Back to Bristol last night after the usual Easyjet check-in hell. It's cold, it's grey and I have a mountain of post to get through not to mention a book and several articles to write. The wages of sin . . .As usual when I come back from somewhere in Europe everything seems very expensive. I don't particularly want to plunge into Tesco but can't find anything I really fancy in the local shops. We made do with a frugal but hardly inspiring lunch of hard boiled eggs and sardines. At least it should boost the brain cells.Amazingly after over two weeks in Italy I've actually lost weight. Only 500g,...
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Monday, 28 April 2008
Venetian ways with vegetables
Looking back on my Venice trip the best value dishes have been the vegetable side dishes called contorni. The best selection was in a small veggie-focussed (rather than strictly vegetarian) restaurant called La Zucca where there's a large menu of them, mostly at 5 euros a dish. A selection of four or five made a great tapas-style meal for two. There's also no reason why you couldn't adapt the idea to entertaining at home.Here are some of the dishes we ate thereSauteed zucchini (courgettes) with thymeBoiled fennel with an arrabiatta (tomato and chili) sauce with olives (above)Stir fried carrots...
Monday, 21 April 2008
Frugal eating Venetian-style
I’ve now been a week in Venice and have had plenty of opportunity to suss out the cheapest way to eat. Not that anywhere in Venice is exactly cheap but there are ways of keeping your restaurant bills down.The standard Venetian - and Italian - formula for a meal is antipasti (usually some kind of fish or vegetables here), primi (pasta, gnocchi or risotto), secondi (main course) and dolci (sweet). The obvious strategy is to cut two of those courses which is fine when the helpings are generous as they tend to be in the trats, less good in the swankier restaurants where it’s better to have a pasta...
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
The Frugal Cook is on holiday!
We're now away on a long-planned trip to Venice to celebrate a Very Significant Birthday (one of the big ones that ends with an '0') so posts are likely to be few and far between for the next fortnight. However we're staying in a flat rather than in a hotel so if I do conjure up or discover any brilliantly frugal dishes I'll let you know! In the meantime there will be new recipes going up a couple of times a week on my student website Beyond Baked Beans so check that out if you're running low on inspirati...
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Big (or small) bowl salads
The way food looks is always important, to me at least, but all the more so if you're using up leftovers. There's nothing more depressing than a pile of brown sludge. Or random bits of food plonked unceremoniously on a plate. (Better to eat it straight from the fridge, which at least has an indulgent frisson to it)Doing even a minimum of chopping and slicing immediately makes leftovers look more appetising. As does - weirdly - putting them in a bowl (cuts down the washing up too!)Here's a little salad I rustled up the other day from some leftover haricot beans with some chopped onion, red pepper,...
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Ways of saving on oil
I've been compiling my must-have ingredients list for the book and thinking about oil. I generally have three on the go which seems like a bit of an extravagance but here's how I justify it. A cheap basic oil for frying which doesn't need to be olive oil. I personally like grapeseed or sunflower oil but you could use a basic vegetable oil if you were really trying to keep costs to a minimum.A gutsy olive oil for dishes where it really makes a difference. Like a Mediterranean style vegetable stew such as a ratatouille or a pasta sauce that relies for its flavour on oil. The cheapest place to buy...
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Buying loose and bin ends
One of the many advantages of shopping in independent shops is that you can buy exactly the amount you need. In our nearest Tesco for instance, a Metro, almost everything is pre-packed. In the local greengrocer it’s the reverse. Everything is sold loose. Quite often you only need a couple of carrots or a few mushrooms for a recipe. If you buy 500g or a kilo there’s always a danger of forgetting about them and finding they’ve gone off.It’s the same with dried pulses and nuts. In our local health food shop they offer them both ways - pre-packed and loose and there’s a significant saving in buying...
Monday, 7 April 2008
A very nice quiche
Of all the options for using up the remaining ham from my hock I chose a cheddar and ham quiche and a split pea and ham soup made with the scraps and the bone. The quiche should serve 6 although the two of us managed to demolish half of it yesterday, the soup 4. That makes 12 portions in total from the one £1.89 joint of meat. Result!Here's the recipe. I'm torn about whether to advise making your own pastry. It has a better taste and texture and is cheaper than buying it ready made but not by a huge amount and it does take a fair bit of time. But the filling knocks spots off any shop-bought quiche.Cheddar,...
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Ham hock hunting
My friend and fellow foodie Andy rang up this morning to see if I wanted to go to Bemmie (the Bristol neighbourhood of Bedminster) to buy ham hocks. Long way to go for a small piece of meat but she'd been raving about them for a while.And goodness, she was right. There they were stacked up, freshly cooked and covered with an appetising jelly. At just £1.89 each. The butcher (D. Butt) specialises in offal and cold cuts so I bought a couple of slices of tongue as well. Total bill £2.79.We had cold ham and tongue for lunch with a salad made from yesterday's market leaves plus a bit more of the wild...
Friday, 4 April 2008
Cheese omelette with wild garlic and chervil
Couldn't resist a visit to my local farmer’s market in Whiteladies Road. My favourite stall, Wrington Greens had all kinds of goodies including wild garlic and chervil, a herb that has an amazing affinity with eggs so had to rush back home and make an omelette. Having bought all that cheddar (see previous post) I incorporated that too but it slightly overwhelmed the delicate flavour of the herbs. Another time I'd use goats' cheese.Serves 1A small handful of fresh chervil or parsley2 large eggs or 3 medium ones2 wild garlic leaves, finely shredded, or some finely snipped chives15g (1/2 oz) butter40g...
New supermarket opening - a chance to stock up!
A new branch of Somerfield has opened down the end of the road. A bit of a let down really - it's not much more than a glorified off-licence but because they want to attract custom they've dropped leaflets round the area with a 10% off voucher for the opening week.We went down and loaded up with basics like olive oil, coffee, kitchen towel and loo paper plus a huge block of cheddar for £1.99 which I was in two minds about buying as we're away again next week. But it was only 10p more than a block half its size so I now have to make our diet cheese-focussed for the next four days in order to use...
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
A veggie bonanza
The problem about writing this book is that you not only have to use up all your own leftovers but those of well-meaning friends. "You wouldn't like some carrots and cauliflower, would you?" asked my neighbour wistfully. "We've just got a whole lot more in our veg box." By bequeathing them to us she feels she's not wasting them so I feel bound not to let her down. Free dinner anyway.I scrubbed and sliced the carrots and put them in a pan with a teaspoon of mixed ground coriander and cumin and half a teaspoon of vegetable bouillon powder, gave them a stir, put just enough water in the pan that...
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