Drink Like A (Posh) Hobo

Shot with a Canon Eos 350d

I’m not going to claim for one minute that this is a drink of my own invention. I first tried this superior  cocktail while drinking in Nottingham a few summers ago. I like to refer to it as the thinking man’s snakebite. When the summer comes along a summer drink is essential so for when Pimms just doesn’t tickle your fancy I introduce to you…the hobo.

HOBO

Possibly the easiest of cocktails to make. Take a pint glass (preferably a Hoegaarden glass if you’ve ‘acquired’ one from somewhere) half fill with Hoegaarden, top up with Strongbow and garnish with a big slice of lemon or lime. done

WARNING: This is snakebite and you will get very drunk after 3-4 of these. Drink responsibly 

A Very Satisfying Pasta Sauce

Taken with a Canon Eos 350d with Vivatar macro lens

You can buy pasta sauce in a jar. You can also buy a Sunday lunch in a frozen fast food box but sometimes it's nice to make your own isn't it? This one requires almost no work at all. All you need is 2 red peppers, a pack of tomatoes and a basil plant on your windowsill (and maybe a little bit of tomato puree in your fridge).

SAUCE
Slice your pepper into long strips and put in a small oven dish, splash with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and a grind of black pepper.
You'll need twice as many tomatoes to peppers for this and you don't want them too small otherwise it will cook down to mush. Cut your tomatoes in half from top to bottom.

Tip 1. don't cut through the stalk, cut to the side of it, that way you only have to cut one bit of stalk out. simple.

Pop your tomatoes into a separate oven dish and splash some olive oil, S&P and a sprinkle of sugar over them and roast both the tomatoes and peppers in a hot oven at 180c for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes check then to make sure that they're not burning, if they are just mix them around a little (now's the time to make your pasta. Linguine, fettuccine or tagliatelle would be best ), turn the oven down and leave them cooking for another 10-15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and lightly mash them with a fork, squeeze in about a table spoon of tomato puree and mix again. Drain your pasta and add to the tomatoes, tear up some basil and mix it all together. top with cheese if you like and serve...with a beer

Bargain Barbecue part.1

I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like a barbecue. It’s always sunny, you’re never far away from your friends and you get to eat at least six different types of food and not be labelled a gannet. At no other time is it acceptable to make yourself some dinner where you have some beef, chicken, pork and maybe even prawns all on the one plate. Added to that a couple of different salads and dips, One could be considered something of a pig. Excellent.

Ribs aren’t always the first thing people think of when it comes to a barbecue but they’re cheap and guaranteed to impress. A pack of raw ribs from the supermarket cost about £3. Again not the most popular cuts of meat so you can buy them when they’re reduced for about £1.50 and freeze for when you need them. Bargain.

shot with a Canon Eos 350d  

RIBS

In a bowl pour a carton of passata with a handful of crushed garlic, a (really big) glug of Worcester sauce and a couple of tablespoons of honey. You can marinate it for a few hours if you like but you don’t have to. Put the ribs on a baking tray, pour over the sauce, cover with tin foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes on 180c. Uncover and turn the ribs over, spoon some of the juices of the ribs and pop them back in the oven for another three quarters of an hour. Wrap them in foil and take them with you, you can eat them warm from the foil or you can burn them on the barbecue, your choice.

taken on a Canon Eos 350d

BURGERS

A pretty obvious one but people who like burgers like burgers more when you make them. A cheap pack of lamb mince does the trick, even lamb haters like lamb burgers. Throw in an egg along with a big spoon of dried mint, a small handful of breadcrumbs to soak up the moisture and a good bit of seasoning and you’re almost there. The next touch is where it becomes a little bit special. Roll the lamb into balls and press a little bit of goat’s cheese in the middle (make sure you can seal them back up otherwise you’ll have wasted your time filling them in the first place when it all melts out in flames) sear them on the barbecue for a few minutes each side then load them up with coleslaw in a seeded bun. A winner every time.

Croque-Madame For Breakfast

Taken on a Casio ex-z75 digital camera

I love a weekend breakfast. Bacon and eggs, toast and a bit of brown sauce, lovely. Give me a cup of tea and I’ll finish the lot. If, like me, you have a bacon and egg sandwich every weekend then sometimes it’s nice to have a slight change so a continental twist of breakfast is in order.

If you’ve ever been to France you may be aware of a croque-monsieur which is basically a cheese and ham toastie. Its feminine counterpart, a croque-madame is the same thing but with a fried egg on top.

BREAKFAST

For the British twist on the French classic (or the French twist on the British classic) use grilled bacon instead of ham. You can use ham if you have any cooked in your fridge but for a proper breakfast sandwich I’d use bacon.

Tip 1. BUY MIDDLE BACON!!! Middle bacon cost a little more than streaky bacon and back bacon but not a lot more. The benefit is that you get back AND streaky bacon all in one. Bargain.

Butter your toast, top with your bacon and a good lot of grated cheese and grill again until bubbly. While it’s under the grill, fry an egg so that the yolk is very runny. Top your sandwich with another piece of buttery toast (it needs to be buttery otherwise it ends up quite dry), top that with your fried egg and serve.

Brown sauce optional (or essential depending on your outlook)

Goat's Cheese & Caramelised Red Onion Pizza

Taken on a Casio ex-z75 digital camera

Goat’s cheese is amazing. It has a taste that no other cheese can match and it goes amazingly well with caramelised red onion. Now I know when you want a pizza you don’t think about doing any more than just opening and closing the oven but a little extra work goes a long way…

CARAMELISED RED ONION

Slice a couple of red onions as thick or as thin as you like and fry in a little bit of olive oil on a medium heat. Sprinkle with a good helping of sugar then season with salt and pepper. When they start to colour and cook down add a drop of water (about a tablespoon) and remove from the heat.

PIZZA

You can make your own dough for a pizza base. It’s cheaper and more satisfying but for a meal after work it’s not always feasible to do as it needs to prove and rise for a while. So…

You can buy a value pizza base from the supermarket for about a pound nowadays and the same applies for mozzarella so pick them up along with a good sized piece of goat’s cheese (I’d go for Capricorn because its gooey on the outside and crumbly on the inside)

Dot the caramelised onion evenly over your pizza followed by goat’s cheese and mozzarella. Do it this way round because your onions are already cooked and you won’t want them to burn in the oven. Season with a good bit of salt and pepper and cook in a high oven for around quarter of an hour.
sprinkle with rocket leaves and serve

Tip 1. If you can’t do without a bit of meat you can add some thin slices of prosciutto from the deli counter (don’t be afraid to ask for small amounts from the deli counter, you don’t always have to buy a kilo of salami or chorizo!)


A tasty pizza for 2 for around £3

Simple Pasta and Ragout (did i mention you had to make the pasta?)

Taken on a Canon Eos 350d digital camera

I once had a heated discussion with my mother because she wanted to make lasagna. She bought all of these nice ingredients, ripe juicy tomatoes, fresh basil, minced beef from the meat counter only to discover I have Tesco value lasagna sheets. I didn’t buy them due to lack of funds, I bought them because when you read the ingredients on expensive pasta and value pasta it reads exactly the same 'durum wheat' nothing more, nothing less. To make pasta you mix flour with water. Sometimes you get egg pasta where instead of water you add... yep, that’s right, egg.

So if you're feeding 2 or 20 it’s easy to remember how to make enough pasta for all. Are you ready? 

1 egg and 100g of flour for 2 people. Simple.

If you have a food processor the next part is easy. 

PASTA

Put the flour in the bowl, close the lid, turn on the machine and crack an egg into it, whizz for 30 seconds. done

You’ll need to stretch the gluten in the flour now so pour the crumbs onto a clean surface and knead for a few minutes. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.

If you don’t have a food processor use a mixing bowl, sift the flour in and bore a hole in the middle. Whisk and egg and pour it into the hole and spin the mixture with your fingers to slowly bring the flour into the centre, once it’s all collected you can knead it as above.

Pasta machines look good in a kitchen but if you're not going to use one then pure and simple don't buy one. It’s a utensil not an ornament. If you have one then use it, if you don’t then a rolling pin will do, if you don’t have a rolling pin then a empty bottle of wine will do, if you don’t have one of those then there’s no hope.

After making your pasta sheets, run it through the tagliatelle cutter and toss it in a bowl of flour to stop it sticking to itself. If you don't have a pasta machine cut it by hand.

RAGOUT.

Mince is cheap as anything nowadays, again, check out the reduced aisle as there's always different types of mince reduced. Turkey mince will work when mixed with beef mince. In my local Super Marche I can pick up some value mince for about £1.20 for 250g, which is enough for purpose.

TIP 1. Tomato passata in cartons is cheaper than the majority of tins of chopped tomatoes and you get more for your money. Buy this instead as it will save you money and taste nicer. 

Dice (and I mean dice, not chop) an onion, a carrot and a couple of sticks of celery and fry them in some decent olive oil. When softened remove from the frying pan and fry the mince (a mix of pork and beef is the best but just beef is fine) when browned add the veg and a carton of passata with a good pinch of sugar and a decent amount of seasoning. Stick a lid on it and simmer for a minimum of 1hr 30 mins.

When you think the ragout is at its best, boil some salted water and cook the pasta, drain and add to the ragout. Always mix your pasta and sauce (the only exception is if you're using a pesto for the pasta and having a sauce as well) otherwise your pasta dries out and tastes like nothing. Top with Parmesan and serve with a glass of red wine. delicious 


Price per head hard to quantify as eggs and flour don't come in individual servings. roughly £1.70 per person 

Monkfish & Potatoes

Taken with a Canon eos 350d digital Slr

Pound for pound monkfish costs as much as fillet steak. If you're looking to save on your shopping bill I’d stay clear of this Atlantic delicacy. However due to its expense you'll very often find it in the reduced section of your supermarket as nobody wants to buy it full price. As long as you have a couple of monkfish recipes memorised you can get a great meal for less.

Parma ham you can get from the deli counter otherwise your supermarket usually has a cheap and cheerful version near the processed meat aisle. A couple of medium to large potatoes, a pot of cream and a small lemon, that’s all you really need to get you on your way to this beautiful meal for two.

Tip 1. Always preheat your oven.

Tip 2. If you put your grill on it heats the oven quicker.

MONKFISH

For the monkfish you don't need to do anything too special. Roll the fillet in some cracked black pepper and some lemon zest (and a tiny bit of dried thyme if you have any) and wrap it up in overlapping slices of Parma ham. Tie it up with string one ringlet at a time. I don't expect you to do butchers knots here. 

POTATOES

For your tatties, pour the small pot of cream into a saucepan and then half again with milk. Give it a good bit of seasoning as potatoes can take it.

Slice your tatties as thin as you can, use the slice setting out a food processor if you have one (this will save you so much time).

One by one add the slices to the cream and press it down to make sure they're all covered, simmer for about 15 minutes on a very low heat otherwise the cream and potato will stick and burn to the pan.

Grease up an oven dish and add your potatoes. Cook at 150c for about 40 minutes or until the top is nicely browned. Remove from the oven, cover with foil then crank up your oven to 240c.

When the oven is nice and hot pop in the monkfish and set a timer for 15 minutes. When that pings you can serve.

You have a choice of sauce for this. You could’ve bought a larger pot of cream and mixed it with some watercress. Or if you have a (fresh or old) bottle of red wine knocking around you could reduce about a glass worth in a saucepan with a good pinch of sugar and a little bit of gravy granules to make a nice rich sauce to go with it.

Tea for two for about £3.50 each (minus the wine)