Fishcakes

These took me 2 days to make and were a pain in the butt! 

I dont know if I will be making them again, but incase they would benefit anyone I thought id post them here.

I had lots of different fish in the freezer that I really needed to use up somehow. Fish pie is what i'd do normally but i needed something to put back in the freezer, to just pull out ready made and stick in the oven. So I went with fishcakes. These were a mix of 2 Mackrel, 3 salmon fillets and 2 cod fillets.

Boil some peeled potatoes to make mash! I had half a can of sweetcorn that needed using, so added that to the chopped/flaked fish, along with some peas all cooked together. I added some dill that I had in the freezer but most of the seasoning will come from what I put in the mash.

Once youve mashed your potatoes (with an egg and some butter, and lots of cracked black pepper, salt and whatever herbs you fancy!) add them to the fish/veg mix and combine.

Whisk an egg in a bowl and fill another bowl with breadcrumbs. I keep a bag of breadrumbs in the freezer from any leftover bread not suitable for eating or bread and butter pudding, and also scraping the crumbs from cutting up bread into a freezer bag.

And basically you just take a scoop of fish mix, shape it into a patty, dip it in egg, then dip it in breadcrumbs make sure it gets covered. I had to freeze them flat and once frozen pop them in a freezer bag or they got out of shape.

Sounds simple?

It wasnt.

For some reason the whole process took me 2 days. Maybe because I wasnt well at the time or maybe because of all the steps involved and having two kids hanging off my legs. Either way, I think ill stick to fish pie next time I have fish needing using up. 

Leftover anything pie!

I slow cooked a ham hock this week. So alongside all of the meat, I have a big bowlful of stock for a ham and pea soup tomorrow. While I was looking around the beans/legumes/chickpeas etc sections of tesco last week, I realised that marrowfat peas (the type of peas that make mushy peas) are half the price of chickpeas, cannelini beans and haricot beans. So I picked up a packet and my plan today is to make some ham and pea soup with the ham stock, a little leftover ham and some soaked marrowfat peas. Any veg leftover will be chucked in, some pearl barley to thicken and will add dumplings for an hour before serving.

Yesterday I did a pie! I do leftover 'anything' pie. Usually with leftover meat and stock, but you can do a veggie one, lentils, beans etc. 'Anything' leftover or needing using up.

Today I had leftover:

A sorry looking carrot

Some ham

Some cooked chicken in the freezer

Onion

Chicken stock

Now, I hate pastry! And it hates me! Its sticky, messy, if you roll it too much it goes hard and chewy, flour everywhere and dough under my nails, ugh!! But its worth learning how to make good pastry from scratch for 3 main reasons:

1 - Its cheap! Its plain flour, half the weight of the flour in fat, any fat, and a little water. I used....wait for it....LARD! shock horror! If you think lard is gross, your probably right. But I can garuntee you, you will have eaten far grosser without realising it. Go google what goes into a bag of cheese and onion Walkers, how vegetable oil is pressed, or what those numbers mean on the ingredient label of a jar of korma sauce! For desserts I use butter, for savoury - lard. 34p block. or a mix of butter and lard if im feeling very well off ;)

2 - 'Anything' can become a meal. Literally, you can make a potato pie! Lentil pie! Leftover meat and veg pie. Mince and onion? Lamb and rosemary/mint? Steak? Creamy mushroom? That box of stew lurking in the freezer that no-one liked? You can get anything lurking in your fridge (within reason!) or in the reduced section of a supermarket, and stick it in a pie. Most people I know eat pie, and most people dont realy care whats in it! Correct seasoning and crusty pastry makes most things edible.

3 - Variety. Youd be amazed, when youve learned pastry making as a skill, what other recipes are suddenly available to you! Quiche. Pasties. Tarts. And the majority are self contained and can be transported for picnics/pack lunches. Which makes a welcome change from sandwiches. 

Sooooooo:

The rule is, half the weight of fat to the weight of your flour. A little water until it comes together.

I think I used 200g plain flour and 100g lard. I just added water a few drops at a time until it came together. 

Squish it all into a ball and place onto a floured surface:

Divide into two balls, one for the lining, one for the pie lid.

Roll it out adding more flour if it sticks, and line a greased dish:

Trim off the excess.

Noe pastry purists will want you to 'blind bake'. I used to do this, basically you prick the base (always do this regardless!) and line it with greaseproof paper, place some baking beans or rice in the centre and spread evenly and bake for 10-15 mins. I skip the whole baking beans bit and just stick it in the oven and bake for 15 mins. Just because it makes the base less soggy and crisper. If your in a hurry you dont even have to do this, just fill and bake.

While its blind baking, prep your filling:

I have a pot in the fridge, it is full of fat skimmed from the top of chicken stock once cooled. I fried some onions and a grated garlic clove in that. I know, eeeewwww, whatever! See my post above as to what really constitutes as gross food. It saves my precious expensive olive oil, it adds depth and flavour to the pie and you seriously need just a teaspoon and it coats the entire pan, added a dodgy carrot rolling around the bottom of the fridge that needed using up.

Add stock, I used chicken stock from a leftover carcass. Which by the way was cooked about 2 weeks ago! Ive always chucked stock I havent used within 3 days. But I read an article last week, apparently if the stock is sealed under a good layer of fat once cooled, it can keep up to a month! I had no idea, but this was certainly fine and it was from a chicken cooked 2 weeks ago.

Simmer until your ingredients are cooked through and take a little liquid out into a seperate bowl:

Mix in some cornflour and add the mix back into the pan. Repeat until the mixture is as thick as you want.

I waited until the mixture cooled before I added the cooked meat, just because I made it in the morning for evening tea, and i didnt want the meat heating up again before putting it in the oven at tea-time. 

Fill in your pie base, roll out the other half of the pastry to make the lid and seal by pressing your (clean!) thumb round the edges. Trim the edges, and your ready to go! ;)

Pierce the top a couple of time so it lets the steam escape without exploding!

Served ours with roast potatoes and honey carrots :)

Leftover lamb biryani

Leftover lamb makes the most amazing biryani. Biryani is a spiced, indian rice dish, and it is so simple to make! Especially if you cheat with some pataks curry paste ;)

I boil about a handful of basmati rice per person. Basmati is expensive compared to the value 40p a kilo rice, but trust me, it is worth the extra expense when it comes to indian food.

I usually add mushrooms but didnt have any this time. So I chopped an onion, grated about 4 cloves of garlic into the pan and fried in some olive oil. Then added a pepper, and half of my leftover lamb. Add a good tablespoon of pataks curry paste (I used a bit of tikka and balti) andd stir it round to coat everything.

Add your boiled rice and another tablespoon of curry paste (you will have to use judgment as to how much you need to add, it will depend on how much rice you have), stir through and fry for 5 mins or so.

Thats it! your done :)

So simple and yummy. You could do this with just veggies, add a couple of chicken drumsticks, add some meat it is a dish on its own. Were having it with mango chutney and popadoms.

I still have a slice of lamb each left to go with cous cous for tomorrows dinner.

I did some baking today, using up all the fruit/veg in the fridge (plus the blinking stilton!)

I made a tomato and cheese (half cheddar, half stilton) quiche for our lunches tomorrow, a banana loaf (which was eaten att lunch-time with friends who came over for lunch!) and a fruit crumble with apple, pineapple and blackberries. Topped with a crumble with oats and pinenuts. I still have a lot of pineapple left so will be finding a way to use that up soon.

The parsnip, thyme and parmasen loaf was GORGEOUS! We polished that off at lunch along with he brocolli and stilton soup :) so will put another loaf on overnight to be fresh baked for morning breakfast. Cant beat fresh bread and home-made jam! 

Epic whoopsies and treacle tart.............

Sometimes, I go to look for reductions, and come back with a pot of hummous and colslaw and having spent £5 on petrol. But every so often, it pays off:

£10.15

There is a little joint of topside beef which we sliced into two steaks - £2.50

Pack of brasing steak - £1.50

Pack of 2 Duck breast fillets (naughty treat! v.expensive) - £2.00

2 packs of 4x Turkey quarter pounder burgers 60p each - £1.20

2 packs of 650g lean mince beef 80p each - £1.60

A pack of salad leaves - 15p

3 x cans parioli tomatoes - FREE! (with 50p coupons at tesco)

3 x ristorante pizzas 40p each (with coupons) -£1.20 (for tea tonight)

Bottle of red wine  - £3

pack of extra mozerella for pizza - 40p

I got lots of veg and froze on monday. But it has been weeks since I got meat. And ive never got it this cheap before! so very, very, very happy right now! :) I had to do a major re-shuffle of my freezer, but i'm so happy with my £10 spend.

I had a budget of £20 for this week, I have £5 left for the rest of the week, as I have been trying to make an effort to shop for reductions.

The only thing is, it is SO stressful! Seriously, there were people swearing, shoving and grabbing, one guy literally snatched a pack of mince out of my hands after the guy reduced it for me. You have to have nerves of steel and accept the fact that most people are going to be very aggresive :(

But, today at least, it was worth it! :) Came away with lots of bargains to feed my family for the week and beyond.

I made a treacle tart for the first time! :)

Whizzed up all the hot dog buns that were going off into bredcrumbs:

Line a pie dish with shortcrush pastry:

Blind bake for 10 mins

Heat up 300g golden syrup, 50g black treacle in a saucepan

Add 150g breadcrumbs, juice and zest of 1 lemon, and about 2 tsp grated ginger, a shake of salt.

Mix in breadcrumbs once melted and add to your pastry case. Bake for half an hour.

Also, parnip, thyme and parmasen loaf turned out HUGE:

Smells kinda fruity and herby. Cant wait to try it! :)

Odds and ends make for interesting recipes......

End of the week, and ive been fortunate enough to pick up quite a few reductions this week very cheap. Unfortunately that means I have a lot of cooking to do quickly before it goes bad and I am determined not to waste anything!

This was meant to be lunch today. The bockwurst sausages on the right are a german smoked sausage with 84% meat content, and were reduced to about £1 for 5. The  hot dog rolls on the left, I bought to go with them, were reduced to 24p and unfortunatly have a few spots of mould. So I will be removing the mould and whizzing them into breadcrumbs later for a treacle tart. Hubby has asked me to do a meal he has been wanted to try, ever since finding a picture of facebook. So this is what we did with the sausages: 

(Warning: could be considered slightly freaky and certainly isnt a respectful way to treat such lovely sausages)

Chop up into chunks.

Grab your spaghetti:

Bad picture sorry, but skewer the sausage chunks with spaghetti! 

Cook n a pan of boiling water for 10mins.

We topped ours with cheese and no veggies whatsoever on request of hubby. Usually I would do a tomatoe based sauce with onions and garlic.

I also had 3 tiny, very sad looking parsnips knocking around the bottom of the fridge.

So, I decided to make a parsnip, parmasen and thyme loaf, a la Jack Monroe (www.agirlcalledjack.com)

Peeled, and grated the parsnips, added a good few pinch's of 'parmasen' cheese (which was actually tesco value italian style cheese that was reduced, grated and frozen!) from the freezer and also a few pinch's of chopped thyme from the freezer. Added this lot to the breadmaker along with 2 cups of warm water, a glug of olive oil, 3 1/2 cups of strong flour, a shake of sugar, a shake of salt and a couple of teaspoons of dried yeast.

Its in my bread-maker right now and smells amazing! I love herbs and cheese in bread so this should be good.

Earlier in the week, I couldnt post due to little boy stealing my phone (camera!) We did a 2 kilo chicken in the slow cooker. Made some home-made colslaw and jacket potatoes to go with it. I managed to pick up a really good pack of cooking bacon from sainsburys for £1.09. Some of the packs are basically full of rind and fat. This one had a good few steaks in it. so I made a chicken and bacon pie the next day with a little of the bacon and a little cooked chicken, lots of leftover veg in the fridge:

Also in the piccie is the tomato, bacon and cheese quiche on the left. 

Made a chicken risotto with the remaining stock and a little chicken for the third day. And ive frozen the rest, which consisted of a whole breast and most the meat from a leg. 

Last night, I made my way down to sainburys with a £10 giftcard and bought a half leg of lamb for dinner. We had family over and no time to defrost anything. I have half that joint left n the fridge which I will be stretching over the next 2 day, 1 with cous cous and 1 biriyani.

Also, last week and this week too I made a vat of brocolli and stilton soup, Ive been making a lot of this as i've managed to pick up a lot of reduced brocolli recently and have NO freezer space! (Literally, theres a chair ontop of it keeping it shut!) and I still have a 650g block of stilton leftover from the christmas reductions. (I had 3 blocks at 80p each). I usually serve my soup with walnuts and a good crusty home-made bread with butter:

As I said I have no freezer space so this is in the fridge for lunch for the rest of the week.

Im thinking the remaining stilton may end up in some stilton and walnut scones.

I made my first ever bakewell pudding last night and it was amazing! Will definitely be making it again. But for this week I have a treacle tart and an egg custard to make. Will (hopefully) post pics when I get round to making them!

Eves pudding

Well, my version of it! Probably not the right way of doing it but it is yummy non the less.

I found 6 of these! My daughter loves to take a bite out of an apple and then hide it in the house for me to find. I didnt fancy a crumble so decided to make an eves pudding instead. Really simple to make and a bit nicer than a normal sponge.

Apples (I used 6 half eaten ones!)
100g SR flour
100g Sugar
100g Butter
splash of milk

I lost my vintage pyrex dish somewhere so ive used a pie dish instead, grease it with a leftover butter wrapper.
Peel chop and slice the apples, line the bottom of the dish evenly.

My four year old little boy is my photographer today.
Mix the cake ingredients in a bowl, add a splash of milk if the mixture is too thick, and spread ontop of the apples.

Bake on 180 for about 40mins or so.

My apples somehow rose to the top, this was lovely served with custard!

Oh look! Some chocolate muffins magically appeared! :P

One of those days bolognase....

We had such a fab time on Monday! Group homeschoolers trip to the Magna science museum. It was a LOT of walking though and i'm really hurting today, throbbing all over. Its days like today when i'm so grateful for my kitchen gadgets! I've put a ready made bread mix in the bread maker, just add water so no fighting the brain fog thinking about measurments. And i've just put one of my standbye staple meals into the slow cooker, Bolognase! I make this so much I dont need tothink about it and once youve prepped everything, you can stick it in the slow cooker and let it do all the cooking for you, which is priceless for days like today. Because i'm struggling so much to move today, ive used pre-chopped veggies from the freezer. Days like this are why I have pre-chopped veggies in the freezer.

Grated carrot, chopped celery and some chopped peppers, about a handful of each, in the cooker.

You can just stick onions in the slow cooker, but they really taste a lot better if you fry them in olive oil first (imagine boiled onions? yeah, not nice.) These are frozen pre-chopped onions. I would normally add grated garlic, but i'm feeling extra lazy today, sooooo......

Frozen pre-minced cubes of garlic (oh yes! *that* level of laziness!)

We really like a lot of garlic in our italian type foods, so I added 4 cubes (equivelent to 4 cloves.)

I had some chopped basil in the freezer so added a few pinches and some extra dried herbs.

I really dont like using canned mushrooms, but I have non in the freezer or fridge so these had to do. I discovered them recently actually in tesco, they were about 9p for 250g sliced mushrooms. So I keep a few in for emergencies.

Lea and Perrins is my special ingredient, a few splashes of that along with a few splashes of red wine make a huge difference to the depth of flavour.

I normally use canned tomatoes but I have a lot of passata in my cupboards at the moment as they were cheaper than tinned and more versatile. I usually use two or even three cartons and add lentils too, but my poor slow cooker was looking rather full so I just put the one in.

My breadmaker in the background there was kindly donated to me from a very kind lady off freecycle, years ago. Its only a cheap tesco model, and ive used it almost everyday for the past 4 years! Its on its last legs, but its holding out for the time being.

I brown off the mince just a little, other recipes say brown it off completely, which you can do, I like to do mine until about half of it is browned off then add it to the slow cooker.

When I see lean mince reduced or on offer I fill the freezer, its so versatile. 

As I said, I add a couple of splashes of red wine, lots of fresh ground black pepper, and I also add some beef stock. A couple of teaspoons/cubes depending on how much your making. I find it adds flavour but also helps combat some of the acidity from the tomatoes/wine etc.

This is a 3.5ltr slow cooker, full to the brim. I used a 600g pack of lean mince and plenty of veggies. I would normally add a couple of handfuls of lentils at this stage, but its so full already I havent bothered. This will be on high for about 5 hours, it will do tea tonight, lunch for hubby to take to work tomorrow and a meal tommorow night, I will be making it into chilli.

If you have any bacon add that to the mince when you brown it! It goes amazing in bolognase!

So that is my very lazy family meal, for when your having one of those days :)