Northumberland Gazette Article 1st May 2014

I've done it! My second month of £50 grocery shopping is complete. Now I need to check out my cupboards and get inventive again! 

It's also time to get planting. In all honesty, I should have done this earlier but it just means that some things will be ready a little later than usual. 

If you've been inspired to get your gardening gloves on for the first time, why not start with the really fresh, perishable ingredients such as lettuce, salad leaves and herbs? This is a great way to keep you out of the supermarket and they are the easiest things to grow, absolutely anywhere. Use pots, windowsills, borders or, if you've got the space, create a vegetable garden. Some leaves, like rocket, are so hardy that you are rewarded all year round. And some herbs will also stay throughout the year while others will pop up again every spring. It's a great feeling going out to the garden to get your own ingredients.  I have rosemary, sage, thyme, mint, oregano, parsley, chives, dill and tarragon. I have a constant great supply and all from a couple of hours work, a few years ago. Basil and coriander are great windowsill or greenhouse herbs and give you an instant taste of sunshine. Freeze herbs so that you have a year round supply. Either freeze them whole in freezer bags or chop them, put them into ice cube trays and cover with water. Freeze and you'll have lots of herby ice cubes at your disposal. 

Why not give radishes and spring onions a go too? They are also quick and easy to grow, anywhere. 

If you've got a small patio, you could grow a tomato plant in a sunny spot or you could stick some seed potatoes in a pot and have panfuls of buttery, minty new potatoes in the next few months. A top frugal tip is to plant out any potato skins that have started to grow shoots. Just peel them carefully, use the potato as normal and put the skin in some compost. Et voila, free potatoes!

If you would like to make your own compost, get savvy about what you can use. All our egg shells, tea bags, peelings etc make it onto the compost heap, along with any fresh things that the hens won't want.

Once you start growing, you'll want to grow more and more. It's therapeutic, rewarding and, most importantly, cheap!

Why not upcycle to create your own, unique, pots. An old sink, bath, watering can, bucket... The list goes on. You don't need to spend money on new pots. I'm going to use some old broken drawers to grow lettuce and herbs this year. Why not check out freecycle and get creative?

With grow-your-own in mind, here is a nice little potato recipe to whet your appetite. You can play around with the ingredients to use up any leftover meat or veg so it's a great way to avoid wasting anything. 



Rosti with poached egg

I love a rosti. I often make them for Saturday lunchtimes or Sunday suppers. 

Grate about 6 raw, peeled potatoes (I use the food processor), squeeze the excess water out of the potatoes, add a beaten egg, 1.5 tbsp flour, pinch of salt and pepper, some chopped herbs, a handful of grated cheese and any chopped veg and meat. I used some chorizo, an onion, a green pepper, a celery stick and a carrot. You could add a spoonful of Dijon mustard, if you fancy. 

Shape into balls and squash them down to about 1.5cm thick. 

Fry them in some oil on a low heat. Turn over when browned. 

While they're cooking make some poached eggs.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, add a pinch of salt and a capful of white wine vinegar and then break your eggs into the pan (I tend to do 2 at a time). Turn off the heat immediately and cook for about 3 minutes or until the yolk is at your desired consistency. 

Put an egg on top of each rosti and serve immediately. Call us Northern but we had it with some sweet curry sauce and it was lovely!

Potatoes

Potatoes are cheap, filling and really easy to grow. A staple frugal foodie ingredient. 

Here are some of my favourite potato recipes. 

Rosti with poached egg

I love a rosti. I often make them for sat lunchtimes or Sunday suppers. 

Grate some potatoes (I use the food processor), squeeze the excess water out of the potatoes, add a beaten egg, 1 tbsp flour, pinch of salt, some chopped herbs, 1 tbsp grated cheese and any leftover chopped veg and meat. I like to use ham. 

Shape into balls and squash them down to about 1.5cm thick. 

Fry them in some butter or oil on a fairly low heat. 

While they're cooking make some poached eggs and serve 1 on top of each rosti. 

Bring your pan to a boil, add salt and white wine vinegar and then break your eggs into the pan. Turn off the heat and cook for about 3 minutes or until you reach the desired consistency. 

Yummy and family friendly. 

Gnocchi

Simple ingredients and gorgeous with a cream or tomato sauce. 

Simply boil 380g big, floury potatoes until tender. When they're ready, let them cool slightly and then put them through a potato ricer. If you haven't got one, I'd really recommend getting one. It will revolutionise your mashed potato!

Knead in 75g plain flour until you have a dough. 

Roll it into long sausage shapes and cut into small pieces of around an inch each. Then take each piece and roll it along a fork to make the correct shape. You can find demonstrations online. 

Finally, cook in boiling, salted, water for a couple of minutes until they bob to the surface. 

Serve with any of your favourite pasta sauces. The following all work well: tomato and basil,  creamy mushroom, cream and bacon. Sage, thyme and tarragon are all good herbs to add to a nice creamy sauce. 

Loaded baked potatoes

Bake some potatoes in a hot oven for around 50 mins - 1 hour.

Fry some bacon. When it's cooked, cut into small pieces. 

Remove from the oven and spoon the insides into a bowl. Set the skins to one side.  Add lots of grated cheese, butter, a little milk, seasoning, sweetcorn and bacon. Mix it up well. 

Fill the skins with the mixture and top with a little extra grated cheese. Pop in the oven for around 10 mins until the filling is hot and the cheese is melted. 

So moreish!

Fried potatoes with curried, tomatoey peppers and fried egg. Posh egg and chips!

Fried potatoes are delicious. I use up any leftover, cooked potatoes this way. In fact, I usually cook too many so that we have leftovers to be able to fry them. The kids love them too. 

It goes without saying that they're nicest when they're fried in butter and oil but, when I'm doing them for myself, I often use fry light or a tiny knob of butter to save on calories! 

When I'm making this recipe I always go for the fewer calories version as the sauce will compensate for any loss of flavour anyway. It makes it a really healthy, filling, quick and easy supper. 

I simply fry some sliced red and/or yellow peppers until they start to soften. Add 1 tsp curry powder, 1 tsp ground coriander, half tsp ground cumin, half tsp turmeric, half tsp chilli flakes and a good grinding of salt and pepper. Mix together and fry for a further 2 minutes, stirring frequently. 

Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and 1 tsp sugar. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. 

When it's almost ready, fry an egg or 2. Make sure the yolk's really runny. 

To assemble, simply put the potatoes in a bowl, spoon the tomatoey peppers over the top and top it all with the fried egg. I usually crumble some feta over the top too but it's entirely up to you!

Break the egg so that the yolk runs through the peppers and potatoes. Yum. 

Potato cake a la master chef 

I haven't made this yet but I definitely will. 

Use tinned chickpeas and dried garam masala powder if you'd like to speed things up. If you've got leftover mashed potato, use that too. Make it as simple or as authentic as you'd like. 

For the spiced chickpeas

- 500g/1lb 2oz cooked chickpeas, cooking liquor reserved (chickpeas should be soaked overnight in water, drained, covered with fresh water and cooked for two hours until tender then cooled in their cooking liquor)

- 50ml/2fl oz vegetable oil

- 10g yellow mustard seeds

- pinch salt

- 5g chilli powder

- 75g/2½oz piece root ginger, peeled and shredded

- 5 ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks

- small bunch curry leaves

- small handful coriander leaves

For the garam masala

- 1 cinnamon stick

- 3 cloves

- 4 tsp cumin seeds

- 5 green cardamons

- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

- 1 tsp black peppercorns

- ½ tsp sea salt

For the potato cakes

- 3 baked potatoes

- 1 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting

- ½ tsp salt

- 4 tsp garam masala (from above)

- 2 red chilies, seeds removed and finely diced

- small handful coriander, chopped

- flour, for shaping

- vegetable oil, for frying

1. To make the spiced chickpeas, drain the chick peas, reserving the cooking liquor.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan until hot then add the mustard seeds and salt and cook for a minute or so until the mustard seeds start to pop. Add the chili powder, shredded root ginger, chickpeas, tomatoes and a good handful of curry leaves. Cook until the tomatoes start to break down. Add 200ml/7fl oz of the reserved cooking liquor from the chickpeas. Allow to cook, topping up with more cooking liquor if it becomes too dry.

3. Next make the garam masala. Toast all the spices in a dry frying pan and grind to a powder in a pestle and mortar with the salt.

4. For the potato cakes, remove the potato flesh from their skins. Allow to cool a little (if hot). Put two thirds of the potato flesh into one bowl and the other third into another bowl. Add the flour to the larger amount. To the smaller amount add the salt, garam masala, red chilli and coriander leaves. Mix both well.

5. Divide the flour and potato mix into 110g/4oz balls and flatten out into rounds using floured hands. Squeeze the seasoned mix together and make into 55g/2oz balls. Place a ball into the center of each flattened round of potato and wrap around so that the ball is encased completely.

6. In a large frying pan, heat the vegetable oil until hot. Shallow fry the potato cakes on all sides until brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.

7. Finish the chickpeas with some coriander and curry leaves. Serve with the potato cakes. 

Fool-proof poached eggs

I thought I'd share my tip for fool-proof poached eggs. Even my other half can make perfect eggs!! 

I saw this on the tv a year or 2 ago and it has revolutionised breakfast time! Before that, I used to swirl the water, be aware of the exact type of boil... Blah, blah, blah. Now, I bring salted water to the boil, add a capful of white wine vinegar, break the eggs into the water, turn off the heat, put my bread in the toaster and wait! When my toast pops up, I take the eggs out. I drain them on a bit of old bread or kitchen roll.  Ta-dah!

They are perfect every time. It's amazing. Next time you make them, try it!

I also use the freshest eggs I can as that makes a big difference too. 

Rosti with poached egg

I love a rosti. I often make them for sat lunchtimes or Sunday suppers. 

Grate some potatoes (I use the food processor), squeeze the excess water out of the potatoes, add a beaten egg, 1 tbsp flour, pinch of salt, some chopped herbs, 1 tbsp grated cheese and any leftover chopped veg and meat. I like to use ham. 

Shape into balls and squash them down to about 1.5cm thick. 

Fry them in some butter or oil. 

While they're cooking make some poached eggs and serve 1 on top of each rosti. 

Yummy and family friendly.