Tesco offers - gorgeous 3 course meal for 70p!

Maybe no such thing as a free lunch - but almost!

Did you see that - 70p the lot!

This was thanks to a successful shopping trip where we garnered the following ...

~   2 x 250g Extra Thick Brandy Cream reduced from (I think) 94p to 14p ea
~   400g strawberries, reduced from 3.00 to 45p
~   2 x 250g asparagus, reduced from 1.65 to 25p ea
~   500g red grapes reduced from 2.00 to 30p
~   500g parsnips reduced from 1.00 to 16p

So that is 1.69 instead of 9.53 – quite good n’est pas? 

All of the produce was in prime condition, despite the fact that some was past its best before date, and in fact the parsnips were superb. (Talking of best before dates on New Year’s Day my real man remarked on how excellent the tomatoes in his salad were, I checked the date on them – best before 29^th November!  They must have been gobsmackingly marvellous then!)

This is just my kind of thing, as you probably know I started Sudden Lunch! (and also wrote “The Leftovers Handbook”) because this sort of spontaneous “wtf shall I do with this” kind of cooking is my favourite.  

The important thing, when getting a bargain, is to make sure you don’t spend more than usual making something good with it This what I have done so far with my bounty without lashing out on anything extra; the costs I have calculated include the pasta, olive oil, vanilla etc., everything in fact.

~  Parsnips  ~

I took these out of the bag as soon as we got home as they were wet so no label to show but they were 500g for 16p reduced from 1.00.

Once I wiped them off I have to say they were 8 of the finest parsnips it’s ever been my privilege to meet!  Lots of ideas for them but this is one I have been pondering for some time ...

Tostones (sounds rude, doesn't it!)

These are fritters made in Puerto Rico from plantains but I’ve long thought that parsnips would be a good, if not better, alternative.

parsnips
olive oil or similar
crunchy sea salt

~   Have ready a bowl of cold water.
~   Cut the clean dry parsnips into slices about 1cm/½” thick.
~   Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil, a depth of about 6mm/¼”, in a frying pan large enough to take parsnips in one layer.
~   Fry the parsnips gently till tender and golden.
~   Remove from the pan (keeping the pan of oil, you will need it again in a minute) drain and then press each slice to flatten it which will break open the edges a little.
~   Drop the parsnip slices into the water.
~   Reheat the oil, lift one slice of parsnip at a time from the water, shake off any drips and return to the hot oil.
~   Give them a minute or so more per side, drain and serve warm with crunchy sea salt.

My verdict – lovely; sweet and salty, soft and crunchy!  I used just half a parsnip so let’s see ... 16p for 8 parsnips = 1p!!! Let’s be generous – 3p with the oil and salt!

This leaves me with 7½ parsnips but not to worry there is probably a roast coming up on Sunday and roast parsnips are always welcome, or maybe Roasted Parsnip Soup 

~  Asparagus  ~

“Asparagus stirs up lust in man and woman.”
see here for details!

These were quite thick stalks from Peru.  With one pack I made ...

Asparagus Pesto

250g asparagus
30g cashews (or other nut if it’s easier – pine nuts are traditional)
1 garlic clove
60ml olive oil
30g grated Parmesan

~   Snap the ends off the asparagus and discard, cut off the tips and set aside.
~   Slice the body of the spears.
~   Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and put a bowl of cold water nearby.
~   Add the slices asparagus to the boiling water, boil for 3 minutes till crisply tender, drain and immediately plunge (as they say in recipes) into the cold water.
~   Drain the asparagus.
~   In a food processor pulse together the cashews and garlic.
~   Add the asparagus, olive oil and process to a purée.
~   Stir in the Parmesan by hand.
~   Taste and season.

This was enough pesto to sauce tagliatelle for 2 so I had it for lunch the next day too. I always want a bit of crunch with my meals so I tossed the tips together with 3 coarsely chopped slices of chorizo (15p) and half a crust of bread in small dice (½p?) in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  I cooked this in a hot oven (that was already on for something else so no waste there) for about 8 minutes till the chorizo and bread were crisp and the asparagus al dente.  A perfect topping.

~  Extra Thick Brandy Cream  ~ 

Out of date on 6^th January but still delectable on the 9^th.  With one I made ...

Brandied Vanilla Ice Cream

This is, of course, based on my humungously useful, quick, easy, no churn recipe – just the brandied cream, 100g of condensed milk and tiny bit of vanilla paste.  So 14p + condensed milk 36p + say 3p for the vanilla = 53p for 2 portions.  Real man was happy to eat this.

The ice cream was superbly rich and creamy, probably the brandy content helped a lot with this. (More on this splendid recipe, how alcohol and can help, what else helps, my genius key recipe plus 100+ more recipes, accoutrements, serving suggestions etc. in my ebook – go here to read more about it and see if you fancy a copy, its very cheap!)

I served it with strawberry sauce – see below ***

~  Strawberries  ~

From Egypt; nice to think that probably Cleopatra feasted on these!

The were slightly sharp and a bit on the firm side but with a good flavour so I decided to make ice cream using the same basic recipe. It too was a gorgeous texture and made much better use of the strawberries than just eating them. The cost was 45p + 14p + 36p = 95p but it made 3 or 4 portions.  I cooked the berries with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and when I drained the strawberries for the ice cream, I boiled down the resultant juices to make a sauce I served with the Brandied Vanilla Ice Cream.

~  Red Grapes  ~

I’ll probably just eat these, mostly with St. Agur my favourite blue cheese, or perhaps on a pizza with said St. Agur, I’ve done it before and it works beautifully!

Orson Welles was Right!

“Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what’s for lunch.” 

Orson Welles

~  Menu  ~

Crunchy Asparagus and Wild Garlic Omelette

Coffee Ice Cream

Too much chocky sauce

Cake croutons

Coffee

Having a few leftover asparagus stalks (no tips) in the fridge together with a bowl of Wild Garlic Butter (you may remember my picking the garlic on May Day) I decided to make an omelette and also to try an idea that was in the back of my mind, very similar indeed to my Toast on Eggs I wrote about ages ago.   

~  I thinly sliced the asparagus stalks and cooked them for a minute or two in a dollop of wild garlic butter. 

~  Once tender I set them aside and sprinkled a handful of panko crumbs over the butter in the pan before adding two beaten eggs (seasoned of course).

~  I made the omelette as usual, returning the asparagus just before folding and all was well.

Here is a close-up so that I hope you can see the crunchy bits.

Lunch Pudding

Looking through the freezer to see if there was anything for lunch pudding I found a slice of frozen cake and a modicum of homemade coffee ice cream and so lunch pudding was born. 

I also had some Dark Chocolate Caramel Sauce in the fridge which needed warming up to get it out of the jar.  I diced the cake and sautéed it in a little butter till golden then arranged everything tastefully in a bowl ...

Not bad for a sudden dessert! The reason there is too much sauce is because it was not worth keeping the last little bit. Honest!

The recipes for the ice cream and sauce are in my book which, with the sun out at last (well it was yesterday!) I thought I'd tell you a bit more about it.

Luscious Ice Creams without a Machine

~  or much time effort or having to mash the stuff as it freezes  ~

In this  book I give, I promise you, a quick, way to make truly rich, creamy, luxurious dairy ice cream with no ice cream maker, no churning, no eggs (which was just incidental - I wasn't trying to be healthy) and absolutely no hard work such as stirring!  

The book contains over 100 ice cream recipes plus many more for sauces, syrups, inclusions, accompaniments and serving suggestions such as this maple syrup ice cream (so easy!!) with bacon brittle.

Granny Wobbly's!

I am often disconcerted, when walking through Wadebridge, to see this displayed in a window!

~  Menu  ~

Salmon & Asparagus Hash

Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise

White Wine Spritzer

A Tad of Granny Wobbly’s Finest

Coffee

Today’s lunch was very sudden yet very satisfying.  

My leftovers comprised 3 cold cooked new potatoes, about 3 ounces (oops, sorry, I mean 85g) of cooked salmon and 4 stalks of asparagus which surprised me as I thought I’d finished the lot off yesterday.  So I made ...

Salmon & Asparagus Hash

~   I snapped the asparagus into short lengths and cooked it in a non-stick pan with a little oil, salt and pepper till al dente.  I much prefer asparagus roasted, sautéed or grilled to steamed or poached; tastier and a nice texture.  I set the asparagus aside.

~   Heated a spoonful more oil and added the new potatoes which I crushed in a manly sort of way and fried over medium heat till crunchy and golden.

~   A broke the salmon into little bits and added it to the pan together with the waiting asparagus.

~   Chivvied the whole lot into a sort of cake arrangement and decanted it onto my waiting plate.

All that and I didn’t even use a knife!!

(I'd like to apologise for the poor quality of this picture but you get the gist!)

The roasted garlic mayo that I have been so enthusiastic with is from M & S and I love it.  Yes I could, and indeed do, make my own but this is so delicious and handy, has a long shelf life, comes in a useful squirty bottle and doesn't upset my real man with it's garlicky aroma as it does when I make my own! I have quite a passion for it with fish and potatoes.

Granny Wobbly

I went to Wadebridge the other day.  Every time I am there I assume a vague, possibly gormless, look and wander into Granny Wobbly’s Fudge Pantry where I “test” their sample fudges and hope they don’t recognise me.  I may invest in a moustache!  Having been “surprised” at the excellence of their product I then buy some as is only right and proper.

If you haven’t tried Granny’s Wobbly’s wonderful fudge and you live anywhere near Cornwall for Gawd’s sake come and get some or order it online here.

The vanilla fudge I bought was intended for some fudgy experiments for my forthcoming book (see below) but so far I haven’t got round to trying my ideas and could hear it calling to me from the cupboard.  

“Suzy – you know you want me!”

What could I do?

A bit more about the wonderful Granny Wobbly (actually there are two of them and one is a chap!) who make, on the premises, the best fudge I have ever tasted; rich, crumbly and perfect, in five standard flavours; Vanilla, Maple and Walnut , Rum and Raisin, Butterscotch and Chocolate plus a weekly mystery flavour and other specialities.  In addition to the basic flavours I myself have assiduously tried their Lemon Meringue Fudge, their Sparkly Chocolate Mint and the Christmas Pud – some while ago now.

News From Way Into the Future!

My "Forthcoming book" was published in March 2013 as The Leftovers Handbook and a second edition is now available under the new title Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers. 

Read More Here

A Gorgeous Lunch made entirely of Leftovers!

~  Menu  ~

Lovely Vegetable Soup

Croutons

White Wine Spritzer

½ a Pastry Thing with Clotted Cream & Fresh Fruit

Coffee

This would look good on Pinterest
don't you think?

This lovely meal was made entirely of leftovers most of which a lesser woman than I may well have thrown away!  They comprised:

~   A few stalks of asparagus (I’d eaten the tips)

~   Some really old baby leeks that we bought cheap as they were out of date about a month ago (seriously!) which were fine after I pulled off the outer leaves.

~   A mislaid mystery potato which my friend Jenny from Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb & Ginger thinks is an Apache Potato and I think she is right.

~   Some leftover peas from last night’s dinner.

~   Ham stock after cooking a ham – obviously!

~   The stale end crust off my real man’s loaf of bread (yes we eat different breads most of the time too!)

~   A pastry trimming which I cooked alongside my manly man’s pie for dinner but had no particular plans for it.

~   The last one of my doughnut peaches.

~   Half a punnet of blueberries I stuck in the freezer the other day as I couldn’t think what to do with them. When I thawed them this morning were all mushy and wet.
~   A handful of fresh blueberries.

~   Two days out of date clotted cream.

Even the wine was the very end of a bottle so had to be augmented with sparkling water!

The specifics …

Summery Vegetable Soup

~   I coarsely chopped the leeks and cooked them as I would cook onions till soft and sweet. 

~   When they were buttery tender I peeled and sliced the potato and added it to the leeks.

~   I poured enough ham stock to just cover the potato, brought to a boil, turned down the heat, covered and simmered till almost tender.

~   Coarsely chopped the asparagus (discarding the woody ends) and added to the soup for the last few minutes of cooking.

~   When all was tender I mashed it with my  and then stirred in the peas and enough cream to make a soupy consistency.

This soup is based, as almost all the soups I make are, on my super flexible soup recipe!

How to Make Croutons

See here for my Crouton Philosophy, in this case I left out the balsamic vinegar.

Lunch Pudding

After making my real man his second pie of the week (!) I had just a small square of leftover, (and yes, bought in) puff pastry so I bunged it in the oven alongside the pie.  No skin off my nose after all!  It has been sitting around for a couple of days. 

I cooked the mushy blueberries  with a spoonful of sugar till they burst and then strained them through a nylon sieve.  The peach was just a peach.  The clotted cream tasted fine when I stuck my finger in it.  I am not a great adherent of best before dates except where raw meat is concerned.  And just look at this …

Not bad for Leftovers!  The reason I only had half is that this is the sort of food we both like, damn it!

Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers

I love cooking with leftovers, to me they are are not just something that you reheat and eat again – they are ingredients, inspiration, maybe a cook’s treat or the start of a different and delicious new meal.

For this reason I have written a book, Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers, giving every recipe, idea, handy tip, cook's treat, storage info and food pairing idea I can think of for 450 potential leftovers.

Read more here.

Truro twinned with .Qo'noS!

~  Menu  ~

Scrambled Egg Tart with …

Roasted Asparagus and Frazzled Prosciutto

White Wine Spritzer

Lindt’s New Caramel Chocky

Coffee

I’d just like to apologise for any tardiness in blogging – we are having a bit of a sad time here as my 87 year old father in law, who moved in with us a year ago tomorrow, seems to be on his way out.  He is sleeping 20 hours a day and eating hardly a thing.  On the plus side however, I have to say he is perfectly cheerful about the situation!  Anyhoo because of his frailty and the doctor’s prognosis we are having some of the family to visit which at least keeps me busy. 

For lunch today I realised I had run out of bread, or at least the stuff I call bread.  I only panicked for a moment before remembering the pastry leftovers (good old pastry scraps) in the fridge and knocked up a scrambled egg tart.  This wasn’t too extravagant as the oven was on anyway. 

There is not too much to say about this tart here's how to roast asparagus, here's about frazzling prosciutto and see here for information on scrambling eggs.

Baking blind is not difficult although I'll run through it, just in case ...

How to Bake Blind

This is how to bake an empty pastry case without the pasty puffing up and filling the space where you were hoping to put something yummy. Baking the pasty case first will go a long way to prevent a soggy bottom!

~   Preheat the oven to 5375ºF/190ºC/170ºC fan/gas 5 give or take a degree or two.  

~   Lightly butter or oil your chosen receptacle.

~   Roll the pastry large enough to fit said receptacle including the sides.

~   Lift the pastry carefully and gently press into the baking container.

~   Chill for a little while if you have time which should result in crisper pastry once cooked.

~   Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork several times.

~   Loosely lay a piece of foil or greaseproof or baking parchment or waxed paper into the pastry case and up the side.

~   Put some raw rice or dried beans or purpose bought baking beans onto the lining; enough to weigh it down.

~   Bake for 20-25 minutes till the edges of the pastry are lightly browned.

~   Remove the foil or paper and the rice or beans and return the pastry to the oven to crisp the base which should take another 5 or 10 minutes.

See here for lots of other ideas for pastry scraps.

Not so pretty once cut but who’s looking apart from you lot?

Truru a'gas dynnergh 

We went to Truro today (in the rain, obviously) and I was surprised to see that the city has been twinned with what appears to be somewhere on .Qo'noS where, as you probably know, they speak Klingon.

On second thoughts it might be Cornish!

10 Delicious Ways You Can Make the Most of Leftover (or too much) Asparagus

I recently splashed out and bought some Cornish asparagus which, as you probably know, is delicious.  I ate half of the tips with some smoked trout fillets – not just any smoked trout fillets these were Lidls’ smoked trout fillets which were (quite correctly) recommended to me by a friend.  I couldn’t quite finish the fish.  Hence today’s lunch … 

I lightly crisped the leftover trout in a little butter whilst poaching some asparagus tips. 

I gently heated some M & S Hollandaise which surprised me in 2 ways.  Firstly that it contained cream and secondly that I didn't make my own but it’s a lot of faff to make for a person who has just been to M & S! 

Here, however, is my recipe for Hollandaise Sauce which I made gallons of every Sunday for several years - not as a hobby, you understand, but as part of my job.

I still have the some asparagus left with which I may do one of the following ... 

9 More Ideas for Leftover or Just a Little Asparagus

~   Serve as “soldiers” with dippy eggs.

~   Just a little asparagus and several people to serve?   Make a pretty side dish of peas, snow or snap peas and asparagus all tossed together in butter. 

~   Toss just cooked asparagus in butter with new pots.

~   Add leftover asparagus to omelette, frittata or scrambled eggs add bacon or ham if you can (and you want to!).

~   Stir into risotto.

~   Add to stir fries.

~   Toss with cooked pasta and Alfredo Sauce – add ham or chicken or smoked fish etc.

~   Raw asparagus - cut very thin diagonal slices or shave into fine strips with a potato peeler and toss in a salad with a light lemony, peppery vinaigrette, finely shaved Parmesan would be a good addition to this.

If your asparagus stalks are woody they won’t make good soup as they will remain woody whatever you do with them BUT you could cook them in a little water to make asparagus stock and then use the stock to give a boost to risotto, soups and sauces.