Thai Tom Yum Soup (Veggie)

Over the years, despite growing into a very competent home cook, the one cuisine family that has always flummoxed me is the Pan Asian cuisine, and especially Thai. All of our peers seemed to rave about it and there are many thai restaurants in our area to meet the demands of mid life professionals reliving their gap year glory days. Having never been on a gap year, I always put that down as the reason I just 'didn't get Thai', and I have always loved the butter, cream and dairy laden European diet. I also blame the horror of nasty Anglicised green curry for my rejection of this beautiful cuisine too.

However, as I near my forties, my body and digestion is changing dramatically, and I've found myself drawn increasingly to lighter, more refreshing food packed with flavour, and so... my recent experimentation with Thai and Chinese food has really taken off, and that's been helped by our local restaurant Thai Charms doing a lunch time special £8.95 menu, allowing me to discover authentic thai dishes that are simply out of this world.

Last night I made a vegetarian version of the classic Tom Yum Soup and it was deliciously warming, perfect for the freezing temperatures. It was the first time that I had ever had tofu, too. The tetra packed silken tofu for reference and it was lovely. I definitely urge you to try this type if you've been put off by the other drier tofu.

LEVEL: EASY
BUDGET: LOW (approx £1.25 a serving) 
FEEDS 2-3 comfortably as a main dish
TIME: FAST
VEGETARIAN


Budget Notes: Having a general stock of thai ingredients regularly in the fridge reduces the cost of cooking thai as a little goes a long way and will make several dishes across the week. I always have a fresh ginger root, couple of red chilis and a bunch of lemon grass in the fridge and soy and fish sauce in the cupboard; so initially the cost may be a little bit of an outlay, but it stretches very economically.


INGREDIENTS
1 lemon grass stalk
2 cloves of garlic
1tsp of sea salt
1/2 red chili or dried chili flakes to personal level
2 x good stock gels (veggie or chicken)
6-7 Shitake mushrooms
2tbsp soy sauce
Splash of fish sauce (optional)
Pak choi or dark green cabbage
Corriander
Basil
1 bundle of dried egg noodles.
1/2 pack of tetra packed silken tofu (optional)


METHOD
1) In a large casserole pan / soup pan make the stock up into 1 1/2 pints of stock. Mince the lemon grass and garlic and ginger together in a pestle and mortar with salt to help break it down. Add to the stock mix and heat until well infused.

2) Add the 2thsp of soy sauce, splash of optional fish sauce, and a tbsp of brown sugar.

3) Add the noodles and cook for approx 5 until softened.

4) Add the chopped shitake mushrooms greens, basil and coriander and heat until greens are vivid.

5) Cube the tofu and place in the bottom of the bowl. Heap the noodles and solids on top to help heat it through and then pour over the broth.

TIP: Add more or less stock depending on your tastes, and adjust salt accordingly.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts on Polenta

This dish is one inspired by a dish that my mother used to cook when entertaining in the 80s/90s. I think she got the original recipe from the Dairy Book of Cookery, but my childhood increasingly belongs to history LOL.

I do remember being wowed as a little girl but the magic of this culinary dish in a time when homecooking was going through it's first major revolution in centuries. It seemed so sophisticated and grown up.

Now, I sometimes cook it as a comforting date night dish as it's just the right amount of special without being too much effort.

I've upgraded it to include spinach and polenta (something that wouldn't have been easily accessible in the early 90s in rural Lincolnshire but which goes with this dish beautifully.)

This dish begs for a good bottle of white bourgone or chablis, and so that's another reason to save it for date night or a Friday night special supper with friends.

COST MEDIUM ££ (If using Cornfed organic chicken £10 for 2 / £5 a head)
LEVEL MEDIUM. 
MEAT


INGREDIENTS

• Chicken breasts (Preferably Corn Fed and organic) OR Guinea Fowl breasts 
• Blue cheese (Whatever you have in the fridge, stilton or gorgonzola are best)
• 2 slices of Pancetta
• Bag of spinach
• 1/2 pint of cream
• 2 garlic cloves
• Polenta 
• Generous bowl of grated parmesan cheese. 

METHOD

1) Butterfly out the chicken breasts and give a light beat to flatten out a little but don't rekill it

2) take a generous tablespoon of blue cheese and place in the middle of the chicken. Roll. 

3) Wrap tightly with the pancetta and seal off in a frying pan, before placing into a baking dish. 

4) Place in the oven at 180 for approximately 25-35 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. It may look a little pink because of the pancetta. If in any doubt, use a meat thermometer. 

5) Whilst the chicken breasts are in the oven, wilt the spinach in the same frying pan as you sealed the chicken. Add the cream and cook down until thick. Place to one side. 

6) Make the polenta according to the pack instructions. Add plenty more butter and parmesan than they suggest ;) 

7) Allow the chicken to rest for about 5 minutes before cutting it in half. 

8) Plate up by spooning out the Polenta into the bowl and then add a spoonful of the creamy spinach, and place the chicken on top. 

Chestnut Mushroom and Spinach Comfort Pie

We've always had a traditional Sunday lunch. It's how I was brought  up. One of the biggest signs that we had made a family switch to our 2018 goals was that we would have our first Vegetarian Sunday Lunch.

I wanted it to be in keeping with our usual kind of traditional heavy lunch and so a pie was a perfect compromise. After all, if there's pastry, there' joy.

This pie turned out really unctuous and comforting. The creamy sauce was soothing and it worked great with traditional veg; mashed swede sprouts, peas and carrots.


COST: £ (approx £8 per dish / £1.33 per person)
LEVEL: MEDIUM EFFORT
VEGETARIAN
SERVES: 6

INGREDIENTS

• 1 punnet of Chestnut mushrooms
• 1 medium white onion
• 2tbsp of white plain flour
• 1 large tbsp of butter
• 1pint of double cream
• 1/2 pint of milk
• 1 dried pack of porcini mushrooms
• 1 large bag of spinach
• 2 garlic gloves
• 1tsp of nutmeg
• Shop purchased ready rolled flakey pastry

METHOD

 

1) Wilt down the spinach in a frying pan. Place in a sieve and leave to sit for about 5-10 minutes 

2) Soak the porcini in warm water for approximately 15 minutes. Drain but keep the liquid. 

2) In a frying pan, add butter and crushed garlic, add sliced mushrooms and rehydrated porcini and cook until golden, remove and place in a bowl. 

3) In the same frying pan, add the chopped onions and fry until translucent. Add the butter and the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until it's a smooth paste and then add the milk a little at a time, stirring as you go to make a white sauce. Add the cream. (Add more or less milk as required to make a thick white sauce and add a couple of spoons of the porcini mushroom liquid to add depth / stock. 

4) Add the spinach having given it a little squeeze before hand to the creamy sauce. Add the mushrooms and gently stir until mixed. 

5) Place in a pie dish and cover with the rolled out flakey pastry, ensuring that you have put a good split in the pastry to let the steam out and avoid it going soggy. 

6) Cook until the pastry is golden brown -- approximately 25 minutes at 180c. 

Spaghetti Squash Stuffed with Mushrooms and Ricotta

It's not always easy to get a hold of spaghetti squash, but when you do, it's always exciting. Spaghetti squash gets its name from the way its fibres look like spaghetti. It's much more fibrous than other squashes such as butternut, and as a result, I much prefer it. It's not sweet either; more akin to pumpkin.

This dish is super easy and super special as well as being an awesome Vegetarian dish  that makes a refreshing change from the standard Veggie menu.


COST MEDIUM ££  (Approx £2 a head) 
LEVEL EASY
VEGETARIAN

INGREDIENTS Serves 2 (Generously)

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 tub of Chestnut mushrooms
• 2 gloves of garlic
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Truffle oil for drizzling (optional) 

METHOD:
1) Cut the squash in half and spoon out the seeds
2) Place in the microwave for approximately 5-7 minutes, just to soften it slightly to reduce oven cooking time.
3) Place into the oven with a drizzle of olive oil for approximately 30 minutes until beginning to yield under pressure.
4) In a frying pan, sautee the garlic and the sliced mushrooms in a pan until slightly golden. Remove from heat and put into a dish.
5) Stir in a pot ricotta cheese and then spoon into the squash halves. Return to the oven for approximately 25minutes.
Serve with a good dose of black pepper and a drizzle of truffle oil

Salmon Miso Broth. Guest Post.

The Frugal Snob Club, over on Facebook (See join button on this page) encourages our members to share their dishes and favourite recipes, and it's always fun to share them here, too. 

As a thank you for her contribution, we'll be sending her a set of our homemade wax wraps. If you want to share your recipes, head on over and join the group, and if yours is selected to be featured, we'll send you a little gift. 

Today's recipe comes from club member Tara Whiteson, and as soon as she posted this on the club page, I knew it was a sharer. 

Tara, like many of us over at The Frugal Snob is attempting to enact small but significant changes for health and environmental reasons. 

I think you'll agree that this dish looks nutritious, filling and very appetising. 

In an ideal world, and if budget allows, you'll use wild salmon (available reasonably priced in the frozen section) We buy a side of wild salmon from the fishmongers, or when it's on promo / reduced at Waitrose, and then freeze it down, which makes it more economical. 

Ingredients:

• garlic, chilli, ginger (according to taste)
• Broccoli cut into small florets 
• Rice noodles
• Miso paste - a generous 2 teaspoons
• 2 salmon fillets cut into chunks, seasoned; squeeze juice of half a lime
• Several splashes of soy sauce (about half a soup ladle)
• Spring onions. 

Method: 

• Put all ingredients into a saucepan but keep the salmon back.
• Simmer for 3 mins and squeeze rest of lime in
• Add the fish and continue to simmer for another 3 mins
• For LUXURY miso add prawns in with the salmon. Other greens - spinach, peas or asparagus also work equally well.
• Season to taste
• Add in a splash of teriyaki.
• Add finely sliced spring onion.
• Eat, slurp and enjoy!

2019 Frugal Snob Review and Intentions.

Our main resolution as a family this year is to build on the groundwork that we achieved last year. We could have done better, but we did make some lifelong embedded changes, and most of all, our awareness and attitude changed.

It's all about doing small things until they become natural behaviour, and then expanding on that. It's also about not setting unrealistic expectations.

It's very tempting to hit January with intentions and motivations; no more plastic, no more meat, no more animal products, no more alcohol. For some folks that will work, but for most folks, I give it less than six weeks.

We made the resolution last year to cut down on our waste, our plastic, our spending, and to eat far more vegetarian dishes, and the meat we consumed to be sustainable, of good welfare, and where possible, not pumped full of preservatives.

We've done well, but we haven't been perfect. We've forgotten our cotton bags on supermarket trips, we've succumbed to a bacon sandwich, and the occasional McDonald's. Our Christmas waste situation was a disgrace---A DISGRACE, but we're learning.

Things we HAVE ACHIEVED.

We succeeded in cutting our alcohol consumption by around 70% and now drink well under the recommended healthy alcohol unit consumption a week. (Christmas was a bit of a slip, but then, hey, it's Christmas.'

We succeeded in cutting our meat consumption by around 60-65% and we have been eating more locally sourced, butcher, free range and sustainable meat.

We started well on the budget, but we have some hefty ingrained spending habits that we still need to address in 2019. City living and city parenting comes with a hefty price tag and simple pleasures are harder to come by. That's possibly an excuse but when you're children's extra curricular clubs come in at around £2.5k a term because it's all outsourced, and you live in a pokey little house, there are lifestyle challenges that come with it. We did okay, but we need to do better.

We have been doing huge strides towards becoming more environmentally aware, we've cut our plastics by around 50% and we recycle at least 90% of our plastics. However, there's a lot  more we can do.


2019 INTENTIONS

ENVIRONMENTAL

> To swap clingfilm for wax wraps
> To buy all our veg loose in paper bags
> To stop buying single use water bottles. 
> To remember our cotton shopping bags

FOOD
> To increase our vegetarian intake to 80% 
> To only buy butcher's meat from known sources
> To dehydrate, store and can more food for economy and health
> To reduce household sugar intake

BUDGET
> For weekly shop to be between £50-80 rather than £150
> To reduce coffee shop trips to 2x a week (currently 4 or 5) 
> To shop to the weekly menu plan and use shopping lists. 

OTHER
> To spring clean and Marie Kondo the house room by room to create a calmer, more creative space. 
> To engage the family in more creative and cheaper enrichment activities. 
> To build the Frugal Snob community and blog to help others reach their environmental, health, and budgetary goals. 

Persian Inspired Rice & Pheasant, with Chestnut Patties and Cauliflower Puree

This ended up being a really popular post on the Instagram Page and so I've prioritised the recording of the recipe.

This dish came about because we had Jonathan's parents for a couple of days over the Christmas period and I'd planned on doing a rare beef salad, but the meat, although beautifully hung, was spoiled and so we had to ditch it, meaning a very quick menu replan out of the freezer.

Fortunately I had 3 packs of 4x pheasant breast from the Farmer's market as they had been on 3 packs for £10. Then it was very much a case of what did I have in the store cupboard. After a swift gin and tonic, this dish was the result, and it was absolutely beautiful.

And apologies to the legacy of Persian cuisine for me totally messing with your food. I'll hope you'll forgive my joyful inspired culinary moment based on my small knowledge of Persian food.

This dish is a bit of a challenge but it's a pleasure to cook and great fun if you can bring in a sous chef to help you out. There's a lot going on but none of it is particularly difficult if you take your time and enjoy the fact that it isn't a fast food dish.


SERVES 8

COST £   (£13 total - approx £1.65 a head)

DIFFICULTY - medium

TIME  approx 50-60mins

For the Persian Inspired Rice. (v) 
This makes a fabulous salad dish when served cold. It's a dish inspired by a very similar rice dish that we've had as a side dish on Christmas day for nearly 20 years.

INGREDIENTS

1tbsp olive oil
3 cups of wild rice
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 onions
1 heaped tbsp of powdered coriander
1 tsp of coriander seeds
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 heaped tsbp of fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp of whole blanched almonds
1 tbsp of chopped blanched almonds.
5/6 chopped dried figs
2tbsp of dried cranberries
2 knorr veggie stock cubes
1-1.5pints of boiling water
1 fresh ripe mango (which is a cheeky alien addition but works)

METHOD 
1) Finely dice the onions and add to a heavy bottomed frying pan with the olive oil, cook until translucent. Add the chopped garlic and spices and cook out for about 1-2 minutes
2) Add the rice and turn over in the oil.
3) Make the stock by adding the stock gels to the boiling water and pour half of it into the pan with the rice. Stir occasionally to stop it sticking.
4) When the rice is on the turn (approx 20 minutes) add the chopped figs, cranberries and stir, adding the rest of the stock little by little waiting for it to absorb before adding more. Continue cooking until the rice is on point and all the liquid has been absorbed.
5) Add the nuts and fresh chopped mango, stir, place a lid over the top and set aside for at least 20 minutes for all the flavours to infuse.

*

For the Pureed Cauliflower (v) 
A little time consuming but worth it as it serves as your sauce.

INGREDIENTS
1 cauliflower
0.5 pints of double cream
Nutmeg

1) Steam or microwave the cauliflower florets so it has minimal water contact.
2) Using a hand blender, blitz the cauliflower until it's smooth as possible.
3) Stir in the double cream and the powdered Nutmeg and then pass through a fine sieve until a smooth puree is achieved.

*

For the Pheasant

Much hilarity accompanied my attempts at sous vide.
 I think we might invest in a vacuum gadget being as
they aren't too expensive and the sous vide
 technique makes cooking for big numbers super easy. 

Pheasant has a reputation for being a little tricky, in that if it's 
over cooked or under cooked then it can go tough, but please
 don't let that put you off this wonderful sustainable healthy 
meat. In oder to prevent it going tough it is really recommended 
that you firstly sous vide the pheasant, which sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is.

We had great fun using the method suggested in The Field, the classic British Country magazine but it comes very much with 
a non liability form.


HOW TO SOUS VIDE AT HOME

• Place the pheasant breasts, 4 at a time into a ziplock food bag.
• Add a dash of olive oil and a sprig of rosemary along with a grinding of pepper
• Press out as much air as possible as you ziplock it up, and then taking a drinking straw, insert into one corner of the bag, sucking the rest of the air out to create a vacuum
• Place in a pan of water at 67 degrees Celsius for approximate 20-30minutes.  
• Then pan fry your pheasant breasts in hot butter until the breasts take on a golden brown colour. Rest for at least 5 minutes and then slice thinly. 

A jam / cooking thermometer is
crucial for this activity

*

For the Chestnut Patties

INGREDIENTS

6 good quality Herby sausages

8 slices of back bacon

cooks chestnuts

METHOD

1) Split the sausages and place into a bowl. 

2) Add the chopped chestnuts. 

3) mould into small patties and wrap in a slice of bacon

4) Oven bake for 20-30 minutes on 180 until cooked through.