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!

Delicious things to do with Roasted Carrots

Many years ago, probably when I was in my 40s,  I read "The Man Who Ate Everything" by Jeffrey Steingarten and thought "I want to be just like him when I grow up".  The thing that particularly attracted me was that as he was (and is) a food writer people were always sending him wonderful things to test and write about.  

Well I think it might have started happening to me too - a few weeks ago I was invited up to London (I live in Cornwall) to try a carrot; not just an ordinary carrot mind you, a Chantenay carrot.  I couldn't afford the trip but luckily a few days ago my real man brought home some bargain carrots of the very same race, I think he paid 35p instead of the full price of £1 but there was absolutely nothing wrong with them so I didn't use them for a few days.

Then I roasted them - just topped and tailed, tossed them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and cooked alongside a roasting chicken.  They took about an hour or a bit more and for the first 45 minutes I kept them covered with foil, then uncovered them to caramelise. 

These were so delicious that even my real man liked them, so I got all inspired, did it again and had a play.

My ideas for Roasted Carrots ...

Glazed Roasted Carrots 

To make them even more special just before serving melt in a little honey and butter to make a little glaze.

Warm and Nutty Carrot Salad

This was the second thing I tried - I just tossed some of the smallest  carrots whole together with a few pecans and tender leaves and drizzled with balsamic glaze with is, of course, sweet and so perfect with carrots. This was my first attempt just to see what I thought. I added crunchy sea salt and black pepper, thought WOW and stopped there.  This is really good!

Roasted Carrot Dip 

Purée "leftover" roast carrots with something appropriate to make a dip. I had some leftover sour cream and onion dip and added some parsley but cream cheese, mayonnaise or even hummus would make good alternatives.

Roasted Carrot Vinaigrette

For this I used about 60ml olive oil and 20ml cider vinegar with 5 roasted and puréed Chantenay carrots.  I add a pinch of salt and sweetened with honey; about 2 teaspoons, and prettied it up a bit with some chopped parsley.

This is based on my genius vinaigrette recipe ~ read more, with lots of suggestions, here.

Creamy Roasted Carrot Soup

I use pretty well the same basic recipe for all my soups (and have written a book "SOUP (almost) the Only Recipe You'll Ever Need" about this "genius" recipe) and this was no exception. The basic idea is to cook an onion my favourite way and when tender add a sliced potato or two and just cover with stock or water. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and simmer till tender. Add your roasted carrots and cook a few minutes more. Purée, dilute with more stock, milk or cream to your ideal soup consistency then taste and season.  I added a few chunks of roasted carrot and some parsley for added poshness.

In other news ...

Talking of orange coloured bargains - take a look at these; 17 beautiful lilies. still in bud when we bought them, for just £1.  They lasted almost three weeks.

And here for your delectation is a car covered in grass (fake I presume) that I saw in Truro - I cut off the front of the photo to save the driver's privacy.