Mars Bar Cake

This doesn't really stick with the 'cheap food' theme, but take it as a little added extra for that day when you want a treat.

INGREDIENTS

3 Mars Bars

2 tbsp of syrup

75g of butter

Rice Crispies

300g chocolate

Decorations (optional)

METHOD

1. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt the Mars Bars, syrup and butter in a pan at low heat.
3. Pour mixture and add some rice crispies. Make sure there's enough for each crispie to be lightly coated.
4. Put the mixture into the baking tray, and squish it until it is nicely compact.
5. Melt the chocolate in a bain marie, and pour over the rice crispies.
6. Decorate as wished.
7. Cool in the fridge, and cut into approx. 16 pieces once hardened.

Yellow Split Pea and Ham soup

This recipe uses a ham hough, which isn't the easiest of produce to find. So if all else fails, use ham and ham stock cubes to achieve a similar taste.

INGREDIENTS

1 Ham Hough

250g of yellow split peas. (Lentils also work)

1 onion

2-3 carrots

1 clove of garlic

Seasoning

METHOD

1. The night before cooking, put the lentils in a bowl of water to soak overnight.
2. Boil the Ham Hough in water for 1 hour. At this point I made some Mars Bar Cake to fill in the time.
3. Dice the onion and carrots.
4. Take the Ham Hough out of the pan, and throw in the onion and carrots alongside some seasoning. Remember ham can be quite salty, so salt may not be needed!
5. Remove the fat from the Ham Hough, and then take the meat off of the bone. Chop into dice, and throw it back in the pot.
6. Drain the peas, and put into the soup pan.
7. Boil for a further 1-1 and 1/2 hours.
8. Season and serve.

Bacon and Courgette Tart

This may not look like the cheapest thing here, but the recipe I followed assured me that currently, each slice costs 98p (provided everything is bought from Tesco!). Which pretty good going if I say so myself!

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

135g ready-rolled shortcrust pastry

(I made my own instead)

1 onion sliced

1 tbsp of olive oil

150g of bacon, cut into thin strips

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 courgette, sliced

2 eggs

100ml single cream

50g of gruyère, grated (or cheddar is preferred)

Seasoning

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200 degrees Celsius. Use the pastry to line a 23cm fluted tart tin with removable base. Prick the base with a fork and line with greaseproof paper and baking beans. Blind bake for 12 minutes. Remove paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes. Turn the oven down to 170 degrees celsius, gas 3.
2. Fry the onion in 1 tbsp of olive oil until softened. Add the bacon and garlic and fry for 5 minutes. Add the courgette and fry for 5 minutes more.
3. Beat the eggs in a bowl, mix in the cream and season. Put the courgette mix into a tart case, then pour over the egg mixture. Finish with the cheese and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the oven up to gas 6, 200 degrees celsius for a final 5 minutes.

As seen here served with kurly kale and mash. This is also bigger than the average portion expected, as there were only 4 of us for tea.

Cinnamon and Raisin Bagels

Makes 12

INGREDIENTS

150g of raisins

2 dsp of golden syrup

1 tsp of dried yeast

750g of strong white flour

1 dsp of butter/margarine

1 tsp of ginger

1 tsp of cinnamon

pinch of salt

METHOD

1. Fill a jug with 1 pint of boiling water. Add the golden syrup and raisins to the jug.
2. Leave for about 20 minutes, until it has cooled, and add the yeast. Leave for 10 minutes.
3. Put the flour, butter, cinnamon, ginger, and salt into a bowl, and mix slowly with a dough hook until the butter has mixed in. This will take 2-3 minutes.
4. Pour the jug contents into the bowl and mix for a further 10 minutes.
5. Cover with cling-film and leave in a warm place for 1- 1 and 1/2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.
6. Put a pan of water on at full heat, and pre-heat the oven at 220 degrees celsius.
7. Lightly flour two baking trays, and lightly oil two others.
8. Divide the dough into 12 and shape into rings. 
9. Leave to rest for 10 minutes on the floured trays.
10. Poach a bagel in the boiling water for 30 seconds, flip it, and repeat on the other side of the bagel. Remove from the water. Repeat this for each of the bagels.
11. Place them on the oiled trays, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes on each side.

Some of these may have been eaten before the photo was taken...

Well this is awkward...

Well hello there! I realise I haven't been keeping this up-to-date recently, and for that I can only apologise. My computer had a bit of an off-period, so now I will catch you lot with what culinary masterpieces you have missed.

Bread and Butter Pudding

For this recipe, I used a fruit loaf that my little brothers had baked a few days prior. However, you can use any bread you wish. My Dad suggests that if you want to use brown bread though, that you mix it with some white as well - only brown bread does not work as well.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 a loaf of bread

Some margarine

3/4 pint of milk

A handful of dried fruit

3 eggs

50g sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

METHOD

1. Spread the margarine onto the slices of bread, and cut the slices in half into triangles.
2. Pour the milk into a pan and wait until boiling. Watch out - when milk boils it has a tendency to overflow, so have your wits about you!
3. Lightly grease a 30cm by 20cm tray/dish.
4. Arrange half of the bread on the bottom of the dish.
5. Sprinkle the dried fruit over the bread.
6. Whisk the eggs with the sugar, ginger and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the milk and whisk thoroughly.
7. Pour the liquid onto the bread in the dish, and then arrange the rest of the bread on top. Squish down with a spoon.
8. Bake in an oven for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees celsius, until well risen and golden brown.

Chicken Liver Paté

This recipe makes A LOT of paté. Feel free to divide it accordingly.

INGREDIENTS

2 small onions/1 big onion

500g butter

150g bacon

2 cloves of garlic

900g chicken livers

Mixed herbs and pepper

METHOD

1. Chop the onions and bacon roughly.
2. Put the onions, bacon, butter, garlic, mixed herbs and pepper in. No need for salt - bacon is already salty enough!
3. Put on a high heat until the butter melts.
4. Add the chicken livers and cook for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
5. Blitz your mixture in a blender, and then mix it in a bowl.
6. Cling-film a container of choice (loaf tin, individual ramekins), and pour the paté mixture into it.
7. Place in the fridge until it is set. This will obviously depend on the size of container used. Our loaf tin took about 4 hours.

Serving Suggestion

Pork scamuche

INGREDIENTS

2 red onions

6 pork chops

1 clove of garlic

1 tin of chick peas

2 tins of tomatoes

Good squirt of tomato sauce

6 button mushrooms

Seasoning

METHOD

1. Heat oil in a pan, brown the pork chops and set aside.
2. Fry the onions, garlic, mushrooms, herbs in a pan.
3. Once cooked, add the tomatoes, chick peas and a good squirt of tomato sauce. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes.
4. Put the pork chops and tomato sauce in a dish, and put into the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 25 - 30 minutes.
5. Serve alongside potatoes.

Fishy Risotto

INGREDIENTS

2 carrots

2 onions

1300g fish (I used haddock, pouting and smoked salmon)

2 peppers

Garlic

500g arborio rice

A handful of frozen peas

A handful of grated cheese

METHOD

1. Peel and quarter an onion and the carrots.
2. Fill a pan with 900ml of water and place the onion and carrots into it, along with salt, pepper and herbs.
3. Leave to boil for 10 - 15 minutes, and then strain it to remove the ingredients. Put the stock back on to boil.
4. Once the water is boiling, put the raw fish into the stock and then take it off of the heat. The fish will cook as the stock cools.
5. Dice the peppers and the remaining onion, and crush a clove of garlic.
6. Put oil in the bottom of a new pan, and fry until the peppers, onion and garlic until cooked but not coloured.
7. Add the arborio rice, and cook until the rice is slightly translucent around the edges.
8. Add enough of the stock (not the fish) to the rice to cover it, and wait for it to boil  and for the stock to be absorbed by the rice. Repeat until there is no stock left.
9. Add a handful of peas.
10. Once the stock is completely absorbed, add all of the fish to the pan and take it off the hob. Leave for 5 minutes with a lid on top.
11. Add the cheese, stir the rice until the fish is evenly distributed, and serve!

Buns (makes 6)

INGREDIENTS


300ml of tepid water
tsp of yeast
150g of strong white flour
dsp of fat (we used margarine, but you could use butter or lard)
tsp of salt
A good squirt of "Reggae Reggae" sauce (optional. Can omit, or substitute with other sauces.)

1. Mix the yeast and the water in a jug, and leave for 10 minutes. It should start frothing.
2. Mix the flour, fat, salt and sauce in a bowl until it looks like breadcrumbs.
3. Add the yeast/water solution to the bowl and then knead it. You can do this by either using a planetary mixer with a dough hook, or by hand. The former will take 10 minutes, while the latter will take longer. The dough should be elastic and very slightly sticky, and to achieve this it may be needed to add either more water or more flour.
4. Lightly oil a baking tray.
5. Lightly flour a work surface.
6. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces, and then roll it on your work surface until they resemble buns.
7. Put the balls of dough onto the baking tray, and then lightly oil some cling-film. Cover the buns with the cling-film with the oiled side facing downwards.
8. Leave them somewhere warm until they have roughly doubled in size.
9. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

Leaving the buns to rise...

Potato Wedges

These are easy peasey.

INGREDIENTS


1 baking potato per person
Seasoning

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Lightly oil a baking tray.
3. Chop the potato into wedges, and put onto the tray.
4. Season the wedges.
5. Cook in the oven for 1 hour, until they are soft and golden. This may not take an hour in your oven, as ours is a little bit pants.

Pork and Apple burger

INGREDIENTS

600g pork mince

2 onions

1 clove of garlic

2 apples

100g plain flour

1 tsp cinnamon

A dash of Worcester sauce

Salt and pepper to season

1 ball mozzarella  (optional)

Salad to garnish (optional, but suggested)

METHOD

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees C.
2. Dice your onion into small cubes, peel and crush the garlic, and peel, core and grate the apples into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the pork mince and flour to the mixing bowl, along with the salt, pepper, cinnamon and Worcester sauce.
4. Now it's time to get your hands dirty! Mix the ingredients together thoroughly. Some intense squishing of the mince may have to be done here! Alternatively, if you have a planetary mixer with a "K" whisk, you can use that instead.
5. Divide the mixture into 6 equal pieces, and then shape them into burgers. Don't worry if they aren't perfectly round, it gives them a rustic edge.
6. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes

If you're in need of a cheeseburger, grate some cheese and put it on top of the burger about a minute before it's time to take them out. Then it should have melted nicely. I used mozzarella in the one in the photo, but to be honest, it's not the best cheese to put on top.

Serve in a bun, with salad and potato wedges.

HELLO WORLD!

Hello there fellow earthlings! This is my Duke of Edinburgh cookbook - a record of all the tasty morsels I have created while completing my gold DofE.

The main goal that I want to achieve  is to expand my repertoire of yummy, yet affordable, food so that when I (hopefully) go to uni, I will not be totally lost behind a stove. Which I know happens to some people.

So enjoy these recipes, and note that not all of them have exact measurements! If it says season to taste, it means add salt and pepper, and herbs if you're feeling adventurous. And sometimes a handful is as good a measurement as any.

Enjoy your food, and most of all, enjoy cooking it!

Hannah

PS. All my food is being served for a family of 6, so if you want to make it for more or less, divide the quantities by 6 and then multiply it by the number of serving you wish to create.