Nachos with a Veggie Chilli Dip

Nachos are the perfect accompaniment to a cheesy DVD when you feel like slobbing out. Tonight we had a packet of Tangy Cheese Doritos, but wanted something a bit tastier than the sugary (and expensive) branded dips. This recipe  beats them hands down. 

Forget the cheese and the sour cream and this dip works for vegans. 

Ingredients

2 small onions

4 cloves garlic

Half a large green sweet pepper

3 tomatoes 

Tin of red kidney beans

Splash of veg oil

Tspn hot chilli powder

Tspn smoked paprika

Half tspn mustard powder

Half tspn chilli flakes

Tspn oregano

Tspn Marmite 

Chop the veg nice and small. Fry the onion and the garlic until soft, then add the red pepper and the tomatoes. 

Add the spices and the oregano. 

Put in the beans - and the water from the can. It's a poor man's stock. Stir in the Marmite (or Sainsbury's own brand - cheaper and tasty).

Let the sauce thicken, probably 25 - 30 minutes, then serve with sour cream and grated cheddar cheese. 

Smoked Haddock & Apple Pie with a Kick

There's no pic of this one for the simple reason that we were feeding Nav, who brought some lovely Ryton Organic veg to accompany the pie and I forgot to take photos in all the excitement. 

The smoked haddock was a half price bargain from the Co-op, but I think the flavour would have been better from Clive Miller on the market. I incorporated the apple because I think we should work season free fruit into our meals where we can - hardly a chore as it was a real winner. 

Ingredients

2 filets of smoked haddock 

2 apples, cored and roughly chopped - no need to peel

Spring onions

A few of Mel's delicious French beans

Potatoes

Butter

Milk &/or cream

Cheese (I used cheddar)

Salt & pepper

Smoked paprika

For the cheese sauce:

Tablespoon butter

Tablespoon flour

Milk

Half tspn cayenne pepper

Ground black pepper

Grated cheese to taste, I used cheddar

Boil the potatoes for the mash. Add salt to the water if that's your thing. 

Fry the apples and the spring onion in the butter. Take the skin off the fish, roughly chop and add to the pan. Fry for a few minutes and then add the beans. Leave on a low heat while you make the sauce. 

This is a simple cheese sauce. I'm not a big measurer of ingredients (apart from rice - I'll always cook too much rice unless I weigh it) but if you keep the butter and the flour roughly equivalent, all you have to do is melt the butter then add the flour & the cayenne pepper and stir to make a roux. Add milk whilst stirring vigorously until you have a nice, smooth sauce. Then turn the heat down and add the cheese, stirring until it's melted in. Taste it and add more cheese to taste. The sauce will have a kick, but that will subside as the pie cooks, so don't panic at this stage. 

Put the fish into an oven-proof dish and pour the sauce in, then mix well. 

Drain and mash the potatoes. Don't stint on the butter and milk - add cream if you have some in the fridge. You want them fluffy. 

Spoon the mash onto the fish and sauce. Grate cheese onto the top and sprinkle smoked paprika. 

Pop into the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until the topping is golden brown. 

We served with buttered cauliflower and courgette. 

Bacon, Chicken & Pea Soup

The crap weather is compensated, somewhat, by the arrival of seasonal comfort food.

The chicken wings were an absolute bargain - the reluctance of the great British public to suffer the inconvenience of fiddly bones means there are some great offers out there. The bacon was some fat cut from bacon bits - fabulous. And the split peas cost, I think 55p for 500gm, which makes them an incredible bargain. 

Ingredients

5 chicken wings

2 rashers of bacon

150gm green split peas (soaked overnight)

2 small onions

2 potatoes

5 cloves garlic

Tablespoon oil / butter for frying

Chicken or ham stock

Half tspn cumin

Half tspn paprika

Tspn mustard

Pepper

Optional fresh chopped parsley

Chop the onion fairly small and fry in the oil (or the butter). Add the chopped garlic, the bacon and the chicken wings. Let the chicken brown before stirring in  the cumin, mustard and paprika, then add the split peas. Keep the water the peas have soaked in overnight. 

After a couple of minutes pour in the stock. I used ham stock - that's the kind of guy I am - but a chicken stock cube would do the trick. 

Cover and simmer for about half an hour, stirring occasionally. Chop the potatoes into small chunks and add to the soup. Give it another half an hour before removing the chicken wings. 

Pull the meat from the bones. This only takes a couple of minutes - use two forks if, like me, you don't have asbestos fingers. Add the meat back to the soup and serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and a twist of the pepper grinder. 

Simple Pork and French Bean Stir Fry

This was a late supper, so had to be quick to cook. The pork was half price from the Co-op, and so the meal cost about a pound for the two of us. 

Ingredients

Small pork chop / steak

Medium onion

Four garlic cloves

Carrot

Small handful of French beans

Red pepper

A splash of white wine or cider 

Pork (or chicken) stock cube

Half tspn ground ginger

Half tspn cumin

Tspn sweet paprika 

125gm wholegrain rice

Cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet. We had whole grain, but any rice'll do. 

Fry the chopped onion and garlic, with the spices, on a low heat for a few minutes until soft, then increase the heat for the arrival in the pan of the pork, which has been chopped into small bite-size chunks. 

Once the meat has coloured, add the carrot and red pepper, stirring vigorously, before adding a good splash of vinegar. As is my wont, I used the spiced vinegar from a nice jar of gherkins. 

As the vinegar boils down, add the pork stock. The sauce will reduce nicely. Add the chopped French beans towards the end. We were lucky enough to have beans fresh from Mel's allotment - delicious. 

When all is cooked, add the (drained!) rice to the dish, stir well and you're ready to go. 

If you have an apple handy, then you could core, peel and chop and add to the pan when you put the carrots in. 

Chicken, Bacon, Carrot & Lentil Soup

We picked up a splendid half-price free range chicken at the weekend, which did for a roast and a really rather excellent chicken, smoked bacon and chorizo dish with the leftovers. 

Chicken being the bird that never stops givin', the carcass was used to make stock which forms the basis of this soup. Stock cubes can be used, of course. 

The total cost of this soup would be about a quid. Lentils are dirt cheap, the carrots were about 30p and the bacon probably about 10p. Sadly, this dish sees the end of a 800gm 'bacon bits' from the market (discussed in a previous post) that had the finest smoked bacon I've ever tasted. Unbelievable. 

Ingredients

Small splash of veg oil

1kg carrots

100gm lentils

Large onion

3 cloves garlic (or tspn garlic powder)

3 rashers bacon

About 1.5 litres of chicken stock 

2 tspns mild curry powder / paste 

1/2 tspn celery seeds / salt

1/2 tspn mustard powder

Squirt of tomato purée 

Splash of cider vinegar or equivalent 

Chop the onions and the bacon and fry on a low-medium heat in the oil. Olive oil is great, I used rapeseed - don't use palm oil as no soup is worth the death of an orangutan. When the onions are soft and the bacon slightly browned add the garlic and give everything a good stir. 

Add the chopped carrot and lentils. Stir and add the curry, celery seeds and mustard. Don't worry if you don't have celery seeds / salt and do feel free to use any mustard if you don't have the powder. A quick squirt of tomato purée and a bit of vigorous stirring. Doesn't really need to be that vigorous but I need the exercise. 

Don't let anything burn: add that splash of vinegar. I actually used the vinegar from a jar of gherkins from the Polish Deli on Shelton Square - spirit vinegar infused with charlock, celery, bay leaf as well as what appears to be chopped garlic and black pepper seeds. You wouldn't want to throw that deliciousness out when you've finished the gherkins, would you?

It'll only be a minute or so before you need to add the stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat right down and cover. Should be ready in about half an hour. 

I actually whacked this through a food processor, but most adults can cope with bits of carrot and it works as a lumpy soup. 

I served with a little raw courgette, thinly sliced, as I had some in the fridge that needs eating. 

Smoked Paprika & Chilli Roasted Potatoes

We all love roast potatoes, but that doesn't mean they're beyond improvement. I like to give my potatoes a bit of zing once in a while and these potatoes are going to be perfect with a bargain free range chicken with a rather nice sage & apple stuffing. Life would've been better if the chicken had its giblets, but hey ho.

Ingredients

Potatoes

2 tablespoons oil - I used rapeseed as short of olive oil

Teaspoon smoked paprika

Pinch of hot chilli powder

Good pinch of onion powder

Sea salt

Black pepper

Cut the potatoes into small chunks. I went for skin on, but peel away if you prefer. Boil for a few minutes, turn off the heat and leave in the water to cook further. 

Pour oil into a large mixing bowl and add the paprika, onion powder and chilli. Mix well. 

Drain the potatoes and put them in the bowl with the seasoned oil. Stir vigorously. Decant into a roasting tin. Season with the sea salt and pepper. 

Pop into a hot oven - 220 or 200 if using a fan oven. They'll need to be stirred a couple of times during cooking. 

Blackberries and Apples

This year has been magnificent for fruit. We've had a bumper harvest of blackberries from brambles at the bottom of the garden. Walking through Hearsall Woods, though, I was amazed by the quantity of fruit available. 

It does seem that folks are uncomfortable with picking and eating wild fruit. There were two dessert apple trees. A couple walking their dog were surprised to see us collecting fruit - they'd always thought they must be crab apples. It's free fruit folks - and delicious - go harvest!!