The Cottage Smallholder


stumbling self sufficiency in a small space


Delicious, simple prawn and asparagus spaghetti recipe

Posted in Rice and Pasta | 12 comments

Delicious, simple prawn and asparagus spaghetti recipe

I love prawns and asparagus. At this time of year there are a lot of two for one offers on UK asparagus and we cash in. Our asparagus patch is into its second year and not thriving. However, an asparagus expert visited the garden recently, inspected the spindly spears and gave me some great advice. “Apply fish, blood and bone and bank up with earth like spuds. These roots are clearly not being fed enough!” Maybe, next year we might be cutting our first spears. Prawns are expensive but Danny often finds them half price on the *CFC. They...

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Easy and deluxe prawn, spinach and gnocchi recipe

Posted in Fish and Seafood, Rice and Pasta | 5 comments

Easy and deluxe prawn, spinach and gnocchi recipe

  I adore prawns. Could eat them everyday. Two favourite recipes are Donagh’s Gambas al pil pil and Clare’s prawn gnocchi. Prawns are expensive but often there are great reductions to be found in the frozen food section of the supermarket. Yesterday I discovered through MySupermarket.com that Tesco Finest Canadian prawns were half price. Perfect. With a limitless budget I probably would have bought uncooked prawns for added flavour but the cooked prawns tasted fine. The beauty of Clare’s dish is that it can be assembled and cooked in 15...

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Skirt of beef steaks recipe

Posted in Beef and Steak and Veal | 6 comments

Skirt of beef steaks recipe

  “This is the first time ever that I’d be happy if you left your other shopping on the counter.” The pretty woman in TKMaxx joked. We had been talking about the skirt of beef that I had just bought. She had never heard of the cut but as you know it has become a bit of a mission for me to spread the word on the cheaper cuts. Her interest was really tweaked when I mentioned that we at it as steak. “It doesn’t cut like a fillet but it’s far better than a lot of sirloins that I’ve bought and at £6 for 800 grams it’s a...

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Beef stir fry with water chestnuts and black bean sauce recipe

Posted in Beef and Steak and Veal | 0 comments

Beef stir fry with water chestnuts and black bean sauce recipe

  It’s rare for us to eat out these days as it’s so expensive. But I try and cook something a bit special for Saturday night. When I visited The Carter Street Butcher I picked up a 600g piece of organic skirt of beef for four quid – far cheaper than the non organic butchers in Newmarket. I had a longing for water chestnuts and black bean sauce so I added them to my weekly shopping list and glided down to Newmarket in Danny’s car. A lot of people had clearly spent the day decorating the outside of their houses with fairy lights and...

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Best recipes for leftovers: St Clements chicken, Romano pepper and rice noodle stir fry

Posted in Chicken, Leftovers | 1 comment

Best recipes for leftovers: St Clements chicken, Romano pepper and rice noodle stir fry

Danny found some rice noodles on the condemned food counter at Tesco and we decided to try making a stir fry with some of the leftover St Clements chicken and gravy. This was really quick and easy to make and quite delicious. Packed with lots of subtle, summery flavours, the sweet Romano peppers balancing the citrus hints of the chicken. St Clements chicken, Romano pepper and rice noodle stir fry recipe (for 2) Ingredients: I large handful of cooked diced St Clement’s chicken 100 ml of left over gravy (from the St Clement’s chicken) 1...

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