Cheap recipes

[Green Aura]

I'm sure you all already know this one, but just in case, here it is. It's our ultimate brassic, feel good food.

Pasta with oil and garlic.

While cooking a pan of pasta of your choice, heat (on a med heat) a cupful of olive oil, 2 cloves chopped garlic and 2 chopped chillies. Be careful not to burn the garlic - it adds a whole different flavour.

When cooked, drain the pasta, combine with the oil and serve, sprinkled with some chopped fresh parsley. You can scoop up any oil left on your plate with some nice bread.

[shae]

Tonight's dinner was a chowder of sorts - onion fried with a little oil, cauliflower, 1 diced frankfurter, peas, corn kernels & cooked diced potato all simmered in chicken stock with a small amount of milk. Then at the end a wee bit of cornflour to thicken and a few dollops of sour cream - very yummy!
Frittata also features quite heavily on our cash poor weeks.

[snapdragon]

I will try to write out some recipes - my typing is slow and often timed out online so best if I do it on 'word' whilst not online and paste it - when my fingers are working better

[Uller]

My favourite comfort food - never actually costed it, but can't be too expensive. A Delia classic.

Saute onion & carrot until soft, add rice & stock/water, cook until rice is soft.
Saute veg - leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, peas, brussels etc - good way of using anything that is past its best
Make cheese sauce. You could probably steam it, but the texture of the finished dish is better if you have crispy bits of sauted veg.

Put rice mix in dish, top with sauted veg, finish with cheese sauce. Pop under the grill until browned and bubbling on top.

Absolutely the yummiest thing to eat on a cold winter's day.

[sheena]

Of course coming from wales a cheap and cheerful dish is potato and leek cheesy bake.
Just clean the leeks, celery if you have any and peel a few potatoes,chop them in any shape or form which appeals to you at the time and cook them down in a pan of boiling water until they are soft.
Drain them off and place in an oven proof dish and top with either a home made cheese sauce or a cheat packet, sprinkle a little grated cheese on the top and place in a hot oven until it browns and is bubbling.
This can be easily adapted to include pulses, meat or whatever you can find tucked away in your food stash.
Also a sprinkling of chilli or pepper gives it a little more kick, a great dish for the cold winter days or nights and its very cheap to make.

[sheena]

Another cheap and cheerful filler is speedy Bean Goulash.
You can use any ingredients that you have tucked away in your cupboards but in general I use a tin of baked beans, kidney beans, tin of tomatoes(roughly chopped), paprika,salt & black pepper(or chilli or what have you) and butter beans etc.
Soften onion in butter (or can be done in water)then stir tomatoes, beans and paprika or chilli into the pan and continue cooking until all the flavours have blended.
This can be served alone, with rice, pasta or any vegetables and its delicious.

[sheena]

I recently had a pan of rice left over and added a liberal amount of chopped corriander and cumin, after doing this i rolled the mixture into large balls and coated them with a batter and deep fried them and served them with a sweet and sour sauce and fresh salad out of our garden, this made approximately 35 large balls and cost next to nothing to make and everyone that tried them asked how to make them, so go on give them a go.

[Cheezy]

Broad bean pasta

Not only cheap, but, quick, very tastey and incredibly healthy and good for you!.

2 people
Pan of unsalted water on the boil
Slice of bread covered in milk soaking
approx 500g podded broad beans (frozen or fresh)
2tblsp mint leaves
250g pasta (falafella type)
clove garlic skinned
salt, pepper
parmasan (optional)

put garlic and beans into boiling water depending on how big and old they are, until soft (no more than 5 mins)
scoop out with a strainer put salt into water and bring to boil, once boiling add pasta and cook until aldenti
put beans, some of the pasta water (yes it often is a strange colour after the beans!), milk and soaked bread, mint, salt ,pepper,boiled garlic clove into a blender or processor and blitz until smooth. Adjust thickness with pasta water or milk or olive oil. When pasta ready drain return to pan , add sauce , adjust seasoning and serve with fresh paramasan. Nice with a smple tomato and onion salad.


Edit.... this is the first time I've been able to post at work for months due to some sort of server block!

P.s if you happen to grow your own bean,garlic,mint, this will only cost you pasta during the summer months!. We had it last night. A sprinkle of basil leave son top gives it a boost. This can also make a great dip with pitta's , and peas can be substituted.

Using a thicker version you can make quinelles of the paste, coat in egg and bread crumbs and fry into braodbean crockettes.

If the beans are very papery skinned then after the boil you can de skin them. It makes a much greener sweeter sauce, but it's a lot of hassel, and you don't get as much fibre!