps or ciabatta
mayonnaise or garlic mayonnaise for spreading
4 handfuls of rocket or watercress
Set the oven at 200°C/gas 6. Pull the leaves from the thyme and discard the stems, then chop the leaves roughly. Peel and crush the garlic and mix it with the lemon juice, the oil and a few turns of the peppermill. You will have a loose paste.
Lay the chicken in a shallow dish and rub it with the lemon and thyme. Set aside somewhere cool, but not cold, for an hour or so. Grind over a little salt then roast the chicken for 30 to 40 minutes, occasionally turning the pieces over.
Remove from the oven, and when the meat has cooled enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones. It should come away easily in thick, juicy strips. Split the rolls or ciabatta and spread the cut sides generously with mayonnaise, then lay some washed watercress or rocket on the bottom halves.
Toss the torn chicken in any oil that is left in the roasting dish, then stuff it into the rolls with watercress or rocket.
Meat on the cheap: Roast pork belly with five-spice rub (a super Nigel Slater recipe).
Ask your butcher to score the skin of the pork for you - it is his job, not the cook's. This hatching of narrow lines through the skin not only helps the crackling to crisp nicely but makes carving a little easier. There is no 'gravy' or pan juices with this, so the oyster-sauce greens are essential.
Serves 4
1.75kg pork belly, bones left in, scored
For the spice rub:
3 juicy cloves garlic
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tbs sea salt flakes
2 tsps five-spice powder
For the greens: 4 handfuls purple-sprouting broccoli, bok choi or mustard greens
1 tbs groundnut oil
2 tbs oyster sauce
steamed rice to serve
Remove any wrapping from the pork, then wipe the meat with a piece of kitchen paper to remove any moisture. Dry-skinned pork cooks crisper than wet.
Peel the garlic, then pound it, together with the peppercorns, salt and five-spice powder, using a pestle and mortar. You want to end up with a spice rub the texture of potting compost.
Lay the pork, skin-side down, in a china, stainless steel or glass dish, then rub the spice mixture into the flesh. Cover the dish and leave in a cool place for a good four hours.
Set the oven at 220°C/gas 7. Put the pork, skin-side up, into a roasting tin. Leave in the oven for 30 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180°C/gas 4 and continue roasting for a further 50 to 60 minutes. Test the meat for tenderness with a knife and check the juices that emerge. They should be clear and pale with no trace of blood. If they are not, then let the meat roast a little longer. If the fat isn't quite as crisp as you would like it, move the meat to the top shelf of the oven for a further 15 minutes.
Lift the pork from the tin and leave it to rest on a chopping board for 10 to 15 minutes. Put the greens into boiling water and cook for three or four minutes until tender but still crisp to the bite, then drain them, leaving one tablespoon of water behind in the pan.
Put the oil and oyster sauce in the greens pan and bring to the boil. Tip in the greens, turn off the heat, then cover the pan with a lid while you carve the pork.
Cut the pork along the bones. I find one large bone plus a bit of extra meat enough for most people. Serve with the greens and, if you wish, the rice.
Lamb and mushroom flatbreads Recipe by Nigel Slater
Deliciously messy flatbreads to roll up or eat on a plate.
SERVES 2
groundnut oil 3 tbsp
small mushrooms 100g
garlic 2 cloves
red chillies 2, small and hot
minced lamb 300g
mint leaves a small palmful
yoghurt 4 heaped tbsp
pine kernels 2 tbsp
flatbreads 2 large
salad leaves 2 handfuls
pomegranate seeds 2 tbsp
green olives, stoned 12
Warm the oil in a wide, shallow pan over a moderate heat. Cut the mushrooms in half and add them to the pan, occasionally stirring them till they colour. Peel and finely chop the garlic then stir it into the mushrooms, leaving it to brown nicely for a few minutes.
Halve each chilli lengthways, removing the seeds and finely chopping the flesh before adding to the pan and leaving to cook for a minute. Tip in the minced lamb, stir into the mushrooms and allow to colour for 5 minutes or so with only the occasional stir so that it browns nicely.
Chop the mint leaves and stir into the yoghurt with salt and pepper.
Chop the pine kernels and stir them into the lamb with a generous grinding of salt and pepper.
Warm the flatbreads and lay them on a chopping board or work surface. Divide the salad leaves between the warm flatbreads and tip over the hot lamb and mushrooms.
Scatter the pomegranate seeds and stoned olives over the lamb, then trickle over the yoghurt. Roll loosely and eat.
A quick squash stew
SERVES 4 WITH RICE
pumpkin, butternut or winter squash 1 kg
groundnut oil 3 tbsp
onions 2
tomato purée 2 tsp
chopped tomatoes a 400g can
dried oregano a generous tsp
parsley a few sprigs
steamed brown rice to serve
Peel the squash, halve it and scoop out and set aside the seeds. You should have about 800g flesh. Cut into large dice, about 1-2cm square.
Warm the oil in a wide, deep pan, add the pieces of squash (you may have to cook it in two batches so as not to crowd the pan) and leave them to fry till golden brown on their edges. Move them round the pan as they cook, adding more oil if necessary, then remove them from the pan with a draining spoon. (If you wish, wash a handful of the discarded pumpkin seeds, dry them and toast in a non-stick pan till golden brown. Set aside. You can scatter them over the stew later.)
Peel and slice the onions, then add them to the empty pan over a low to moderate heat. Stirring occasionally, leave them for 10 minutes or until pale amber in colour and tender enough to crush between your thumb and finger.
Stir in the tomato purée, scraping away at the tasty, sticky residue in the pan with a wooden spoon. Fry briefly, then add the tomatoes, oregano and a little salt and ground black pepper. Fill the empty tomato can with water and pour into the pan, stirring thoroughly, and bring to the boil.
Return the squash to the pan and leave to simmer, with the occasional, gentle stir, for 25 minutes or until everything is soft when pressed gently with a fork.
Chop the parsley and stir in. Check the seasoning and serve with the brown rice.