Frugal and fabulous

I recently picked up a copy of "Delia's Frugal Food" from the local library. I'm always interested in ideas for creating cheap, nutritious meals and I enjoyed flicking through it and pulling out a few recipes, although a lot of the book did not conform to my tastes and Australian ingredients (oh yeah, I moved back to Australia btw).

Anyhoo, I tried the "Potato Soup with Bacon" on page 25 of the book, leaving out the turnip, and it turned out pretty nice! Very cheap and cheerful.

Asian-style chicken salad

After a two month hiatus, my comely ways are back again.

I haven't written for so long because:
a) I'm a lazy so-and-so;
b) I've been trying to diet and therefore eating crud;
c) I'm moving country and incredibly busy in my preparations.

Nonetheless, I found a recipe for something that even lazy, slightly pudgy and frantically busy people like myself can handle - a fresh and tasty chicken salad with Asian flavours.

This recipe is another one from my favourite website (oh, what would I do without thou?): www. taste.com.au

I usually don't like raw cabbage, therefore I'm not a coleslaw lover, but this salad just tastes yummy!

I didn't change too much, except for the dressing. I replaced the sugar and chilli with 1 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce. It's a simple and delicious dressing with no oil.

I also scattered a few chopped peanuts on top for extra texture and taste.

It's a winner!

Because sometimes I couldn't be bothered cooking

One of the best things about living in Japan is the abundant, cheap and delicious seafood.

In particular, the sashimi and sushi is not to be missed!

I live in the lovely port town of Shimizu, where fish is always super fresh and readily available.

This is a picture of some sashimi that I bought at a local pub-style joint. It was delicious eaten with some soy sauce and fresh wasabi.



But of course, it's so easy to prepare at home, too. Just pick up some sashimi-grade tuna or salmon, slice it across the grain, and enjoy the night off from cooking!

Bite-sized crab cocktail

This is a fabulous idea I got from watching one of Nigella's TV programs, although I can't remember which one it was (yes, I'm a little bit obsessed with Nigella).

I was waiting for an opportunity to make these, such as when I would be entertaining, but then I thought, why not just make them for myself?

This would be a great appetiser or entree for a dinner party, but I just ate the whole lot as dinner on a nice spring evening :) I don't need a special occasion to stuff myself with delicious food. What's better is that The Boy doesn't eat seafood, so I didn't have to share! Hooray!

Making a traditional shrimp or crab cocktail is very easy, but I think this is even easier! Plus there's less washing up, which is always a good thing.

First, you need some nice fresh lettuce leaves. I just used plain old iceberg lettuce, but I think it would be nice to get some kind of tiny fancy lettuce, too. Anything that kind of makes a cup.

For the filling, I used fresh crab meat and avocado. You could replace the crab with shrimp.

For the sauce, I mixed equal parts tomato sauce (ketchup) and mayonnaise - about a tablespoon of each. I also added a splash of lemon juice, a splash of Worcestershire sauce and some black pepper.

I mixed the sauce with the crab and avocado in a bowl,then filled the lettuce leaves with the mixture.

To eat, just roll it up and stick it in your mouth!

I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight

Chicken breast, while being cheap and very versatile, can sometimes be very bland and somewhat dry. But I picked up a little tip from Nigella a while back which helped deal with this problem - marinate it in natural yoghurt (or buttermilk). It really makes even the driest meat succulent and tasty.

You can just marinate the meat then fry or bake it, but I think it's nice to coat it with breadcrumbs to make an easy chicken schnitzel. This is a great way to bypass the mess and hassle of the traditional flour/egg/breadcrumbs route but still get a great result. Here's what I did:

First, I took a large chicken breast and sliced it through the middle lengthwise to make two thin pieces of chicken. To thin them out a little more, I put them between two pieces of cling wrap (or you could use a freezer bag) and bashed them with a potato masher (you could also use a rolling pin, mallet or any bashing tool of your choice).

Then, I let them sit in some yoghurt in a ceramic bowl for about an hour.

Next, after shaking off the excess yoghurt, I dipped them in some crunchy breadcrumbs, pressing them in well to make sure they were properly coated.

Finally, I fried them in some oil for a few minutes on each side, until crispy and browned on the outside and just cooked on the inside. I served with mashed potatoes, peas and gravy. Very delish!

Mustard pork chops

This meal is very loosely based on Nigella's Mustard Pork Chops recipe, from her totally awesome book "Nigella Express". I changed it because I can't find cider here in Japan and I don't like gnocchi very much (or maybe I'm just not very good at cooking it). Moreover, I find the one tablespoon of mustard that Nigella calls for is just a bit too much for my taste.

So, here is my Nigella inspired pork chop recipe, which serves two:

2 pork chops (or however many you want to eat)
2 Tbs apple vinegar*
4 Tbs pouring cream
1 tsp grainy mustard
baby potatoes

Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes, or until tender.

In the meantime, fry the pork chops in a non-stick pan and a little olive oil until nicely coloured on the outside and just cooked on the inside. Remove from pan.

In the same frying pan, over low-medium heat, add the vinegar. This will make a lot of noise but that's part of the fun. Now, add the mustard and cream. Mix. Taste. Adjust ingredients if needed (maybe a little more cream, if the vinegar is too strong for your liking). Let it bubble up and thicken for a minute or so.

Serve the pork chops with some of the sauce on top. Throw the drained boiled potatoes into the pan containing the mustard sauce to coat the potatoes with the leftover sauce, before serving along side the pork.

*If you don't have/like apple vinegar, use cider as Nigella suggests, or use white wine.

The most dangerous cake recipe

Although I try to be healthy most of the time, sometimes what one really needs is chocolate. Lots of it. In the form of rich, gooey cake. And here is the perfect, quick recipe!

I was hesitant to bake a cake in the microwave, but I don't own an oven so sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. Anyway, it is so delicious that you wouldn't guess it was cooked in the microwave. Don't believe me? The proof is in the pudding!

At this stage I'd like to send out a big thank you to Danica Gallagher for sharing this recipe with me (I'll be sending you the Jenny Craig bill shortly).

This is what you need:

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

a small splash of vanilla extract

First, put the dry ingredients into a bowl. Attack it with a wire whisk for a moment or so; this will break up any lumpy bits and it's quicker and easier than sifting.

Next, add all the wet ingredients and whisk again until the batter is combined and there are no lumps.

Finally, stir in the chocolate chips with a spoon (if using).

Now, pour the batter into a microwave safe dish of your choosing. The original recipe states that you can use a large coffee mug. I chose to use a small ramekin, which I greased with butter to be on the safe side, because I didn't want it to stick!


As you can see from the photo on the right, the batter came right to the top of the ramekin. I was concerned about mess in the microwave, but it turned out alright!

Microwave for about 3 minutes for a 1000W oven or 4 minutes for a 650W oven. The cake will rise, but don't be alarmed! To test if it is done, insert a dry piece of spaghetti (or a skewer) into the middle. It should come out clean. If it comes out with batter on it, pop in the microwave for a little longer.



And this is what it looks like when it comes out of the microwave.





This is enough to feed two. In fact, this cake is VERY rich, so it is best served with cream (my choice) or ice cream. My cake was especially rich because I used good quality cocoa and dark chocolate chips. You could definitely leave out the chocolate chips, in my opinion, to lighten this up a little.

I think it's nice to decorate the cake with some chocolate shavings. You can make these by shaving a chocolate bar with a vegetable peeler.

Why is it the most dangerous cake recipe? Because now we can have one of the world's most fattening desserts in less than 5 minutes!

Veg out with vegie pasta

This winter has felt long and bleak. Like many fellow winter haters, I have been over indulging in comfort foods, and my lazy butt just doesn't wanna move.

If, like me, the thought of getting into a swimsuit this coming summer induces panic and images of a beached whale, try cutting a few calories by cooking up this delicious yet healthy sauce. This makes lots of sauce, which I freeze in small portions so that I can have a quick and healthy meal any time.

Ingredients:
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 red onion, finely diced
100g button mushrooms, chopped
1 zucchini, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
a handful of fresh basil, torn
100ml tomato juice
1 can diced tomatoes
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
tobasco, salt and pepper

First, heat a smidgen of olive oil in a large, non-stick pan. Throw in the onion, celery, carrot and garlic, and saute for about 5 minutes, until softened but not coloured.

Next, add all the other ingredients, stir, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer gently for about 20 minutes or until everything is tender to your liking. In particular, make sure the carrot is cooked.

If it's not thick enough, simmer without the lid until it reduces to your preferred consistency.

That's it! Serve on pasta with fresh basil on top, or try serving it with brown rice, on steak or chicken, or any way you like!

Thai pork meatballs

Here's a little treat I served up recently to some lovely guests who recently joined us for dinner. They are a tasty appetizer which fitted in with the Thai themed feast.

To make about 30 small meatballs, you need:

500g pork mince
2 spring onions, sliced thinly
2 T fresh corriander, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 T oyster sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp brown sugar
a good spash of tobasco sauce
1 egg
about half a cup of breadcrumbs
a little flour

Just mix everything together, except for the flour. Add enough breadcrums so that the meat takes on a firm texture. You don't want it to be sloppy, but it has to be able to hold together.

Then, just roll into little balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Put them into the fridge to firm up for about half an hour before dusting them with flour and frying in a little vegetable oil until golden and cooked.

Drain on paper towels and serve them on a bed of lettuce with Thai sweet chilli sauce for dipping.

Alternatively, you could form them into rissoles, which would be lovely on a burger, in a wrap, or with thai rice. They are also great the next day, cold from the fridge, thrown on a salad or popped into a hungry mouth!

Quick, budget AND low-fat. Who could want more?

This is not even a recipe; it's too simple to call it that. It's just an idea to get some cheap food onto a plate then into a hungry mouth.

One large chicken breast feeds two people. Add some salad and a few basic pantry items, and you've got yourself a cheap, low-fat meal, baby!

I take a chicken breast and slice it in half lengthways, so that I end up with what looks like two thin chicken breasts.

I fry these in a teensy bit of olive oil until golden and cooked through, then transfer to an oven tray. I top the chicken with some bottled tomato pasta sauce and a little cheese. Sometimes I add a little chopped ham, too. Then, I simply pop it in the toaster oven (or a normal grill or oven could be used) until the cheese is melted and golden.

I serve this on pasta with salad. When I'm really being cruel to myself, I cut out the pasta. This dinner seriously takes less than 15 minutes! Hooray!

A perfectly comely steak

Whenever I come across a nice piece of steak that's on sale, I grab it. Because steak (or ステーキ as it is known in Japan) is kind of on the pricey side here!

Here's the Comely Cuisine guide to cooking a perfect steak:

First, get your frying pan/grill/hot plate very HOT.

Second, season the steak with pepper but NOT salt, at this stage.

Next, oil the pan and slap on the meat. You want to hear a fierce "sizzle" but don't get too carried away.

After a minute or so, turn over the meat and turn down the heat a little. Now, you can season the "sealed" side with some salt.

I like to turn it just once more to achieve the perfect medium cooked steak (this is for a relatively thin steak. A thick one will obviously need more time). Again, season the other sealed side with salt.

Now, remove it from the pan and place on a warm plate, cover with foil, and leave it to rest for about five minutes before you cut it or eat it.

I think it's a shame to take a tasty piece of meat and smother it with sauce. My favourite thing to serve on steak is some capsicum, onion and bacon which has been fried in a little olive oil until nice and soft. A few cherry tomatoes don't go astray, either. Gosh, I'm glad I'm a carnivore!

Szechuan Chicken Stir-Fry

Take a look at that yummy Szechuan stir-fry. It looks pretty appealing, huh? I love the mix of bright colours, and the lure of sweat-inducing chillis.

Well, if you are like me, and you've indulged a little too much over the Christmas and New Year period, perhaps it's time to introduce some new, healthy recipes to your repertoire. Stir-fry is always a winner in the health stakes, and this is an idea that is simple, easy and a bit different.

For this recipe, I employ the use of a packet spice mix. I often turn my nose up at such things, but this one is actually pretty good and I wouldn't know how to make it from scratch. So, get your hands on this little baby and you're only a few easy steps away from chowing down some Szechuan goodness.

All you have to do is chop up some chicken breast and put it into a plastic zip-lock bag or freezer bag. Then, add the spice paste, about a teaspoon of cornstarch and a little oil, and seal the bag shut. Then, make sure everything is evenly coated in leave it to marinate for about 20 minutes or so.

Then, just stir fry the chicken along with your choice of vegies, add a splash of dry sherry or Chinese cooking wine, and perhaps a bit of water or chicken stock if you want it a bit more saucy. Also, you might like to add some extra chilli because the spice mix isn't all that hot. I don't mind a few nuts thrown in, too.

Serve it on some rice and dig in to some guilt-free deliciousness!

Faux Lasagna

So, you made a gigantic batch of bolognaise sauce, and you don't want to eat spaghetti bolognaise for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two weeks, so what should you do with it? Well, my recommendation is to freeze it in small batches so you can make meals quickly and easily on those lazy days. But if you want a change from the old spag bol, here's something you can try with the sauce.


I like to call it a "faux lasagna". I can't make a real lasagna because I don't have an oven. So here's what I do.

I boil up some regular pasta, such as a penne or spirals.

While that is boiling, I make the bechamel sauce. To do this, I melt one tablespoon of butter in a small saucepan, and add one tablespoon (or slightly less) of flour, mixing it in and cooking for about a minute, making sure it doesn't burn. Then I turn off the heat and slowly add one cup of slightly warmed (in the microwave) milk, whisking as I go. Once that's all added, I add salt, pepper and nutmeg and return it to the heat, stirring all the while as it heats up. It needs to continue cooking and being stirred for about 5 minutes. Then, I turn of the heat, add some grated cheese to melt in there, and a little more nutmeg.

Once the pasta has cooked, I drain it and add my leftover bolognaise sauce, heating it through briefly to make sure everything is hot.

Then, I load the sauce covered pasta into small ramekin dishes, or otherwise, one large casserole dish. I top it with the bechamel sauce, and a little extra grated cheese. I let this grill in the toaster oven until the cheese is all golden and melty.

This is such a quick and easy way to use your leftovers and get that yummy lasagna taste with minimal effort!

An oldie but a goodie

Sometimes, when it comes to cooking, I think there is too much emphasis on being "original" and "different". Taking something delicious, then ruining it by adding quirky and unexpected ingredients, does not a good meal make. There's a whole cult of people out there who want to turn food creation into a pretentious, arty-farty elitist club, trying so hard to impress those around them by their ingenuity. I'm all for trying new recipes and mixing things up, but there are those times when you just want to get back to the basics.

And that's where the good, old-fashioned spag bol comes in. This is a dish that I've been happily enjoying since I was a wee child, so why fix what aint broken?

My mother is not exactly a whiz in the kitchen, but her tip for tasty spag bol that she passed on to me has been invaluable - add a can of tomato soup. That's right, tomato soup makes the yummiest spag bol!

So here's what you do:

First, saute a diced onion, a diced stalk of celery, a diced carrot and a crushed clove of garlic in some olive oil for about 5 minutes.

Then, add about 500g of beef mince and cook, breaking up the mince, until brown.

At this point, depending on how fatty the mince is, I may drain off some fat.

Then, add a can of tomoto soup, a can of diced tomatoes, 2tbs tomato paste/puree, a tsp of sugar, two bay leaves, salt, pepper and some mixed dried herbs (I use oregano and basil).

Simmer for about 20 minutes, then serve it on some al dente spaghetti.





And don't forget the garlic bread! I mince some fresh garlic into some butter and keep it in the fridge, so that I can make tasty garlic bread quickly and easily by popping some garlicky buttered bread into the toaster oven. Delish!

Vegetable soup fit for a Belgian king!

My good friends Gert and Elies (who are Belgian) gave me this great cookbook a while back:

And it's true! Everybody really DOES eat well in Belgium! I spent a blissful week in Gert and Elies' home in Meldert, Belgium, stuffing my face with pastries, rich hearty meals, waffles, to-die-for beers and delicious coffee. From that time, I vowed that I would learn the culinary ways of the Belgians.

Since my resources are limited in my little Japanese apartment, I'm yet to try a lot of the recipes. But one recipe I was able to follow (adapted, mind you) is the one for "Hearty Vegetable Soup", which has apparently been keeping the common Belgian man warm through centuries of frosty winters.

So here is what you need to eat vegie soup like a Belgian (serves four):

3 rashers of bacon, thinly sliced

an onion, finely diced

about 3 small potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

one small sweet potato, peeled and cut into small-ish chunks

one stalk of celery, diced

one carrot, diced

a hefty handful of beans, trimmed and sliced diagonally

about 6 cups (or thereabouts) of chicken stock

fresh parsely and good bread, to serve

First thing's first: get yourself a large non-stick pot. Fry up the bacon in this, in a little olive oil, for a few minutes. Then, add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft and lightly coloured. Then, add all the other vegies and the stock and season with black pepper and a little salt (but don't go nuts with the salt - the stock is usually salty enough). Simmer until the vegies are tender - about 15 to 20 minutes. Be careful! Mashed potatoes in your vegie soup is not cool! So don't overcook.

Sprinkle with plenty of fresh parsely just before serving, and don't even think about NOT serving this with the best crusty bread you can get your hands on.