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

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...