A recipe for courgette and mint dip

Our courgettes are still going strong, thanks to the unseasonably warm weather. This is a great recipe for a glut, as the courgette reduces so much during cooking. It's a simple flavour combination - courgette, mint, yoghurt - but it's one of the best ways I know of really bringing out the flavour of these mini-marrows. This recipe is adapted from a Turkish recipe from my brother-in-law’s mum. Thank you Nuran.

Courgette and mint dip

400g courgettes

1-2 cloves garlic, sliced

Mint

2-4 tsp yoghurt

                  

Grate the courgettes and squeeze out as much liquid as possible with your hands. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the garlic. Cook for 30 seconds over a medium heat, don’t let them go brown. 

Add the grated courgette to the pan, spread it out and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until the courgette has reduced by about three quarters and tastes sweet and concentrated (not watery). 

Take off the heat, add the torn up mint, and stir in the yoghurt. You can eat this warm, but it's equally good cold. 

A recipe for rødgrød med fløde

This is a Danish recipe. It’s a red berry soup with cream, or a deconstructed fool, depending on your point of view. We went on a family holiday to Denmark when I was a teenager and we all struggled to get the pronunciation right. It’s almost impossible for non-Danish speakers to say but it goes something like this... Rurr grurr mid fleurrrr. It tastes a lot better than it sounds.

Red berry pudding (serves 2)

You can use any mixture of berries, but if in doubt use raspberries and red currants. I used blackberries with a splash of Pinot Noir to make the rødgrød in the photo and it was lovely. 

350g berries – raspberry, red currant, blackcurrant, or blackberry

100ml water

120g caster sugar, or more to taste

1 ½ tbs corn flour (1 tbs for every 300ml liquid, see below)

Put the berries in a saucepan and add the water. Bring to the boil, and simmer until the fruit has softened, two to five minutes. Sieve the mixture into a bowl, discarding the pips.

Measure the liquid in the bowl. You will need 1 tablespoon of corn flour for every 300ml of liquid, but don’t add it yet.

Put the liquid back in the saucepan and, over a low heat, stir in the sugar until it has dissolved. Taste, and add more sugar if necessary.

In a small bowl, stir the corn flour and two tablespoons of water together until you’ve got a smooth mixture. Ladle a little of the warm berry liquid into the bowl and stir again until it’s smooth.

Stirring all the time, tip the corn flour mixture into the warm berry mixture, turn the heat up and bring the mixture to the boil. Simmer for two minutes, keep stirring, then take off the heat and check you can’t taste the corn flour. If you can, simmer for another minute and check again.

You can either eat it warm or, as the Danish prefer, cold. The traditional accompaniment is lots of whipped cream, but yoghurt also works well. 

A recipe for raspberry and coconut ice cream

It was an unexpected sunny weekend. The roses came out. The swallows skimmed the lawn. And we scrambled around on our hands and knees putting squash and courgette plants into the ground. 

The rugosa rose: excellent for making Turkish Delight

In the kitchen, I made some raspberry and coconut ice cream, using up fruit from the freezer. The ingredients are self-explanatory - raspberry, coconut cream, sugar - but by playing around with the quantities - lots of raspberries, not too much coconut cream - you get a pudding with a really punchy fruity flavour.

Raspberry and coconut ice cream

300g raspberries

150g caster sugar

100ml coconut cream (or the solids from a tin of coconut milk)

Sieve the raspberries. Whisk the coconut cream to get rid of any lumps. Combine all three ingredients in a bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Taste and add more sugar if needed. Churn in an ice cream maker. We have this manual one. 

A recipe for scallops on toast

You don’t usually find the words scallop and cheap in the same sentence. But here is a low-cost recipe using the luxury shellfish. The contrast between the crunchy toast and the tender scallop is very good indeed. You need one big or two small scallops per person. Mine was large and cost £1.50. 

Scallops on toast (serves 1)

1 slice bread
1 scallop

Cooking oil (I used rapeseed)
Butter

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 squeeze chilli puree or a small chilli, chopped
Lemon

Put the toast down.

If the scallop is large (over 2 cm high) cut it in half across so it cooks more quickly. Put some oil in a pan. When it's really hot, add the scallop and its coral. Cook for 1 minute on each side. 

Put the cooked scallop on the toast. Put the butter in the pan, add the garlic and chilli and cook for 30 seconds. Pour over the scallop, squeeze over some lemon juice, and eat with a green salad.

A week of tasty and thrifty meals

I’ve just done a Cooking on a Budget course, organised by the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. I learnt that you can eat really well on a budget, but you’ve got to do a bit of forward planning.

Planning is not one of my strong suits: that’s why I write a blog about experimenting with seasonal ingredients. So, I challenged myself to come up with a week’s meal plan that was tasty, seasonal and thrifty.

One idea from the course was that it’s better value to buy a whole chicken, so my week started with a roast dinner, which seems ridiculous if you’re on a budget, but it did work out cheaper because I used the chicken to make five meals.

And I did save money overall. My shopping list is at the end of the post. It came to less than £25. The only other ingredients I used are oil, salt, sugar, rice and pasta. At the end of the week, I had soya sauce, chilli flakes, red lentils and oats to add to the store cupboard, as well as a portion of chicken and a portion of vegetarian chilli in the freezer.

SUNDAY

Lunch

Roast chicken with potatoes, carrots and leeks

I feel so indulgent roasting a chicken just for myself. I rub butter on the bird, squeeze half a lemon over it, and then put the lemon shell inside. I roast it according to the instructions on the packet.

30 minutes before the end of the cooking time, I put sliced potatoes around the bird. 15 minutes later, I add a chopped carrot and leek. This is a delicious meal: a proper Sunday lunch. I leave enough vegetables for tomorrow’s lunch.

Making chicken stock

In the afternoon, I make chicken stock. I leave the chicken carcass to go cold then pull all the meat off it – quite a messy business – and put three portions in the fridge in a cling-wrapped bowl, and two portions in a plastic bag in the freezer.

I then pull the carcass apart, put it in a saucepan with one chopped onion and one chopped carrot, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for one and a half hours.

Dinner

Scrambled egg with carrot and red cabbage salad

After all that cooking, I keep it simple. First I make coleslaw, grating some carrot and red cabbage, and making a dressing with a glug of oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. I then scramble an egg and eat it on toast.  

MONDAY

Breakfast

Porridge

Porridge is a really cheap, healthy way to start the day, but you’ve got to make it your own. I like mine made with milk, with a mashed banana stirred in just before the end of the cooking time. Some people will only make it with water and a sprinkle of salt. For others, there must be drizzled honey. Up to you.

Lunch

Left overs from the roast chicken

I take one portion of the roast chicken in the fridge and eat it with left over vegetables and the last of the gravy, heating it all up in the microwave. I make sure it’s piping hot – no use giving myself food poisoning.

Dinner

Frittata with feta, potato, leek and spinach

I love frittatas. First I cook the potato for 10 minutes in boiling water. Then I fry a leek until it softens (5-10 minutes), add a chopped garlic clove, stir for about 30 seconds, add the spinach, stir until it wilts (about a minute), add the cooked potatoes, pour over three whisked eggs, and crumble some feta on top. I finish it off under the grill. It’s very tasty and very easy. I leave enough for lunch tomorrow. 

TUESDAY

Breakfast

Porridge

This morning I make it with milk, and put a sliced apple on top. Not as good as yesterday’s banana porridge.

Lunch

Leftover frittata

Dinner

Chicken soup with cabbage, carrot, lemon and rice

This soup is slightly scary to look at. I forgot the red cabbage would turn the whole thing purple! However, it tastes delicious and takes about 15 minutes to rustle up.

I boil the rice for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I cut the cabbage and carrot up into thin pieces. I then bring some chicken stock to the boil, add the cabbage, simmer for three minutes, add the carrot and one portion of chicken from the fridge, bring it back to the boil and simmer for three minutes.

I pour the whole lot into a bowl, add the rice, and squeeze some lemon juice over the top. It’s really warming and comforting on a cold day.

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast

Porridge again

Lunch

Chicken, carrot and spinach salad

I make chicken salad with the last of the chicken in the fridge (you can only keep cooked chicken in the fridge for three days). I make a dressing with a tablespoon of oil, a dessertspoon of lemon juice and a sprinkle of chilli flakes, and then toss it with the chicken, spinach and some finely chopped carrot. I am not going to lie to you: it was a bit dry, but tasty nonetheless.

Dinner

Vegetarian chilli

This is a recipe from the Cooking on a Budget course. I fry an onion and two cloves of garlic, and then simmer 225g red lentils, a tin of kidney beans and a tin of tomatoes in chicken stock for 30 minutes. I add chilli flakes and a splash of soya sauce to boost the flavour. I make four portions, saving one for tomorrow and freezing two more. 

I eat it with a baked potato and spinach, and it’s very good indeed. 

THURSDAY

Breakfast

You guessed it: it’s porridge and a banana again.

Lunch

Veggie chilli leftovers

Dinner

Sardine pasta with chilli, lemon and leek

This is a very quick, tasty dinner. It’s a recipe from Delicious magazine. Don’t be put off by the smell of the tinned sardine. Once fried with garlic, chilli and lemon, it tastes delicious. I use a whole tin of sardines just for me (although the recipe says this should feed two people). I cook a leek separately and then add it at the end. 

FRIDAY

Breakfast

Porridge with apple

Lunch

Feta salad

I’m pretty hungry by lunchtime so I have spinach, carrot and feta salad with toast. I chop up feta and carrot, put them on top of spinach leaves, and then drizzle over a dressing made with 1 tablespoon of oil, 1 dessertspoon of lemon juice, and a sprinkle of chilli flakes.

Dinner

Chicken stir-fry with red cabbage, leek and rice

I love a good stir-fry and using cooked chicken makes it very quick to make. I take the chicken out of the freezer in the morning and leave it on the side to defrost.

To make the stir-fry, I chop up the cabbage and leek really finely, put some oil in a saucepan, and add the cabbage, leek and a splash of water. I put on the lid and steam the veggies for 10 minutes. I don’t stir them so that the leeks don’t turn purple. In the meantime, I boil the rice for 10 minutes.

Once the vegetables are ready, I put some oil in a big frying pan and fry a garlic clove and some chilli flakes. After about a minute, I add the chicken and some soya sauce, and fry for two minutes. I then throw in the veggies and stir to combine everything. 

SATURDAY

Breakfast

Porridge and banana

Lunch

Egg on toast

I still have two eggs left, so I have one scrambled on toast for lunch. There’s still lots of cabbage so I make carrot and cabbage coleslaw again.

Dinner

Vegetarian chilli with red cabbage and apple

I take the veggie chilli out of the freezer in the morning. In order to make the meal a bit different, I cook red cabbage with a grated apple and 1 tablespoon of water for 15 minutes and eat it alongside. This is such a delicious way to eat red cabbage. We have it with our Christmas dinner every year.

It’s a hearty end to a week which has been really enjoyable. Because I’d done the planning in advance, I didn’t have to worry about what I was going to eat every day. And I did save money, quite a lot of money. Experimenting in the kitchen is a good thing. I come up with so many recipes that way. But planning has its place too, especially while I’m watching the pennies.

Shopping list

Fresh

4 leeks

2 large baking potatoes

5 carrots

1 red cabbage

3 onions

1 bulb garlic

1 bag spinach

2 lemons

4 apples

6 bananas

6 free range eggs

4 pints milk

1 loaf bread

1 packet feta cheese

1 British chicken

1 packet butter

Dry

1 porridge oats

1 tin sardine

1 bottle soya sauce

1 jar chilli flakes

1 packet red lentils

1 tin of tomatoes

1 tin kidney beans

A recipe for squash, red pepper and red chilli soup

This recipe is super-easy. You don't need stock, onions, or spices - just roast the vegetables, blend and add hot water. It has a surprisingly complex flavour - sweet from the squash and red pepper, earthy from the garlic and fiery from the chilli. 

I make so much squash soup at this time of year, as I tend to have lots of squash which aren't fully ripe when I pick them in October (they have to come in before the first frost). So, they all sit on the window sills until they are ready to eat (usually from Christmas time onwards). It's lovely to be eating something so sunny at such a gloomy l time of year. 

Butternut squash, red pepper and red chilli soup (serves two)

500g butternut squash

1 red pepper

1 red chilli

6 cloves garlic

Hot water
Squeeze of lemon

Preheat the oven to 200C, 400F (180C fan).

Peel the butternut squash, cut into chunks about 3cm across. Deseed and chop the red pepper. Put them both in a baking tray with the whole red chilli and the garlic cloves (still in their skins), drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and cook for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.

Boil the kettle. Scrape the vegetables into a saucepan, pop the garlic cloves out of their skins, and halve and deseed the chilli (you can add whole or half the chilli depending on how hot it is). Blend everything together, pour in the hot water until you have the consistency you like. Squeeze in some lemon juice, add more salt if needed, and top with yoghurt or creme fraiche if you fancy. 

A recipe for traditional marmalade

Last weekend I made marmalade using my granny’s recipe. My mum remembers helping her - picking out the orange pips, cutting up the skins, and watching her stir the mixture in a big brass preserving pan.

The recipe follows the “whole fruit method”. This means you cook the oranges whole, slice up the rind, and then boil it up with sugar to make the classic preserve.

It is the quickest way to make traditional marmalade. It will take you about four hours from start to finish and most of that time is spent waiting for the oranges to either cook or cool.

Seville oranges cooked and ready to be sliced

Traditional marmalade (makes about four jars)

500g Seville oranges (about four)

1 lemon, juiced

1 kg granulated sugar or cane sugar

1 litre water

Scrub the oranges and remove the buttons at the top. Put them in a pan, add 1 litre of water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about two hours until you can easily pierce the skin with a fork. Leave to cool.

Take the oranges out of the pan and keep the cooking liquid, you should have 800ml (add some water if you don’t have enough). Cut the oranges in half and flick out the pips with a fork. Discard the pips. Cut the orange halves into bits, thick or thin depending on how you like your marmalade.

Put four clean jam jars on a tray and put them in the oven at 100C. Put a saucer in the freezer – you’ll need it later to test whether your marmalade has set.

Put the orange bits and the cooking liquid into a pan. Add the lemon juice and the sugar. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Bring to the boil and boil hard until setting point is reached. To test for this, take the saucer out of the freezer and put a blob of the mixture on it. Return the saucer to the freezer for two minutes. Take it out and push your finger through the blob. If the blob wrinkles your marmalade has set.

Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Then take the jam jars out of the oven, pour the marmalade into each one, and put the lids on (I use these cellophane lids). Done!