Category Archives: Budget

Apple Purée

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Today I thought I’d share something we eat nearly every day but that usually flies under the radar: apple purée.

As per usual with me, this is really not revolutionary – it’s just cooked apples that have been whizzed up. But it is SO yummy, simple, useful, versatile, healthy and cheap. How else can I sell it?

I first made this when we had loads of apples and they were just starting to go a bit soft and not so nice for eating plain. Now I buy extra apples (little ones, or ones with a couple of marks on them) just for making into purée. I make it once every couple of weeks, and the obsessive housewife in me packs 1-cup quantities into little snap lock bags (which can be used over and over and over), and freezes them. Then I take them out the night before I need them, and they’re purée again by morning.

I add the purée to my muesli, fresh fruit and yoghurt for breakfast – great way to bulk out the meal without adding extra fat or excess kJ. You can also use it in desserts,  smoothies, milkshakes etc, or I’m sure there are plenty of other ideas floating around. I think you could use it in most instances as a substitute for store-bought apple sauce – much better for you, too.

I really like using apple purée as a substitute for butter in baking recipes. I have a general rule of thumb for cakes, muffins and loaves etc, that you can swap a quantity of butter for a half and half mix of fruit purée and low-fat spread. It’s not a fail-safe rule, some recipes do need a higher quantity of fat to work, so I can’t guarantee you success! But for example, I made a beautiful gingerbread a few days ago – instead of 200g butter, I used 100g apple puree, and 100g low fat spread, and it came out perfectly (I’ll post the recipe sometime soon). You really wouldn’t know from the taste, and although the sugar content is still high, you’ve significantly lowered the fat, which is a great start! By the way, this can be a great option if you need to make a baking recipe dairy-free.

Apple Purée (or you could use pears)
Just cut apples into quarters, and remove the core and pips. Chop the apples roughly, leaving the skin on (it’s where lots of the goodness is, and it just melts into the puree during cooking and whizzing). I microwave my apples – pop say 800g of them in a microwave proof bowl with 1-2 Tbsp cold water, cover and cook on high for about 8 minutes. I don’t find you need to add any sugar, unless the apples are spectacularly tart. Alternatively, you could steam them on the stove top, just until they’re tender and will puree easily. Once they’re cooked, transfer the contents (including the liquid) to a food processor, and whiz for a couple of minutes, or until you have a smooth puree. The purée in this photo is made from lovely gala apples and they gave it this beautiful rosy pink colour.

Enjoy!

Simple Tomato & Chickpea Curry

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I actually made this um, months ago, and had completely forgotten about it have been saving it up specially.

I like to have a few tricks up my sleeve to make a filling, healthy, comforting meal at short notice, and to make said meal from a few cheap ingredients that are always in my pantry. These recipes are my best friends on hungry and/or grumpy and/or flustered and/or busy evenings when I just need to Eat. Something. Now. Or. Will. Fall. Over. I think that no matter how amazing your life is, you always have days like this. And if you don’t, you really ought to share the secret with the rest of us in the comments section.

There are loads of tomato and chickpea curry recipes out there – I can’t claim this as an original idea. Most recipes are a variation on tinned tomatoes + chickpeas + spices = good. So as long as you have those things in the cupboard, and bonus points for an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic, you can be munching through this in a lot less than half an hour.

Tomato & Chickpea Curry
My recipe notes that this is supposed to serve four, but from memory, that assumes you are serving it with bread or rice. Serving just the curry, Mr. J and I got through the whole lot on our own! So if you have a large and hungry family, it would pay to at least double the recipe. If you end up with too much, you can always welcome it back for lunch tomorrow, or freeze it and enjoy it on another hungry,flustered and busy day.

Another note – if you’re missing one or two of the spices, don’t worry, just press on ahead!

small dash of rice bran or canola oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder (or adjust quantity to taste, or leave out altogether)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
1x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or dried chickpeas, soaked)
1x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
5cm piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
chopped fresh coriander, to serve
Heat the oil in a large saucepan or frying pan. Add the chopped onion and garlic, and cook gently until softened, and just turning golden. Add the spices and stir for a couple of minutes, coating the onion with the spices.
Add the drained chickpeas, and stir to coat them in the spices too, then add the tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the ginger and stir through.
Serve with crusty bread or, ideally, brown rice, and garnish with chopped fresh coriander. You may also like to add a dollop of low fat natural yoghurt.

Food Bloggers Conference & Red, Red, Red Beef

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I spent last Saturday at New Zealand’s first annual food bloggers conference. It was such a great day! It was nice to meet lots of the other food bloggers, and come away with heaps of new ideas and enthusiasm. Other bloggers have done great write-ups (see accounts from Pease Pudding, At Down Under, Alessandra Zecchini, Easy Food Hacks and Toast.

Thanks to Alli of Pease Pudding for putting the day together, and also to the sponsors:

Cook the Books – Kohu Road -  Gü - Teza - I Love Pies - Mad Millie – Pacific Harvest - Whittakers - Kokako - Gravity - Bell Tea - Annies - Photo & Video International - Coopers Creek - Loaf - Cuisine - Hubbards - New Holland Publisher

The conference got me thinking about why I started my blog in the first place. There were a variety of reasons – including to meet new people (after Saturday, tick!), to try new things in the kitchen (tick), and to have a way of sharing favourite recipes (well, obviously, tick). I set out with a plan to focus on tasty, healthy, not-prohibitively-expensive, every day food. Because while I love cooking fancy food and putting dinner party menus together, I take great pleasure in rustling up simple but delicious food on weeknights. I also find that a lot of my friends want to cook this kind of food, but don’t have a lot of recipes to start with.

I’ve posted a few of these kind of recipes on the blog, but not as many as I’d like. The thing is, baking and sweet treats are a lot easier to photograph and blog about! When I’m cooking on a weeknight, we’re hungry and tired from work, and just want to eat, rather than set up a photo shoot while our dinner gets cold! Plus, the natural light’s dim by then, and photographing gets a bit trickier. You get the… picture.

But I’m setting these concerns aside. I’m going to try and focus back on these weeknight meal recipes, and so to start as I mean to go on, here is what we had for dinner tonight! It has red meat, red wine, red curry paste, and red lentils. And tomato paste. Which is also red. Yeah.

Red, Red, Red Beef

600g beef (I used rump steak; chuck or blade would also be good)
cooking oil spray
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 large carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 courgette, sliced
1 cup red wine
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp red curry paste
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups beef stock
1 Tbsp dried rosemary, or a couple of sprigs fresh
1/2 cup red lentils*

*You got me here, I actually meant to use red lentils, but discovered we had run out. Turns out brown lentils work too.

Preheat oven to 170º(C). If you’ve got a casserole dish that works on both stove top and in the oven, use that; if not, use a large frypan. Spray chosen vessel with cooking spray, and place over medium-high heat. Brown beef in two batches, and set aside.

Spray the pan with a little more oil, turn the heat down a little, and cook the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and courgette until softened. Add the red wine and simmer until the liquid reduces – by about a half. Then stir in the flour, curry paste and tomato paste until smooth. Add the beef stock and rosemary, and bring to the boil.

If you’re using a frypan, now is the time to transfer the mixture to an oven-proof casserole dish. Tip: I put my casserole dish in the oven while it preheats, so that you’re not putting your nice hot beef casserole into a cold dish and then waiting for it to heat up.

Place the casserole in the preheated oven and cook for an hour. Then add the lentils, cover again and cook for a further 30 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Season to taste and serve. I had mine plain but would be yummy with mashed potatoes or couscous, and some steamed greens.

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

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At this time of year, I’m usually over stews and casseroles.

When I first read about “hearty fare”, “winter warmers” and “comfort food” in autumn food magazine editorials, I can’t wait to stock  up on tinned tomatoes and blade steak. But by the end of August, I’m ready to shake the next person that writes about “satisfying and hearty recipes to warm your soul”. Bring on the asparagus and spring salads.

But if there was ever a week for casseroles and stews, this was surely the week. Thick snow falling in Lambton Quay? I never thought I’d see the day.

This is a chicken dish my mum used to make for our family all the time. It’s nothing fancy, but the white wine and honey give the chicken a nice flavour – and the gravy sauce is really yummy over roast potatoes. I really like the frozen vege mix in this recipe (possibly because it’s a childhood favourite!), but you could use other frozen or fresh veges.

Farmhouse Chicken Casserole

6-8 chicken pieces (I used one thigh cutlet and 1 drumstick per person)
few Tbsp flour
1½ Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups chicken stock
¼ cup white wine
2 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp chopped Italian parsley
ground black pepper
1½ cups frozen vegetables (I used a pea, carrot and corn mix)

Preheat the oven to 150(c). Pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and coat them lightly in flour. Heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil in a large frypan and cook the chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side, until it’s nice and goldy brown. Pop it in a greased casserole dish and set aside. Heat the remaining oil and cook the onions and garlic for 4-5 minutes, until the onion is soft. Add the onion and garlic to the chicken in the casserole dish.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, mix together the stock, wine, cornflour (mix it to a paste with a bit of cold water first), parsley and pepper, and heat until the mixture thickens. Put the frozen veges in the casserole with the chicken and onions, and pour the sauce over everything. Cover and cook in the oven for about an hour and a half.

I served my casserole with steamed broccoli, roasted agria potatoes, and some maple and pecan roasted yams (yum, right? post to come on them shortly).

Hope everybody’s keeping warm….

Lemon & Ginger drink syrup

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A few weeks ago I went to a class at Wellington’s Handmade 2011 on preserving. Anna Kelly taught a great class in making jam, infused olive oil and this delicious drink syrup. It is really easy and takes hardly any time at all. A pretty bottle of this syrup would make such a great gift! And between you and me, a hot drink made with this syrup and a wee dash of whiskey is perfect on winter evenings.

Anna Kelly’s Lemon & Ginger Elixir

3 large lemons, juice and grated rind
25g fresh ginger, grated. You don’t even have to peel it!
750g white sugar
1/2 Tbsp citric acid
2 cups boiling water

Place all ingredients into a large heatproof bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then cover and leave overnight. Strain the syrup through a sieve lined with cheesecloth. Pour into sterilised bottles or jars and seal.

Make a hot or cold drink with one part syrup to four parts water. I haven’t tried it but it would probably also be delicious poured lightly over muffins when they’ve just come out of the oven, to make a crunchy topping. Or in cocktails with mint and gin. Any other ideas?

On top of spaghetti, all covered in cheese

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Who doesn’t love spaghetti and meatballs?

I realise I’m getting into the habit of blogging about classics that seem to have lost their appeal along the way. Meatballs are a prime (mince) example. Beef mince, pasta and a good tomato pasta sauce – what’s not to like? It seems unfair that lasagne should claim all the status points in this category. So I’m standing up and fighting for meatballs. Kia Kaha!

This meatball recipe has been around our family for ages – I’m pretty sure I used to eat it when my brother and I were at primary school. I like baked meatballs better than fried, and these ones have a really nice flavour. The recipe title has always been ’spicy meatballs’, but they’re really not spicy, so I’ve taken the liberty of renaming them.

My tomato pasta sauce recipe is very back to basics; I sometimes add extra things depending on what’s in the fridge and what I’m using the sauce for, but it’s a good base recipe. Put together, you have simple, good food. 


Bring Back Meatballs & Basic Pasta Sauce
Serves 2

250g beef mince
1 onion, very finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp mustard powder
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg
chopped fresh Italian parsley
about 200g spaghetti (I used wholemeal, in case you were wondering about the colour)
½ Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp tomato paste
tomatoes*
2 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (e.g. basil, italian parsley, oregano)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp minced chilli
1 tsp brown sugar
parmesan and fresh herbs, to serve

*I used a tin of chopped tomatoes, plus 4-5 fresh ones (red gold!). In times of plenty, you could use all fresh tomatoes (imagine that!), or all tinned. Whatever you fancy and have on hand.

Preheat oven to 200(c). Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Combine the mince, half the onion, the first clove garlic, the ginger, mustard powder, breadcrumbs, egg and parsley, and mix until all ingredients are well combined. Shape into golf-ball sized meatballs. Place on the lined tray and bake for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.

While they bake, cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water, according to packet directions, and prepare the pasta sauce:

Heat olive oil in a frypan over medium heat. Add the garlic and remaining onion, and cook until softened (about 5 minutes). Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add tomatoes, herbs, salt, chilli and brown sugar. Let that simmer away gently for 10-15 minutes, while the meatballs finish cooking. Check seasonings and adjust with salt, pepper and/or brown sugar.

 To serve, place the spaghetti on plates, then top with ½ the sauce (as in, 1/4 of the sauce on each plate), then add the meatballs, then the remaining sauce. Top with shaved or grated parmesan, and some extra fresh herbs.

The ultimate verdict on whether this dish is good or not:

Shoestring Sunday night

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I really wondered whether to post about this meal … the kedgeree recipe you are about to read is NOT elegant. It is NOT refined. It is probably NOT a recipe you would use for entertaining. But there is something very comforting about it.

There are a couple of things I like about this kedgeree. Firstly, you can really make it to suit your tastes and your budget. The ingredients in this recipe are at the student flat end of the spectrum, but if you have a bit more room to move, try using a really good smoked fish. Haddock is traditional but I don’t think we get it in NZ – alternatives might be trevally or mackerel.

If you feel like it, you could also add lemon or lime (add juice and finely grated rind at the same time as the fish).  Jamie Oliver also uses fresh ginger and mustard seeds. Maybe kedgeree can be more elegant than I gave it credit for.

The second thing I like about this recipe is that I usually have all these things in my pantry and can make this up if I have forgotten to take meat out of the freezer and we need. food. now.

Kedgeree

1 Tbsp canola oil
1-2 onions, finely chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 cup rice
2 1/2 cups water or fish stock
1/2 tsp salt
450g tin smoked fish fillets, drained, flaked
4 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
fresh herbs (try coriander, dill or italian parsley)
3 spring onions, chopped

Heat the oil in a large frypan, and gently cook onion until soft (but not browned). Add the spices and cook for a minute before adding rice and stock.

Cover the pan and gently simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until rice is cooked and liquid has been absorbed.

Add the flaked fish, eggs, lemon juice and herbs, and carefully fold through the rice. Keep the pan over a low heat, just to heat the dish through.

Serve garnished with spring onions, extra herbs and lemon wedges.