Delicious dumplings

Winter Warmer. Vegetable Stew with Dumplings. Source: SimoneySunday

Tonight I decided to use up all the vegetables that we had leftover in the fridge, ahead of our monthly food shop. I also had to use up some vegetable suet that was leftover from Christmas. So what better on the coldest night so far in 2016 than to make a delicious stew with herby dumplings?

I had planned for this of course, and had already soaked 1 cup each of lentils, barley, chickpeas, green beans and butter beans on the stove overnight and boiled them up for half an hour before getting down to the stewy business.

I chopped up an onion, and the rest of my broccoli and carrots, added some sweetcorn and a tin of chopped tomatoes, some herbs and seasoning, together with some vegetable stock, and put into the oven with the remaining pulses for nearly 2 hours.

Approximately 30 minutes before serving, I made some dumplings with 60oz vegetable suet, 1 cup of plain flour, 1 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp of paprika, 1/2 tsp of dried rosemary and some salt and pepper, together with enough water to make a thick dough. Rolling the dough into floury balls - with floury hands - I layered these on top of the stew and put back into the oven for 20 minutes.

Verdict from my meat-eating husband was 'delicious'. And now the fridge is empty, waiting for some more fresh vegetables to be delivered tomorrow night!

As my mother used to say, waste not, want not. Had I thrown out those two sorry-looking carrots or the broccoli, I would not have had such a flavoursome dish. Best of all? It serves four - so more for hubby and myself another time!

Easy Sausage Casserole

Nothing looks sadder than a couple of lonely carrots, half a green pepper or some slightly less crunchy celery left in the fridge. The temptation to ditch is great - but RESIST!

To avoid throwing out vegetables that are still good, even if they are not quite as fresh as they once were, consider turning them into a casserole or hot pot. This is a great way to use up leftover veg.

If you have a slow cooker, you can throw everything in at once and leave it to cook itself while you are out or at work. This can be very cost-effective. However, for people without one of these, creating a casserole can traditionally mean using up a lot of gas or electricity. I therefore created this 30-minute bake as good way of part-roasting the food before turning it into a casserole, so the flavouring is still strong and the vegetables are soft while the meat is well cooked within 25-30 minutes. It might not be traditional, but it is cheap, easy to make, and can be very filling.

Vegetarians can pack out the ingredients by adding two cups of lentils, which will bulk up the dinner so that it is filling. Simply soften the lentils first by boiling for a few minutes in water before adding them to the vegetables. Obviously the vegetable version costs less than the meat version, but for the meat-lovers, here's my recipe for a basic sausage casserole (serves four).

You will need: 
1 pack of sausages. I used Tesco's British Butcher's Cumberland Sausages for £1.50 but you can get cheaper versions. I often buy on a deal and freeze them; defrost them thoroughly before cooking.
2 Carrots
2 Parsnips (or Bell Peppers, Cabbage, Peas, etc)
4 Celery sticks (I buy a whole head/stalk of celery as it lasts longer than pre-cut packaged ones, and it goes further for less money)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 brown onion
Some seasoning - basic/value stock cube, pepper, salt, oregano (I have a huge bag of this from the Greek relatives).
A dash or two of olive oil

How to:
Chop the onion roughly - leave it chunky - and put into a Pyrex or other oven dish with the olive oil. Clean and chop the celery, and add it to the onion.
Clean and cut the carrots and parsnips into thin dials and add to the celery and onion.
Chop up each sausage into half. Add these to the dish.
Add the seasoning.
Put into the oven for about 15 minutes on a 160 heat, so the meat starts to cook and the vegetables start to roast.
After 15 minutes, take out, add the tin of chopped tomatoes, and stir thoroughly. Add two-three tablespoons of water to the mixture, to make sure it is moist and covering all the other ingredients.
Put in for a further 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven, until the sausages are cooked through.

Serve, and enjoy!

Salmon and Feta Leftover Pie

Watching television programmes such as The War on Waste about people throwing perfectly good food and clothes away makes me angry.

I have never been a wastrel. I was not brought up to consume without conscience. Moreover I was also blessed with an imagination which has helped me make the most of whatever leftovers and remnants I could find in my home.

It does not take a genius to work out that supermarkets want you to throw good food away instead of pickling it or freezing it, because their business model depends on the relentless spend, spend, spend of the consumer.

So this Sunday I decided to cook a two-course meal using only leftovers or 'out of date' food. The menu was: Salmon and Feta layer pie with filo pastry, and a spicy bread and butter pudding. I'll do the pudding separately because I'm lazy when it comes to posting stuff. Honesty, eh?

The date of eating was Sunday 15 November. It's now Tuesday 17th and we're both still alive and hearty, thank you very much!

Indeed, I have never seen this recipe anywhere before and so I believe what you are about to read is a world exclusive - the finest luxury leftover pie for you to try yourself. It really was tasty - light on the palate yet packed full of punchy flavour.

Salmon and Feta pie. Made with love - and leftovers

Ingredients:

Loch Fyne Smoked Salmon - Frozen on day of purchase (August). Consumed: November

1/2 pack of Feta cheese - use by date 30 October. Consumed: November

1/3 pack of mushrooms - use by date 6 November

1/2 tin Heinz Mushroom soup - October 2015 use by date 

One onion, use-by date 30 October. Still hard, dry and firm thanks to a good fridge.

6 sheets of Filo pastry, found secreted in the back of the freezer since March 2015

Teaspoon of dried Saffron, found in my husband's possession, dated June 2012. Yes, 2012.

Salt

Pepper

Home-grown chives and parsley (obviously these were in-date)

Well, I have NEVER seen a recipe for this, and I have never made this before so I was basically making this recipe up out of my own head. So it was complete trial and error. 

NOTE: I am sure the smoked salmon can be swapped for a tin of salmon. So give it a go.

How to: 

Prepare the pastry

Defrost the pastry slowly (DO NOT MICROWAVE IT INTO FROSTLESS SUBMISSION)

Carefully peel the layers and fold a first layer into a lightly oiled square pyrex cooking dish. Mine is a square 13'inch by 5inch deep pan.

Brush lightly with oil.

Make the filling

Chop the onion finely and add to a pan with some olive oil. Stir until a little brown.

Clean and chop the mushrooms, add these to the pan along with the seasoning. Add garlic to taste.

Add the salmon, making sure to stir well for three minutes. 

Add the mushroom soup, stir well for another minute.

Chop and add the feta cheese, stir gently and remove from the heat.

Layer a little of the salmon and feta filling onto the bottom sheet of filo pastry.

Add another layer of pastry on top of this as if it were a lasagna, repeat the process until all the filling has been used up.

Layer the remaining filo pastry over the top, brush with olive oil and a little paprika or herbs of your choice, and bake for c.20 minutes at 180 degrees.

And there you have it. It served four (so we ate the rest on Monday). We served it the first day with a Greek Salad made by hubby and the following day with carrots (which were also two days past the use by date!) and peas. For hints on how to keep carrots crispy and crunchy, see here.

Let me know how your version turned out - and if you swapped any ingredients with great success! 

Applesauce

I have found two things to be true with regard to shop-bought apple sauce

1) The good, natural, stuff is expensive
2) The cheap, preservative-laden stuff tastes of sugar and had the
texture of mush

I wanted to make my own but I did not have a recipe to hand. So I did what anyone would do - ask a former Army corporal, aged 75 years, what he put into his own version.

'Lemon and spices' he said. 'And boil it properly without too much water'. So I took Rodger's advice when I came to preparing an apple sauce made with a bag full of Julia's lovely Bramleys. I love it when friends give you freebies! This is such a good way to save money and eat healthily! These apples were still not quite ripe although were windfalls, so had that extra crispness and tang.

Ingredients
200g of Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup of water
1/2 cup brown sugar tablespoons of brown sugar, to taste (add more if you like sweet sauce)
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of malt vinegar
1 teaspoon of mixed spices (cinnamon, mace, ginger, crushed cloves)
1/4 teaspoon of salt

How to
Clean the apple chunks. We do not like mushy food so left the chunks quite large, but you can dice or slice more thinly

Boil these in a pan with the water, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and salt until it reduces. It should look similar to chunky babyfood.

Immediately put the pan on a low heat, and stir in the spices for 1 minute.
Taste it. It should be quite tangy and not too salty or bitter. If you need to, add 1-2 tablespoons more of sugar and stir for a couple of minutes. 

We do not like sugary tasting sauces in our house but I appreciate that everyone's tastebuds are different.

When it suits your palate, remove from heat and let it cool.
Wait until it cools before putting into clean jars.

The finished product - in interesting jars!

I keep old jam jars for this purpose, as it saves money buying new ones. However I do relabel them with the date of manufacture on it. This helps me to work out how long it will keep in the fridge, which is approximately 3-4 weeks, and stops hungry visitors from mistaking it for jam (recipe to come soon).

So far we have used this with 'posh' bangers and mash (recipe for 'posh' mash can be found here) and as an accompaniment to my hubby's ham and cheese sandwiches for work, which he said were 'really nice'. 

This is a compliment indeed; his usual response to 'how do I look' or 'what do you think' is 'fine'. will try it on Pork Roast for a Sunday lunch soon.

Thank you, Julia, for the apples and thank you, Rodger, for preventing me from drowning my apples in too much water!

I scream for Ice Cream!

Left-over Blueberry Crumble Icecream. Photo credit: SimoneySunday

Ice cream should be a food group all by itself. I absolutely love it, but I do not love the fuss and expense of an ice cream maker. Too many kitchens have too many unused gadgets and, according to friends who do have and use their ice-cream makers, they have to put so many ingredients in, and it takes time.

Personally, I love this recipe for ice-cream using just two base ingredients and whatever you choose for the flavouring. All you need is a bowl and a hand-held blender (or infinite patience with an old-fashioned whisk).

This ice-cream takes 10 minutes maximum to make with a blender and freezes within eight hours - perfect for an evening meal or to prepare several days before a big dinner with friends and family.

How To: 
Simply buy 500g of whipping cream and 1 300g tin of condensed milk (get the normal one as the light version crystallises too much and takes longer to set).

Whip the cream in a cool bowl (I put mine in the fridge for a few mins beforehand so it is not room temperature). Once the cream is thickly whipped into stiff peaks, fold in the condensed milk. Stir it together (do not worry if the mixture starts to look a little runny). Then add your chosen flavouring.

Fold your flavour into the cream - do not completely mix it in but allow for veins and chunks and swirls of flavour throughout. Then freeze and forget about it for eight hours.

To serve, just let it stand at room temperature for about five minutes, scoop and enjoy. My problem is I am too impatient to let it stand for 5 minutes, so I whack it about with a knife, hence the slightly square-ish image in the above photo.

My favourite flavours so far are:

• Honey and honeycomb pieces (see my hack on how to liquefy honey that is crystallising in your cupboard)
• Left-over blueberry crumble (as pictured)
• Strawberries and cream.

For the strawberry flavour, I simply washed and de-greened the tops off some strawberries I had frozen a few weeks earlier, defrosted them slightly in the microwave for two minutes and then blitzed into a sorbet with the blender.

However you can make what you want: chocolate, cookies 'n' cream, raspberry swirl, apple and cinnamon - the list could be endless!

Utter Peanut Butter Nutter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies. Picture Credit: Simoney Sunday

Ever had that urge to eat some amazing, home-made cookies just before you settle down to watch a film at night, but realise with only 20 minutes to go that you don't have any? I get that feeling a lot!

Do not panic, and do not rush out to the local gas station to buy an overpriced pack of preservative-laden biscuits.

Check your food cupboard and fridge first. If you have one medium egg, one cup of white (granulated) sugar and one tub of peanut butter, you're in luck.

This is also gluten-free so is perfect for people who have an intolerance to gluten. However it might not be so good for people who are allergic to peanuts. Well, you cannot have it all. And they do look delicious, oui?

Ingredients
1 Egg (medium or large)
1 Jar of peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
1 cup of white (granulated sugar)

How to
Mix the egg, peanut butter and sugar in a bowl until you form a paste. I particularly like crunchy peanut butter, but smooth will do.

Get a dessert spoon and use one scoop per cookie on a sheet of greaseproof paper (or a very lightly greased baking sheet). Using a fork, pat the cookies flat first one way, then the other to create a chequered effect (see picture).

All the above takes a maximum of five minutes.

Whack them into the oven at 190 degrees Celcius (or 180 for fan-assisted ovens. This will be gas mark four to five for conventional gas ovens.

Leave for six to eight mins - no more - and take them out. Leave them somewhere out of the reach of smaller people/animals and cool. It takes approximately 10 mins for them to cool enough for you to have a plate of delicious, crunchy on outside, chewy on the inside, cookies.

You could...
For an additional twist, add a spoonful or two of chocolate spread, or chocolate chips for an extra kick.

Food hack #101: Getting Honey Runny

Honey honey honey... It's a rich man's world

Honey does not come cheap - good honey that is. So when a fair bit remains in the jar in the cupboard and is approaching or even a little after the use by date, you may see that it has started to crystallise or solidify.

Do not throw it out!

Put a little lemon juice - either a squeeze or three of a real lemon or one of those bottled lemon juices used for flavouring - into the jar, and warm it up in the microwave for about two minutes. Let it cool slightly before using it!

Tip: Do not try this with plastic bottles. Learn from my fail.

Food Hack #98: Get that Salad Dressed!

Cheat's salad dressing

Do you ever have an urge to eat salad when you get in from work? You do? Crazy child. But who am I to judge? In fact I am here to help. If you have any leftover honey or Dijon mustard in a jar, here is how to create your own vinaigrette dressing cheaply and quickly.

Let's face it, paying £3 for an upmarket, home-style dressing is just nonsense when you can do it yourself for free!

Ingredients
Honey
Dijon or other grainy mustard
Vinegar
Olive Oil

How-To
If you have a smattering of runny honey left in a jar, add a few teaspoonfuls of Dijon mustard. Likewise if you have some Dijon mustard left in a jar, add a few teaspoonfuls of clear runny honey.

Then add a few ml of olive oil - about two teaspoonfuls, and a few dashes of red wine or white wine vinegar, replace the lid and shake what your mother gave you, and well.

Once it has all mixed together, et voila! You have a delicious salad dressing made up of leftovers.

Cheat Treat!

Blackberry Tart. On a Budget, innit! Credit: Simoney Sunday

I wouldn't normally advocate buying prefabricated pastry cases, but not everyone has the time or the energy to be a domestic goddess - not to mention the fact that getting the pastry case absolutely perfect is a beggar. And it's always good to get something in your store cupboard, just in case.

Many big supermarkets stock pastry cases of various sizes and, when I happened to find a batch in a 'sin bin' - with a 'Use By' date of that very day, I could not help but consider 4 small cases at 89p a bargain.

The thing is, these can be frozen. And frozen they were, until I needed to use them to try to impress the female parental unit with a posh-looking dessert that didn't take me any time to prepare.

This was very, very simple although it looks fantastic. Or would have, if I could take pictures properly

Ingredients
Ice-cream (home made is best - see the recipe here - but this occasion Sainsbury's helped out)
Whipping cream
Blackberries (I normally get these for free by harvesting and freezing but these were from my friend's garden)
Cocoa Powder (I have a feeling this might have been WeightWatchers!)

How To
Whip up the cream (some people put a little icing sugar into it to sweeten it but we don't like things too sweet in our house)
Spoon it into pastry cases
Decorate with some washed and dried blackberries

Waft some cocoa powder over the side of the plate and scoop a ball of icecream
Decorate with some home-grown mint leaves if you're feeling extra (which I was. You should see mum's garden when the mint took over. That was a three-year battle)

And whoop! A professionally presented dessert that takes all of say, 5 minutes (depending on how quickly you can whip that cream).

Champagne tastes, cola budget. What can I say?