How 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...
read moreBest homemade taramasalata recipe
Danny lips always go pleaty when I suggest taramasalata on pitta bread for a lunchtime snack. Some might call this a benefit as I could eat a whole tub on my own. But even the smaller tubs are too much for a single sitting. It’s the sort of thing that I long for and then feel replete after a slice of laden pitta bread. The tub is pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten after my fix. Several weeks later it’s discovered by D on a fridge clearing binge. The thin lips as it is tossed into the bin say it all. Last night I discovered...
read moreDelicious cod and creamy spinach pie recipe
I decided to try a different sort of fish pie. One that was easy on the fish but tasty enough to satisfy. My mum is addicted to Waitrose Spinach Mornay. If I incorporated spinach in a creamy sauce, our 325g of cod and the last two guinea fowl eggs of the season, I might be able to create something that would delight my mum and a weary Danny home late from Wales. We have given up our Friday night steaksas part of our new mini challenge hatched by a comment from S.O.L. regarding saving money. “It is becoming a game. How little can I get...
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