A Domino Effect

My fruit and veg box is delivered once a fortnight, straight to my door.  And a couple of months’ experience has convinced me that it’s a great service.  It saves me from making too many trips to the supermarket, which I hate with a vehement passion; it encourages me to make vegetables the main focus of my meals, and it also costs very little: £9 per week, inclusive of doorstep delivery.  That £9 buys me 11 different types of vegetable and five of fruit.  All organic, all locally produced, all insanely delicious.

The other great thing about the box is that it has forced me to get creative with my cooking, and to experiment with new dishes.  Before I signed up to the scheme I had never made aubergine parmigiana; or a green bean stew; or even a carrot cake for that matter.  Now, a couple of months in, I’ve made all three.  Some more than once.  I now cycle home with the greatest of enthusiasm every second Thursday, so eager am I to examine the new loot and decide what goodies I’m going to make with it.

But the biggest way in which the box has forced me to create in the kitchen has been in finding new and inventive ways to use up the truckloads of potatoes it brings my way every fortnight.  Potatoes are one of the crate’s ‘staple’ ingredients, which means a big bag of them arrives with every delivery, along with other basics like tomatoes, carrots, onions, apples and bananas.  And this has proved rather difficult for me – it always seems like I’m rushing to get through yet more spuds in time for the next batch arriving.  I’m like a crazy spud lady: ‘WE MUST EAT SOMETHING WITH POTATOES IN IT!!’ I scream at my hapless boyfriend with alarming regularity.  It’s far from a pretty sight, let me assure you.

But perseverance is (very slowly) beginning to produce results.  In the last month or so I’ve made home-made chips, fried potato and chorizo salad and potato dauphinoise.  I’ve also made a couple of potato curries, and added some diced spuds to a veggie chilli I had on the go.  And last night I found myself onto another winner: my own version of Fisherman’s Pie.

It might be August but that’s no reason not to indulge in a little hearty comfort food every now and then.  And that’s what Fisherman’s Pie, to me at least, is really all about.  Lovely chunks of succulent fish in a creamy white sauce, with spades and spades of mashed potato smoothed over the top.  I used leeks in my white sauce, and didn’t bother with parsley.  The effect was pretty lovely all the same…

Ingredients

• 5 or 6 large-ish potatoes
• 1 pack of mixed fish pieces.  This genius invention I found in my local Tesco.  Fresh chunks of salmon, cod and smoked haddock, together in the same pack for around £3.  I’d love to say I went to the fishmonger and hand picked the finest fillets I could see, heck, I’d love to say I paddled out to sea in a dingy and caught my own.  Alas, I did neither.  I have a full time job and a budget.  I ain’t got time for no fishin’.
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 leek, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Lots of milk for poaching the fish, butter and flour for the white sauce.
• Salt and pepper to season

Method

• Heat the oven to around 180 degrees (my default temperature).
• Pour some milk into a pan and gently poach the fish over a very low heat.  Sweat the onion, leek and garlic in some butter.  Put the potatoes on to boil.
• Make a roux with some more butter and some plain flour, and gradually add milk.  I used the milk from the pan of fish for extra flavour (once the fish had cooked that is!).
• Stir the white sauce well, and keep stirring until it’s reasonably thick and smooth.  Add the leeks/onion mix and the poached fish, season with salt and pepper and stir.  Spoon into the bottom of an oven-proof dish.
• Once the potatoes are cooked through, drain them, and mash them however you like.  I normally use a blob of mayonnaise, salt and pepper, a little milk and some wholegrain mustard.
• Spread the mash evenly over the fish mixture and pop the whole thing into the oven for 20 minutes or so.  5 minutes before the end you can grate some cheddar over the top if that floats your boat.  It certainly does mine!

Serve and enjoy – fantastic fish pie, a recipe guaranteed to fill you up AND get rid of your excess spuds.  I enjoyed mine so much that I forgot to take a photo of it.  So you’ll have to make do with this pretty fisherman picture from Flickr, courtesy of Moonstar.

I really fancied some pub-type grub to go with my watching the football last night (it just doesn’t feel right to be eating anything fancy while I’m simultaneously drinking beer, shouting at the television and jumping up and down like a mad person). I also have all things America on the brain at the moment, which is probably why the idea of home-made burgers and chunky chips popped into my head as easily as it did. Here’s my recipe…

Wolf ‘em down burgers with pub grub-style chunky chips

For the chips…

It’s probably a good idea to get the chips prepared and into the oven before you even think about making the burgers. I used 4-6 medium sized potatoes from my farm box, which I washed and scrubbed, and then cut into thickish chip shapes (leaving the skin on – it turns a lovely, crunchy golden brown in the oven). I put mine on a pizza tray, because it has holes in the bottom to allow the heat to get in from underneath as well as from on top. Before putting my chips in the oven, I sloshed a generous amount of olive oil over the top of them, and sprinked them with salt and coarse black pepper. Mine took 30-40 minutes to bake at around 180 degrees.

For the burgers…

It’s probably wise to consider the size you’re planning on making your burgers when deciding how much mince to buy. I was exceptionally hungry last night, and so bought 500g of mince, from which I fashioned two of the largest burgers I’ve ever seen in my life (please note that I only ate one of them!). The same amount of meat could easily make three or four medium-sized burgers.

I put the raw mince in a bowl, and added one finely chopped onion, a sprinkling of dried chillies for a little spice and one beaten egg to bind them nicely together. It would be worth experimenting with different types of herb or spice to suit your tastes – I’m picturing myself adding dried rosemary, thyme, basil and/or oregano to my burgers in future. Perhaps even some ginger or cinnamon (just a little) would also work well in bringing out different flavours. Last night I fancied some spice, however, so flaked, dried chillies it was.

Now for the fun (or digusting, depending on your viewpoint) bit: get your hands in the bowl and mix all the ingredients together! I divided my mixture in half and then set about patting it into some round, flat burger shapes, making sure I used every last scrap of mince.

Once I was happy with my burger shapes, I heated a non-stick pan and carefully placed them in, adding just a tiny drop of olive oil to ensure that there was no charring. I then gently fried the burgers, turning them periodically until they were cooked right through. Because of the density, this took around 20 minutes. It helps to stand by with a fish slice in the early stages, just to prod things back into shape if any cracks appear. After ten minutes or so of cooking, however, they seem to hold themselves together without any help. While they’re finishing cooking, slice and butter some rolls, and have them to hand. Pop your burgers in, and garnish with whatever you like. I added a mixture of mustard and mayonnaise to the top, some sliced tomato, a little cheese and a small handful of rocket. Delicious, and perfect for some goal scoring action!

This is a lovely Italian recipe that’s cheap to make, and really quite healthy as well, despite the rather large cheese volume.  I made it last night with two aubergines from my veg box, although the internet tells me you can make it with courgettes or fennel as well.  Here’s what I did…

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines (mine were on the large-ish side, and that made plenty for two people)
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• Lots and lots of garlic
• A good sprinkling of salt, pepper and oregano
• Several handfuls of grated cheese (parmesan is the preferred option, but I didn’t have enough so I used some cheddar as well, and it made little difference)

Method

1. Fry the onion and the garlic in some olive oil (just for note, Tesco does a really good garlic-infused olive oil which makes everything taste extra rich and garlicky – delicious).
2. After a few minutes, add the chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and oregano. I also added a splash of balsamic vinegar for some extra kick.
3. While the mixture is simmering on a low heat, slice the aubergines lengthways into thickish pieces, and fry each one lightly on both sides in a non-stick pan (you could also stick them under the grill – that would work).
4. Once you’ve fried/grilled all of your aubergine, layer it all up in an oven proof dish. So a layer of tomato mixture, a layer of cheese and a layer of aubergine. Repeat this until you’ve used everything up, and make sure your final layer is of cheese, which will melt and go all delicious in the oven. You can also add breadcrumbs to the top for some extra golden brownness.
5. Bake for around half an hour at 180ish degrees and serve with lots of fresh, crusty bread and some black pepper.

Ta Da!  Parmigiana by your own fair hand.  A triumph indeed.

Image above from Flickr – Darwin Bell.

My second fruit and veg box arrived from the farm last Thursday, packed full of colourful and delicious-looking goodies.  The contents haven’t changed much from the last time, although I did receive a melon instead of a grapefruit, and a bunch of beautifully red radishes in lieu of an aubergine.  Although I’ve only received two boxes thus far, I’m already finding them to be incredibly useful devices as far as meal-planning goes.  I know lots of people make meal plans religiously but it’s not something I’ve ever really taken seriously myself, not that I doubt their thrifty credentials in the slightest.  Now that I’ve got the veg box as an incentive, however, I’m finding it much easier to discipline myself into planning ahead.  If I want to get the most out of each box, and use everything up before it turns, I’m going to need to be a bit savvy about what I cook, and when I cook it.  Here are a couple of things I’ve made this weekend:

This was the yummy salad I had for lunch on Saturday.  It consisted of various types of leaves (the box always contains two big bags of mixed greenery, none of which I can formally identify), fresh tomatoes, sliced radish, mushrooms and cucumber, with a slice of home-made herb bread and a slathering of honey and mustard dressing.

And these are the stovies I made for dinner this evening.  Each veg box has contained a large bag of potatoes, so I’m now constantly racking my brains for interesting ways to use them up.  These ones I boiled and roughly mashed with salt, pepper, mayonnaise and wholegrain mustard.  I then added roughly two cans of tuna, mixed with one red onion and more mayonnaise.  A sprinkling of parmesan cheese on the top and you’ll be safely at the door to carbohydrate heaven.

More meals from the veg box later in the week, I’m now off to the sofa where I can fully embrace my mash-induced lethargy…

I was flicking through my Google Reader this morning when I came across this lovely little post by Laura on mini-goals for the month of June.  Reading this has inspired me to set a few tasks of my own for the next circa 28 days.  I’m always lugging this notional ‘to do’ list around in my head, and I’m sure it weighs me down at times.  I’m figuring that the best way to start getting some stuff ticked off is to write it all down here and cross it off as and when it happens.  So, for the month of June, here are my own ten mini-goals (exclamation marks indicate my resolve to achieve):

1. Bake a carrot cake! – I love carrot cake, but have never got round to baking one myself.  This month, I’m gonna do just that.  Pow.

2. Finish the formidable Tony Blair book! – I’m on page 429 of roughly 700, and the going is slow.  It’s taken me around three weeks to get this far but with a few nights of solid dedication, I’m hopeful I can bust this tome into submission by the end of the month and get onto something a few shades lighter.

3. Learn some Spanish! – I have been meaning to get my old Spanish books out for years now and take the language up again, PROPERLY this time.  I’m going to try my best to start making progress towards this this month.  A few words or verbs an evening perhaps?

4. Research loans! – The most boring task on the list, but probably the most necessary (although ‘bake a carrot cake’ puts up a good fight!).  The ugly truth is that I will most probably need to take out some kind of bank loan to cover my tuition fees and living expenses for next year’s foray back into the world of university, and I will also need to get it sorted out sooner rather than later.  June is the month peeps.

5. Repair my wheels! – Ever since I took a nasty tumble off of my bike, and then watched despairingly from the pavement as my spanking new £15 front light was crunched into the road by three consecutive cars, I’ve been harbouring a terrible fear of city cycling and have allowed my most beloved bike to languish unused, with the result that she has now deteriorated into a somewhat very sorry state.  That has to end.  This month, I’m going to take her along to the Bike Station for one of their ‘fix your own bike’ workshops (£4 per hour, for all the tools and tips you could ask for).  Hopefully I’ll be back on the road, ringing my bell and filling my wicker basket with groceries in no time (ok, I don’t actually have a wicker basket yet – that’s another ‘to do’).

6. Complete quilt project! – I found a lovely rose-print bed sheet in a charity shop last week, which seems too pretty to stuff away underneath my duvet.  It’s also king-sized, so would probably be an awkward fit anyway.  After some pondering, I’ve decided to cut it in half, stuff it and sew it up into a sort of half-quilt thing for the bottom of my bed.  It should only take me one evening.

7. Repairs! – Another one for the sewing machine.  Two of my latest second-hand acquisitions need a bit of work with the old needle and thread before they will be ready for wearing out.  I love them both, so am keen to get this done pronto.  Hello June!

8. Paper cleansing! – I am categorically rubbish at keeping my paperwork under control.  I have a big groaning box full of the stuff which has been staring me in the eye for too long now.  Again, it should only take one evening to sift through, and I know I will feel soooo much better when it’s all done and dusted. I’ll also be able to find my passport at the drop of a hat, fancy that?!

9. Tune in! – I recently acquired an old MP3 player, which I have yet to load up with a single song.  I love listening to music on the go, so there’s really no good reason for this laziness.  90s CDs, I’m coming to get you!

10. Take a swim! – Simple really, considering that the pool is on the route home from work!

These are the mini-ten for June.  I’m going to keep them in a separate page at the top of the blog so I can refer back and strike through.  I feel so productive now.  Adios amigos (see, number 3 has begun already)!

Image above from Flickr – rossbelmont.

PS I completed my first ever guest post yesterday, which has this morning been published over at the Fabulous Savings blog!  Have a snoop on over there if you’re interested!