Friday already …

… and Friday night is fish night. Here's my “fish” version of an Indonesian favourite – Nasi Goreng.

There are two main types of Goreng – Nasi Goreng which is fried rice and Mie Goreng which is fried noodles. There are lots of variations of both dishes but they have basics in common. They began life as a breakfast dish using up leftovers and evolved into a popular street food choice, right up to being served in posh restaurants. They can be spicy or not depending on your taste and vegetarian or not and you'll find many recipes out there.

I made my first Nasi Goreng in 1987 and still make it – with my own variations along the way, like the following :

Nasi - but not as we know it

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed or garlic paste

half tsp chilli powder

*225g cooked rice

*175g cooked salmon fillet, flaked

*175g smoked salmon, finely sliced

*175g peeled prawns, defrosted if frozen

2 tbsp Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce)

1 tsp soft light brown sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

4-6 hard boiled eggs, quartered

black pepper

Serves 4-6

Add the vegetable oil to a wok and heat gently. Add the onions, garlic and chilli powder and fry until lightly browned. Add the rice and cook for a few seconds then stir in the salmon and prawns.

Mix the soy sauce, sugar and lemon juice together, stir into the rice mixture, then season to taste with pepper.

Add the eggs, folding in gently, serve immediately, straight from the wok.

You can adjust the amounts of fish/seafood to your own personal taste – bearing in mind that you have two elements to replace from the original recipe – chicken and ham – 175g each plus 175g of prawns. You are adding hard boiled eggs - these are not a garnish but an integral part of the dish since the sauce is quite punchy and the fish quite salty so they play an important part in the balance.

Make it your own – adjust to suit yourself, if you want more prawns then adjust the amount of salmon accordingly. You can still get great deals on on cooked salmon fillets or flakes and smoked salmon too, so keep your eyes open!

Oops, nearly forgot – any leftovers box and fridge.

Friday morning …

… whilst you're splitting the breakfast atom or juggling breakfast balls, hard boil the eggs as per the following recipe – don't forget to set your timer!

For Friday's supper I have made certain assumptions. That you're tired and you really don't want to be bothered about food at all. You're ready to do another supermarket shop – whether it's physical or virtual you still need the time – the cupboards whilst not bare are definitely depleted.

I have therefore taken it for granted that you want minimum fuss and maximum flavour in the shortest time possible. To this end ...

You'll notice that there are four items marked * on the recipe. The first is cooked rice. Stock your freezer with frozen rice – you can also buy rice and vegetables too. This rice and/or vegetables can be stir fried straight from the freezer or microwaved. To give you an indication of time – 250g of the rice and vegetables takes 4 mins 750w or 3.30 mins 850w. It comes in 500g bags and apart from the rice contains petits pois, sweetcorn and fried onion – available from Marks & Spencer. Frozen rice is widely available at most supermarkets.

This task can be left until you are ready to cook this evening. If you buy the rice and vegetables you don't need the onion in the recipe since they're already in the rice.

Take the cooked salmon fillet/flakes, smoked salmon and the prawns from the freezer, ensuring that the prawns are placed in an appropriate sealed container to defrost during the day.

These tasks take seconds. The eggs can be peeled this evening – whilst the rice is in the microwave.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that by taking advantage of deals when you see them and freezing ingredients life is so much easier when you've the wherewithal to produce an excellent meal very quickly without having to go anywhere near a supermarket!

Get into the habit of stocking your freezer with ingredients you know you'll use. I appreciate you need the space in the freezer and I'm not suggesting you rush out and spend a fortune you can't afford. A little thought goes a long way …

… to saving your sanity!

Thursday night is veggie night!

I hope that by now you get the gist of what I'm trying to do – save you time, effort, stress and oh yes – money too. You should find that you shop less and because you know, in advance, what's for supper you don't deviate because you don't need to!

Tonight's meal may not go down a storm, mainly because “meat-free” isn't very popular – anyway lets see where it takes us – as always rules are made to be broken.

Orzotto with leftover

roasted vegetables topped

with balsamic mushrooms

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped finely

260g orzo pasta

500ml chicken stock (or vegetable)

juice of 1 lemon

200g frozen petit pois

2 tbsp fresh pesto

bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

extra pesto and slices of lemon to serve

salt and black pepper

Leftover veggies small diced and of a similar size

Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat and fry the onion for 2/3 minutes. Stir in orzo and cook for 1-2 minutes and then add the stock all at once. Simmer and stir occasionally for 7/8 minutes until nearly cooked. Stir in the lemon juice and the frozen peas. Add the leftover veggies. Simmer for 2/3 minutes until the peas are cooked then add the pesto and the parsley. Season to taste and serve with extra pesto and a squeeze of lemon.

“As always, rules are meant to be broken” :

Add cubes of diced chorizo with the onion at the beginning of the recipe.

Sprinkle with bacon bits and parmesan – if you serve the bacon bits in a separate bowl then everyone can help themselves so you can serve vegetarians and meat eaters too.

For your bacon bits place rashers of back bacon (I'd use smoked) on foil on a large baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes on 200c/180fan/Gas 6. Turn and repeat – the bacon will be crispy and will break up into pieces – box it and use it as a garnish.

For the additional vegetarian topping :

Mushrooms in Balsamic

4 tbsp rapeseed oil or similar

500g chestnut mushrooms, quartered

4 cloves garlic, crushed

pinch of salt

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp brown sugar

60g parmesan shavings

Heat the oil, add the mushrooms and garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook on high for 5 minutes until browned and the liquid produced by the mushrooms has been absorbed. Mix the vinegar with the sugar and pour over the mushrooms.

Stir until syrupy – 1-2 minutes and serve as a topping on the Orzotto - garnish with shavings of parmesan – would not recommend using grated parmesan.

If you are a lover of risotto, we all know it's a labour of love – emphasis on the word “labour” - I don't care how organised you are, no-one has that sort of time during the week – orzotto is nearly as good and certainly better time-wise.

You could substitute 250ml of the stock with dry white wine. If you do then add the wine when you've fried the onions, then add the orzo and the remaining 250ml of stock.

Hopefully the inclusion of chorizo or bacon will keep the meat eaters happy!

Wonderful Wednesday

… or is it mid week misery!

I mentioned in “Your Autumn Arsenal” that we are all creatures of habit and consequently food becomes boring – we tend to stick with what we know and the rest, as they say, is history and we've reached for the takeaway menus.

On the menu for Wednesday is Smoked chicken with potato cakes using your chicken fillets smoked on Sunday together with your leftover mashed potato. It couldn't get more boring if it tried so here's my plan.

You have choices depending on how much time and energy you have but none of what I'm about to suggest takes a large chunk out of your evening.

If you like food without a sauce, then you can re-heat your smoked chicken – wrapped tightly in foil and placed on a baking tray - in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 15 minutes. Whilst your chicken is in the oven tip your leftover mashed potato into a mixing bowl. Add some finely sliced spring onions and a couple of handfuls from your grated cheese stash, season with salt and black pepper and mix well. Divide into equal portions, mould into balls, flour lightly and then flatten into a potato cake and dry fry in a non stick frying pan, turning until golden brown on both sides. The potato cakes will be ready when the chicken is.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record you could delve into your raw slaw stash and add a couple of handfuls of grated cheese too – serve as is without any dressing – season to taste – add a glug of sweet chilli sauce just before serving – you'll still retain the crunch from the raw slaw and a nice hit from the sweet chill sauce.

Two other alternatives using leftover mashed potatoes are the Colcannon or Pea and Spring Onion Champ (The humble spud and The humble spud – take 2).

If you prefer a sauce with your meal then the fastest and tastiest has to be Alfredo (the recipe is on the blog) - submerge your already poached chicken fillets in the sauce to warm through.

If you find you have more time and can be bothered mid-week you can use one of the chicken recipes in Your Autumn Arsenal – nothing is set in stone – all of this is meant to trigger ideas of your own, tailored to your families' likes and dislikes.

P.s. I should apologise in that I didn't make it clear in “Sunday multitasking continued” - “Whilst you're at it” “Smoke” 4 chicken fillets - that the chicken fillets should be fridged when they have cooled.

May be not so boring!

Trauma free Tuesday!

Fancy a pizza with a difference - using the extra lamb shank you cooked?

I know we've made the Stromboli previously but this recipe uses the lamb shank and also gives you variations if you feel like being adventurous.

Stromboli

400g prepared pizza dough or ready-made base

4 tbsp tomato paste

1 lamb shank stripped and shredded

120g baby spinach

100g thinly sliced mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

Generous sprinkle of dried thyme

Pre-heat your oven 220fan/200c/Gas 8. Place a large baking tray in the oven.

Place a dampened J cloth on your work surface. Place a piece of baking parchment on top of the cloth – it will stop it sliding – make sure you leave enough to get hold of – you're going to lift it onto the hot baking tray that's in the oven at the moment. Unroll the pizza dough gently on the parchment.

Spread the tomato paste onto the base. Add the shredded lamb, followed by the spinach and then the mozzarella and sprinkle with the dried thyme. Roll up the base from the shortest side and brush with the olive oil - make sure it's seam-side down when placed on the tray.

WITH CARE remove the tray from the oven and then carefully lift the parchment and the rolled up pizza onto it. Place back in the oven for 20/25 minutes until golden brown – check at 20 minutes.

When removed from the oven slice into portions to suit and serve.

Variations on a theme :

Use goat's cheese instead of mozzarella

Use ground cumin to sprinkle over the lamb instead of or in addition to dried thyme

Sprinkle capers over the top of the shredded lamb – salty capers and sweet lamb - yum

Sprinkle sumac over the top of the lamb – a sharp lemony flavour – double yum

Any or all of the above will work well and – surprise surprise – you could dip into your raw slaw stash and serve a coleslaw as a side.

Happy Tuesday!

Marvellous Monday!

Had a hard day at work? Can't be bothered to think about supper – that's fine – all that hard work on Sunday will now come good.

Remember the potatoes you almost roasted yesterday – here's why.

Pre-heat your oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6. Cut the potatoes in half, lengthways, in their foil tray and place in the oven for 15 minutes to warm through.

Warm smoked mackerel salad

Serves 2

(double the recipe to serve 4)

350g new potatoes

1 tsp horseradish cream

juice of 1 lemon

2 smoked mackerel fillets, skinned and

flaked (200g approx)

black pepper

100g sour cream

bunch of spring onions – approx

85g when trimmed and finely sliced

handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

OR use baby spinach

Whilst the potatoes are warming, mix the sour cream, horseradish cream and lemon juice in a large bowl. Season with black pepper.

Tip the sour cream mixture over the potatoes – the mixture will loosen. Add the flaked smoked mackerel and the spring onions and combine gently. Sprinkle with finely chopped flat leaf parsley and serve whilst warm.

Serve with a winter coleslaw – buy it if you must, but if you have prepared the raw slaw mix then it takes but a minute to add a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream and a touch of Dijon mustard and mix!

Ps. If there is any left, box it, fridge it and lunch it next day. If you like cold leftovers so be it – if you don't then just pop into the microwave (at home or the office) for a minute to warm through and instant lunch.

I just love it when a plan comes together!

Multitasking – raw slaw

How many different brands of coleslaw have you tried and hated – personally I loathe the thick slices of woody cabbage that inevitably form part of the mix because it's mass produced and “shredded” on an industrial scale.

This is not the first time I've mentioned my solution but worthy I think of a reprise – try the “raw slaw” concept.

Finely slice whatever you fancy and bag it – red cabbage (or sweetheart, or white), carrots and onions. Bag each ingredient separately – red cabbage and carrots can bleed and onions will taint your other ingredients.

If you like fruit in your slaw throw a couple of handfuls of sultanas into a box (with a lid) and cover them with apple juice – leave for 2/3 hours and then drain off the apple juice – lovely plump bursts!

You can then make up your slaw as and when you need it – fresh to go with whatever you've chosen that day.

The method is easy – grab 2 handfuls of cabbage to 1 of carrots and 1 of onions as a rough guide.

Now for the dressing – you can if you wish do the low fat mayo and ditto crème fraiche – a dessertspoon of each, mixed and a slug of lemon juice. You could even add a tsp of Dijon mustard. Season with salt and black pepper a good pinch of sweet smoked paprika or chilli powder if you prefer.

The final addition is the drained sultanas and add an eating apple of your choice – the sharper flavour the better – ¼ed, cored and chopped. For another variation in texture add a handful of chopped walnuts.

If you'd like another low fat dressing choice, try this :

Pomegranate Dressing

2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

juice of two limes

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Generous pinch of nigella seeds

1-2 tsps sumac

Mix all the ingredients together and keep in a screw top jar

and fridge

The raw slaw ingredients are relatively inexpensive and have a longer fridge life in addition to which because you are bagging and “fridging” individually in their raw state they don't deteriorate as quickly.

I can only repeat what a student said “completely different - the onion gives a subtle “bite” and the dressing is very light – not at all creamy mayonnaise type sickly shop bought stuff – loved it!”

I'd like to bet you'll never buy ready-made coleslaw again!