Random Recipes #35 - Dare to Bare

I was really excited to find out what Dom had in store for December's Random Recipe Challenge, as it's giving me a chance to write a post that I've been starting and stalling on for several months now. Dom has challenged us to share a window into our homes and kitchens by blogging a picture of the inside of our larder or cupboards, and here is mine - no pre-tidy otherwise I might have hidden some of those jars of instant sauces!! 

My lovely, not-so-tidy-but-still-mine, kitchen cupboard!

I posted this pic up on Instagram and Twitter, and one of the first comments I got came from Karen over at Lavender and Lovage, who exclaimed 'wow! you have loads!'. There is very much a reason for this, and as I said, a post that has been a long time coming, so here's a little insight into how and why my cupboard looks like this!

For the past couple of years, it's fair to say that like most households across the land we have 'felt the pinch'. With debts to pay, unexpected redundancies, job changes and all the usual stresses that come alongside them, we found ourselves feeling new, ever-tightening financial constraints. 

To start with, it's fair to say that we struggled to budget. I was organised to the point that rent and bills are planned for and are paid from a set account, but buying food on a weekly basis was a minefield, at the beginning of the month we'd buy far to much, and end up wasting fresh veg and meat that had gone bad, whilst at the end of the month we were sat counting 5ps on the coffee table to afford baked beans, bread and milk. Then I read a book that totally changed my perspective. That book was called Freeze, by Justine Pattison, and it promised to 'revolutionise' the way I used my freezer. In reality, it revolutionised the way I do everything. The way I shop, the way I store my food, and the way I plan my meals, and the result is we spend much less of food and eat much much better all month round.

My monthly food shopping and planning now looks something like this (with a few tips and star products);

• We do one 'big shop' once a month for around £250, rather than £100 once a week - big savings. (includes cleaning products and toiletries)
• The only 'extra' each month is fresh bread and milk. 
• We buy meat fresh, often taking advantage of 3 for £10 deals. All fresh meat is taken out of packages, wrapped in foil, labelled in a freezer bag, and frozen. Wrapping in foil has two major benefits - firstly, it takes up a lot less space in the freezer, and secondly, when defrosted the meat has no freezer burn! Seriously, it's just like fresh! 
• Fresh veggies are chopped, blanched and frozen the day I buy them, ready to be used as an when I need them (the ones that won't last a month in the fridge).
• We plan dinner in the morning, and take out any meat that needs defrosting, so it's ready for that evening. 
• My go-to product is Tesco Value Passata - it's 39p for 500g, and is my base for Bolognase, Chilli, Curries, Casseroles, Pizza sauces, Goulash, everything! And it tastes better than any branded passata I've tried! 
• The large bags of dried rice and pasta are incredible value, and as they have such a long shelf life there is no reason to ever buy small packs that cost the same amount! The large pasta bags (3kg) last me and Gary at least 3 months and cost around 20p more than a 1kg bag. 
• As you can see, there are a few jars of ready-made sauces peeking out for when we both have a late night at work... naughty :-)
• Two of these shelves are dedicated to flour and all things baking - well, I do make a LOT of cakes! 

It's a simple enough system, and one I should probably have figured out a long time ago, so forgive me teaching everyone to suck eggs but I really wanted to share! Thanks to Dom for spurring me on to write the post - finally!

Aztec Cookies - Random Recipes Big 3-0

Aztec Cookies

I actually made these cookies right at the beginning of the month as soon as Dom announced the Random Recipes challenge, but it's taken me this long to get my act together and write them up. (See previous posts re: loss of mojo and subsequently getting it back) The challenge this month was to celebrate the 30th month of Random Recipes by selecting the 30th recipe from the 30th book on the shelf. 

My 30th book was The Great British Bake Off - How to Turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers. The 30th recipe was Aztec Cookies. I tend to have a fail-safe go-to cookie recipe, so this recipe was one that had so far passed me by, and probably would have continued to do so. On closer inspection however, I realised that these cookies contained all the things that are good in the world... chocolate, coffee, white chocolate and glitter! Win!

I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe, changing the flour to wholemeal as it's healthier, and using instant coffee and vanilla bean paste rather than extract as that's what I had to hand. These cookies are soft rather than chewy, and the wholemeal flour gave a really nice texture. I do prefer my cookies of the chewy variety, but I can't fault the flavour combination in these, and I'm a sucker for a sparkly baked treat! 

Ingredients

140 grams dark chocolate

2 tablespoons instant coffee granules 

65 grams salted butter

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

130 grams golden caster sugar

185 grams wholegrain plain flour

100 grams white chocolate

edible gold dust or glitter to finish

Method

Melt the dark chocolate and salted butter together over a bain-marie. Add the instant coffee and stir until completely dissolved. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Add the melted chocolate mixture and stir thoroughly. 

Sift in the flour, and fold into the mixture until fully combined. Roughly chop the white chocolate, and add to the mixture. 

Grease a baking tray, and heat the oven to 160 degrees.  Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the tray, leaving space for the cookies to spread. You should be able to fit roughly 6 cookies at a time on the sheet. 

Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, until they are just firm to touch, and the surface is cracked in appearance. Remove the tray, and using a pallet knife, slide the cookies onto a cooling rack. Repeat until you have used all of the mixture. 

Finally, sprinkle a little of the glitter over the still warm cookies for that extra special sparkle. 

Random Recipes is hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen

Possibly the Best Broccoli Dish Ever...

Continuing my quest to find great tasting food that has high nutritional values, I decided to tackle a personal nemesis last night - broccoli. Whilst I don't dislike broccoli, it's hardly up there in my top ten ingredients either, and aside from smothering it in cheese sauce, I've never really found a way to cook it that makes it taste of ... well ... anything. 

That aside, as I have started my research into nutritious food types and broccoli sits firmly at the top of the list of so called superfoods, full of antioxidants, vitamin C, and dietary fibres. So when it came to fridge raiding to find an accompaniment for roast chicken and potatoes, the obvious choice was the large portion of broccoli in the veg compartment. I just couldn't face it steamed or boiled though, and through sheer desperation to inject some resemblance of flavour into its florets, I opened the laptop, and googled the cry for help "interesting things to do with broccoli"! 

What I discovered was the following recipe from US food author Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa. Several reviews and comments all appeared to be unanimous in hailing this recipe as the best broccoli dish ever, the version I came across was on the Food Network, I made a few tweaks due to the ingredients I had in the house, and it honestly lived up to the internet hype...

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients...

Approx 350 grams broccoli
2 teaspoons crushed garlic (or 2 cloves)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

zest and a squeeze of juice from one small lemon
40 grams fresh parmesan, finely grated

To make...

• Pre-heat the oven to around 180 degrees.
• Cut the broccoli florets away from the main stem, and arrange flat on a baking tray. 
• Mix together the garlic, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper in a small bowl, and then drizzle evenly over the broccoli florets.
• Roast in the oven for around 20 minutes, turning over in the oil mixture halfway through.
• The broccoli is ready when the edges start to colour brown and crisp up. 
• Transfer the roasted broccoli to a large bowl, add the lemon zest and parmesan, squeeze over around a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, and toss lightly to evenly coat all the florets. 
• Serve and enjoy! 

I found that the garlic and lemon flavours in particular worked really well with the broccoli, but the revelation for me was the taste and texture of the broccoli having been roasted rather than steamed or boiled. It retained much more crunch and firmness, plus none of those precious nutrients can escape in the water - I will definitely be roasting broccoli from now onwards!

I am entering this recipe into a few challenges this month, as it was so delicious I wanted to share it with as many people as possible!

Firstly, Credit Crunch Munch, run by Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours, and hosted this month by Anneli at Delicieux. I am entering this because the dish was quick and easy and used just store cupboard ingredients and broccoli that needed using up. 

I am also entering into Made with Love Mondays hosted by Mark at Javelin Warrior, as it is completely made from scratch, with fresh ingredients.

I'm also going to take a punt, and enter this into Random Recipes run by Dom over at Belleau Kitchen. In the random recipe challenge, Dom ask participants to gather all their recipe books together and select a recipe at random. I don't really have a many books at all, and those I do are either for bread or cake decorating, however I'm hoping that the random google search that led me to this recipe will count? Plus, I really think that this dish fits the Healthy and Happy theme to a T!