Beef Bourguignon Potato Pie

I made the beef bourguignon stew first, not with cubed beef, but with ground beef instead. Cooked with carrots, onion, diced mushrooms, paprika, red wine (a delicious Italian merlot), bay leaves, garlic, and thyme. Plus beef stock. Cook for between one and two hours. Kept in the fridge for a couple of days, and then decanted into a standard pie tin. Remove the bay leaves.

The potatoes were boiled, then mashed with a little salted butter and olive oil. Creamed with a little milk. I also added some dried coriander leaf to the mash.

The mashed potato was added to the top of the pie tin, and textured with a fork, to increase crispiness.

Cooked for between forty and fifty minutes at 180 deg C on the middle shelf of the oven (check progress by eye). It may take a little longer.

It is customary to include chopped bacon in beef bourguignon, but I usually skip this ingredient.

Served with some French's American mustard. German mustard will do as well.

Fried Rice, Yellow Pepper, and Chorizo Sausage

A simple tapas style dish, based on fried rice and yellow peppers, with diced chorizo sausage. Cooked for five minutes at a high heat, and then the heat was turned down.

The rice had been boiled the previous day, but was not used. It was added to a flat pan drizzled with olive oil, and cooked slowly for ten minutes, before a lid was added to the pan. The strips of pepper were added, along with the diced chorizo. Cooked for another twenty minutes at a low heat.

The rice should be crispy before serving,  and dressed in dried (or fresh!) coriander leaf.

Peppered Chicken Salad, with Cherry Tomatoes and Yellow Pepper

Meat from a chicken drumstick in the fridge, liberally coated in freshly ground black pepper. Served with a Maris Piper potato salad (in mayonnaise), dressed in coriander leaf, a lettuce salad (purple and green) dressed in olive oil, diced cherry tomatoes, and sliced yellow pepper.

A pretty simple dish to prepare. Enjoyed with an Orvietto Classico Italian wine.

Chicken, Garlic, and Tarragon Soup

A simple chicken soup, made with carrots (two), chopped spring onion (three) diced chicken from one chicken drumstick (cheaper than chicken breast!), Tarragon, spinach, garlic, and chicken stock.

The soup base was prepared first, and simmered under glass for about two hours. The carrots were batonned.

The chicken drumstick came from the fridge. The chicken meat was peeled by hand from the drumstick (the most efficient way), and added to to the pot. I crushed a garlic clove, and added it to the pot. Simmered for at least another half an hour.  A really flavoursome soup!

Lorne Sausage, with Beans and Hash Browns

A simple dish of square lorne sausage, with baked beans, chopped cherry tomato, spinach, and diced spring onion. Served with slices of fried potato (hash browns).

The best way to cook lorne sausage is slowly, and under glass. Otherwise it tends to buckle. Cooked for ten minutes altogether, five minutes on each side (then drain the fat). A delicious and satisfying meal.

The cherry tomatoes, spinach and spring onion were cooked first, and then supplemented by the baked beans. The hash browns were cooked slowly in another pan, in some sunflower oil, again under glass.  Dress in dried basil or oregano, according to choice.

Peppered Gougons of Chicken, with Oven-roasted Potato Chips

Pan-fried goujons of chicken, in a peppered chicken gravy (chicken stock), thickened with cornflour or gravy granules. The gravy was prepared separately, and spooned over the goujons, along with a generous dressing of freshly ground black pepper.

The chipped Maris Piper potatoes were dressed in a little vinegar, tomato ketchup, olive oil, and dried basil. Cooked for fifty minutes on the middle shelf of the oven at 190 deg C. Watch progress carefully.

The chips were served with another dusting of basil.

King Prawns with Spinach, Peppers and Rice

Kng prawns from Indonesia cooked in a little sunflower oil for three minutes at a medium heat. Then I added slices of red pepper, diced spring onions (cheap from the local Co-op), and chopped spinach leaves. Cooked for a further four minutes under glass.

The rice (basmati) was cooked for ten minutes in salted water. I added coriander leaf in the final minutes. Simple and fabulous!

Ground Beef with Spring Onion and Curried Rice

5% fat ground beef, browned for twenty-five minutes in some sunflower oil. Eight chopped spring onions (cybes) plus two diced carrots were caramelised in a separate small pan at the same time.

Added together, along with some Sainsbury's gravy granules, and with some boiling water, and beef stock. Actually inferior to the traditional way of thickening beef mince, which is to use cornflour. Sainsbury's granules contain wheat flour, which I try to avoid. Always read the label before buying.

Simmered for at least an hour under glass at a low heat. Longer is better, if you like your beef tender.

The rice was cooked for ten minutes with curry powder, salt, turmeric and a green chilli. Drained, and the whole green chilli was removed before serving. 

Pan-fried Haddock Fillet

Slow cooked fillet of haddock (8-10 minutes at a low heat under glass).

Served with boiled potatoes and a lettuce salad dressed in a little olive oil and a dusting of ground black pepper.

Simple and delicious!

Chopped Pork Salad, with Lettuce and Spinach

The chopped pork came from a 1.50kg joint cooked a couple of days before and kept in the fridge. I used about 150g of it for this salad.

I bought a bagged salad of different colours of lettuce from the co-op, and added a handful of diced spinach leaves (from the same co-op). The leaves were dressed in a dessert spoonful of olive oil, and a teaspoonful of mustard (French's American Mustard in this case,  but English or German mustard will do as well). Stirred together thoroughly. I added half a julienned red onion also, plus some dried tarragon, coriander leaf, and black pepper.

Beef Chilli with Roast Potatoes

An unusual combination of components, but it works quite well. How to do good roast potatoes is detailed here.

The ground beef was browned for half an hour, initially at a high heat, and then at a low heat. The beef was 5% fat, so I added a little olive oil to the pan.

Then I added water, chopped tomato, julienned red onion, diced carrot, some haricot beans, red kidney beans (soaked overnight), beef stock, dried coriander, and three red chillies. Simmered for two hours until tender. Delicious!

Corned Beef and Baked Beans

A simple dish made with corned beef, red onion, red peppers and haricot beans. Pretty fabulous in its simplicity.

The potatoes were prepared first, after boiling for twenty minutes.. The onions were also cooked first until they became transparent along with the red peppers. .

Then the corned beef and the baked beans were cooked together for around seven miutes. A delicious and easy to prepare meal.

Apple and Banana Crumble, with Cinnamon

A simple crumble, made with four apples (diced and cored, but not peeled), and one small peeled banana. Stewed in a lidded pot for a couple of hours at a low heat, along with one cinnamon stick (powdered cinnamon will do just as well).

The crumble mix was made with four dessert spoonfuls of spelt flour, four dessert spoonfuls of sugar (in this case preserving sugar, but any granulated sugar will do, including demarara). Mixed together with around 75g of salted butter (best done with your fingers, for around fifteen minutes).

After removing the cinnamon stick, the stewed apple was spooned into a pie tin, and the topping was laid on top. Cooked on the middle shelf of an oven heated to 180 deg. C for forty minutes. Judge progress by eye! Served with several spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt.

Leek, Courgette and Carrot Soup

A simple soup, using up items in the fridge (always good in a frugal household!). The ingredients are: diced leek, carrot, courgette, oregano, onion, diced spinach, plus lots of black pepper. Thickened with some arrowroot, and with added vegetable stock.

Beef Chilli with Kidney Beans and Greek Yoghurt

A straightforward ground beef chilli, served with Greek yoghurt dressed with coriander leaf.

The 5% fat beef was browned in sunflower oil for twenty minutes, after which the julienned white onion was added, along with the diced carrot. Stirred together under glass for another thirty minutes.

I added boiling water to the pot, plus the vegetable and beef stock. Plus the red chillies, and the sliced red pepper.  Simmered under glass for an hour or so.

The dried kidney beans had been soaked for three hours in a separate pot, and then were boiled for two hours, before being added to the main dish (after draining). Along with some haricot beans.

Served with Greek yoghurt dressed in dried coriander leaf. Delicious!