Time on your hands – time to think outside the box – or actually inside your store cupboard

Up to now we've rummaged in the freezer and in the fridge too, now for the store cupboard or pantry if you prefer.

Do you have a store cupboard or is it a cupboard for stuffing random purchases that seemed like a bargain at the time? Do you know what's buried at the back? You know what's coming next – time to sort it out! It's no good relying on a store cupboard if you don't know what's in it.

If you have a reasonably well stocked store cupboard then you'll be able to plan your meals more easily, it will save you time and money. My pantry is one extreme to another, from the usual staples - tuna, small chunk Branston, tomato paste, stock pots, cornflour, passata, suet Worcestershire Sauce, noodles and orzo – to name but a few - to what some may call the more “out of the ordinary” ingredients, a small tin or jar of black olives, a small jar of capers, Grapeseed oil for stick blender mayo and lets not forget the preserved lemons!

I've had a lot of practice planning meals. Three hours a day commuting to London every day before the advent of home delivery shopping taught me that life was too short to wing it. I planned weekly meals on the train and then made my shopping list. The earlier I made my weekly plan the better – it gave me an opportunity to check my store cupboard for the bits and pieces I'd forget about – you know seasoning, stock pots, condiments blah, blah. I gained valuable weekend time, was definitely less stressed and saved dosh too!

I can hear you saying so what?! If you're taking this current situation seriously then you won't be going shopping every day, you'll be staying at home as much as possible. It matters not whether you have to go out to shop or whether you have a home delivery – you still need to be organised.

Bear in mind too that now we're pretty much confined to barracks we won't need the volume of food (or calories if you like) that we've been used to when more active. Good luck telling your brain! If you want help balancing your diet and would like more information you can download the Eatwell Guide – GOV.UK which gives you chapter and verse on recommended portions.

Coming soon, a recipe using ingredients from my pantry that doesn't include a tin of tuna, but just before we continue with the something special and the cheap & cheerful ideas, I'm interrupting myself with a cake you can bake!

Time on your hands - a variation on a theme …

Most of us have tuna in our store cupboard – are you bored by the same old tuna pasta bake?

I've used the following recipe for years and it never fails. I have used it as a canapé to serve with drinks and known friends who “don't like fish” inhale them. They are also great as a snack or with other stuff for a weekend “picky bits” grazing style supper.

Here it is :

Tuna and Parsley rolls

200g/7oz tin tuna in oil

1 onion, chopped

100g/4oz cheddar cheese, grated

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

salt and black pepper

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 puff pastry sheet

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp poppy seeds

or Nigella seeds, see below

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6

Drain the tuna, reserving 1 tbsp of the oil. Pour the oil into a pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Remove from the heat and stir in the tuna, cheese, parsley, seasoning and mustard until well combined. Allow to cool.

Roll out your pastry sheet and cut in half lengthways.

Divide the filling between the two rectangles, laying it in strips down the centre of the pastry.

Brush one edge with beaten egg and carefully roll up to create two long tubes. Cut each into 12 rolls. Brush with egg and put on a baking tray. Sprinkle over poppy seeds and bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

You can make these rolls as large or small as you like, they don't have to be bite sized.

If you wanted an alternative to poppy seeds use Nigella seeds instead, also known as Black Cumin they have a delicious onion flavour and work well with this recipe.

This is an economical, easy but most of all tasty recipe and makes use of your store cupboard. If you're able to buy a puff pastry sheet, that's great – it's difficult to predict what will be wiped off the shelves at any given time. The fact that the sheet is a perfect emergency freezer item makes me think they may be as rare as hens' teeth – good luck and if you can't buy a sheet make your own.

Since none of us can guarantee what ingredients we're able to buy I'm going for both ends of the scale – something special and more cheap and cheerful ideas too – the common denominator - they use store cupboard items or ingredients you may have in your freezer … watch this space!

Time on your hands - the photo guide for the Tiddy ...

… made from leftovers taken from my freezer

the filling – finely diced

the baking sheet, lined and “glued” with parchment

and one strip of pastry

the filling in the middle of both strips of pastry

the pastry brought up to glue to the filling

freshly baked from the oven

bite sized pieces

a tasty morsel!

If you like the idea of the Tiddy, there's another variation using your store cupboard up next.

Time on our hands – the Tiddy filling

Since you probably won't have the box of filling leftover in your freezer, it occurs that you might like to make a batch to create the Tiddies so here's the recipe :

The Cheese, potato and onion Tiddy filling

or Serves 2 as a pie

2 medium sized baked jacket potatoes

approximately 400g – peeled and cut into cubes

measuring 1.5cms/½”

1 medium onion, finely diced and

sautéed with a knob of unsalted butter and

a drop of rapeseed oil until softened – 5 minutes

add 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard to the onion

150g of grated cheeses – 50g each of Mature

Cheddar, Red Leicester and Gruyere

You could do worse than make a batch and divide and freeze in quantities to suit – a pie or tiddy pastries – both delish!

If you'd like to see what the pie looks like, there's a series on the blog beginning with A Christmas Gift with a difference - giving a complete photo guide too – Cheese label15/12/19.

Photo guide for the Tiddy up next!

Time on your hands and in the face of adversity …

… desperate times call for desperate measures! I don't mean to sound like a drama queen but may be we should be paying a little more attention to food that we waste – or more to the point, now more than ever, trying not to waste.

Do you know what's in your freezer? I think I have a rough idea but there's always a surprise or two if you dig deep enough. I have a habit of always prepping too much which, by definition, means I create leftovers.

I found a box of filling left over from a cheese, potato & onion pie I made recently. I'm about to show you that it can come in handy. There wasn't a huge amount - 270g ish – another rummage, this time in the fridge, produced a nugget – not of gold – but as good as – gruyere which, grated, gave me a grand total of 330g of filling. The only other ingredient required is a beaten egg.

Perfect for a Tiddy – a small pastry.

Okey dokey – I have the filling – what's next?

In the spirit of desperate measures and the crazy behaviour at the moment in the supermarkets I think it's time to make your own – in this case puff pastry – from scratch. Check the Pastry label for the Fast flaky pastry recipe. This is not difficult and it freezes well too so you can make it when you've a spare ten minutes and that's all the time it takes. All you have to remember is to weigh, wrap in foil and freeze your unsalted butter ahead of the game to give it time to chill.

When you've made your batch of pastry shape it into an oblong, then chill or freeze. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. “Glue” the parchment to the tray by greasing each corner lightly with a butter wrapper – I always keep one in the door of my fridge!

When you're ready to begin, flour your surface and roll out the pastry – take care to roll in the same direction to prevent stretching, otherwise the pastry will shrink, keeping the oblong shape or lengthways if you prefer! Cut into two strips - you're aiming for each strip to measure 30cms or 12” long and 8cms/3” wide, approximately, then lift each strip onto the lined baking tray.

Tip the filling and the added Gruyere into a medium mixing bowl and mix. The original filling contained small cubes of potato which were too big for this idea. I used an ordinary knife and fork and refined the size of the filling.

Divide the filling between the two strips placing it in the middle of each. Egg wash each edge and pinch the ends together. Lift the pastry edges to the filling, creating a sort of open “sausage roll”, egg wash the sides and ends of the pastry.

Fridge until you're ready to bake, together with the remaining egg wash.

Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Egg wash again and then bake for 30 minutes.

Voila – Tiddy pastries!

Just in case you haven't got a box of leftover filling in your freezer ...

Time on your hands – lets not waste it!

Wasting food is bad at any time – even more so at the moment.

I'm as guilty as the next person. Here's my latest “rescue”. I'm keeping track of what fresh fruit I have and particularly which perishes first. I forgot to check the apples. I suppose I thought they'd have a longer “fruit bowl life” than grapes – oops!

Enter my four Pink Lady apples – they were not as fresh as they could have been - here's my solution based on my “I'm not wasting food” philosophy - “Toffee Apples” :

Toffee Apples

4 Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored & sliced

60g unsalted butter

656g soft dark brown sugar

2 tbsp of orange juice

Cook in a large frying pan for 10 minutes, and you get these :

Shazam!

My four apples gave me 466g of toffee apples which I divided into two boxes and popped into the freezer. Serve warmed for a few seconds in the microwave, over vanilla ice cream.

I cannot tell you how good it feels to rescue food and turn it – in this case – into a yummy pud!

A Croque, the relish and a wedge

Cooking doesn't have to be complicated – the simpler the better. Here's an example - recipes for a sandwich, with two sides.

The beauty of these recipes are that they are straight forward – the Croque can be made ahead, ready to fry whilst your wedges are in the oven.

I know the Croque is indulgent – it's meant to be – perfect for the weekend in front of your favourite film.

The Croque :

Croque Monsieur

4 slices of medium sliced wholemeal bread

2 tsp Dijon mustard

75g (3oz) Gruyere cheese (grated)

2 slices of ham or try 45g of cooked ham hock

if you can get it – omit the ham for the vegetarians

30g (1½oz) unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4

Spread ½ tsp of mustard over each slice of bread.

Spread half the cheese on two slices of bread followed by the ham, remaining cheese on top. Sandwich together with the other two slices of bread.

Heat the butter in a frying pan until foaming – fry your Croque Monsieur for 1-2 minutes on each side. If your frying pan is suitable for the oven then pop in for 4-5 minutes. If not then transfer the Croque to a baking sheet.

If you haven't got or can't get hold of Gruyere then use Mature Cheddar instead – nothing is set in stone!

Adaptable for meat eaters and vegetarians too.

The relish :

Bazzin' beetroot relish

300g vac pack of organic cooked beetroot

drained and cut into small cubes

1 sharp eating apple, peeled, cored and cut

into small cubes

1 medium onion, finely chopped

75g soft dark brown sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and black pepper

Don't forget to use gloves when prepping your beetroot!

Mix well and place all the ingredients in a medium saucepan – 16cms in diameter. Simmer on a low heat, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool. Box up and fridge until ready to use.

Finally the wedges :

You can use Charlotte or any waxy potato for wedges. If in doubt check the instructions on the bag. King Edward potatoes are great too – crispy on the outside – fluffy on on the inside. Cut your wedges into similar sizes and place on a large baking tray, drizzle with rapeseed oil and pop into a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 – 20 minutes then shake and repeat. The more wedges you have the longer it will take for them to be crispy and brown. Tip into a bowl and sprinkle with a seasoning of your choice – Chinese 5 Spice, Chilli Flakes, or Classic Paprika & Onion, to name but three. Shake again and serve.