Aubergine and chickpea lasagne

Ingredients 

For the tomato and chickpea sauce:

1 tbsp oil

A couple of inches of chorizo sausage, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

A handful of mushrooms (but I only had 3!), chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped 

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp mixed herbs

Half glass red wine

2 carrots, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

2 tins chopped tomatoes

1 chicken stock cube

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

Salt and pepper

1 tin chickpeas

1 tbsp pesto

For the aubergine:

1 aubergine, finely sliced lengthways 

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp oil

For the cheese sauce:

Approx 40g butter

Approx 3tbsp plain flour

Approx 500mls milk

Lots of grated cheese

Salt and pepper

A grating of nutmeg

Method 

Dry fry some chorizo and then add oil, onion, celery, mushrooms and garlic in a large pan with chilli powder and mixed herbs.

 If you have some leftover wine (see tip), add this now and let it boil for a couple of mins so the alcohol cooks off. Add the carrots and any other veg that you want to use. I used a yellow pepper. Add tins of tomatoes, chicken stock cube, tomato tins filled with boiling water, balsamic vinegar, sugar, tomato ketchup, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 45 mins.

 Add a tin of drained chickpeas 10 mins before the end. 

Stir in 1 tbsp pesto, if you have any. 

Slice an aubergine, lengthways, and pop the pieces in a freezer bag with 1 tbsp oil and 1 tsp dried oregano. (You'll prob have to do this in 2 goes) Give the bag a shake and make sure all the aubergine slices are coated. Now fry these in a hot pan on each side. I'll use a griddle pan. 

Prepare a cheese sauce - make a roux with flour and butter in a saucepan. Whisk in warmed milk, season with salt and pepper and a grating of nutmeg. Add lots of grated cheese and stir it in until it's melted. 

(See cheesy tip re cheese rinds for extra scrummy sauce)

When all of the components are ready, assemble the lasagne in a large oven dish. 

Start with your tomato and chickpea sauce, sprinkle some grated cheese over it, add aubergine slices then cover with cheese sauce and repeat. Finish with a good top layer of cheese sauce and some grated cheese. 

Bake gas 7, 220c for around 25 mins until golden and bubbling hot. 

Serve with garlic pizza and a green salad. 

I'll make pizza in the same way as my other recipes but I'll just use garlic butter and cheese as toppings. 

Tip: if you ever have any leftover wine (well, you never know!!! ;-)), freeze it in an ice cube tray and just use as many cubes as you need, as and when you need them!

Cheesy tip!

Tip: don't throw away cheese rinds. They last for, what seems like, ever and are great for infusing sauces and risottos. 

My week of meals w/c 7th April 2014

Weekday breakfasts consist of cereal, bread/ toast and eggs

Monday

L: ham, cheese, tomato and chutney (homemade, obvs) toastie

S: Ian and I had a spaghetti and wild garlic pesto 

Kids were at Lucy's for sups

Filo tarts for pudd 

Tuesday 

L: I had courgette, mint and feta soup from the freezer, kids had tomato soup with garlicky croutons, Ian forgot his soup and had something that sounds entirely rank from his drawer at work!!

S: We all had leftover sweet and sour chicken (see recipe) and I made special fried rice to go with it. I fried 3 spring onions, 3 mushrooms, 1 celery stick, half a tomato (all chopped) and a handful of frozen peas with some cooked long grain rice. I added a few chilli flakes and a sprinkling of Chinese 5 spice and some salt and pepper then I added beaten egg and, when it had started to cook, stirred it through the rice. 

I enjoyed it more the second time!

Wednesday

L: kids and I - leek and potato soup, Ian - wild garlic and mushroom soup

S: aubergine and chickpea lasagne with garlic pizza bread (see recipe)

I'm going to make a bolognese sauce with chickpeas to bulk it up instead of mince. 

Served with salad and garlic pizza bread. 

Update: It was delicious! Thumbs up!

Thursday

L: kids and I - omelette with chorizo, spring onion, chopped tomato and feta. If I have any green pepper left, I'll add that. 

Ian - sandwich

Jelly for pudding

S: Leftover aubergine and chickpea lasagne

Friday

L: Ian and I - soup from freezer 

S: bangers and mash with a warm tomato and caramelised onion chutney.  Kids at Lucy's 

Saturday

B: poached eggs on toast

L: homemade pizzas (my 8 and 10 year old nephews will also be here)

S: chicken (cooked chicken from freezer) in a tomato and olive sauce with couscous 

Sunday

B: scrambled eggs and smoked salmon (from freezer - great find!) on toast

L: beans/ spaghetti on toast 

S: wild garlic pasta 

I will only need to buy some more potatoes and I may need another pack of butter, this week. 

I had an anonymous food drop of some bread flour, yeast and tinned tomatoes from a true friend, thank you Gail :-) - I worked it out!, yesterday so won't be needing those this week! And my brother in law, thanks Dom :-), borrowed my rotovator and gave me a bottle of white as a thank you! Barter away, frugal foodies, barter away!

Fruity, filo tarts and meringues

I have thoroughly stuffed my face today. I blame the pie that I took out of the freezer yesterday. If only I had put pastry on it when I made it, way back in Dec 2012, I wouldn't have defrosted a pack of filo pastry. And I then wouldn't have had to make filo tart cases and then I wouldn't have made creme patissiere to go in them. And then I wouldn't have had to use the egg whites, that I didn't need, to make meringues... And then I would have been about 4lbs lighter. Hey ho!

This is what I made!

I cut the left over pastry into squares and placed them in a greased muffin tray. I buttered each sheet and lay them on top of each other, pressing down into the tray to create the right shape.  It took about 4 pieces in each to make a strong enough case.  I then oven cooked them at gas 5/ 190c for about 5-10 mins until they were golden and cooked.  I cooled them on a wire rack.

This morning, I took some strawberries and blueberries out the freezer to defrost and made some creme patissiere (a thick style custard that you use in tarts etc).

It's really easy, as long as you have a few mins spare so that you can keep your eye on the ball and a hand on a whisk.

This is how I make it:

Whisk 4 egg yolks (reserve the whites) with 100g caster sugar until it's really pale and nice and thick. Mix in 25g plain flour.

Slowly bring 350mls milk to the boil. If you have a vanilla pod, pop it in the milk too. As soon as the milk has come to the boil, remove the vanilla pod and pour the milk over the egg mixture. Whisk well until you have a lovely smooth custard. Return the mixture to the pan over a low heat and stir until the mixture comes to the boil. Keep stirring (whisk if there are any lumps) and when it is nicely thickened, remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. 

Lay a sheet of cling film directly onto the mixture and leave to cool.

When it had cooled, I put some in each pastry case and topped with some of the fruit.

While it was cooling, I used the egg whites to make some meringues for the freezer - 4 egg whites, whisked until form stiff peaks. 1 tbsp at a time, slowly add 100g caster sugar, whisking all the time. Then fold in 110g icing sugar, a tbsp at a time. Don't over-mix.

I spooned some of the mix on top of the filo tarts and popped them under the grill for a minute and made the rest into meringues for the freezer.

One I ate earlier (oops):

Pipe or spoon them onto a non-stick tray (I use a silicone sheet) and cook for about 2 hours at gas 1/2 or 120c.

Don't waste the vanilla pod - wash and dry it and put it in a pot of sugar for some vanilla infused sugar.

Think I'll do a 'ways with....eggs' next. Watch this space!

Sunday night supper. Freezer diving!

I found a chicken, bacon and leek pie in the freezer this morning that was just ready for pastry to be added. I also found a pack of filo pastry so decided I'd use that in a bid to be slightly healthier!! 

Once I'd put a lovely crunchy topping on the pie, I needed to think of something to do with the remaining filo so I have gone down the dessert route (not so healthy!). 

I've made little tart cases and I intend to make creme patissiere tomorrow and put some strawberries and other berries from the freezer in them too. Yum. 

Here's a little pic of supper. Will get the, more exciting, pudding pic and recipe up asap. 

Chicken, bacon and leek pie with filo topping and served with buttered leeks and peas. 

A lemon and almond drizzle cake kind of day

I had chair painting and veg garden plans for the day so, obviously, I needed a cakey snack for break time!!! I really wanted orange and almond but, alas, I had no oranges so lemon it was. 

150g caster sugar

120g butter, softened

100g ground almonds

50g self raising flour

3 large eggs

1 lemon, juice and zest

1 tbsp milk

Half tsp baking powder

Half tsp vanilla extract

A few sliced almonds. 

For the drizzle:

40g caster sugar, 1tbsp icing sugar and the juice of 1 lemon. 

As easy as it gets. Just put all the cake ingredients in a mixer and whisk on high speed until all combined and lump-free. If you don't have a mixer, you can do it by hand.

Grease and line an 8" round tin. 

Pour your mixture in and arrange the sliced almonds on the top. 

Bake for around 50 mins at gas 4, 180c.

Lick the whisk and the bowl. This is essential. 

I use a skewer to check the cake's cooked through. When the skewer comes out clean, it's ready. 

Spike it all over with the skewer and pour over the drizzle. 

For the drizzle: heat the lemon juice. Mix in the icing sugar until all dissolved, add the caster sugar and stir in. 

It's quite a dense, wet cake, which is how I like it. It's deliciously moreish. 

Sweet and sour chicken - slow cooker stylee

1kg chicken thighs

Tin pineapple, cut into chunks

1 green pepper, cut into squares 

1 red pepper, cut into squares

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Handful mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, chopped

1 chunk of ginger, chopped 

2 carrots, chopped into batons

1 tbsp cornflour 

Sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp Tomato ketchup

2tbsp white wine vinegar

4 tbsp dark soy sauce

4tbsp brown sugar 

Mix the soy sauce, juice from the pineapple tin, brown sugar, tomato sauce and white wine vinegar together. 

Put your onion, carrots, ginger and garlic in the slow cooker. 

Remove the skin from the chicken and pop the thighs on top of the veg.

Pour the sauce over the top. 

Cook on high setting for about 3 hours or until the meat is cooked through and easily comes away from the bone. 

Remove the meat from the slow cooker. Add the chopped peppers, pineapple and mushrooms. Stir in sweet chilli sauce. 

Remove the bones, it will be very easy (but remember it's very hot so either wait or use gloves if you haven't got asbestos fingers). Removing the meat at this stage means you waste no meat as it comes away from the bone cleanly. Chop the meat up. 

When the veg has been cooking for 20 mins, mix the cornflour with a little water and stir it into the sauce to thinken. Stir the chicken into it and leave for a further 10 mins. Pop the rice on at this point. 

Very easy, tasty and frugal. It serves at least 4 greedy adults!