Economics of Home Cooking
I cooked a pan load of chilli con carne last night using the recipe on this blog.
The kilo of organic lean beef mince from Waitrose cost just under £10, the organic beans and tomatoes another three and if you add in the herbs, wine and spices then the total is under £20. Obviously, using cheaper ingredients could cut this cost. In fact when I made the previous batch a few weeks ago, I used some of the same organic mince, which was just about to go past its sell-by date. It cost just £6. So I always look for more of this, as lean meat is good for my cholesterol.
I make the chilli con carne in one large saucepan, so it really isn’t a great problem for washing up either!
I reckon that for my £20 or less, I get eight portions of about 400 grams each. Last night we ate three large portions with microwaveable rice and the rest I froze in one double and two single ones.
So each organic chilli con carne, with lean beef, lots of spices and included wine cost me £2.50. That’s about £6.25 a kilo.
Perhaps this is expensive, but it is very simple to do and I could cut the cost to about £1.50 (£4.25 a kilo), by using less expensive beef, cheap plonk and ordinary kidney beans and tomatoes.
A look on Waitrose‘s web site shows that they have a prepared chilli con carne at £5.98 a kilo.
Is mine better? Don’t know! But I suspect it has more meat in it and being a coeliac I know that it is totally gluten-free.
Are Restaurants Getting Better?
On Sunday, I went up to London and had a very good meal, risotto followed by liver, in the Camden Brasserie. And yesterday, I went to the Bull and Bush in Hampstead. There it was a steak with a pint of Aspalls cyder.
The point about both these restaurants is that neither would claim to be particular allergy-friendly and don’t say as much on the web site, but they both know about allergies and checked my order with the chef.
Writing twenty-four hours later, I have had no reaction.
So I would recommend these places to everybody; coeliacs or not.
Moroccan Chicken Casserole
This is something I wouldn’t have cooked, as if asked I would have said that I didn’t like apricots. But it was very nice. As I cooked it late at night, I actually froze it in four small pots and have only ate it after defrosting in the AGA.
The great advantage for me about this recipe is that it only uses one saucepan.
I got it from Crazy Squirrel.
You will need the following for four.
- 8 Chicken thighs – I used 4 breasts cut in half
- 2 Onions, chopped
- 2cm piece Root ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 180g Dried apricots
- 500ml Chicken stock – I made a gluten-free stock from a Marigold bouillon powder
- Salt and freshly ground Black pepper
And this is how you make it.
- In a large saucepan fry the chicken thighs over a high heat until brown all over (approximately 10 minutes).
- Add the onion and spices and fry for a further 5 minutes until the onion has softened.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix well and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
It is very simple.
Shopping for One
I tend to cook meals in fours. Tonight, I’ve cooked four Moroccan chicken casseroles, of which I’ve frozen three and put one in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch. I’m having a big lunch as I’m going racing and then watching Status Quo at Newmarket. (I still have a spare ticket, if anyone is interested!)
One of the reasons, I cook in fours, is that it is such a waste buying food for just one meal. Either you have to eat the same thing, two or even three days running, or throw most of it away.
Things I don’t like include :-
- Two for one or three for two deals. They are no cheaper for me, as the second one goes off before I can buy it.
- Meat usual comes in packs of two. So I have to buy two and put one in the freezer. Then I forget to get it out and have lots there. Then the freezer goes off and it’s all ruined. Grr!
- The lack of small sizes. There are some gluten-free pretzels that I like. No supermarket stocks the small size, so I eat too many if I buy a packet.
- Recipes that are made for four. OK, my maths is good, but can we have more recipes for one.
- I’ve got lots and lots of small packets of spices. Smaller ones would be better.
I do wonder whether the reason some people are obese, is that they live alone and buy too much!
It’s not that I’m unique in living alone. There are about 7,000,000 of us in the UK. So please can we have sensible sizes of food and other goods. If nothing it will cut down waste.
Maharajah Restaurant, Cambridge
Last night, I went to this pleasant little Indian restaurant just outside Cambridge city centre on Castle Hill.
The service was quick and the food was good. And of course it was gluten-free, as it is in most Indian restaurants.
Eggs Florentine
This recipe came from the BBC’s web site and is by James Tanner.
It isn’t that good for cholesterol, but it’s quick and easy.
This is what you’ll need for one.
- 25g/1oz butter
- 75g/2¾oz spinach
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 free-range eggs
- 100ml/3½fl oz double cream – I use St. Helen’s Farm Goats cream
And this is the method that I use.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. I use the bottom of the top over in the AGA.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the spinach and sauté for three minutes, or until wilted.
- Place the spinach into a small ovenproof dish and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Crack the eggs into the dish and pour over the cream, then place into the oven and bake for 10 minutes, until golden and bubbling.
- Serve in the ovenproof dish.
It’s good and fills a hole!
Petition to Number 10
SAF on the UK-Coeliac list has posted this.
I have composed a new petition to the prime minister to deal with.
This petition requires 500 signatures to be effective so looking for a lot of support.
The petition can be found on http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/allergenlabels
If the EU has its way, then such things as maltodextrin will be considered gluten-free, for labelling purposes. That may be so, but it still doesn’t alter the fact that I react to it.
So please sign the petition. After all the next ingredient foisted on you might be something that you object to!
Bacon and Egg Salad – Part 2
I cooked the Bacon and Egg Salad, that I put up yesterday.
It was good and here’s picture to prove it.
Bacon and Egg Salad
Note that I used some Antoinette Saville gluten free bread for the croutons. They were fine, although I left them in the oven for slightly too long.
The salad was very good though!
Bacon and Egg Salad
This is another recipe by Sybil Kapoor in The Times.
Again, I haven’t tried it, but it looks like a good alternative to Salad Nicoise. I have changed the bread to a couple of slices of gluten-free bread. I use my own bread, which I make in a breadmaker using Dr. Schar’s Mix-B breadmix.
This is the quantities for four.
- 1 clove of garlic
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 7 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 thick slices of ordinary white or sourdough bread – Change for gluten-free
- 450g green beans, trimmed
- 1 crisp green lettuce, such as batavia
- 1 tbsp white- or red-wine vinegar
- 4 free-range eggs, medium
- 200g back bacon, trimmed and diced
And this is how you make it.
- Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. In a bowl, grind the garlic with a little salt and mix in 1 tbsp olive oil. Cut the crusts off the sliced bread, then cut the bread into walnut-sized chunks and toss in the garlic oil, so they are well coated. Place on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. If the oven is dodgy, lightly fry in a little extra oil until crisp.
- Top and tail the beans and drop into a pan of boiling water. Boil vigorously for 7 minutes, or until tender. Drain and cool by spreading out onto a plate lined with kitchen paper.
- Remove and discard the outer leaves of the lettuce. Separate and wash the inner leaves, then dry in a tea towel, and rip the larger leaves into smaller pieces. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar and 3 tbsp oil. Season to taste and mix in the beans.
- Bring a pan of water to the boil and gently lower in the eggs. Keep the water simmering rather than vigorously boiling and cook for 6 minutes for a well-set white but moist yolk. Allow a minute longer if fresh-laid, chilled, or if you want them slightly more cooked. Drain, crack and cool slightly under the cold tap.
- Set a frying pan over a medium heat. Add 3 tbsp olive oil and, once hot, add the bacon and fry briskly for 5 minutes, or until crispy. Mix the bacon into the beans with the lettuce and croutons.
- Quickly peel and halve the eggs. Mix into the salad and serve immediately.
It sounds good to me.
Chunky Minestrone Soup
This recipe comes from Sybil Kapoor in The Times.
I’ve posted it not because I’ve done it yet, but because it looks good and I don’t want to lose it. She says it is very adaptable and you can use any canned pulse, apart from lentils. As I need more pulses, that’s fine by me.
This is what you’ll need for 4.
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 sticks of celery, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, diced
- 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
- 2 courgettes, chopped
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- Piece of parmesan rind, plus grated parmesan to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 410g can cannellini, kidney or borlotti beans
- 2 generous handfuls chopped green cabbage
And this is the method you’ll use.
- You can prepare the vegetables as you’re cooking the soup. If possible, try to cut them into roughly the same size. Set a large saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the oil and, once hot, mix in the diced onion. As the onion softens, prepare and add the carrot, followed by the celery, garlic, potato and courgette. Stir occasionally.
- Let the courgettes soften for 2 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes. Fill the empty tin 3 times with water and pour it into the soup. Add the parmesan rind and some freshly ground black pepper. If you don’t have any parmesan rind, just add a little chunk of parmesan. Do not add salt at this stage.
- Increase the heat and bring up to a simmer, then cook gently over a low heat for up to 2 hours. The longer it cooks, the thicker and more flavoursome it will get. If the soup gets too thick, just add more water.
- Drain and rinse the canned beans, and chop the cabbage into easy-to-eat pieces. Set aside. About 30 minutes before the end of cooking, add the drained beans. Then, 20 minutes before you want to eat, mix in the cabbage.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes and serve with grated parmesan and crusty bread. This tastes even better the following day.
I wonder if it’ll freeze for the winter.
The Anonymous Widower 