Interesting, the feedback - or rather lack of it - on the two recent posts I've done on fish, both of which have excited (if that's the right word) much less response than the ones I've done recently on meat and veg.I'm intrigued to know why this is. It's possible, of course, you didn't like the sound of either recipe (well, I did say the skate smelt of ammonia which is hardly a come on) But the chowder was actually pretty nice. Does this mean you're not really that keen on fish? And is that because you don't like the bones or the smell or don't really know what to do with it?Trout, for example,...
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Smoked cod, leek and watercress chowder
If you're a) not a haggis-lover, b) haven't decided what to cook tonight but feel like something vaguely Scottish and are c) reasonably near the shops, here's an idea. It was prompted by a reduction on a pack of smoked cod in Somerfield yesterday which made me think of making Cullen Skink. Not that I could remember exactly what went into Cullen Skink but I bought a couple of leeks, a potato and a carton of soy milk (my husband is dairy-intolerant) and hoped for the best. I was just bemoaning the lack of parsley to finish it off when I remembered I had the tail end of a pack of watercress which...
Thursday, 22 January 2009
What to do with an oxtail
Have you ever cooked an oxtail? I hadn't until a couple of years ago. It just looked too alien and scary, too fatty, too much as if it would never cook through. But I had eaten it and enjoyed it so gave it a try and it was fab.Basically you treat it exactly as you would a beef stew except for three things. You need to soak it for a couple of hours in salted water (to be honest I don't know why, presumably to remove any impurities). You need to cook it for longer (stands to reason, it's dense) and you need to skim off the fat (easiest if you leave it overnight) What you then get is a stew of incredible...
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
An incredibly annoying restaurant practice
One of the most irritating things about eating out - apart from being endlessly pressed to order mineral water - is the habit of leaving a gap on the bill for a tip when you've already been charged for service. (Usually 12 1/2% these days)In the case of Sofra restaurants they don't even go through the pretence of saying the service is 'optional', they charge it and then charge service on the service charge. There was a lot of adverse publicity a while ago about this and restaurants stopped doing it for a while but in these credit-crunched times they're obviously up to their old tricks again.So...
Monday, 19 January 2009
A year of The Frugal Cook
Twelve months ago today I started blogging as The Frugal Cook. I can't claim credit for the idea - it was my publisher's who thought it would be interesting to chart my efforts to cut back and eat more thriftily.I remember wondering if I'd have anything to say (hah!) and whether I was mad taking on the extra workload. (I was!) But it's been nothing but fun, so much so that I now have two other blogs on subjects that interest me - The Cheeselover and Credit Crunch Drinking. The reason it's worked so well is thanks to all of you. All blogs need an audience, preferably a vocal one and the recent...
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Skate knobs with capers
Prior to The Great Lurgy (from which I am fully recovered, thankyou) I'd picked up a couple of interesting buys I was going to cook up and report on. They got transferred to the freezer but I thought I'd have a crack at them this weekend to alleviate the tedium of tackling my tax return.The first was what are peculiarly called 'skate knobs' (don't snigger) the sweet little nuggets of fish you find by the bone of skate wings. They're a real delicacy which you never find in supermarkets, rarely in fishmongers and just occasionally on a market stall and they're amazingly cheap. I paid £3.82 for 700g,...
Thursday, 15 January 2009
A rant about Ryanair
Now this is off-topic but you'll have to indulge me as I'm still not doing much food-buying or cooking. But I have been trying to book a trip to France online and need to have a moan about Ryanair.If you look at their site a flashing sign will tell you they're offering 1 million seats for £1 one way (until Sunday night). "That sounds a good deal" you might think (although you are probably already sceptical if you've endured the pain of booking with Ryanair before). So it's going to cost £4 for the two of us, right?Er, not quite. The key phrase is 'one way'. That seems to mean whatever flight you...
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Food for flu
Having hoped I might get through the winter without succumbling to one of the many unpleasant lurgies that seem to have been afflicting my friends we've both just been poleaxed by a weird bug that involves coughing, aching, nausea and an upset stomach. Is it flu? Who knows? Everything is referred to as The Flu these days, even when it's a common cold. But I know this is serious because I don't feel like eating. (Unheard-of, obviously) The few things that have appealed have been plain boiled rice (yes, it's that bad), Marigold Vegetable Bouillon (drunk as a soup), hot apple juice spiked with cinnamon...
Monday, 12 January 2009
Roast pork belly with black pudding
Like other so-called 'cheap' cuts pork belly has gone up significantly in price over the last year or so since it became a must-have main course in gastropubs and other modern British restaurants. But it's still a reasonable deal. I paid just over £13 for a 2.5kg piece in St Nick's Market in Bristol on Saturday and it produced 10 helpings (everyone had seconds!) with two more for leftovers today. I could have paid less but it's worth buying pork that hasn't been anywhere near a vac-pack if you want to get decent crackling.I stretched it with slices of black pudding, a big tray of roast veggies...
Saturday, 10 January 2009
Treat a friend for a fiver
I don’t know if you ever get the Financial Times but for some years now at this time of year they’ve run a great cut price restaurant promotion. It started some years ago as 'Lunch for a fiver' then the price crept up and for a few years, at the height of the boom, the idea seemed to be running out of steam. Now it’s been revived with a clever twist that benefits all parties - the customer, the restaurant and the FT.This is the deal. You take a friend to lunch (and in some cases dinner) at one of the restaurants that is taking part in the promotion. They take 50% off your total food bill then...
Friday, 9 January 2009
Marmite and cucumber sandwiches
Those of you who have been following the fevered debate on the virtues (or otherwise) of Marmite may require proof that I have been as good as my word and knocked up a Marmite and cucumber sandwich. So here it is!I realised there were many possible permutations. White or brown bread (I chose white), butter or no butter, how much Marmite (a light smear), how thickly the cucumber should be sliced (thinly, IMO) and whether it should or shouldn't be peeled (it should, I think).And the verdict? Very nice. Not quite as nice as cucumber sandwiches on their own but much better than I would have imagined....
Thursday, 8 January 2009
2 for 1 pizza deals
I was going to title this post Pizza the action, but thought it was just too painfully bad a pun. But it slipped out anyhow . . .Anyway, for those of you who don't subscribe to Martin Lewis's excellent moneysavingexpert.com newsletter (and if you don't, you should) Pizza Express and Zizzi are both offering 2 for 1 deals on main courses this month. In Pizza Express's case you get the most expensive pizza free which is really good.I go back a long way with Pizza Express. I loved it when it first opened then went off it in a big way as the pizzas seemed to shrink and shrink but it's back on form...
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Marmite afternoon tea
The prize for silliest idea of the year so far (admittedly we're only 7 days into 2009) has to go to the food and beverage department of the Dorchester which has dreamed up a Marmite afternoon tea. The Marmite component apparently consists of Marmite and cucumber sandwiches which sounds pretty yukky to me. And that seems to be it. Price £31.50 per person. Minus service, I presume.I suppose if you're rich enough to go to the Dorchester for tea £31.50 is peanuts but it seems shockingly bad value to me, even by London standards.Here's a suggestion. Go off to your local supermarket or corner shop...
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Hot toddy bargain!
Just a quickie to let you know that according to mysupermarket.co.uk both Sainsbury's and Tesco have got Stone's ginger wine on offer at £3.99 at the moment. Full report - and recipes - on Credit Crunch Drinking (and no, I'm not on a retainer from Stone's ...
Monday, 5 January 2009
What to do with frozen broccoli
I don't normally buy frozen broccoli but found a 1 kilo bag for a pound in Somerfield yesterday which was less than a third the £3.33 the store was charging for a kilo of fresh broccoli. In fact it was even better value, arguably, given that there weren't any huge stalks though as I've mentioned before there are things you can do with those. It's also probably more healthy given that it was frozen soon after picking and hasn't been lying around in a storeroom for weeks.BUT - and of course there's a but - it doesn't have the taste or texture of fresh broccoli, especially broccoli that's locally...
Friday, 2 January 2009
Asda becomes a pound shop
Those of you who don't read the tabloids may have missed the report in the Mirror today that Asda is trying to outdo Poundland by putting a whole load of lines on offer for £1. If you've got an Asda nearby and they're lines you buy regularly it's certainly worth taking advantage although I'd take care a) not to buy something for which there is a cheaper alternative and b) not to buy too many of the lines that aren't marked down (the new cunning wheeze from supermarkets being to bump up the price of anything that isn't on special offer)Offers that would tempt me (assuming they're actually available*)...
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Lentil and chestnut soup
Most of my new recipes these days are inspired by an ingredient that needs using up. So it was in the case of this substantial soup (more like a stew, actually) which I thought would make the best of a batch of really tasty goose stock. Like all recipes it can be fiddled around with depending what you have available. If you haven't got bacon use chorizo or up the amount of pimenton. You don't have to use a carrot. You could use celery if you have some. You could use duck or turkey stock instead of goose - or even vegetable bouillon powder. Shredded cabbage makes a good substitute for parsley...
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