Broth Mix

In the UK, this is readily available from supermarkets. It adds body to a soup or a stew, for very little money. But, if you can't get it, here is how:

Ingredients:

1 cup orange split lentils
1 cup green whole lentils
1 cup pearl barley
1 cup dried yellow split peas
1 cup dried small, green split peas.

Method:

Just mix them all together, and add a cup at a time to any dish that needs a little more substance. They'll need to simmer for an hour or so.

Best, 2RM.

Never-ending Stew

You should not take any of the following as definitive. It is an idea, not a commandment. And the idea was to make 4 chicken legs last as long as possible, assuming 1 person with a healthy appetite, eating once a day.

Equipment.

1/2 or 1 gallon stockpot
Sharp knife
Cutting-board
Cooker (1 ring)
Garlic Press

Ingredients.

Day One

4 Chicken legs
4 slices of diced bacon
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 Oxo cubes, vegetable or chicken
2 medium onions
2 fat cloves of garlic
2 celery sticks
1 cup of broth mix.
half a bottle of (budget) white wine.
A litre of boiling water.
Herbs of your choice.

Day 2

Add some leeks and carrots

Day 3

Add some mushrooms

Day 4

Add some diced rabbit, or whatever appeals.

Day 5

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Method: Cook as you would expect. The bacon, celery, onions and garlic go into a stockpot, with the oil. Then fry 'til the onions are transparent, and then the chicken goes in. When it's browned, the water, the Oxo cubes, the broth mix, the herbs, and the white wine go in. Simmer for an hour or so, and serve each leg with rice, potatoes or cous-cous.

Clearly this base forms a stock for whatever you want to eat, indefinately. If, between meals, it is kept in the fridge, it will last. And if, before meals, you simmer it for at least twenty minutes, you should be safe from nasty bacteria. All you need do is add some kind of nutrient each time you heat it up - and, if you have no new nutrients, heat it up anyway and enjoy.

Best, 2RM

Root Soup

There is nothing quite like a hearty soup and crusty bread in mid-winter. And this soup must be at least 2 of your 5-a-day, and, if you eat enough of it, possibly all 5. What's more, it's frugal, and all the more so if you use the recipe to use up slightly tired vegetables from the back of your fridge. (Note: I am not suggesting you eat anything mouldy, or that smells questionable. Just veggie remains that would otherwise be thrown away, as less than appetising as features on their own.)

Equipment:

Kitchen knife
Chopping board
Garlic crusher
1/2 gallon cooking pot with lid
Cooker, 1 fast ring
Hand blender

Ingredients (4 generous servings, and a bit left over for stock):

50g butter
3 rashers of bacon, chopped small
2 onions, chopped fine
2 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
2 sticks of celery, chopped fine

2 carrots, diced
2 small turnips, diced
1/2 swede, diced
2 parsnips, diced
1 potato, diced
(or, any other combination of diced root vegetables, to the weight of 1kg)

1 cup pearl barley
2 litres of boiling water
1 tsp each of dried parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Fresh ground salt and pepper, to taste.

Method:

Melt the butter in your pot. Add the bacon, onions, celery and garlic. Fry gently until the onions are soft. Add the diced root vegetables, pearl barley, water and herbs. Simmer, covered on a low heat, for an hour or so, or until the pearl barley is soft, adding extra water as necessary. Towards the end, blitz with a hand blender briefly, but leaving some chunks for texture.

Serve with granary bread for dunking.

Best, 2ndRateMind

A Knowledge Share

One of the things about being a student is that you grow up in a protected environment. One of the things about growing up is that you learn to prioritise your spending. And the way I learned to prioritise my spending within that protected environment has never really left me: It goes: bills, books, booze, and then food. The only problem with this schema is that a restricted budget leaves you precious little to spend on booze, and rather less than that for food.

But, there are some books that help with that situation; here are 12 money saving recommendations:

• Frugal Food, by Delia Smith.
• Grub on a Grant, by Cas Clarke
• More Grub on Less Grant, by Cas Clarke
• The Paupers Cookbook, by Jocasta Innes
• Student Grub, by Jan Arkless
• Hard Up and Hungry, by Betsy Bell
• Self Reliance, by John Yeoman
• Self-sufficiency in a Flat, by Joy Spoczynska
• Food for Free, by Richard Mabey
• The Classic 1000 Student Recipes, by Carolyn Humphries
• 101 Cheap Eats, BBC Books
• First Steps in Winemaking, by CJJ Berry

If you don't already have them, buy them at the rate of one a month or so, over the course of the next year, and in whatever order appeals to you. I guarantee they will have paid for themselves within that time.

Best wishes, 2ndRateMind.

Red Onion Marmalade

On the subject of marmalades, this is my shot at the fashionable idea of an onion accompaniment. It works well with cheese, and meat, as you might expect. I am not entirely happy with it, though. I have been aiming at a recipe that sets, in the same way that orange marmalade sets. Haven't achieved that yet, however. Consider this a tasty step on the road, and watch this space!

Equipment

Preserving pan
Garlic press
Stirring spoon
4 x 500ml jam jars and lids, sterile
Preserve funnel, sterile
Ladle, sterile.
Cooker, 1 fast ring.

Ingredients

2kg Red Onions
8 cloves of garlic
150g butter
50ml olive oil
300g sugar*
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp chilli powder (optional)
500ml red wine (2/3 bottle, to you!)
350ml red wine vinegar

*I used jam sugar, hoping the added pectin would help all solidify on cooling. It didn't, though.

Method. (makes around 2 litres)

It's mainly about boiling all in your preserving pan, and so should suit cooks of all degrees of skill.

Chop your red onions. The smaller you slice them, the finer the marmalade result. I quite like a 1cm square 'peasant' texture, but if you want something more refined, put the work in here. Next, dry fry the mustard and celery seeds on a high heat, and then drop in the butter and olive oil. When all is liquid, add your onions and garlic. Add the chilli powder, and sugar, and stir the mixture up, cooking all the while, until the onions are nicely coated and glistening with the butter/olive oil mixture.

Next. Turn the heat down, and just let simmer for around 45 mins. The idea is to get soft, squashy onions. Test, every so often. When your onions break under pressure from a wooden spoon against the side of your preserving pan, you are ready for the next stage.

Next. Add the wine, and wine vinegar. Simmer for half an hour, or until the mixture has reduced by around a third, and the liquid has been driven off. It should all turn into a deep, rich, burgundy colour during this time. Taste, and season with salt and pepper if desired. Then, ladle into sterile jars, and seal.

Best wishes, 2ndRateMind.

PS. An update is in order. After 2 days in a cool larder, this marmalade has achieved the texture and consistency of, well, marmalade. As Confucious say, 'Success comes to he who waits...'

PPS. This works well with cheese on toast. Grill one side of your bread, turn over, spead the ungrilled side with onion marmalade, and grate cheese over the top. Grill until done. Deeeelicious.

Seville Orange, Lemon & Ginger Marmalade

I hesitate to provide this as a tried and tested recipe. It is more in the way of a successful experiment. Unfortunately, however, it took some time; time I spent happily sampling the latest home-made wine vintage. I know how I started, and I can see and taste the result, (and it's not at all bad), but the bit in between is something of a mystery to me. As best I can reconstruct last night's events, the proceedings proceeded as follows:

Equipment

Preserving pan
Cooker (1 fast ring)
Kitchen knife
Kettle
Ladle (sterile)
Preserve funnel (sterile)
6 x large jam jars and lids (sterile)
Dinner plate
Saucer
Teaspoon
Fork
Fridge

Ingredients (for approx 4kg)

1.3 kg Seville oranges, or thereabouts
2 lemons
200 g ginger, peeled and sliced into match-sticks
1 kg granulated sugar
1 kg jam sugar
3 - 5 litres of boiling water

Method.

Put the oranges and lemons in your preserving pan, with enough water to cover them. Add the ginger. Use a heat-proof dinner-plate to sink everything, if necessary. Simmer on a low heat until the fruit skins start to split, (about 2 hours) and are soft enough to puncture easily with a table-fork, adding extra boiling water whenever necessary to keep the fruit submerged.

Fish your fruit out at this stage, and leave them to cool to the point at which they are comfortable to handle. Reserve the liquor they have cooked in; you need it. Once the fruits are cool, cut them in half, and take out the pips. The remaining flesh and pith go into the cooking liquor. Then, slice the peel into matchsticks. These also go into the cooking liquor, together with the sugars, and about a litre (this is where I go hazy - add as much as seems sensible!) of boiling water. Stir until the sugars are all dissolved.

Turn the heat up high, and boil merrily for 10mins, and then test for a set, by putting a teaspoon-full on a saucer into the fridge for a few minutes. If it stays liquid, you need to continue boiling for a few more minutes, and then test again. Once you have a jelly-like result, you can turn the heat off, leave all to settle for 10-15 mins to allow the peel to distribute evenly, and then ladle into your sterile jars. Seal, and store for up to a year.

Best wishes, 2ndRateMind

Here's a few words on sterilising.
And here's where to get reusable jars and lids.

Finally, it occurs to me that it might be appropriate to lift this recipe into the luxury class by stirring in a tumblerful of whisky immediately before the final boil. I haven't tried that, though - all the whisky I can afford gets drunk neat, long before it has a chance to figure in cooking.

'Bloody Mary is the girl I love...'

Rogers and Hammerstein, 'South Pacific'.

As you have probably noticed, the last few recipes have had a definate tomato theme. Too many more would be boring, for me as well as you, so I plan to move on, after this one last recipe. It doesn't really belong in this blog, since it ain't cheap. But it is good, and it makes such a convenient full stop to this section I couldn't resist including it.

Classic Bloody Mary.

double shot of vodka
juice of half a lemon
3 cubes of ice
6 dashes Worcestershire sauce
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
150 ml Tomato juice or in quantity to taste
Fresh ground salt and pepper if you want.

Chill the vodka and tomato juice in the fridge overnight. Then mix the ingredients together in a highball glass, stir, and garnish with a leafy celery stick.

The perfect cocktail slips past your conscience like a secret vice, but bloody marys break that rule. You can't help but be aware of what you doing, as you sip one. In exchange, though, they are supposed to cure hangovers, and are the ideal aperitif for a curry meal.

Best wishes 2RM

Chunky Cherry Tomato Chutney

Traditionally, Chutneys (from the Indian word Chatni, spiced) are highly flavoured ways of preserving an excess of produce. But it would be a great shame if only those with an excess could experience the sublime, cheese and meat complimentary, flavours, so here is a chutney you can assemble out of supermarket ingedients.

Equipment
Chopping board
Sharp Kitchen Knife
Kitchen Scales
Garlic Press
Can Opener
1 Saucepan
2 Cooker rings
Preserving pan or 1/2 gallon stock pot
Preserve funnel, sterile
6 x 1lb Jam jars with lids, all sterile

Ingredients
2 x Eating apples, diced to 1 cm cubes
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
3 x medium onions, roughly chopped
600g cherry tomatoes, whole
300g sultanas
200g demerara sugar
350ml vinegar (cider, wine or malt)
3 cloves garlic
2cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp sunflower oil

spices (suggested, but nowhere compulsory)
1/2 stick cinnamon
2 tsp allspice
1 tsp mace
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp black pepper corns
1 tsp black mustard seeds
2 tsp hot curry powder

Method.

Set your chopped apples to boil for 20 mins in a small saucepan. Meanwhile, prepare the 'mortar' that will hold your chunky chutney together. Set your onions, garlic and ginger to fry briefly, in the oil in your preserving pan, and add the tins of chopped tomatoes and spices. When your apple is ready, so is the base. Drain the apples, and add them with the sugar, vinegar and cherry tomatoes (whole) to the preserving pan. Then simmer, for an hour or two, until you have reduced the mix to a chutney sort of texture. Be careful to stir, occasionally, and especially towards the end - this is a sugary mixture that will stick and burn, if you allow it to do so. Finally, fill your sterile jars, seal, and put into a cool place to mature for a month. Then, serve anyplace chutney might conceivably help with the digestion.

Best wishes, 2RM

Rasam Robert

Indian restaurants and takeaways don't seem to do soup, in this country, which is a shame because there are some very fine Indian soups. Mulligatawny is well known, of course, but there are many others. This one is my budget-friendly take on a soup I first had at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dubai, back in the days when I had work. This makes two generous servings.

Equipment
Spice grinder or mortar and pestle
Kitchen Knife
Garlic Press
Chopping Board
Medium Saucepan
1 Cooker ring
Hand blender
Can opener

Ingredients
400g tin chopped tomatoes
100g coconut block
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic
1 tbs oil or ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cardomom seeds
1 tsp fenugreek
a few clove buds
1 tablespoon crushed, dried chillies (or vary, to taste)
2cm length ginger root, very finely chopped.
1 litre boiling water, plus extra as needed.
salt and pepper to taste.

Method.
Grind your spices. Dry fry briefly and then add the oil or ghee. Add the onions and garlic, and let them sweat for a minute or two. Add the tomatoes. Dissolve the coconut in half the water, and then add that, too. Simmer until the tomatoes are cooked, adding more water as you go if required, and then blitz with your hand blender. Add the remaining half litre of boiling water, stir, and you're pretty much done.

Serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves, if you have access to any at a cost effective rate.

I hope you like this as much as I did, the first time I sampled it.

Best wishes, 2ndRateMind.

Cheaper Pizza

Thanks for this recipe must go to the lovely Thelma, at the Wellspring Healthy Living Centre, who has been teaching me to cook proper food.

Anyway, the point about this recipe is that it is incredibly cheap, compared to take-away or home-delivered varieties of pizza. What's more, given this basic recipe, you can experiment to your heart's content with different cheeses, different flours in the base, and, of course, different toppings. Results are limited only by your own creativity!

So, here's the deal, for one adult serving:

Pizza Base

Equipment
Kitchen scales
Large mixing bowl
Working surface
Rolling Pin

Ingredients
100g Plain Flour, plus extra for dusting
Warm water
Pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbs olive oil
2 tsp dried yeast

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C

Mix the dry ingredients in your bowl, and add the oil. Then, make a well in the centre and add warm water, trickle by trickle, mixing the ingredients thoroughly with a knife or spatula. The temperature of the water is important - too cold or too hot and the yeast won't happen for you. Once the ingredients are combined, start to work the dough with your fingers, and then knead until all the dough is taken up into a soft, elastic, round ball. At this point, you can relax for a bit, and let the dough rise for 15mins.

The dough should have doubled in size by this time, and the next task is to dust your work surface with the extra flour, and roll out the dough into a flat disc about 1/4 of an inch thick. Prick all over with a fork, so it doesn't puff up in the oven, and then slam it in to pre-bake for 5 mins.

Pizza topping.

Equipment
Medium Saucepan
1 Cooker ring
Hand blender
Can opener
Garlic Press
Cheese grater

Ingredients
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 finely chopped medium onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp mixed herbs
80g grated cheddar cheese

Method.

Fry the onions and garlic gently. When soft, add the tomatoes and herbs. Simmer till reduced. Blitz with a hand blender until you have a texture that pleases you, and simmer some more if it's still too liquid.

Then spoon onto your pizza base, cover with grated cheese, and bake for 20 mins at the top of the oven.

Now, go and spend the money you saved on a bottle of Italian wine, and enjoy...

Best wishes, 2ndRateMind.

The Wellspring: http://www.wellspringhlc.org/

Sweet Tomato Ketchup

When shaking up the ketchup bottle
First none'll come, and then the lot'll.

Quite why ketchup is still sold in narrow necked bottles defeats me. Anyway, it's another reason for making your own - you can store it in pleasing, wide-necked jars that allow you to spoon onto your plate to your exact taste. There are other reasons; you get a better result, and you know what went into the mix, but I'm a romantic at heart, and for me it is the aesthetics that win the day.

On with the recipe. There are two phases to ketchup making:

1. Make a puree of your ingredients.
2. Make a ketchup of your puree.

Here is the detail, then.

Equipment.

Sharp kitchen knife
Chopping board
Garlic crusher
Mortar and pestle or Spice grinder
Half gallon saucepan with lid
Wooden spoon
Can opener
Coarse sieve, and second saucepan, or Hand-blender
Preserve funnel
4 x 1lb/450g Jam jars, sterilised.

Ingredients.

6 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes.
3 x medium onions, finely chopped
90g soft brown sugar
250ml cider vinegar
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 stick cinnamon, or 1 tsp ground
1 tsp whole or ground allspice
1 tsp whole or ground cloves
1 tsp ground mace
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp black pepper, whole or ground
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 garlic clove

Method.

Phase 1.

Grind up your spices, and heat your saucepan. Let the spices dry-fry for a minute or so, to get the flavours fragrant. Add the chopped onions, stir to coat in the spices, and then the crushed garlic. Let them work in the heat for a bit, and then add your tomatoes. Then, just simmer with the occasional stir, on a medium heat, 'til the mixture has reduced by about a third. At this point, blend with your hand-blender, or manually press through a coarse sieve.

Phase 2.

Add the sugar, and vinegar, and simmer gently for about 10 to 15 mins, until it reaches the right consistency.

At the end of this process the texture is liable to be slightly coarser than shop-bought ketchup, but, frankly, I think that adds a character that is perfectly consistent with the objectives of this blog.

So, when you're satisfied, pour into sterile wide-necked jars and seal. Unopened, they should keep in a cool larder for 12 months. Opened, they store in the fridge for up to 14 days.

I find it costs about £4.00 to fill 4-5 450g jam jars, assuming the spices are already in the store cupboard. That's about £1.00p per lb jar, with a whole lot of self-satisfaction thrown in.

Best wishes, 2ndRateMind

Here's where to get jam jars: http://www.jamjarshop.com/index.asp

Here's a word about sterilising: http://thehungerstop.blogspot.com/2009/06/sterilising-jars-and-such.html