Fishcakes, but not as we not them

Simple, quick, cheap and using my favourite freezer/ store cupboard ingredients- I haven't had much time for grocery shopping recently, so have been getting creative with my trusty old faithfuls- frozen spinach, sustainably caught frozen pollack, eggs and gram flour.

This took only minutes, most of which I spent catching up on emails and complying with various requests for information!

Serves two
1) defrost frozen pollack fillets and spinach in the microwave. Allow a maximum of 1 fillet per person and about 100-200g of frozen spinach each.
2) dice about 2 spring onions per person (or a small onion)
3) mash/ chop the defrosted fish and spinach into small pieces. Add the onion and spices to taste- I added a thumb sized piece of diced ginger, five spice, fresh black pepper and chilli flakes, but you could try fennel and garlic, or cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric and curry powder for a curried take.
4) Add half a cup of gram/ chick pea flour, slowly, stirring well. Continue adding until the water is absorbed and the mixture can be formed by hand into patties.
5) Pan fry 1cm/ 1/2 inch deep patties/ 7-10 cm diameter patties in a hot pan, until done (about 5 minutes each side).

n.b. you could also use left over fish of any sort in this recipe, and you could use less fish- just increase the amount of spinach and spring onion/ onion.

these are great cold so leftovers/ make extra for packed lunches.

make them smaller for an unusual canape or snack

Easy. Simple. Delicious

Pea Green Potatoes

The sun is suddenly shining in London and I felt like spring time. This salad is a culmination of two of my "nevers" no longer being true.

Frozen veg is a lifesaver. However, I hated peas as a child and my frozen green of choice has long been spinach. I bought peas recently which I used in my delicious lentil kedgeree, which I will post another day. I don't think I have ever bought them before.

Secondly, after a childhood of spuds, I rarely buy them either. My mum was always keen on new potatoes and this weekend I think I finally grew up. They may even rate with mash as my spud of choice!

I ate pea puree with chicken and new spuds yesterday, and have combined it today with the leftover cold spuds. It is such a glorious zingy vibrant green, and the taste of the peas with mint seems to be the English spring in a mouthful. As I said to a friend- it's so good it could almost be served as a diabetic ice cream!


To make:
Everyone goes on about fresh peas, but I used frozen petits pois, 2 cups
Cream cheese (I used a value variety)- two heaped tablespoonfuls
Mild olive oil
Pinch of salt.
Spring of mint


You will need a blender of some variety- I used a stick blender in a bowl.



Put your peas and cream cheese in a deep bowl. The more de-frosted your peas are the easier this will be, and the fewer peas will jump out of the bowl- a real possibility if you're not careful! Add tiny drizzles of oil if blending is difficult as this will help  it come into a smooth paste. Add mint to taste- mine ended up obviously but not overwhelmingly minty and I used 4 or 5 large mint leaves. Add the salt to taste. Blitz until you are happy with the texture (this is like hummus- you can have lumps or you can have it super-smooth).

My peas were semi-frozen when I made it, so it did end up ice-cream like and quite moreish, and melted delightfully on my hot new potatoes.

With my quartered tiny new spuds mixed into my tupperwear this was delicious.

Moreover, this can be used as a dip for crudites, a spread (much in the way of hummus)- delicious with a bit of ham or bacon, or on canapes.

Salmon, Beetroot and Orange Pate

I love making canapes- they can look beautiful and be a talking point at a party. This particular party at the weekend had a circus theme (we also watched the film "Butterfly Circus") and I wanted food that was colourful and witty.

One of the canapes I made was smoked salmon based- a lovely pink tinged pate  on a  bagel slice  topped with a piece of smoked  salmon and a dab of pistachio-green wasabi.

To make the pate:
240 g smoked salmon trimmings
one box cream cheese
one small beetroot + beetroot juice (you can also get a food colouring made entirely from concentrate beetroot juice)
zest of 1/8 orange (a tiny bit)
black pepper (freshly ground and to taste).

I marinaded the smoked salmon trimming overnight with the beetroot juice and the crushed beetroot, before blending it with all of the other ingredients. This would also be great without the wasabi but mixed with fresh dill and plenty of lemon zest.

To make the canape:
I cut multi seed bagels into 1/3 cm slices- this is more economic than crackers as, after all, it is just a mount for the yummy stuff! Slather the slice generously with pate, top with a piece of smoked salmon, half the size of the slice of bagel and add a dab of wasabi which will counteract the sweetness of the pate.

YUM YUM : )

After Party Turkey/ 2

Following on from this delicious version, and having also stocked up on Turkey steaks at Morrisons, I made another version of my After Party Turkey.

I marinaded the turkey steaks (4 thin slices) in the leftover wine (in this case, red, about 1/3 of a bottle or two small glasses) with two peeled garlic cloves, about 8 squished tomatoes (they had mysteriously frozen in our amazing fridge and had thawed to a pulpy splat) and half a teaspoon of pimenton (smoked paprika).

The next evening I browned the turkey and also sauteed a medium sized onion. When done, I added the wine, tomatoes and garlic and simmered until the wine was well reduced, created a lovely sauce.

Great meal from two ingredients that would so easily have ended up in the bin- the tomatoes and wine : )

I'll convert you to sprouts!

Sprouts have an incredibly bad press. And it's true- an over boiled sprout is neither beautiful to behold, has a whiff of its own and tastes, well, like the proverbial sprout.

This dish- a spicy, crunchy, colourful meal- is none of those things!

For one (increase quantities for more people) (can be served with rice or noodles)

Ten fresh sprouts, quartered
A medium sized onion (or a couple of banana shallots), diced
Curry Powder (medium)
Toasted Sesame Oil
Olive Oil
half cupful of red-skin peanuts/ cashews (raw) or a mixture

Add a generous splash of toasted sesame oil to a wok, and a liberal amount of olive oil. Put on a high heat.

Add the nuts, and the chopped vegetables.

Add a generous sprinking of the curry powder.

Stir! The heat needs to be high to toast the nuts. However, the vegetables will burn if you do not pay attention!

This will take you twenty minutes to make (absolute maximum!) and is cheap, nutritious and delicious!

tip: I bought the sprouts on a tree, which should keep them fresher for longer : )

WONDER likes: Foraging

Free, nutritious, exciting. Foraging is all of these things.

We featured stinging nettles before, now we want to share this incredible blog.

I have my eye on the Hawthorn Jelly and the other eye peeled for an unsuspecting hawthorn bush!!!

Chicken Liver with Figs

This was a combination I read about and thought... ooh! ...interesting... erm?

I was intrigued. Chicken livers are unbelieveably cheap when bought frozen and, with nothing else in the house and no time to shop properly, I defrosted them.

I love them with tarragon and orange, and with bacon, but luckily, on my way home from socialising the corner shop was selling giant figs and onions.

Sauteed two medium sized onions (I love onions- you might want to use only one), chopped the fig and tossed them in (I think it would have been better if it was riper) and washed and chopped the livers (250g).

Added a generous sprinkling of balsamic vinegar to the pan and ate it with a wholewheat wrap.

GOOD!!!

And leftovers for lunch : )

Hum Hum Bean Soup

I needed to make space in the freezer the other day- I had made a much larger batch of fruit compote (rhubarb, pear and apple) than I had intended which needed freezing so that it didn't go off, so I took out the load of cooked beans that I had put in there before for similar reasons.

I had about a kilo of large white beans, boiled, once I had soaked them overnight out of their dry state (by far the cheapest way to buy beans is dried- you're not carting loads of water around) if I remember, with pepper, onions and dried red pepper flakes. Probably a sprinkling of chili flakes went in, maybe some herbs and a couple of bay leaves.

Also found in the freezer- delicious home made chicken stock (don't bin anything until all the goodness has been taken from it!). I had cooked this up with some herbs, bayleaf and some wine that noone was going to drink.

Combining the beans and the stock in a pot with some water, some more unloved red wine, another onion and some of the canned tomatoes that I always have on hand, it came together into a lovely bean stew, which I blitzed to turn into a nourishing and delicious soup. I even gave some to my veg- detesting colleague (he had dated a vegan) and he was surprised to find himself enjoying it.

Now I need a way to use up 2l of fruit puree! Ideas, anyone?

After Party Turkey

Turkey is cheap, but it is difficult to desire. It is never quite chicken, and it is often tough and tasteless.

After party Turkey is delicious and adaptable. The key ingredient is a load of wine. That opened bottle of plonk that is not quite drinkable three days or a couple of weeks later is actually just what you need.

Put your turkey steaks in a bowl. As you put each one in add some ground black pepper and any other spices you would like to use (I used some crushed red pepper flakes and some thyme. I also added some chopped garlic and a diced shallot). Cover the turkey with the wine (Do not worry if you don't have enough- just make sure that all the turkey gets covered) and marinate. I marinaded mine for 24 hours.

When the time comes for you to cook the turkey, pop some olive oil in a frying pan and lightly coat with some flour (I used wholemeal). Fry until it is no longer pink in the middle and for no longer!

It should be deliciously succulent!

The same but different- After Party Turkey 2

The Secret to a Full Stomach, Empty Bin and Jingling Purse!

As a working couple, we do a big shop every Saturday. To maximise freshness of food and minimise food waste we knock our heads together before we go out - we write a shopping list! It’s simple and quite effective:


- Talk: First we discuss when we are going to be home, whether there will be guests and who is going to cook for the next few days. Communication is key!!

- Plan: Then we put down what we would like to eat depending on individual cooking capabilities and time at hand. We are not very creative during the week but at weekends we make an effort of trying out new things (which can be incorporated into our weekday routine) or dishes that take longer to prepare. What’s going on the eating plan depends on following:

o If there is a dish that needs a little of e.g. cream, then we’d make sure there is another recipe on the list that also needs a little cream.
o Allow for seasonality of ingredients
o Dishes with ingredients that don’t stay fresh for long are cooked earlier in the week
o The shopping list takes us up to Wednesday

Then we pop down the ingredients needed on a list.

- Shopping: We try to stick to the list! If there is a great offer on we think twice whether we really need it and when we could possibly eat it. Pre-packed fruit and veggies are avoided where possible. They are usually much more expensive per lb/Kg so we only buy what we really need and avoid the packaging.

- Mid-week stock take: As I said, we only plan until Wednesday and we take food stock on Tuesday or Wednesday. It happens very often that there are some leftovers, not everything has been used up as planned, we weren’t home as planned etc. So we look at the fridge for what’s left, is there something expiring soon and how these things can be combine with other ingredients to make another dish. I.e we talk again what we want to eat for the rest of the week.

It takes being organised but it’s really worth it. I hardly have to get rid of any food because I know what’s in the fridge and what I can make with it...

WONDER likes: 101 Cookbooks

photo: Heidi Swanson 

Written by a woman. Yes. Using seasonal local ingredients where possible. Yes. Nutritious and delicious. Yes. Environmentally friendly. Oh yeah.

Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks blog is amazing. It's not just the food, it's the great pictures too. This gal manages to make vegetarian look and sound so enticing that you don't even realise that it's a veggie blog. And with meat production leading to rising prices for the basic staples that some of the world's poorest people rely on- maize, wheat and soy, for example, as we in the West now eat WAY more than the recommened 100g of protein a day that we are recommended, and a large amount of that is unnecessary animal protein, this is a resource that we could do with.

Not forgetting that for people on a budget, veggie tends to be much cheaper. You might have a few investment costs in some key herbs and spices, but that will still probably cost less that one person's meat budget over a fortnight...

Don't be fooled: this is about so much more than nut roast and tofu!!!