The slow cooker chef: comforting low fat cottage pie recipe
During a cold snap a few weeks ago I had a longing for a really good Cottage Pie. So I made a version of this dish in the slow cooker (crock pot). Adding vegetables from our garden – the cottage kitchen smelt wonderful for hours. The slow cooker is a great way of cutting the fat content of a dish as the meat doesn’t have to be browned in oil, or the onions fried. When the filling was cooked, I strained off the juices and put the bowl in the refrigerator. The fat was easily removed a couple of hours later. The dish was delicious but the...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Low fat stir fried coriander lamb with mange tout, baby corn and lime infused noodles
We cooked Spanish lamb last weekend and still had lashings of lamb and sauce left over. Sometimes we are well intentioned, making a Shepherd’s pie with the remains. More often the remnants are jettisoned into the freezer and six months later the dogs polish off the bounty. Cold lamb doesn’t look wildly appealing. This week I was determined to use up the remains of lamb (500g) and the wine sauce in a stir fry. So this recipe is designed to follow on from our slow cooked Spanish lamb recipe. I’d bought a book on stir fries from Homebase....
read moreLeftovers: Summer Shepherd’s Pie recipe
“Do you like carrots in your shepherd’s pie?” “Yes please!” Danny looked suspicious, “What else are you going to add?” I was planning to cook a traditional British Shepherd’s Pie with the leftovers from a shoulder of lamb. He visibly relaxed. But when I went to the fridge that evening the shelves were bare. For weeks Danny had been stockpiling carrots, buying every bag that he found on the Tesco condemned food counter. At one stage the fridge was bursting with them and I’d considered making...
read moreLeftovers: Spicy new potatoes and cabbage on the side recipe
I’m not a great one for being imaginative about small leftovers. They are usually shoved into the dogs as a relish on the top of their complete dog food. In the past I used to put them into small bowls, hoping for inspiration and they would be forgotten as they were gradually pushed to the back of the fridge. Danny calls these “offerings to the fridge gods” as he removes them two weeks later. Now I’m enjoying using up everything that I can. The little scrappy handfuls are the most fun to transform into something that...
read moreGreat recipes for leftovers: Summery spiced chicken curry recipe
Many years ago Danny and I stopped for a curry in an Indian restaurant beyond the outskirts of Soho. When we pushed open the door we found that we were the only non Indian people in the restaurant. The meal was amazing. Hot, succulent and flavoursome. Nothing like the Indian restaurants that we know and love. A year later the yearning for their food was so overwhelming that we motored down to London to sample their food again. The restaurant had vanished, We walked up and down the street several times and eventually drove the 70 miles back...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Quick and easy pork and summery vegetable risotto recipe
I always used to choose risotto in Italian restaurants as I imagined that it was a complicated dish to cook. “Let them do all the stirring and sweating.” I’d think as I pointed to my choice on the menu. Recently I discovered that risotto is easy and quick to make. And a great way to transform the leftovers from the Sunday joint into something delicious. You can use uncooked meat and fish in a risotto but this recipe is designed to breathe life into pork or chicken that you find kicking about in the fridge. There are two...
read moreBest recipes for left overs: Comforting pheasant pie recipe
Last week we ate a slow pot roast pheasant baked in a nest of spicy red cabbage. It was pretty good – an easier variation of the recipe that appeared in The Times . But I didn’t think that it was a patch on our gypsy style roast pheasant. This evening I made a pheasant pie with the remaining meat. I have be wanting to make a game pie that incorporated a thick bechamel sauce for ages and with six pints of fresh bechamel sauce at the hip now was my chance. Our recipe for thick bechamel is contained in our cauliflower cheese...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Goose risotto to die for
“Come on over. We are having goose risotto.” “What sort of goose?” Gilbert’s tone was wary. “A free range Gressingham goose. Cost a fortune but it was a present from my Mum as our Christmas Day treat.” There was no response so I added: “A goose that’s had a happy life in a goosey sort of way. It even came with a small cookbook and an oven thermometer.” Gilbert thought for a moment. “So it arrived for Christmas with full instructions on how to cook it? Thank goodness geese...
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