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. 

Traditional Celebration Trifle

There are some things not to be messed with. Part of their pleasure is the tradition and nostalgia, and this is never truer than when we're talking about the classic English Trifle, which is one of the few times I'm an advocate of cutting the same culinary corners my mother, mother's mother and mother's mother's mother also used.

There's only one tiny modern modification that I've added, and that's the addition of a couple of spoonfuls of Chambord, a black raspberry liquor which I use instead of sherry.

This is one of our family's favourite puddings. There's something incredibly nurturing and celebratory about the combination of smooth creamy custard, and punchy raspberry jelly, and everything is better with cream. When our daughter had severe chicken pox and could barely swallow, her sad-eye request was for mummy's trifle. The girl lived off it for almost four days, and was the only time she smiled. That's the power of trifle. It's literally happiness in a bowl.

Traditionally, trifle is served on Boxing Day, New Year's Eve or any other family celebration day, such as birthdays, but honestly, if the weather is grey and you've got an afternoon to kill, most of the ingredients can be in permanent store aside from cream and milk, and it's the perfect mood enhancer.

Enjoy x


SERVES 10
COST £  (approx £8 - less than £1 a head)

INGREDIENTS: 

Trifle Sponges
Tin of raspberries in syrup (In this very rare case, tinned work better than fresh)
Raspberry Jelly squares
3/4 pint of boiling water
2tbsp of Chambord liquor
2.5tbsp of Birds Custard Powder
1 pint of milk
2tbsp of sugar
1.5 pints of Double cream, whipped until very stiff.
Sprinkles to decorate.

NOTE about the Bowl: kitsch vintage is best. Cut glass is transformed in candlelight, adding to the showgirl nature of this dish. If you haven't had a heavy crystal bowl passed down to you, then they are very often available at charity shops, car boots, and flea markets for just a few pounds. We use Jonathan's granny's bowl, and the sentimentality adds an extra layer of sweetness.


METHOD
1) layer the bottom of a heavy glass bowl with trifle sponges. Spoon out the tinned raspberries over the sponge and a couple of spoons of syrup over the sponge.
2) Make the jelly according to instructions, except reduce the amount of water slightly to ensure a good firm set. I use 3/4 of a pint rather than the recommended pint. Allow to cool slightly before pouring over the sponge mix. Set in the fridge until firm.
3) Whilst the jelly is setting, make the custard, according to the directions but instead of using 2tbsp to a pint of warm milk, use 2.5tbsp to ensure that it sets. When the custard is is thick enough to see spoon tracks, set aside in the pan, covering the top with clingfilm  (pressed against the custard) to stop a skin forming. Allow to cool. If time is short, place the custard in a bowl and then place the bowl on top of a bowl of ice, stirring continuously for about 5-7 minutes to take the heat out.
4) When the jelly is set and the custard is cool (but not cold enough to set) pour over the jelly base and return to fridge, where it can sit for about 2 hours.
5) Whip double cream until is is stiff and then spoon over the trifle, smoothing it.
6) Go crazy on the sprinkles.

SERVE with either a glass of Chamord and sparkling wine, or a glass of ice wine.