Mini-post: Trout and Crab bake

This is just  a mini-post, so I'm afraid you'll have to invent your own album choice and props for this one. Next time I cook it I will add some photos; there will definitely be a next time because this dish was delicious.

TROUT & CRAB BAKE with SAMPHIRE and NEW POTATOS
10 min prep + 25 min cooking. (Easy as Easy pie peasy!)

Trout fillets have become increasingly affordable, and they freeze really well. Last night I got our pack of 2 fillets out of the freezer (it had been part of a 2 packs for £4 M&S deal, which they often have.) I had a reduced dressed whole crab from Waitrose for £2.49. As long as you eat it on the very same day, buying reduced fish from the counter is a great way of being frugal.

NOTE ON THE CRAB MEAT: It is the brown meat that is most crucial for flavour so prioritise the purchase of this (It's also the much cheaper meat of the crab) You can always buy the white meat in a tin quite cheaply. Crab pate, which can be found in the refridgeration aisle of most supermarkets would be a good substitute for the brown meat.

YOU WILL NEED:
2x trout fillets
Crab meat, (see notes above)
1/4 fresh red chilli
1 slice of bread
a small bunch of soft herbs (avoid thyme or rosemary)

METHOD:

1. Blitz together the bread, herbs and chilli in a blender to make course breadcrumb mix
2. Using a pastry brush, brush olive oil over the bottom of a metal roasting dish or oven proof dish. 
3. Place the trout fillets in (check for bones)
4. Spoon the crab mixture on top of the trout fillets. 
5. Sprinkle the fish / crab with the breadcrumbs and drizzle over some olive oil. 
6. place into a pre-heated 180c oven for about 25 minutes until the breadcrumbs have gone golden. 

SERVE WITH: 

Samphire which can now be brought in packets from the supermarket, usually on the fish counter. Boil or sauté in butter for a tiny amount of time, a couple of minutes. Treat it like really skinny asparagus. 

+

New potatoes. Boiled and slathered in butter. 

Fragrant Vegetable & Prune Tagine & Kuku Sabzi

Tonight's meal of 'Fragrant Vegetable & Prune Tagine served with Kuku Sabzi' has come out of the monthly vegetable drawer cull. At this time of year it is really easy to become overstocked with root vegetables and these dishes are a perfect way of using them up.

We've gone a little Middle Eastern / North African food mad in our house recently. It's the combination of the freezing spring weather; the need to have something warm and satisfying but lighter than the deep and rich autumnal stews.

This simple tagine fills the house with a delicate perfume as it cooks. It's quite sweet so it needs to be served with a salad of bitter leaves or the KuKu Sabzi is perfect; and it's a really good way of clearing out a load of greens from the veg drawer too.

Kuku Sabzi is a festival dish often used to celebrate New Year in Iran. It's essentially a baked egg and herb dish (like an omlet cake baked in the oven). There is no set recipe as the local and seasonal greens are utilised to make this tasty dish. It's traditionally served with yogurt and warmed pitta bread, which is exactly as we will be serving it tonight.


Chef's album Choice: Sacred Spirit


 A bit of a strange choice but one which I promise you works. Somehow the earthiness of all those vegetables and the simplicity of the cooking evokes a more simpler, self-sustainable time and this (now famous thanks to various advertisements and BBC T.V series) album ties into that chilled out, satisfying vibe. It's a great album to have playing in the background as you cook and eat this dish as it immediately chills you right out in order to relax. The tearing and sharing style of this meal makes this album a perfect accompaniment . 


Setting & Props: 
The sweet, rich style of this food makes it perfect for a couples meal and the sharing and tearing aspect makes it all the more 'friendly'. 

This meal needs to take place at a table (or any low flat surface - If you really want to go all relaxed and alternative, throw the cushions down on the floor around the coffee table, light some tea lights and serve your meal 'student' style.)

Search out local charity shops and car-boot sales for props that make the meal all that bit more special; little moroccan glasses which flicker gorgeously, can be picked up easily and cheaply. Invest in a nice sharing / serving spoon that doesn't have too long a handle (otherwise they continually fall out of your dish and leave stains all over your linen)

For this you will need:

FRAGRANT VEGETABLE & PRUNE TAGINE

A whole selection of tired root veg such as swede, parsnip, carrot, celeriac, turnip, potato (peeled and cut into mouth size pieces)
Pumpkin or Sweet potato (peeled and cut into mouth size pieces)
Onions (Roughly chopped into chunks)
A handful of pitted prunes (roughly chopped) 
Olive oil
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon 
1 tsp of ground ginger
2 tsp of runny honey
1 pint of vegetable or chicken stock. 

KUKU SABZI
4 eggs beaten
Two large handfuls of greens; spring cabbage or kale (finely chopped)
1 leek or several spring onions (finely chopped)
A large handful of finely chopped mint and coriander
large clove of garlic (finely chopped)

METHOD: Tagine

1. In a heavy based casserole dish or Tagine pot, sauté off the chunky onions in a mixture of olive oil and butter until softening.
2. Add the prepared vegetables to the pan and continue to fry off until the veg it beginning to take on a little bit of colour. 
3. Add the chopped prunes, the ginger and the cinnamon to the pot and give a good stir. The prunes act a little like a deglazed, loosening up the caramelised vegetable juices. 
4. Sprinkle over half of the chopped coriander and mint and stir.  
5. Add the pint of chicken stock. 
6. Cover and place in a 180c oven for around 40-50 minutes until the veg has softened and the sauce thickened. 
7. Sprinkle with the remaining herbs and a handful of toasted almonds (optional)

METHOD: Kuku Sabz

1. Soak your saffron strands in a tbsp of boiling water until the colour and spice has been well extracted. 
2. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. 
3. Add your chopped greens to the eggs. 
4. Add the saffron, the chopped garlic
5. pour into an oiled oven dish
6. Place in a 180c oven for around 30-40 minutes until the egg has set and the top has browned. 

WINE: This is  robust, earthy dish and yet strangely delicate and fragrant. A very chilled white Chablis goes very well or a lighter red such as chateau neuf de pape.

Total Cost: approx. £2.50 a head (although it's more of a saving waste dish) 

Chicken & Jerusalem Artichoke Tray Bake.

This is an adaptation (to the point of being a mere semblance) of a recipe I originally read in the Good Food magazine but which I found to be very fiddly. As a result I forgot a couple of the ingredients, had to swap a few and added a few. I ended up with this, which is one of the nicest chicken dishes I've cooked in a long time.

This dish makes a great economical Sunday Lunch dish for a large crowd.

For this you will need:

8 skin on chicken thighs

Jerusalem Artichokes (Peeled and chopped length ways into wedges)
Either, a celeriac, kohlrabi or turnip (Peeled and chopped into chunks)
Small butternut squash (peeled and chopped into chunks)
I globe of Garlic (peeled and left in whole cloves)
half a fresh red chilli (finely chopped)
2 small Lemons
Pink peppercorns
Dried or fresh thyme
Olive oil for splashing over it. 

Chef's album Choice:

Chilled out Sundays are made of this dish. It's all a little peel, chop and slap into a metal baking tray, so you can go for something a little more up tempo. I've gone for an old school classic, Macy Gray's 'On how to live'. It's a great retro trip down memory lane and sums up those happy Sundays of student life before the children, the work uniform wash and all the other Sunday responsibilities that clock up. I defy you not to be using your wooden spoon as a microphone. 

Houzz.com  3 for $80.00 although
similar can be found at good car
boot sale & e-bay for a fraction
of the cost. 

Setting & Props: This is a great Sunday lunch dish for family and friends, so it deserves a bit of Sunday love. Keep the look informal but cared for. A printed indian throw would make a nice table cloth, wine glasses and a caraf as well as a lovely chunky earthern ware bowl to serve the main event in would all add to that sense of relaxed occasion. It definitely deserves a small bunch of spring flowers and proper cotton napkins. 




METHOD: 

1. Marinate the chicken thighs in a combination of lemon juice, lemon rind, garlic, thyme. Preferably for 2+hrs but if you're reading this as you go along with your guests arriving in the next hour, then just make sure you massage your chicken well with all the ingredients for a good couple of minutes. 
2. Place the artichokes into boiling water, blanch for 5 minutes, drain, squirt lemon juice over them (they are prone to discolouring) and let them cool. 
3. Place your marinated chicken thighs SKIN SIDE DOWN onto a large metal baking tray. Surround them with the cubed butternut squash, the Jerusalem artichokes, and the white veg (either the turnip, celeriac or kohlrabi) and the garlic cloves. Give it a poke about. 
4. Generously glug over the olive oil and a sprinkling of crushed pink pepper corns. 
5. Cook on a 180 oven for around 40 minutes. If the chicken is looking a little pale, turn it over, whack up the heat to 250 for 5 minutes but be careful not to scorch your pointy little artichokes. 
6. Poor the whole mixture into a warmed earthenware serving platter and take to the table. 

SIDES: Quarters of pointed cabbage or a bowl of cabbage both slathered in butter and a sprinkling of white pepper and boiled potatoes with a sprinkling of fresh parsley. 

WINE: This is  robust, earthy dish and yet strangely delicate and fragrant. A very chilled white Chablis goes very well. 

Total Cost: approx. £2.60 a head + wine 

Post Horse-burger-gate.

I'm writing this blog post, post Horse-Burger-Gate, which as you are all aware from the incredible amount of press coverage, quickly spread past the original TESCO shame and into a general pervasive infiltration of our food sources.

It was generally agreed that it wasn't so much the fact that many thousands of people had unwittingly eaten horse meat, (after all it is a very viable source of protein) but that we had lied to. We had been fooled into thinking we were eating one thing and yet our food was full of something else - and what if it wasn't just beef mince? What if it extended to all of our processed foods?

Initially, I sat quite smugly thinking I would be unaffected by the scandal but then I opened my fridge and looked at the Chirizo sitting there innocently - How could I be sure that it didn't contain horse, donkey, dog or any other animal of cheap choice? Or what about my fresh carton of mince meat - yes it looked like beef but then it could be any pink meat, couldn't it? And so it went on until I was rendered a  hesitating, nervous mess of a fridge raider and I ended up holding onto an organic carrot like it was a life raft on a sinking ship.

You see, as a nation we have largely abdicated responsibility for what goes into ours and our childrens' bellies. I am as guilty as the rest; there is no point hiding the Waitrose and Tesco finest lasagne's that have been in my freezer for those odd occasions when we've been travelling or working late. We have wanted to have our big chunky burger and eat it, and now we are paying the price.

The consumer has forced the price of food down and down until the supermarkets have been forced to seek lower and lower grade meat in order to make a profit. (Not that I'm blaming the consumer individually) It has become a cultural norm to eat 'meat' everyday - we are still a classic meat and two veg nation whether that is in the guise of a crispy beef pancake, chips and baked beans or pork chop, carrots and mash - regardless, that three part meal habit refuses to die.

So what have we learned (or more to the point, what cynical suspicions we had all along have been confirmed?)

• Large supermarkets cannot be trusted: they may pretend to offer us a lifestyle choice, support our family way of life and promote the nourishment of our bodies but they're all about profit - and the bigger they get, the more they crave. They'd sell your granny if they thought they'd make a quick buck. 
• If you WANT TO REALLY KNOW what is in your food, then MAKE IT YOURSELF. 
• If you want to afford quality meat, then eat more vegetables - not every meal needs to have meat as it's main attraction. (Eating vegetarian meals WILL NOT KILL a CARNIVORE)
• If it's made in a factory then it's likely to be factory food - which means it's been fiddled with, conveyer belted, machine processed and possibly had all kinds of things added.

Only this week, The Daily Mail have run an article on the disgusting practice of Prawn Farming in Asia, something that food campaigners tried to raise as a concern several years ago, along with farmed salmon and sea-bass. 

None of this is new to any of us, we're probably all sick to death of hearing it from the likes of Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fernley-Wittingstal but as annoying as they may at times be (bless 'em) they've been proved right. 

After a short delay...

There has been a little delay in my writing of Frugal Snob posts because quite honestly, life has overtaken me a little bit. I am currently in the middle of writing  the first book of a seven book series, arranging a Christening, spring cleaning and getting ready to go back to work after maternity leave. It doesn't mean that I haven't done lots of cooking in the last few weeks, in fact I've been on a bit of a cooking roll - the only thing is that I haven't taken lots of lovely photos. As a result I'm going to stick some of the recipes up in bulk, mainly as a record for me but also for you guys to perhaps have a go at. (Please accept the lack of visuals as a momentary blip LOL. Next time I cook the dish, I'll update the recipe.)