Home grown

Home grown - tatties. Nothing tastes better. Boiled, butter or olive oil. Pepper/salt to taste. Yum. OK so I have enough tatties to sink a battle ship and lob like snow balls if I wish. Does life get any better.

Whatever's great to eat in your patch or at your local market I hope you enjoy it - happy scoffing!

The Tapas Bar, Broughty Ferry, Dundee

Photograph courtesy of Trip Advisor

There is a peedie door into a peedie eatery called The Tapas Bar, in The Ferry (thats Broughty Ferry, Dundee to those not from the area) which just doesn't let you know the delights that are to come. Truly delightful. I've had tapas before but not like this. The food was breathtaking, the service just perfect and the value surreal (£10-15/head). They do a set lunch menu which allows you to taste a full range of the flavours they proudly serve.

Photograph courtesy of Trip Advisor

It also means when you've popped in with a couple of pals you've not seen in ages - you don't have to fret about what to order - it just arrives as if by magic. Its a peedie place with limited tables so booking is essential. And its worth the efforts.

 

And we scoffed olives and corn nuts. Followed by goats cheese, asparagus wrapped in beatuiful cured ham,  and many other wee nibbles. The mains were a mix of skewered blackpudding, chicken and veggies, gorgeous croquettes, beautiful king prawns in garlic and chilli, potatoes with spices, skewered tiger prawns, and the most amazing crusted and seasoned pan fried Hake I've probably ever had!

 

The service fantastic mix of friendly chat and attentive explanation of the beautifully cooked foods we were served to make the visit both informative, friendly but also quite an intimate affair. Really worth a trip.

 

So if you find yourself soon to be in 'The Ferry' - book yourself a space. Its truly worth it. And, don't just take my word for it - lots of gorgeous reviews here at Trip Advisor.

 

And no pictures from me of the food - I'm sorry - I was far too busy gossiping and scoffing! One of the reasons we try often to eat so frugally at home to indulge in places like this when we can!

 

Until next time - find somewhere new your friends think is really worth booking and try something new - happy scoffing.

 

Contact details - 01382 776941

The Tapas Bar, 27 Gray Street, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, DD5 2BH

 

 

Cuppy egg

Boiled eggs smashed up in a cup with a wee dod of butter and a pinch of salt - utterly awesome. Always eaten as soon as it's made*, warm in the cup and perfect with soft boiled eggs.

Some childhood grub should be eaten your whole life! 

Until next time, don't forget your childhood favourites whatever they are - Happy scoffing!

 

*Hand scalding is normally essential when performing this ritual.

Pizza rice

Pizza Rice.

Often enough in 'wir' hoose, we have a quick cheap and cheerful risotto for tea. More often than not this is 'Pizza Rice' - all the joys of a pizza, in a rice. Tomatoes, veggies, cheese and tonight just a slice of lovely smoked bacon dropped in too for a bit of decadence.

 

Whilst we can use risotto rice, when making 'proper' risotto, which is lovely, if a bit costly. However like tonight, more often than not its just a cup of normal rice cooked in stock/tomatoes/fridge foraged veggies and cheese added. Super quick too.

 

Ready from scratch in less than 15 minutes, costs less than £1, probably a lot less. We buy value basmati rice and a bag lasts for ages. Everything gets lobbed in the pan at once - stirred and watched, cheese goes in right at the end. It's a really easy dish for kids to make too.

 

So that's Pizza rice - all the joy of pizza, in a hot steamy tomato-ey, cheesy rice.

 

Its a family tradition stemming from old university days when one bag of rice went a long, long way. The kids love it. Tasty too.

 

OK so we COULD call it roasted Mediterranean vegetables in a homegrown tomato infused rice with Orkney smoked bacon, scallions and cheese but who are we kidding - it's pizza rice!

 

Next time, think outside the (pizza) box - happy scoffing!

 

 

Cheap cheerful chowder

*

Now when you rush in from work like a crazy lady, never mind its also Saturday, you want something fast, filling and hot for tea. Chowder does that for me. Today's was also cheap and incredibly cheering and whilst home made in reality half of it was out of a tin from the cupboard (sweet corn).  At well under £1 for a tea to feed a few folks, its a good staple filling fodder. Soup for tea is a good way to keep those pennies working hard for you.

 

Leftover tatties cubed - around a cup 

(free as home grown)

A can of sweetcorn (325g)

(cheapest and cheerfulest range) (c35p)

A ham stock cube (or chicken) (c2-10p)

(the price range is value to posh - your choice)

Around a third to half a tub of cream cheese

(cheap and cheerfulest range) (c20p)

or cream or milk

A splosh of garlic is optional - be moderate though

 

So you lob in a stock cube into around a pint of water and start to boil. Its one of the few things I like a ham/bacon stock cube in as its cheaper than actual bacon. You can easily keep the whole dish veggie by using a veg cube. I like the hammy flavour, its a personal thing.  If you're feeling decadent add some ham or bacon. As you do this the can of corn meets its maker and gets lobbed enthusiastically into the pan. Please recycle the can, even if its just for me.

 

Next the potatoes go in and bring the mix up to the boil. If the tatties are cooked it doesn't really need cooking per se but it wants to be just at that bubbling stage. If you're using uncooked tatties - cook them out until they're soft.

 

Add the cream cheese now - you can use milk/cream but I think that whatever's to hand works. I like this as a creamy soup - but equally it would work with tomatoes.

 

To get a quick soup fix and scoffing as soon as possible I would blend this now with a hand blender - not to mush - but sort of half blended. Thickens the soup nicely and gives a good texture too. Again this is a person thing - you don't need to do it.

 

Have a slurp and season. A bit of pepper or paprika is lovely.

 

Lob into a bowl.

 

Happy cheap and cheerful in a hurry scoffing - until next time.

 

*the cheap and cheerful range is for most store cupboard things is a good spend. If you're into organic or certain brands - crack on - its your cupboards. Personally mine are stocked with cheap and cheerful where I can't tell the difference. That way I get to spend a few extra pennies on things I do like. And I do like a well stocked store cupboard - makes eating quickly a real essential.

 

PS excuse the lack of photos of the soup. Firstly it was scoffed in milliseconds. Secondly I really need to fathom how to take photos of grub in my dark kitchen especially at night.

Humble Tattie - Frugal grub

As far as instant nice grub goes, you'll not get much better than the humble tattie. Boiled, mashed, fried or baked, its one of my favourite veggies.

 

Instant grub too if quickly baked and served with some butter. Or as my favourite - with some prawns in mayonnaise with a dash of chilli sauce to give it a bit of a kick.

 

You've heard of Mr Potato Head haven't you.

I'm Ms Tattie Heid with her trusty potato hunting hound.

 

Until next time, look again at that potato you often put at the side of your meals - its the star of the show.- happy scoffing!

Special fried rice - Frugal Food

We've often got rice, vegetables and the remnants of a roast or some meat kicking about the fridge. It doesn't take much inspiration to quickly turn these into Chinese special fried rice. IN my mind its the bubble and squeak of the rice world, perfect leftover fodder. Frugal and quick, darn tasty too. There are really no rules with this oriental favourite, aside TRY to use cold rice or it all goes a bit sticky.

With this in mind, I tend to either make rice up for a meal and make an extra portion for either later or freezing (1 mug uncooked rice = one family portion, 1/4 cup uncooked rice = one person portion) (cooked rice = 1 cup per person), or if I'm making this for tea I'll cook the rice the day before or in the morning to let it cool.

Ingredients for the rice can be anything from chicken/turkey/prawns/ if you're a carnivore. These get chopped up into slices or cubes. I tend to use leftovers so I don't need to cook anything, but if you fancy this and have no leftovers cook up a bit of chicken/turkey and shred up. Lots of veggies are great in this too, again anything goes from garden peas to broccoli, sweet corn (baby and kernels) to onions, courgettes, carrots. Just what you've got to hand. (It's a 'fakeaway' - there are no rules)

I tend to have everything chopped and most of the ingredients are already cooked and ready before I fire up my pan.

Now, often I'll put an egg into this too, specially if there's limited meat, its good for increasing the protein in a cheap and cheerful way. But, if you've no eggs, no stress leave them out. So here is the 'leftovers' and veggies for this version. (Every version is different depending on the leftovers or what you fancy.)

Once everything is chopped and ready to go I give the family a holler, get the table set and give myself a minute - I make up a sauce to go with the dish. Its basically a rich gravy (thick jus if you're over the pond) which is enriched with a splash to taste of soy/chilli sauce/sesame oil.

It makes a really glossy yummy accompaniment to the dish. If you like a wee bit of this, I use up the dregs from the roast dinner. Or cheat by starting a pan off with a stock cube, add some gravey thickening to this with a dollop of sweet chilli sauce (optional, one table spoon), a splash of soy (about a teaspoon)  and a nice splash of sesame oil(around 1/2 teaspoon), stir and serve either at the side in a jug or lathered over the rice once its done.

Once the sauce is ready to go - I then fire up a large heavy based pan with a dash of oil. Egg gets a quick cook off first til its a the 'scrambled but not set yet' egg stage.

 

So, if using eggs to I'll start a pan with a teaspoon of oil in it and quickly scramble the egg. You can do this in the mircrowave too.

Next goes in the meat to heat through and the veggies too and give it a good stir through until its hot.

Once this is nicely mixed and hot, I'll add my rice. Now often I'll heat the rice up in the microwave prior to adding it to the pan to give it a head start, but its really up to you. The rice is added to the egg/veg mix in the pan with a sloop of soy sauce, just enough to colour. Minutes later you've got an amazing leftover 'fakeaway'. The chaps here like prawns in theirs too as a treat, but really anything goes.

Yum. I'm proud to say we're getting to the stage that we prefer the home version to the Chinese restaurant one. Honest.

 

Until next time, why not have a bash at your favourite takeaway by remembering to scoff your leftovers - happy scoffing.

Scones - Quick Frugal Fodder

*I'm moving all my food recipes from my normal blog to this one - so some of these are 'something I did earlier' - excuse the duplication but we make these 15 minute scones, just about every other day. Perfect every time and a great way to use up sour milk, or excess milk. To be honest if there's a day  the milk goes over to smelling a bit funny - we make these. Or we label the going off milk as 'for scones' and throw it into the freezer for when we fancy them. Seems better than chucking milk away and they rise so beautifully with sour milk. (Fresh milk works just as nicely too).

The fifteen minute scone routine is thus:
Oven on (highest setting),
Find a bowl/cutter/cup measure/knife out cupboard,
Get a tray out too.

Ingredients
2 cups SR Flour
1 TBSP sugar
Pinch salt
1TBSP butter/marg/oil
3/4-1 cup Milk

Lob all dry ingredients into bowl** - (2 cups sr flour, 1tbsp sugar), dust tray with flour, then lob in 1tbsp butter to dry ingredients, rub in  butter, then grab butter knife and add 3/4-1 cup of milk to the dry ingredients - mix with knife until a soft dough forms, then stop and onto floured board.

Don't over mix or kneed, life's too short for rock hard scones. Minimal handling makes for better scones - lightly pat until the mix is about 1" thick, you'll thank me for it. Honestly LESS is more in this case.

Cut into shapes - a glass does the job just as well as a cutter - honest.

Lob into oven, timer on for 12 minutes - which is a perfect amount of time to tidy up and get a cup of tea ready.

After your twelve minutes - out they come. If you can get them into a tea towel in a basket or on a plate it helps to keep them nice and soft. Serve to suit we often have these at breakfast, if you're a bit pushed for time, you can always get the dry ingredients ready the night before and add the butter/milk first thing - pop into oven, get dressed and instant brekkie.......

These really are best eaten the same day - or frozen once just cold and used as you like. We never quite get to the 'freezing' stage in our house. 

Perfect frugal fodder for breakfast, elevenses, lunch, tea or supper.

 

Cost - if using 'value' flour roughly 20-30p a batch.

 

Like they ever get to supper........

 

Until next time - if you've got some milk that's on the turn - why not think I've got 15 minutes I'll just make some 'scones'.

 

Happy Scoffing.

 

** this recipe is adaptable to add fruit/cheese/herbs into your scones. You would normally add flavourings after the rubbing in stage at the start and before you add the milk. Obviously if they're a 'sweet scone' keep the sugar. If savoury omit it, just saying.........

Raw porridge - AKA HM muesli

Breakfast. Oats, seeds, nuts and coconut shavings. All from the stores. I love DIY muesli, less sugar, more variety and pretty frugal.

 

Porridge for brekkie has been inspired by both my £50 quid September budget for food. And, other frugal bloggers like Essex Hebridean,  Frugaldom and many others.

 

If you've some cool hints for brekkies leave me a link to your patch!

 

 

Oats are a super food don't you know - Happy Scoffing!

Yorkies - traditional, cheap and cheerful.

*I'm moving all my food recipes from my normal blog to this one - so some of these are 'something I did earlier' - excuse the duplication! Yorkies or Yorkshire puddings are a main stay in this household. Great way to make a bit of meat go further - or to have a 'meatless' roast dinner - just make these and a pile of veggies, you'll not miss the meat. They can be a much maligned misunderstood fodder. Some folks say they can't make them. I say they can. This recipe is fool proof. I am a fool and even I can do it. Therefore 'fool proof'. Simples. Onwards to the recipe.

Dear Manchild,
As requested here's the new start of the recipes you often ask for.
As you've claimed this recipe as your own for years, I don't know why I'm even writing this down for you, you already know it off by heart. Cheap as chips, yorkies are a great fill up food which costs pennies.

If you're eating these straight away, put your oven on at the highest setting. If you're making them earlier in the day to let the mix rest (always good) then prep the mix and put the oven on to heat about 30 minutes before you want to serve these. Put oil in your tray and put this in the oven, it needs to get really, really, really hot. Or the mix won't work, simplest fact about Yorkshires is if the ovens not hot enough it won't work and look like a flopped pancake.

Ingredients

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of milk/water or beer

2 eggs

2 tbsp oil or dripping (funny white greasy stuff you'll find in the butchers or in the chill cabinet)

Equipment

A jug or bowl for mixing

A bun tray or a large oven tray

Oven gloves

Time - 20 minutes cooking, 10 minutes preparation

Temperature - highest on oven 220 degrees C

 

Measure out ingredients into a bowl or a jug - measure flour before wet ingredients as its less messy to clean afterwards. Sour milk works as well as fresh, water does at a push, using beer is fab - but on the other hand, as a student you might want to drink the beer. Its traditional.

Thoroughly mix the ingredients. Lumpy yorkshire pudding is not your friend, its quite manly (or womanly) to use a kitchen gadget to help you to do this like a hand blender, an electric whisk or a food processor. Or, if you want to get this whipped by hand, think of something or someone annoying and go for it. The batter should be thin and free from lumps. If you're making this in advance, pop it in the fridge until its needed. If you're using it straight away make sure the bun trays/oven dish is hot, the oil wants to be smoking quite scarily.  Pour into the dishes carefully and put straight into the oven. It should take about 20 minutes and is ready when these are puffed up and golden brown.

And we all know you can drop sausages, turkey, chicken, beef or vegetables  into the mix to make many a tea.
 

Serve with mash, gravy and some vegetables, or just dunk in gravy!

One day I'll see if I can take a decent photo of my own, but don't hold your breath.

Love

Mum

Happy Scoffing.

Frugal Food - Meatballs

Now when is a beef burger, not a beef burger. When its a meatball. I often see reduced burgers in the chill cabinet - its not really my kind of food. But with a bit of TLC two beefburgers (usually with a high meat content) can be turned into a hearty meal. Simply cut up the burgers like cake segments, roll and brown in a pan. Add some stock and lots of home grown veggies to bulk it up, and thicken the stock.

Served with mash or rice or flat breads - the one time burgers make a meaty feast.

These burgers were lurking in the freezer - a reduced bargain lobbed in the depths of the kitchen ice caverns for later.

 

As its a use it up month in my house - during our £50 September grocery challenge - the stores and the ice caverns will be raided lots. You can hear more about that HERE on my 'tother long suffering blog.

 

The burgers were 74% Scots beef - its not quite been BBQ weather up here. Whilst the weathers been grim and outdoor eating not really an option, I've gained a delicious cosy supper.

 

 

Burgers 120p, veggies and tatties free.

Transformed into meatballs, tea for four folks. Whilst I know 30p each isn't as frugal as some folks can manage - I'm chuffed I took decent quality nosh and turned it into something we'd all eat.

 

This months got off to a great start.

 

My £50 quid is intact and I've made tomorrows tea :)

 

Until next time - Happy Frugal Scoffing.

Figs

I've been quietly scoffing, it's very remiss if me but I promise to catch up soon! In the mean time I have to tell you about the delightful gift if a handful of figs I was given at work. Growing things for a living has its perks :-)

And beautiful they were. The deepest majestic purple flesh with ripe red innards.

As rare as they were delicious where I live.

Until next time, what grand delights from the garden are you silently munching?

Happy scoffing!

Chinese dumplings - assisted by utube

Finally cracked it! Yay. Been trying to get these right for a bit, finally nailed the folding. Very chuffed. Filling of prawns, chilli, sesame and scallions.

Very happy lass.

Until next time, if in doubt, utube instructions, happy scoffing!

Hot buttered toast

There are few conventional 'branded' pit stops on the main road north (A9), and theres none that make me smile more than this one. We've been calling in here for the last 14 years enroute to Orkney.

With a menu of home cooked grub as far as the eye can see, something to please everyone! We always order the same. Hot buttered toast, 35p a round. Bargain. And, they use real butter.

Until next time, take your pit stops off the beaten track, far from branded fayre!

Happy scoffing.

Mackerel - eat it!

Now I love fish, I don't eat enough mackerel. Silly lass. This fine beastie made for a wholesome lunch then turned into fish cakes for tea and 16 Peedie cakes later, 12 ended up frozen. At £1.53 a fish, now that's frugal food. And, local. Yum.

Until next time, viva la fish. Happy scoffing.

Fantastically Frugal Brownies

Janey's brownies - quick and perfect.

Now I'm not much of a cake eater, strike me dead now, but I'm not. However, if the mood takes me, or visitors call unexpectedly, or we're on a road trip - we make these  and they are just brilliant. Nice and tasty, no faffing with melting chocolate and really really frugal too. Works every time like a charm, keep for well over a week - cost approximately £1-£1.50. 

Reduce the sugar if you like, but don't stint on the cocoa powder if you want them really chocolatey. So  possibly the most perfect brownie recipe in the world, and as its NOT mine I can claim it as utterly brilliant, its from a close friend. Enjoy - its simple quick and so tasty you'll stop faffing with other recipes which insist you melt chocolate. Not this recipe, just use cocoa powder and you're sorted if really stuck use drinking chocolate but its really not as good, you've been warned. But, if you have a brownie emergency then I understand, just crack on. It's really this simple.

I'm on a road trip later this week to collect my manchild from university. I'll be doing a batch of these - half for the trip, half for those abandoned at home. Whilst I don't like cake, brownies are a whole different ball game. I'm so grateful my chum shared this recipe.

 

Janey's Brownies (makes 24 brownies)

8oz granulated sugar

1 1/2 oz cocoa

3 oz self raising flour

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk (or water)

4 oz butter melted

(or use cooking margarine/vegetable oil, to be honest aside the thought of it, I really can't tell the difference)

Butter a tray or line a tray with foil or greaseproof paper, 20cm by 3cm, or 12" by 8".

Mix the dry ingredients, beat eggs and milk (optional you can use water).

Add melted (not hot) butter.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients with a wooden spoon
(not difficult, like a muffin mix, no need to over mix).

Bake for 25-30 minutes  (depending on how gooey you want them) in a preheated oven 180 o C (360 o F) oven, Gas 4-5.

Until next time, don't stint on the cocoa! Happy scoffing.

Smoked scallops, home salad & sushi rice

Pan seared smoked Orkney scallops

Pan seared Orkney smoked king scallops. Nom, I think of these as 'sea beasties', seems fitting somehow.

 

I'm not very experienced in cooking scallops, its the kind of thing I order if we're out somewhere and I see them on the menu. So, cooking these, well, its well out of my comfort zone, but I do try new things, just occasionally, especially when no one can see me mess up! However as they're not too expensive and I often see them in our local fishmongers, sometimes I get brave and I give it a go. You see, at the moment I'm home alone and eating what I please! 

Jolly's fish and local produce shop in Orkney

We've a great local fish shop here in Orkney, its quite nicely called 'Jolly's' - and its a very fine place indeed. Really lives up to its name. So that's where we get our fish. Being on an island means that fish/shellfish and alike is seasonal, local and quite nicely priced. So, its affordable weekly. We don't always have scallops, but at around £3 for a handful, they make a nice treat.

And isn't that one of the most fab signs you'll ever see?

Jolly's Fabulous Fish/Meat/Local produce shop in Kirkwall, Orkney

So having collected my scallops (these were smoked, again I've never tried these), and having read lots about cooking said 'sea beasties', I have to say although I read, I mainly ignored all the complicated stuff (especially the bit about patting dry scallops before cooking, I mean seriously WHO has the time to DRY scallops.) So my scallops looked darn fine and not too wet. Very fresh.....

Plump smoked king scallops

 The main thing seems to be a hot pan, so we dutifully obliged with a hot pan, added a knob of butter and the scallops, hey presto, two minutes each side later, they turn into these gorgeous brutes, less sea monster-ish, more yummy......

Seared Orkney scallops

These plump little hooligans were then left to rest for a minute or two whilst I heated up some pre-cooked sushi rice and chopped a bit of salad. Now I love sushi rice and find its sweet seasoned soft texture great with seared fish or shellfish like these scallops. The rice is pre-cooked and seasoned (with a seasoned rice vinegar mix - sushi-su) it doesn't need much in the way of faff, just reheat and shape to please.

Seasoned sushi rice

 A nice salad is always great with scallops the crunch of the salad goes great with the sweetness of the seafood. The lettuce is home grown too, I'm that thorough (cos I don't spend time DRYING scallops)............and I never dress salad before I eat it, just not a fan.

Home grown lettuce, tomatoes and mangetout

So scallops and rice/salad to the plate.....just time for a bit of a 'deglaze' of the scallop pan.

Seared smoked Orkney scallops with sushi rice and salad

 Basically, to my mind a 'deglaze' of a pan just means lob some liquid into a pan you've just cooked your grub in to get all those juices on your plate. So in keeping with my love of spice I put a tiny tot of my own chilli sauce in the pan and a wee glug of water - a fizz and a pop or two and hey presto a nice tangy rich sweet and spicy sauce.

Pan seared smoked scallops, salad, sushi rice with a sweet smoked chilli reduction

Just a tot mind, you don't want anything interfering with the sweet taste of a seared scallop. The smokiness of the sweet scallop perfectly compliments each other. Salad adding crunch (and you know you feel virtuous because of the 'health' aspect) and the sweet sticky sushi rice absorbs all that gorgeous flavour.

So, if indulging with something unfamiliar give it a go (preferably in private, then if its great you can wow folks at a later date). Read a bit, ignore most of it and give it a go!

 

The worst that can happen is that you burn the pan, sometimes it's good to get out of your comfort zone.

 

Until next time, be daring! Happy scoffing.