Sausage & Lentil Casserole

This is really delicious and pretty cheap. You have to use good quality sausages though, with a high pork content. If they have too much bread/rusk in them then they can go kind of spongey, which is not a great texture. Regardless, you can buy a pack of good quality sausages for less than 3 euro. Before I went gluten free I liked Aldi & Lidl's fancy sausages in the tray, which were great value with a high pork content for 2 euro or thereabouts. I made this yesterday with M&S pork and apple sausages, which were gluten free & it was delish. I ideally use black beluga lentils in this and most lentil dishes, but they are really hard to get. I have been searching for them for months, and just got a pack in Shortis Wongs on John St, in Kilkenny, a really cool, really good value delicatessen. You can also use puy lentils, which vary wildly in price from shop to shop. If they are actually grown in Puy in France, they're usually a lot dearer, but the small, speckled green ones are pretty much the same and way cheaper.

Ingredients: 
6 to 8 good quality sausages
1 tin of tomatoes
1 onion, diced finely
2 cloves of garlic
1 large glass of white wine
2 bay leaves
1 red pepper, diced
1 cup (or half a large mug) of puy/beluga style lentils
balsamic vinegar
a generous pinch of chilli flakes
half a cup of stock (I used a kallo vegetable stock cube)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
olive oil


Method:

Heat a little olive oil (or oil of your choice) in a large pan, and when sufficiently preheated, fry the sausages for a few minutes, until they are browned on the outside. Set aside the sausages.

Lower the heat and add the onion to the same pan. Cook for 5 minutes, on this low heat to release the flavour. Add the red pepper and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse the lentils really well in a sieve. If you don't rinse them well they have a mucky taste. If you have time, soak them for a while as well, but you don't have to (it makes them cook more quickly). Rinse the lentils and add to the pan after the peppers have softened. Stir well and return the sausages to the pan. Increase the heat & add the bay leaves & chilli flakes.

When the sausages have heated up, add the wine. Stir and reduce, which will take a few minutes. Then add the tinned tomatoes, the stock and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat to the lowest or second lowest setting. Cover and simmer for about 40 minutes. Check occasionally to see if it needs more liquid (as the lentils will absorb liquid and expand while they cook) and add some hot water if necessary.

Serve with whatever you like. Potatoes would be good, or a green vegetable.

Simple Supper

I make this when I'm feeling lazy and have the ingredients on hand. It's so easy, but like Gestalt theory, it tastes like more than the sum of its parts.

Broccoli & Pasta
(Serves 1)
Ingredients
Pasta of your choice, I use spaghetti usually, 1 portion approx 75 grammes
Half a head of broccoli
Cheddar cheese, cubed
Butter
Freshly ground black pepper (must be freshly ground, in fact, don't ever use anything else, ever)
Salt


Method:

Cut the broccoli into small to medium florets, about the same size as you would for a stir-fry. You want them to cook quickly but not to disintegrate. Add them to a pan of boiling salted water. After 2 minutes, add the pasta to the same pan. The idea is that they will be ready at the same time.

Meanwhile, cut up however much cheese you want, into small cubes.

When the broccoli and pasta are tender, drain and put back into the saucepan, off the heat. Add a good dose of real butter, loads and loads of black pepper, the cheese and toss. Add a little salt to taste. Eat! Couldn't be easier or quicker.

(Will post a pic the next time I cook it).

Soup saga continues. Mushroom soup!

This soup is really really tasty, if you like mushrooms of course, which a surprising amount of people don't! What the hell! They're fecking lovely! This soup tastes very high end & I'd happily dish it up to others. It requires quite a lot of mushrooms, as they dissolve down to a surprisingly small amount.

Delicious Mushroom soup

Serves 4
6 large field mushrooms or 2 punnets of button mushrooms
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
2 pints of stock of your choice (I've started using Marigold bouillon powder due to its lack of nasty ingredients)
single cream to taste
a bay leaf
a splash of wine (optional but adds a nice flavour)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
a knob of butter & a little olive oil

Method: 


Slice your onion in whatever manner you normally do. Heat the butter and oil over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook on a lowered heat for at least 5 minutes, stirring regularly and taking care it doesn't burn. The longer cooking will add flavour to the soup.

Meanwhile, wash, dry and chop your mushrooms. Finely dice the clove of garlic.

Add the mushrooms to the pan with the onion & stir to coat. Let cook until all the liquid is released and the pan starts to get dry again, approximately 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then add your splash of wine & increase the heat until the alcohol cooks off.

Add the stock and the bay leaf. Bring to the boil briefly and then reduce the heat to quite low. Season, cover the pot and leave to simmer for 30 minutes or so.

Remove the bay leaf and liquidize with a hand blender. Add about half a cup of cream and stir, then serve. If you are storing it, then leave out the cream and just add a little as you reheat individual portions. Enjoy!

Bringing home the bacon

If you shop in Aldi and Lidl, you may have seen their 'bacon offcuts' on display in the meat section. Basically, these are ends of meat leftover from cutting the rest into nice shapes and even weights, not always in one solid piece, shoved together to make a kilogram in weight. And they sell them for €1.99 which is pretty sweet, considering its approximately a fiver for a whole piece of bacon of the same size. The disadvantage is that obviously its not as pretty and its almost guaranteed to fall apart, but its half the price. My baby sister told me recently that my mother had tried it out to make traditional bacon & cabbage and that it tasted great. So I decided to have a look. I just purchased one from Aldi and from what I've seen, theirs seem to be more proper bacon than Lidls, whose seem to be more of an amalgamation of rashers, which to me is less appetising. I hope this is making sense. Also, its a good idea to have a root around and pick up the one that has the least amount of fat on it.

Here's what they look like after boiling, this is on a side plate, it looks like a lot but when you remove the fat, its definitely less (vegetarians look away):

So my plan is to soak it overnight (not strictly necessary but makes it less salty), eat it with some mash & veg the traditional way and then, for the piece de resistance, make this recipe which I am adapting from Brother Anselms Glenstal Cookbook. Yes that's right, Brother Anselm. This recipe book is written by John Hurt's (the actor) brother, Michael aka Brother Anselm, who in later life joined a monastery in Co. Limerick. I was surprised to see that they have a very up to date looking website here: http://www.glenstal.org/ and you can buy the book there and elsewhere. Its roughly €12ish. I got mine in a book shop, back when I had a regular solid income and was feeding my cookbook addiction.

Anyway, I love the book, its got lovely traditional recipes, with a few exotic ones thrown in. As the monks are cooking for a big crowd a lot of the recipes give measurements for between six and thirty odd servings so it would be pretty handy for someone who does catering etc. I also like the workability of the recipes, theres loads of stuff in there that I eat regularly. Also its got a handy spiral binding so its easy to use whilst cooking. It's also really nice to get a sense of life in the monastery. They definitely eat well anyway. This recipe looks so tasty, its a delicous creamy poatato gratin, with ham thrown in. My youngest sister and I agree that the best way to use up leftover ham/bacon is in sandwiches (she makes the best toasted ham & cheese sandwiches ever, with a complex method for getting the cheese to a perfect degree of meltedness), but its also good to have a dinner style recipe.

Potato Gratin with Ham adapted from Brother Anslems Glenstaal Cookery Book

(4 servings)

Half of 1 pack of Aldi bacon offcuts or half an average size joint of bacon, pre cooked and diced*

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or more if you're a garlic addict)

2 knobs of real butter & a little olive oil

Roughly 300 ml of milk (about a mug and a bit full)

4 tablespoons of cream

2 tsp paprika (good stuff, not crappy supermarket stuff, I get mine in ethnic grocers that sell Spanish paprika but apparently Hunagrian is the best)

1 egg

5 to 6 medium sized potatoes

About half an average sized block of hard cheese of your choice (I used Cheddar), finely grated

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover in boiling water, with a sprinkle of salt. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for approximately 30 minutes. You want the potatoes almost fully cooked, but not mushy. When a sharp knife will slide through them and they are almost ready to eat, take them off the heat & drain. Leave aside to cool.

While the spuds are cooking, put a frying pan on a medium to low heat. Add a knob of butter and a drop of olive oil (prevents the butter from burning). When the butter has fully melted, test the pan by dropping in a tiny segment of onion. If it sizzles gently, add the rest in. Cook until soft, be careful with the heat, burnt onion is a flavour disaster! Add the garlic after a few minutes. When the onion is soft, throw in your diced bacon. Cook for a further five minutes, until a little bit crispy. Season with pepper. Turn off the heat & leave aside.

Grease a shallow roasting tin with a knob of butter.

Beat the egg, cream, milk, paprika, salt and pepper in a bowl or jug.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice each one into rounds, not more than a half a centimetre in width. Don't cut them too thick as they will be dry and not tender enough.

Now that everything is ready, assemble the dish. Begin with a layer of potatoes (don't overlap them). Follow with a layer of the bacon & onion mixture, and then a thin layer of cheese. Season with freshly grated black pepper after each layer. Repeat the layering at least once more and finish with a layer of potato on top. Gently pour the milky mixture over the dish. Top with another layer of cheese and stick in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbling.

Before putting in the oven:

And fresh out of the oven (apologies for utterly rubbish food photography):

This would be nice served with something green to counteract the stodge, like steamed broccoli or sautéed spinach.

*You need to boil the bacon first. This recipe is pretty time consuming but I reckon the best way to make it is to cook bacon & cabbage with boiled potatoes the first day. Throw on extra potatoes and then make the gratin on day two. Below is a recipe for traditional Irish bacon and cabbage:

Very traditional Bacon & cabbage recipe.

Ingredients:

Bacon

1 head of cabbage

Method:

Place the bacon in a saucepan and cover with water. Soak overnight (to get rid of excess salt). If you don't have time to do this, then cover with cold water, bring to the boil, discard the water, rinse the bacon & then proceed with step 2 below.

Throw away the soaking water, cover the bacon in fresh cold water and bring to the boil. You will need a fairly large saucepan for this & make sure the bacon is covered. As it comes to the boil, white frothy stuff (aka scum!) will float to the top, try and scoop as much of this off as you can (but don't worry about it too much).

When it reaches the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for approximately 1.5 hours or 30 minutes per lb or per 450 gs.

Discard any dodgey looking outer leaves from the cabbage & cut of the root at the bottom & discard. Chop the cabbage into 4 (quarter it), wash thoroughly under running water and add to the pot for the last half an hour of cooking. This is the traditional way but I prefer to cut off the hard big white bits at the base of the leaves, finely slice it, and boil it in seperate water, drain & season with butter and lashings of black pepper, but each to his own.

Serve with boiled or mashed spuds and a parsley sauce. If you throw on extra spuds you can make the gratin very easily the next day by just slicing up and layering the cold potatoes.

Yum!

So basically, overall, you're getting between 4 and 6 meals out of your €1.99 bacon offcuts. Not too shabby.

Bottom of the fridge soup

So being as its Monday, two days to dole day, and I've just done up my Xmas budget, things are looking pretty tight. One of the ways I try to save money is by making soup and having it regularly for lunch. You can do up a batch of pretty tasty home made soup and get 4 to 5 lunches out of it. I'd be able to do more in one go if a) I had a bigger saucepan and b) I had a bigger fridge and more than a nasty little envelope sized freezer. I live in shared flat so theres not much space for storing extra food in the fridge, so I can't cook too much at once.

Anyway, following a review of my fridge, the following veg was on hand:

So basically, half a leftover onion, a leek, 1 potato, 1 carrot (organic, I only buy organic carrots as I find the standard ones really tasteless),some garlic and some mushrooms. Not too shabby! So here's a recipe for basic soup. You can make soup out of any veg just follow a few general principles:

2 days to pay day Veg Soup

Ingredients:

1 onion (pretty essential) finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

assortment of veg, washed, peeled and finely chopped

a knob of butter, and a drop of oil

1 stock cube, preferably a decent one

1 heaped tsp of dried dill

salt & freshly ground pepper

Method:

In a large saucepan, add your butter and a drop of oil (to stop burning) on a medium heat. When the butter is melted add the onion and sautee for a good 5 minutes to release the flavour of the onions. If you're cooking vegetarian food, you need to get as much flavour from the onion as possible (as you are lacking the incredible flavour boost of meat) so cook it for a while, but take care not to burn it. I always use butter for soup, as its only a tiny amount and adds a lovely flavour beyond what oil alone can do.

Add your veg, starting with the hardest first, sautée it for a few minutes so it gets its buttery coating, and then add the next vegetable. So in this case I cooked the carrot & potato first, then the leek and mushrooms. Lastly, add the garlic and fry for another minute.

Make up your stock with boiling water and add to the pan so that the water level is just above the line of the veg in the pot. I like Kallo or Just Boullin stock cubes, available in Dunnes & health food shops. They're about €1.99 a pack. I generally use chicken stock for veg soup as it gives a nice extra dimension of flavour but obviously if you are making soup for a vegetarian, just use vegetable stock.

Bring to the boil, reduce heat, add dill* & simmer for 30 minutes or until veg is tender. Season with salt & pepper. When the soup has cooled a little use a hand blender to liquidise it and you're ready to go. Pretty tasty and very cheap.

This is the most basic soup recipe, but I've been trying out different types and I'll post more on soups soon!

* I find dill tastes delicious as a seasoning for soups. It's also a very useful herb for fish, and can be used in all manner of dishes and sauces for fish. Its one of those herbs that is delicious fresh, but also not too bad dried. Thyme and Rosemary are great dried too, whereas Parsley is just completely pointless and flavourless when dried.

About me

Hello world wide web! I am recently unemployed and trying to figure out how to feed myself and save money while looking for a job. Here I will aim to provide some useful recipes and money saving ideas for people who like to eat well. I'm not sure if my blog will foray into my other areas of interest (music, movies, psychology, clothes, sustainability etc) but sure we'll see how it goes. Enjoy and feel free to send me feedback, leave comments etc.