Kedgeree

The smoked haddock fillets were in the freezer, a chilli in the fridge, the parsley was growing on the terrace and I bought the eggs and spring onions at the market.  Everything else was storecupboard.

The simple but delicious flavours of kedgeree are wonderful, and this dish is a very easy way to stretch few indgredients.  The more fish the better, but in this case I only had 200g which isn't much at all.  Needless to say, you can really include or omit anything when making this.  Smoked fish, eggs, parsley and lemon juice are classic components, but really once you have cooked some basmati rice properly you can fry it with anything.  For my next experimental crunch dish, I am going to use some rice with reduced turkey steaks and other fridge items, and see what happens!

Ingredients:

Smoked haddock fillets (reduced by 75%, 62p)

Basmati rice (99p kilo bag, quarter used) 25p

Parsley

Fresh green chilli

4 eggs - 20p each, 60p

4 spring onions 60p a bunch, half bunch used -30p

Lemon juice

Nutmeg, grated

Tandoori powder

Butter

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Boil the eggs and cool. 

Wash and cook the rice.

Heat a little butter/margarine in a frying pan and add the fish (skin removed).

After a minute or so add the sliced spring onion and season with pepper.  Squeeze in a generous amount oif lemon juice.  Then add the chopped chilli, and sprinkle with nutmeg.

When cooked, add rice.  Add a gentle teaspoon of tandoori powder (ideally this would be turmeric!) and stir regularly.  When nearly ready, add sliced egg and chopped parsley.  Taste and add more lemon juice and salt if required.

This a most versatile dish which is perfect either hot or cold.  Have it hot for supper and cold for breakfast, after the flavours have infused overnight in the fridge.

Tomato and chilli omelette

Omelettes are the new black.  I can't think of anything better you can do with three eggs and any other ingredients you happen to have kicking about in the fridge.

Ingredients:

3 eggs, whisked together and seasoned with salt and pepper

1 tomato

Half a fresh red chilli

Nub of gouda cheese, leftover in fridge

Sprig or two of thyme, old and dried in fridge.

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Melt a dab of margarine/butter in a frying pan and add chopped tomato.  When butter starts to bubble add the whisked eggs.

When omelette is starting to cook, add chopped fresh chilli and sprinkling of grated cheese and thyme.

Wait until nearly cooked but still a little runny on top.  Fold over the omelette and cook until ready.

Serve immediately.

Oriental style roast vegetables

This was an attempt to make some reduced vegetables taste slightly different.  They were roasted with fresh chilli and typically oriental flavours to add zest to simple flavours.

Ingredients:

Florets of broccoli and cauliflower (half price, 50p, half used)

Baby sweetcorn (reduced by 75%, 24p, half used)

Half red chilli (pack of 3 reduced by 50%, 24p)

half tsp pureed ginger

half tsp pureed garlic

salt & pepper

oil

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Mix pureed garlic and ginger with olive oil and pour over vegetables.  Stir and season.  Roast for 10 minutes.  Add sliced chilli.  Roast for further 15 minutes (times depend on oven temperature).

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These tasty but simple roasted veg were served with two chicken breasts wrapped in streaky bacon with chipolatas and stuffing (reduced by 50% to £1.50).

Although this made a meal for one, it would really be intended for two, with more vegetables and some roast potatoes.

Great British Waste Menu, BBC 1

"From supermarkets to our own kitchens, Britons have moved on from the 'waste not, want not' mantra of old, and now, as a country, we squander tons of perfectly edible food every year.  In response, four of the nation's top chefs embark on a mission to show how our scraps can be transformed into delicious dishes by preparing a banquet for 60 VIPs using food previously thrown away.  Before their recycled dishes make it to the table, however, they must meet the exacting standards of food critics Jay Rayner, Oliver Peyton, Prue Leith and Matthew Fort." (Mail on Sunday August 22 2010)

Watch the program here on bbc iplayer -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tkr88/Great_British_Waste_Menu/

Previous series have seen the Great British menu chefs compete to cook for the Queen, ambassadors from around the world, and war veterans.


But now, the programme takes a twist as they create gastronomic delights from leftovers.
Four of the nation's top chefs, and Great British Menu veterans, Angela Hartnett, Richard Corrigan, Matt Tebbutt and Simon Rimmer journey deep into the heart of Britain's food waste problem, exploring how and why the nation throws away and reject huge quantities of perfectly edible food.

Cameras follow the chefs as they source shocking amounts of unwanted food from every link in the food chain - from supermarkets to ordinary homes, markets to farms - and then transform it into mouth-watering dishes.

And it's surprisingly fascinating as the chefs visit farmers who regularly discard tomatoes that aren't perfectly red and round; dairy producers who throw away perfectly good cheese and milk if the packaging is slightly damaged; and butchers who waste an extraordinary amount of perfectly edible meat on a daily basis. It all amounts to a tragic waste.

The chefs face a unique and near-impossible task: can they create a fabulous banquet for over 60 VIPs using the food that the rest of us don't want? Can they create restaurant-standard food using ingredients that have been discarded, rejected or deemed unsuitable for sale? Will they be able to change the way Britons think about waste food?

The Great British menu's usual line up of tough food critics - Matthew Fort, Prue Leith and Oliver Peyton, are joined by Jay Rayner to decide which dishes go onto the menu for the lavish banquet designed to prove that saving scraps is good.

As the chefs source their ingredients and the banquet unfolds, the solution to the scandalous food waste crisis reveals itself to be a simple one: just eat it.

http://tv.sky.com/great-british-waste-menu-review

Dawn does Potatoes! Dawn Porter for the Potato Council

Dawn Does Potatoes 5 August 2010
Dawn Porter's been loving potatoes for one week! Watch her fab video blog to see how she's finding it and what she's up to in the kitchen...




So far the amazing versatility of potatoes means she's in no danger of becoming bored with the plan. What's more, potatoes are naturally fat free and bursting with nutrients including vitamin C, B1, B6, folate and fibre. The challenge is, just how much precious time can she save by following the plan?


http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk/week-one-dawn-does-potatoes/

Chicken soup elaborated with seasoned croutons and parsley

Having picked some shards of meat from the carcass of the satsuma chicken (which were originally intended for a noodle soup), they were left over in the fridge.  Some ready-bought chicken soup was elaborated with this extra meat, some home-made croutons and some home-grown parsley.

Ingredients (Served 1)

carton Covent Garden Chicken Soup (reduced from £1.50 to 68p)

leftover chicken pieces

leftover bread bun (any bread will do)

fresh chopped parsley (grown in pot on terrace)

salt and pepper

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Add the chicken pieces to the soup and heat.

To make the croutons, slice the bread and fry in a little olive oil, generously seasoning with salt and pepper and making sure not to burn.

To serve, scatter the croutons on top of the soup, and then generously garnish with parsley.

Total cost - 68p

Satsuma roast chicken with roast vegetables and potatoes

A half price whole chicken was simply roasted along with some limp vegetables left over in the fridge,

and some tired sprouting potatoes. The satsuma was also left over, and included for a 'novel twist'.  It didn't add flavour to the chicken, but was a nice subtle addition to the flavour of the accompanying vegetables.

Ingredients (Served 2)

Whole chicken (reduced from £3.75 to £1.87)

5 small leftover carrots

1 courgette (reduced, 3 for 10p, and leftover)

1 1/2 red onions, leftover

2 large potatoes, leftover

2 twigs rosemary

leftover satsuma

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Place whole chicken into roasting/pyrex dish.

Wipe olive oil over the skin and season with salt and pepper.

Follow instructions to cook chicken -
25 mins every 0.5 kgs at 190 plus 25 mins is about right.

Cover the chicken with foil and put in the oven.

Meanwhile peel, cut and par boil the potatoes.

Prepare the vegetables - peel, and cut.

With about 40 mins left total cooking time-

Drain the potatoes and shake in a pan with a lid until fluffy.  Add salt, pepper and butter then put in a hot roasting tray in the oven.

Take the foil off the chicken and squeeze satsuma segments over it, dab with a little butter and sprinkle about a teaspoon of brown sugar over it.

Put all the vegetables around the chicken and add some dabs of butter to them and add generous sprigs of rosemary.

Roast all for the remaining time and serve when cooked (let chicken rest, covered in foil, before carving.)