Minced Beef Onions and Mushrooms with Dumplings

Looking in the fridge last night, I saw that we needed to use some vegetables up, so I went back to my childhood - minced beef onions and mushrooms with dumplings, we used to have this every Saturday, although the portion size triple what I am going to out line here.

You can serve the minced beef and dumplings with whatever you want, I am doing new potatoes, carrots and green beans.

 Serves 2

Approx cost - £1.50p

Ingredients:

• 250g of Onions, finely chopped
• 180g of mushrooms finely chopped
• 270g of minced beef
• 1 pint of beef stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 TBLSP of Worcester Sauce
• 2 heaped TSP of cornflour
• Cold water
• 125g of self raising flour
• 65g of cold butter grated
• Salt and pepper
• 1 TSP mixed herbs

Method:

• Add a little olive oil to a large pan
• Gently fry the onions until soft and slightly brown
• Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes
• Add the mince to the pan, mix well and brown
• Add the stock, salt and pepper and Worcester sauce
• Bring to boil
• Cover and simmer for 25 minutes
• In a cup add the cornflour and a little cold water and mix
• Add to the pan
• Turn up the heat to medium and cook for a further 15 minutes with the lid off, stirring
• Taste and adjust seasoning if required

Now I like my dumplings crispy, but if you prefer you can add the dumplings direct to the meat and cover and simmer for 30 minutes, however the dumplings are being finished off in the oven, in the instructions below.

• Put your flour into a mixing bowl
• Add the grated butter
• Add a pinch of salt and pepper and mixed herbs
• Using your fingers, gently rub the butter into the flour until it begins to resemble bread crumbs
• Add a bit of cold water to help bind it into a dough
• Divide the dough into 12 pieces and gently roll each into a round dumpling.
• Place the dumplings on top of your fully cooked stew and press down lightly so that they’re half submerged
• Transfer the meat mix to a casserole dish and cook in a pre heated oven at 220 Degree C with the lid on for 1 hours
• After 1 hour add the dumplings and cook for 10 minutes with the lid on, remove the lid for last 20 minutes

Serve with your choice of veg and enjoy !!

Home Made Pizza

Home made pizza is far better than anything you get from the takeaway, it is cheaper, you can control what goes into it, and you can make extra dough and sauce and freeze it so you always have a ready supply of delicious home made pizza.

After I first made home made pizza, that was it I was a convert, never again would I buy a pizza from a takeaway or a shop.

The cooked pizza

This post will show the stages of making the sauce, the dough and the resulting pizza.

This will make four large pizza's.

Making the Dough

Ingredients:

• 500g strong bread flour (although you can also use plain flour)
• 11/2 TSP sugar
• 8g of dried yeast
• 3/4 TSP of salt
• 300 ml of lukewarm water (2 parts cold to one part boiling)
• 1 1/4 TBLSP of olive oil

Method:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in the water (Fig 1), stir well and leave for 20 minutes (Fig 2) - Note if the yeast has not frothed up it has not activated, either because it is old or dead, by activating the yeast in water first you have lost nothing but time, just start this step again with another batch of yeast, sugar and water

Fig 1. The yeast added to the water and sugar

Fig 2. The yeast after 20 minutes

• Sift the flour, add the olive oil, salt and the yeast and water
• Knead well for 10 minutes

Fig 3. The kneaded dough before allowing to rise

• Let it sit for 1 hour (Fig 4)
• Knock it back until the air is removed (Fig 5)
• Knead again for 3 minutes
• Divide into four portions * (Fig 6)

 * If you are freezing the dough this is the stage to do it. Cut into portions, wrap loosely in cling film and store in freezer bags. To defrost either leave in the fridge overnight or on a work bench for three hours, knead briefly, roll and use.

Fig 4. The risen dough after an hour

Fig 5. The risen dough knocked back

Fig 6 - The dough divided into portions

Making the Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 1 1/2 TSP of dried basil
• 1 TBLSP of Oregano
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 Onion chopped
• 3 Cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 TBSLP of oil for frying

Method:

• In a pan, fry the garlic and onions until soft
• Add all the other ingredients bring to boil and then simmer on a very low heat with lid off for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally (Fig 7). What you are after is most of the water to be evaporated, so you will end up with a thick paste after blending

Fig 7. The tomato sauce simmering

• Put into a blender and blend until smooth (Fig 8)

Fig 8 - The blended tomato sauce

• Taste and adjust seasoning if required
• Leave to cool
• Divide into portions in tubs, the sauce can then be frozen for later use if required

Assembly

As you can see if it worth making double the amount so you always have a supply of pizza in the freezer.

Before you start to assemble, you need to turn your oven on as high as it will go, for at least 30 minutes, before you are ready to bake your pizza.

On my pizza today I am having bacon as I had to use it up today (which I have already cooked and mozzarella cheese, but you could easily just use cheddar). Do not over do the topping otherwise your pizza will be soggy.

• Roll out the pastry on a floured surface
• Place on a baking tray lightly dusted with flour
• Spread the tomato sauce on top of the dough
• Add your toppings

The prepared pizza ready for baking

• Put in the oven and bake for 12 minutes

The cooked pizza

Enjoy !!

Singapore Vermicelli

This recipe is adpated from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3753/singapore-noodles to make use of things I already had to hand, I already had some rice noodles that I got quiet a while back. This is absolutely lovely, and far far better than I have ever had from the local takeaway.

Singapore Vermicelli

Serves 2 as a main meal
Approx cost - £2.20p

Ingredients:

• 150g Rice Vermicelli Noodles
• Vegetable oil
• 2 Chicken Breasts cut into thin strips
• 3 Garlic cloves crushed
• 1 onion, cut into thin half moons
• 2cm piece of ginger, grated
• 3 TSP of curry powder
• 1 TSP of turmeric
• 4 TBLSP of soy sauce
• 2 Chillies finely chopped

Method:

• Trim the chicken breasts and cut into thin strips, place in a bowl, add a little oil and rub over the chicken (this just stops the chicken sticking to each other), and set aside
• Prepare the Garlic, Onion and Ginger and Chillies
• Soak the noodles following the packet instructions and drain and set aside
• Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken until it is browned and just cooked through, and set aside
• Add a little oil to the frying pan and fry the garlic and ginger until light brown. Add the onion and cook until just beginning to soften
• Add the chillies and cook for one minute
• Return the chicken to the pan and add the curry powder and turmeric and cook for a minute.
• Add the noodles and about 2 tbsp water and toss everything together.
• Add the soy sauce and cook for a further 2 minutes

Serve and Enjoy !!!

Yorkshire puddings

The resulting Yorkshire puddings

As a welcome home tea for my wife we are having a roast chicken dinner tonight, whilst I don't intend to show how to make the full roast, I thought I would demonstrate how to make wonderful Yorkshire Puddings, something that is so easy but people seem to struggle to get consistent results.

You can buy ready made Yorkshire puddings in the shops, but compare mine to shop bought ones.

What are the secrets to Yorkshire puddings

• getting plenty of air into the mix (I find the easiest way to do this is with an electric blender, although a good old fashioned whisk will still work)
• ensuring that the oven and the oil are hot when you place the batter into the tin,
• The golden number one rule is do not open the door during cooking

You can make more - simply double the recipe, they store well in the freezer and only take a few minutes to heat back through in the oven. I tend to make a few batches ahead of a meal as I have a single oven and they hog an entire shelf for a good amount of time, then all I have to do is put them in to warm through as I am dishing up the meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 Egg
• 3 FL Oz of milk
• 2 FL Oz of water
• 87g of plain flour
• Salt and pepper
• oil

Method:

• Pre heat oven to 220 Degree's C
• Take a muffin tin/pudding tin place oil in compartments until it covers the bottom
• Sieve flour in a mixing bowl
• Make a well in the centre of the flour
• Break the egg into the bowl and add salt and pepper
• With a spoon mix until the mixture becomes stiff
• Gradually add the milk and water and continue stirring until you have used all the liquid
• Now take your blender (preferably electric) and switch on, and blend to get air into the mixture, alternatively whisk like mad
• Add the mixture to the tin and cook for 40 Minutes

The fat in the well used tin

The flour, eggs, salt and pepper ready for mixing

The flour, Egg, Salt and pepper mixed to a stiff paste

The milk and water gradually being mixed in

All the milk and water mixed in

lending to get lots of air in

The resulting Yorkshire puddings

Chicken Fried Rice

There is only me to cook for this weekend, the wife has gone to sunnier climes on a Hen weekend, whilst I remain here in the rain decorating. There is no picture today as the camera is with my wife in sunnier climes and the laptop will not discover my phone

Cost - Approx £1.00
serves 1


Ingredients:

• 200g of chilled boiled rice
• 1 Chicken Breast - cut into small pieces
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 5 closed cap mushrooms finely chopped
• 1 small chili finely chopped
• 2 TBLSP of Soy Sauce
• 1 TBLSP of rice wine vinegar
• 1 TSP of Chinese Five Spice
• 3 TBLSP of oil for frying

Method:

• Trim the chicken of any fat and cut into small pieces
• Heat 1 TBLSP of oil in a frying pan, and over a high heat cook the chicken through
• Add the mushrooms, garlic, five spice and chillies and cook on a high heat for 1 minute
• Add the remaining oil and heat, then add the rice and the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and cook through until pipping hot, stirring all the time

Cheap Spaghetti Bolognese

This is one of the most simplest recipes, and once you have chopped the vegetables and browned the meat it basically cooks itself.



Approx cost - £1.50p
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

• 2 TBSLP of oil
• 270 g of Minced Beef
• 100g of mushrooms finely chopped
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1 carrot finely grated
• 2 cloves of garlic - minced
• 3/4 pint of beef stock
• 4 TBLSP of tomato puree
• 1 Bay leaf
• Salt and pepper
• Spaghetti

Method:

• Heat oil in a large pan
• Add the onion, carrot, mushrooms and garlic and cook gently for 4 minutes
• Add the minced beef and stir in well and brown
• Add the tomato puree and stir in
• Add the beef stock and bay leaf, stir well
• Bring to the pan to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently with the lid on for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Taste and if required add salt and pepper to taste
• Remove lid and reduce the sauce until it starts to thicken
• remove the bay leaf
• Serve with Spaghetti with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top and enjoy !

Simple Cauliflower Cheese with Bacon

My wife loves Cauliflower Cheese, and with bacon added it is a sure winner every time.


Serves 4
Cost - Approx £1.11p per portion *

*Note it is the bacon that drove up the cost of this simple dish otherwise it would have been approx £0.61p per portion

Ingredients:

1 Large Cauliflower
6 Rashers of bacon
1 pint of milk
50g of plain flour
50g of butter
126g of Cheddar cheese

Method:

• In a frying pan, add a little oil, and cook the bacon until well done but not to crispy, set aside to cool **
• Once cool, remove any rind still soft and discard and cut the bacon into small pieces, and set aside
• Next take you cauliflower and give it a wash then remove the leaves and cut the florets up into mouth size pieces, discarding the large hard stem in the middle
• Fill the pan with cold water and place on a high heat to bring it to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes then drain the cooked cauliflower
• Add the bacon to the cauliflower and mix well
• Place contents into a large oven proof dish
• For the sauce, add the butter to a pan and melt on a medium heat, once melted, add the flour and stir in well, and cook on a low heat for 1 minute
• Remove from the heat and gradually add the milk, one bit at a time, and stir into the butter and flour paste, once all the milk is added return to a medium heat and heat up stirring all the time until the sauce thickens
• Add half the cheese to the pan and stir until melted in, then pour over the cauliflower and bacon
• Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220 Degree C for 50 minutes

** Whilst the world is all about healthy eating, I do have one pleasure, do not throw away the bacon fat from the frying pan, use it for beautiful fried bread or try adding it to mashed potato

The cooked bacon

The chopped bacon

The cooked cauliflower and bacon mixed and in the dish

The butter and flour mixed and cooked through

Adding the mix gradually

The sauce after adding a bit more milk

The finished cheese sauce

The Cauliflower cheese and bacon ready for cooking

Deep Fried Crispy Chicken Bites and Mushroom Fried Rice

The Finished Meal

Ingredients:

• 450g of Chicken
• 5 TBLSP of cornflour
• 1 TBLSP of oil
• Oil for deep frying
• 3 TBLSP of oil for frying the rice
• 1 TSP of ground white pepper
• 500g of chilled cooked long grain rice
• 2 TSP of Chinese Five Spice
• 1 Chile deseeded and finely chopped
• 3 TBLSP of soy sauce
• 100g of closed cup mushrooms finely chopped
• Sweet Chillies sauce to dip

Method:

• Heat the oil in the pan used for deep frying, also pre-heat the oven to 160 Degree's C to keep the chicken warm whilst cooking in batches
• Trim the chicken of any fat and cut into bite sized pieces
• Add the 1 TBLSP of oil to the chopped chicken and mix well
• Add the pepper to the chopped chicken and mix well
• Add 3 TBLSP of the cornflour to the chicken and mix well to cover the chicken
• Just before frying the chicken add the rest of the cornflour and mix well
• Add the chicken in batches and deep fry until golden brown and the chicken cooked through
• Remove and keep warm in the oven on the grill rack
• Heat 1 TBLSP of oil in frying pan
• Add the chopped mushroom and the Chinese Five Spice powder and fry on a high heat for 2 minutes
• Add the chillies and fry for another minute
• Add the rest of the oil
• Add the rice and stir well
• Add the soy sauce and stir well to coat the grains of rice, moving the rice all the time, until the rice is cooked through and hot
• Serve with a sweet Chile sauce dip and enjoy !

Meatballs in Rich Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti

If my wife see's me take minced beef come out of the freezer, the first thing she asks is are we having meatballs, and once cooked, she counts how many go on each plate to make sure we have an equal amount.

The finished meal

Cost - Approx £1.30p per person

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 425g of beef mince meat
• 1 egg
• 1 TSP of Dried Basil
• 1 TSP of ground black pepper
• 1 TSP of Marjoram
• 1 TSP of Onion Granules
• 1 TSP of Garlic Powder
• 4 TBLSP of breadcrumbs
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 4 Cloves of garlic - minced
• 150g of spaghetti
• 1 tsp of ground black pepper
• 2 tsp of Parsley

Method for the meatball:

• Combine the first 8 ingredients ingredients in a large bowl and with your hand mix well
• Take a piece of the mix and roll it in the palm of your hands to form small balls
• Place balls on a plate and set aside
• When ready to cook, add some oil to a frying pan, and place the meatballs into the pan, and cook, turning regularly

Method for the sauce:

• In a pan add the tomatoes, pepper, garlic and Parsley
• Bring to the boil and on a low to medium heat reduce, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes
• Place in a blend and blend smooth
• Set aside

Method for Spaghetti:

• Cook spaghetti as per pack instructions

To assemble the meal:

• Heat the tomato sauce
• Drain the pasta and add the tomato sauce to the pan of Spaghetti
• Mix well
• Turn onto plates
• Add meatballs
• Serve with pecorino/Parmesan cheese

The prepared meatballs

Th blended tomato sauce

The meatballs cooking

The finished meal

Leek and Spring Onion Cheese Flan

I have a few items in the fridge I need to use up before they turn, so what better way than to create a lovely flan, that can be used as part of a main meal or as lunch.

Cost - Approx £1.50
Serves - 4

The cooked flan

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry as per previous blog http://thetescochallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/basic-short-crust-pastry.html
2 leeks - trimmed, washed and sliced
2 bunches of spring onions - trimmed, washed and sliced
1 TBLSP of butter
80g of Cheddar cheese - grated
2 eggs
150ML of milk
Salt and pepper

Method:

• First make the shortcrust pastry as per previous blog, for this recipe I used full fat - Trex, rather than butter
• Roll out the pastry on a sheet of baking paper and line the flan tin
• Put the flan tin in the fridge for 30 minutes, then remove and trim the excess pastry
• Heat the oven to 200 Degree C
• Line the bottom of the flan with baking paper and add some baking stones or I use chick peas on the bottom of the flan and bake the pastry for 15 minutes
• Remove from oven and remove the chick peas and the baking paper, and set aside
• Take a large pan and add the butter, and melt, then add the leeks and put the lid on the pan and over a low heat sweat the leeks until very soft, stirring occasionally
• Once the leeks are soft add the spring onions and sweat for a further 5 minutes with the lid of the pan removed
• Add salt and pepper to the leeks and spring onions to taste
• To the flan tin, add half the cheese on the bottom and add the leek and spring onion mix
• whisk together the eggs and milk and pour into the flan tin
• Add the remaining cheese to the top
• Bake in the oven at 220 Degree C for 40 minutes
• Allow to cool on a wire rack

Enjoy !

Leeks and Spring Onions

The chopped leeks

The chopped spring onions

The sweated leeks and spring onions

The flan tine lined and trimmed ready for blind baking

The flan tin ready for blind baking - to remove the chick peas just gather up the four corners of the paper and lift out

The flan vase filled and ready for baking

The cooked flan

Basic Shortcrust Pastry

I use short crust pastry a lot in my blogs, so instead of typing the instructions again and again, I thought I would create a post so I can link back to it. This quantity will will be ample for a single flan, or two pies. It is the most simplest pastry to make, but tastes delicious, so don't buy shop ready to roll pastry. Instead of butter, try lard or fat, or a mix, play around with it and adapt this to your tastes.

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry :

• 200g plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 100g butter - diced
• Cold water

Method for the shortcrust pastry:

• Place flour and salt in a bowl
• Add the butter
• Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs

The flour and butter rubbed in

• Take a tablespoon and start adding the water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing the water into the flour and butter. Repeat adding the water until the dough comes together

The resulting dough after adding the water

• Put the dough in a plastic food bag/cling film and put it in the fridge for at least half an hour

It can be frozen, and used as required....once thawed

Chicken with Pasta, Peppers and Cheese Sauce

Today has been a busy day, decorating the kids room, so after nipping out to get some well deserved beers. It is time to open the fridge and work out what we can have for a quick tea.

Inside the fridge, a couple of chicken breasts that have been defrosting have caught my eye. This meal can be so easily adapted to whatever you have lurking in the fridge.

The finished Meal

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breasts cut into bit sized pieces
3 TBLSP of oil for frying
2 peppers diced
2 tsp of dried parsley
1 tsp of black pepper
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
12.5g of butter
12.5g of flour
1/2 pint of milk
80g of cheese
150g of dried pasta

Method

• Add oil to frying pan, add the diced peppers and fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes
• Add the chicken, garlic, peppers, pepper and dried parsley and fry, turning occasionally
• In a pan add pasta and cook as per instructions on the packet
• In a separate pan, whilst the pasta and chicken are cooking, add the butter and melt
• Add the flour to the butter and stir in and cook gently for 30 seconds
• Slowly add the milk, a bit at a time, stirring in after every addition to ensure no lumps form
• After adding all the milk, turn up the heat to medium and continue to stir, after the milk comes to the boil and the sauce has thickened slightly add the cheese and stir in until it has melted
• Drain the pasta and return the same pan
• Add the cooked chicken mix
• Add the cheese sauce and serve

Enjoy...

The Chicken and peppers cooking

The finished Meal