Diary of a Frugal Foodie: Coconut lamb, mint and feta pizza

About ME!

HELLO!!

I'm Christine. I'm a busy mum to 5 year old twins, Robin and Evie and wife to Ian. I also run a property management company. We live in a small village in beautiful, rural Northumberland. I love spending time at home with my family, running and exercising and socialising with my fabulous friends.

When I'm not busy with work, family or friends, my favourite pastimes are cooking and eating (often a combination of family/friends and food). I particularly get so much (too much?!) pleasure from making healthy, nutritious meals from nothing (well, whatever I've got in the house!), making leftovers exciting and not wasting a thing. I HATE waste. I've wanted to start a blog for a few years but time just hasn't allowed it. But I'm very excited about getting it going now and sharing my passion for food with the world!!

I'm very health conscious and want to feed my family good food, on a budget. As you can imagine, time is not something that I have a lot of so my cooking has to fit in with my busy life. Weekday cooking has to be fuss-free and speedy but I still want it to feel indulgent.

I am also a keen vegetable gardener. There is little better than creating a whole meal from produce that you raised with your own fair hands. And in the British weather, it's not always easy. It makes you appreciate it even more though! I would urge anyone to have a go at growing their own. Even if it's just a few of your favourites in pots or some herbs on the windowsill. Do it!

I'm going to try and share some of the recipes that I create and any tips that I have along with general ramblings about food and the good life!

Don't expect fine dining, just homemade, tasty, healthy and wholesome food. Always on a budget! Maybe with the odd flashy, entertaining number thrown in for good measure. The budget won't go out the window though.

I'm very new to this so please bear with me until I find my feet!!

I hope you enjoy it. All feedback very much appreciated!!

Thanks y'all!

Sunday, 30 March 2014

Coconut lamb, mint and feta pizza

This was an experiment. I had some leftover coconut milk (the really thick creamy part, not the watery milk) and some leftover roast lamb so I thought I'd get inventive!

I was excited to see that my mint had started growing again in the garden and I grow oregano and chives too so I used these too. I love the combo of lamb with oregano. Makes me think of Greece.

Ingredients

Leftover lamb, cut into small pieces

1 heaped tbsp coconut cream (the thick bit from the coconut milk)

Garlic butter, melted

Olive oil

Dried oregano

Mix of finely grated hard cheeses. I used grana padano and Berwick Edge (from Doddington Dairy)

Feta cheese

Marinade (below)

Basic pizza dough (see recipe on blog)

Basic tomato sauce (see recipe on blog)

For the marinade:

Chopped, fresh mint

Chopped, fresh oregano (if you don't have fresh, use dried)

Chopped chives

Chopped wild garlic (normal garlic fine too)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Method

Set the oven to gas mark 7/ 220c

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and add the lamb. Leave to marinate for as long as you'd like. Mine was in for a couple of hours, in the fridge. The smell is AMAZING!

About 30 mins before using, I mixed the coconut in.

When you're ready to assemble, lightly fork the base, brush the base with the garlic butter (I used wild garlic butter). Spoon the tomato sauce over it.

Cover with lots of grated cheese. Add the lamb. Sprinkle some more cheese over and crumble feta over it.

Sprinkle some dried oregano over and then drizzle with olive oil.

Bake in a preheated oven for about 8 minutes.