Scallops, bacon and cod pie recipe
Danny and I took advantage of some cheap Ryan Air tickets several years ago and spent a long weekend in Paris. The tickets cost under £50 but the long weekend notched up a giddy £800. And most of this was spent on food. Even though the days were financially balmy we were shocked how expensive Paris could be. But we still savour the memories of those meals and the wonderful restaurants. Whether they were local bistros catering for a small coterie of French clientele in the know, or larger more formal establishments where food was...
read moreDelicious saffron spaghetti with a cream prawn and squid sauce recipe
This is my all time favourite prawn recipe. Quick and easy to make and a deluxe treat. And there’s the rub. Prawns are expensive so whenever we see North Atlantic prawns on sale we grab them and bung them into the freezer. Where they wait in limbo to finally be teamed with squid and guzzled with glee. The saffron is pricey too. We get round this by adding saffron to our Christmas lists. Generally we get enough to see us through the next year. One day I plan to do a Magic Cochin and grow my own. Delicious saffron spaghetti with a cream...
read moreFried fillets of plaice with a nasturtium and mustard seed cream sauce recipe
“Do you mind if I experiment with Duncan’s pickled nasturtium seeds to make a sauce for the fish tonight.” I had found some cut priced fillets of plaice on the Tesco CFC. “That’s fine as long as we’ve got some mayo.” What Danny didn’t know was that we’d finally run out of the mayo that Miles and Jocelyn bring back from France. And as I didn’t have time to rustle up some homemade mayonnaise, this had to be a good sauce. What I wanted was both taste and texture that would not overpower the delicate fillets of plaice. The...
read moreMy twist on the Waitrose recipe for Moules Mariniere
Having failed to persuade my partner to share my bag of rope mussels I was determined to make a really great sauce. So I looked at a couple of good foodie blogs for inspiration. Veronica at La Recette du Jour had a great recipe but I didn’t have curry powder. Joanna at Joanna’s Food had a tempting recipe but I was tired and didn’t want to do the maths (her recipe was for 5 kilos). In the end I looked at the cooking instructions on the label for Moules Mariniere. As Danny was getting restive and already grilling some burgers I...
read moreHow to cook the perfect baby squid recipe
Buying squid in the UK usually means pointing to a pile of tentacles, each with a baby squid inside. As these arrive frozen they are often sold off very cheap at the end of the day. Danny has always been squid master at the cottage. To be quite frank cooking squid seemed to be a bit of a palaver. Grilled (broiled) or fried they needed 20/20 attention. So if I was cooking, I always avoided a squid bargain. A few weeks ago I was shipping with my mum in Waitrose, Cambridge on a Saturday. It was like shopping on a Sunday in Newmarket. Loads of...
read moreHow to make a deluxe fish pie for less – well worth considering as it’s brain food.
Back in the 1990′s I discovered that I disliked poached salmon. A friend used to stay for the weekend every couple of weeks and she’d bring fresh salmon down as a treat. I made the mistake of enthusing when she produced it the first time. I should have known better – I had eaten a vile dish of curried chick peas for years with another friend. When I originally tasted the chick pea concoction my reaction was a shriek of horror which I attempted to disguise as a sob of delight. Unfortunately, she was fooled. Poached salmon also seemed...
read moreBest great budget recipes for 50% or less: Crispy fried sprats recipe
When I lived in London I often ordered whitebait as a starter. I thought that they had to be deep fried and would be a palaver to rustle up at home. Also I rarely found them in the shops. Eventually I discovered that they can be fried in a little oil and were fun to prepare shaken in a bag of seasoned flour. Danny sprang in through the front door brandishing a 450g bag of sprats last week. Reduced from £2.49 to just 36p. I have never tried sprats. It’s the sort of dish that I imagined Peggotty’s family would sit down to in their converted...
read moreBest great budget recipes for 50% or less: Plaice with a creamy prawn sauce recipe
We stopped eating fish for a while a few years ago as it was just so expensive. I made a fish pie one Christmas and the ingredients cost over £15.00. Then I realised that there are often amazing bargains on a late Sunday afternoon from the Waitrose fish counter. With these and the regular offerings from the Tesco condemned food section we now have access to quite a lot of great fish and sea food for at least 50% of their normal value. A lot of fish is tossed into the freezer to be turned into fish pies but if we find plaice or sole these...
read moreEasy gravadlax/gravlax recipe for Christmas or any special occaision
Skimming past the condemned food counter at Tesco, Danny spotted 600g of fresh salmon fillet reduced to £1.86. “I know that you don’t like poached salmon but if this went into a fish pie, you’d hardly notice it.” I examined the carrier bag. He’d also picked up a pack of fresh dill for just a few pence. “Why don’t we try to make gravadlax? I’ve heard that it’s really easy if you have dill.” [gravadlax or gravlax for short (thank you Martyn and Happy Christmas!)] So we studied a handful of cookbooks. All recipes add salt,...
read moreDanny’s best juicy Tuna steak recipe
Danny is addicted to the “condemned food counter” at our local Tesco. This is our name for the reduced price section. A fun avatar for the place that has become a regular routine in our lives and something that adds zest to our cooking regime. We have to adapt at a moment’s notice to whatever bounty D drags home. Some goes into the freezer and some into the fridge to be relished within a day but most is cooked immediately. This is one way that we have slashed our food bills and are eating far better than we have done before. These cut...
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Recent Comments
{ I was thinking the same as Magic Cochin but then like you I don't have my phone attached by an umbilical cord wherever I go.... } – Wed 8 :47 pm
{ Good point but I don't tend to take it about with me everywhere 
} – Wed 7 :25 pm
{ Doesn't your mobile phone have an alarm setting? C x } – Wed 6 :32 pm
{ I would put it towards a bbq, it's just a shame you can't purchase some sunshine from b&q } – Wed 12 :04 am- { Hi Lesley The clucking means that she is brrody also plucking her own feathers is a sign too. } – Tue 11 :58 pm
- { Hi Lesley They have to stay in the broody coop 24/7. Could you put in a garden shed or garage? } – Tue 11 :57 pm
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