Dinner With Crayons – Colourful Family Food

Traffic Light Spaghetti

February 27, 2014

Three vegetables in red, amber and green make this kid friendly traffic light spaghetti supper.

It always amuses me how a whimsical name can turn a dish into child friendly feast.

I have called this traffic light pasta purely because it features a red, amber and green vegetable but the entertainment factor for Ted saying it was pasta with traffic lights was too much to resist.

You could use jarred sundried tomato paste although here I have liquidised the ones in oil together with some basil.

Toss into some cooked spaghetti.

Steam your spinach – preferably kid friendly little dinky leaves.

And roast some tomatoes and peppers. I used these colourful mini ones in a bag from Tesco.

Mix it all together and ta-dah, traffic light pasta.

Traffic light spaghetti

Serves 4

Ingredients
200g spaghetti
2 tbsp. Sundried tomato in oil
1 tbsp. Chopped basil (I used frozen)
12 plum tomatoes cut in half
80g spinach
250g (half bag) of mini peppers or 1 each yellow and orange peppers sliced roughly

Directions
1. Boil the spaghetti in a large saucepan according to pack instructions. Preheat the oven to 200c / gas 6.
2. Arrange the tomato halves and pepper slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and roast lightly for 15 minutes.
3. Using a stick blender, briefly blitz the sundried tomatoes in oil with the basil and set aside.
4. Steam the spinach – I microwave mine in a plastic microwave saucepan.
5. When the pasta is cooked, stir in the sundries tomato and basil mix. Add in the roasted peppers and tomatoes and the cooked spinach. Toss the vegetables through and serve.

To add protein to this dish you could grate over some cheese or add some chunks of cooked ham.

I am entering this tomato ingrediented pasta dish into this month’s tomato themed Pasta Please organised by Jac Tinned Tomatoes and this month hosted by Michelle at Utterly Scrummy – and also her event Extra Veg hosted alongside Helen at Fuss Free Flavours.

It’s also definitely a Speedy Supper for my new event alongside Katie (hosting this month) for main meals ready in under 30 minutes.

Don’t forget also if you have a pud ready in similarly speedy time you can enter it into Dead Easy Desserts.

Clever Compact Cooking: Tea Blini with Apricots

February 24, 2014

I don’t drink tea. I should say that up front. Can’t stand the stuff.

But I was studying the Schwartz flavour forecast to prepare this post and flavouring stuff with tea was one of the things featured so I thought I’d give it a go.

The report carried out annually for the UK since 2008 has highlighted five top food “trends” and various emerging flavours predicted to influence home cooking in the next few years. There’s particular brouhaha this time around since Schwartz’s parent company McCormick are celebrating their 125th year as a “food industry innovator”.

The key trends identified are:

1. Chilli. Apparently we’re increasingly crazy about chilli and want more and more of it. But we don’t want any old bog standard chilli, we’re seeking out fancy varieties such as Peruvian aji amarillo and Mexican guajillo.

2. Modern Masala. Indian food, we’re told is finally having a “moment”. I’m dubious about this one, I think authentic Indian food was big ten years ago – certainly I started buying books by Anjum Anand and eating street food dishes in restaurant chain Masala Zone at the start of the millennium. Or maybe I’m just so old I’m noticing stuff come round AGAIN.

3. Clever Compact Cooking – big flavours from small spaces. Food being created in tiny urban kitchens. I’m not sure what to make of this “trend” – I like the democracy that a small kitchen is no barrier to creating flavoursome food with fewer tools and ingredients. But I’m more inclined to say kitchens are expanding to take over the ground floor of the home. My friend has just knocked two walls out to achieve just that.

4. Mexican. Definitely authentic Mexican food is now reaching a wider audience – Thomasina Miers’ Wahaca chain has been at the forefront here with branches across London opening since 2007.

5. Brazil. It’s a sure fire bet, with hosting the forthcoming World Cup and Olympic games that the world will be obsessed with Brazilian food in the next couple of years. Another restaurant chain has contributed to interest in this cuisine bubbling under – I reviewed Cabana at Westfield back in 2011.

I grew up being familiar with Schwartz, my mother had aprons and tea towels with their branding on.

As you can see from my double-layered spice box (courtesy of 2 x IKEA “Samla” range cartons), I am not especially loyal to one particular range.

With the wooden spice rack screwed to the wall largely a thing of the past, it’s more important to me to have labels on lids and better still a double edged lid to sprinkle or pour the contents out. Some brands (including newer Schwartz ones) do this although I often think this is done more for shop display than the consumer.

Some of my spices are very old – if I looked I’d probably find ones from 2004 onwards. Even when you know full well old spices are a bad idea, you can’t bring yourself to chuck stuff out when it’s three quarters full. It’s a sad story really that probably 75% of spice jar contents sit languishing unused in cupboards only to be thrown away when the owner moves house.

So this was a great opportunity to refresh my spice collection. The jars look shiny and bright.

Depending on what it is, I generally choose a mix of types of herbs and spices and whereas ground is the best way for some ingredients, it’s not the only way to store your flavour fix. My personal collection breaks down something like this:

Dried herbs in jars:

More mint, oregano.

Dried ground spices in jars:
Ginger (for baking only), cloves, fenugreek, asafoetida, paprika, cardamom (I hate the pods but like it ground).

Dried whole spices in jars:
Cumin seeds, whole coriander, mustard seeds, cinnamon sticks, nigella seeds.

Ground in big bags from ethnic store:
More cumin, coriander, garam masala – because I get through these so fast, I can justify buying in bulk at a lower price without worrying about waste.

Freshly bought herbs:
Basil, coriander, parsley (I keep pots going for ages when I remember to water them).

Herbs freshly grown in garden:
Mint, sage, chives, thyme, rosemary. (although I’m a bad gardener and my home grown herbs quickly “bolt”)

Pickled or jarred:
Chopped ginger from Waitrose special ingredients’ range (because I hate grating fresh ginger and both this and the jars of lazy ginger go mouldy at frightening speed)
Jalapeno peppers, chilli pastes.

Tubed:
Garlic. Unless I need slivers or whole cloves, I buy squeezy tubes of lazy style garlic.

Frozen:
Kaffir lime leaves. They stay fresher like this. I buy them in a Thai supermarket in Shepherds Bush.

So the business of choosing and storing herbs and spices is rather complex once you’re familiar with different varieties!

I took my inspiration from the “clever compact cooking” trend with a North African twist. Mint tea blini topped with spiced apricots and seeds. For the seeds I used a Waitrose snack pack of honeyed pumpkin and sunflower seeds but plain ones would do fine. My Schwartz kit oddly didn’t include cinnamon so that’s the one I had already.

An hour or two before, heat 125ml milk in a mug in the microwave and stir in 1 tsp dried mint. Leave to cool. Also heat 125ml milk in a mug in the microwave and dunk in a normal tea bag and leave to cool for a few minutes then take out before cooling completely.

Next take 12 dried apricots snipped into shards and soak them in a mug of hot black tea for at least ten minutes. Squirt 2 tablespoons of honey into a small pan, add 2 tbsp of the black tea from the apricots and 3 dried kaffir lime leaves, a pinch of ground cloves and a pinch of cinnamon. Heat through and simmer on a low heat whilst you make the pancakes.

With pancake day around the corner I’ve been trying out a new Tefal pan. I was surprised to see on the base it was made from titanium. The blini mould is also new – purchased last week on a day trip to Calais. The pancake batter doesn’t look hugely appetising but I kept the faith!

For the pancake batter, mix the milks with 100g self raising flour (I like mine to puff up), 1 egg, a pinch of salt and 1 melted tablespoon of butter.

Oil the pan and heat up!

Pouring the batter into the blini mould, holding one’s nerve that the bottoms won’t be burnt then flipping them over – I love that they look like baby crumpets!

Then finally drizzle with the stewed apricots and honey liquid and scatter with seed mix.

Pick up and bend in half to eat. The tea flavour was very distinct and I must say I like my tea in pancake form rather than a brown milky drink.

Pancakes as canapes – best warm obviously but surprisingly tasty cold too!

Post commissioned by Schwartz with payment in vouchers. As part of their 125 year anniversary Schwartz are seeking to connect 1.25 million peoples’ stories about the role of food and flavour in their lives. Share your flavour story with Schwartz on Facebook. For every story shared Schwartz and parent company McCormick have pledged to donate $1 or upto $1.25 million to United Way and their partners’ organisations.

With thanks also to Tefal for sample frying pans.

Leftover rocket pesto with stilton and walnut

February 14, 2014

Shortly after New Year, I stumbled across one of my all time favourite bargains ever. Half moons of blue stilton marked down to £1 when they’re originally been £8 each at full price.

I bought three, cut them into wedges, wrapped these in paper and put them in the freezer. Possibly freezing Stilton isn’t the best way to preserve its flavour but at this price I didn’t care. Probably I won’t need to buy any more blue cheese this year!

The price of everyday cheese as gone up by stealth. A couple of years ago, if you shopped around you could buy cheddar for £5 per kilo but today it’s nearer double that.

Worse still is the insidious size reduction of pre-packed products. Cheese, now commonly sold in 350g packs rather than 400g (and before that 440g and prior to that 500g!!) is not unique here. Everything from bottles of cola to bags of bagels has had pack sizes shaved down whilst prices remain static hoping the consumer won’t notice.

I regularly comment to my husband that it’s
a) my mental arithmetic
b) a knowledge how to cook from scratch
c) flexibility to bulk buy when items are genuinely on offer
… that keeps our shopping bills down.

If you weren’t so great at maths, not an experienced cook and on a very rigid budget it would be very different.

So I was delirious almost to find this blue Stilton priced at the equivalent of around £2 per kilo. Cheese hasn’t been that cheap this century probably.

My other thrifty habit recently has been to buy pairs of bags of rocket when they’re on offer (or indeed marked down miserable basil plants) and what doesn’t get eaten in salads or sandwiches gets whizzed up my own pesto before it turns floppy. Generally a small tub of home made pesto will stay in my fridge for up to a week and sometimes I freeze portions too.

Ways to use homemade pesto

Tossed with pasta
Spread it on toasted bread such as bruschetta or ciabatta
As a pizza sauce instead of tomato
Spread on tortilla wraps
Mixed into salad dressings
Mixed into cheese sauces
Stuff chicken breasts
Coat grilled fish fillets

Traditionally pesto would be made from basil, parmesan, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil however recently I have ringed the changes with the left over rocket leaves, used different oils, nuts and cheese. You can also make pesto mixes using roasted peppers, aubergines or sundried tomatoes rather than green leaves and herbs.

Hence this particular mix today:

Leftover rocket pesto with walnut and stilton

Half a bag of rocket
A handful of walnuts
Some chunks of blue Stilton
Olive oil
and of course garlic.

I’m not specifying exact quantities because these aren’t rigid. Simply blitz the lot in a handheld blender until you’re happy with the texture. Use it immediately or store in the fridge or freezer.

Do you ever make your own pesto?

I’m sharing this pesto with these events:

To Fiona hosting Elizabeth’s No Waste Food Challenge (using up rocket), Helen & Camilla’s Credit Crunch Munch (bargain cheese) this month hosted by My Golden Pear, and finally mine and Katie’s new Speedy Suppers event for 30 minute meals.

Pulled Pork Noodles with Savoy Cabbage: Speedy Supper 30 minute meal

February 6, 2014

Chinese New Year was last week – I think – so we were eating these in noodles in timely fashion even if I’ve not blogged them until now.

This speedy supper can be whipped up in barely 15 minutes using left over roast meat from Sunday lunch.

The original plan for said Sunday lunch was to emulate the slow cooked pork recipe in February Delicious Magazine’s roast of the month. I made their January roast with great aplomb (slow cooked topside of beef). Since I’m not hugely confident cooking big pieces of meat I thought cooking each of their roasts of the month every month was a good idea.

Then the February recipe was a 4 kg joint of pork shoulder for 8 people which seemed rather gigantic and expensive to me and way over our needs.

Instead I bought this handsome beast in Waitrose for around £13. He came shrink wrapped with all the herbs on and was the same cut used in the magazine recipe so I decided to do that instead. I didn’t stick to the Delicious technique either which necessitated 5-6 hours in the oven, instead I followed the Waitrose instructions of 3 hours at 180c / Gas 4, placed the joint on a rack above steaming stock and segments of onion that became the gravy.

Whilst the pork was in the oven we went out for a walk to Walthamstow’s Wood Street Market, stopped off for a hot chocolate in Cafe Bonito. When we came home we were welcomed by meaty aromas and a perfect joint. The stock and onions made the most sublime gravy.

The joint yielded enough lovely tender pulled pork meat for 4 meals for 3 of us. So that’s around £1.25 per portion which I thought was respectably good value. The slightest toughness in meat has Ted turning it down, he still has his baby teeth and it’s hard going for him! I’m pleased to report that he gobbled this pork up without any question and has been delighted to be served more of it in leftovers during the week.

I’m considering a Wahaca style pork pibil type dish with the final portion but for today here’s the Oriental twist:

Pulled Pork Noodles with Savoy Cabbage
Serves 3

Ingredients
Leftover cooked pulled pork meat (roughly 75g per person)

Dried egg noodles (I used 2 sheets of the dried bundles i.e. supermarket own brand, Blue Dragon or Sharwoods etc)

1 onion finely sliced
1 tbsp sesame oil
5 leaves of Savoy cabbage, shredded
6 mushrooms cut into chunks
2 tbsp light soy sauce

Directions

In a large saucepan, pour boiling water over the noodles and bring back up to a simmer for 2-3 minutes. Then turn off the heat but leave the lid on for a further 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion slices.

When the onion has softened slightly add the shredded cabbage and mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the meat and pour over the soya sauce and heat through.
Drain the noodles and tip these into the frying pan too. Toss the hot noodles in the meat and vegetables and serve.

Tip:

Trimming the spines from the savoy cabbage leaves mean they cook quicker. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

I am sending these noodles with seasonal savoy cabbage to Ren’s Simple and in Season, Helen & Camilla’s Credit Crunch Munch (leftovers!) this month hosted by My Golden Pear, mine and Katie’s new Speedy Suppers event for 30 minute meals.

To Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary for Shop local (cabbage from Walthamstow Farmer’s Market), Fiona hosting Elizabeth’s No Waste Food Challenge and finally, since there are three vegetables in this dish, another new event Extra Veg hosted by Helen and Michelle Utterly Scrummy.

Speedy Suppers: The New Blog Event for 30 Minute Meals

February 1, 2014

Drumming up dinner one night it occurred to me there was a gap in the blog event calendar for food fixed up in flash.

So after a quick chat with my blog buddy Katie at Feeding Boys we dreamt up Speedy Suppers, a new blog event for meals made in under 30 minutes.

How to enter Speedy Suppers

When:

Speedy Suppers runs from 1st month to 29th with full round ups of all entrants who have mentioned the challenge in their newly published post.

Where:

Speedy Suppers will kick off being hosted in alternate months by myself at Dinner With Crayons and Katie at Feeding Boys.

How:

Blog any speedy supper or family meal. We don’t mind so much what time of day you eat it, more so that your dish only takes 30 minutes or less to prepare. Please display the Speedy Suppers badge in the post with a link to that month’s announcement and both hosts, myself and Katie.

Short cuts and cook ahead elements are actively encouraged i.e. using sauces, frozen food, left over bits and pieces as a component. So long as assembling/the bit where you actually cook it takes under 30 minutes that’s fine. Add the URL of your post to the linky below. This a blog hop so feel free to add the code to your own post so your readers can admire the entries received so far.

Nitty gritty:

Please be mindful of copyright, we don’t mind if you’ve adapted something from elsewhere or you made it from scratch. But if you submit something found online or in a book, just tell us where you found it.

One picture from each post submitted will be use in the round up, these pictures may also be shared on social media to spread the word about this event i.e. Pinterest, Google Plus etc etc. If you object to pictures submitted being shared elsewhere then please drop me an email.

We don’t mind you submitting your entry elsewhere to other challenges but please be mindful of other events’ rules.

We will try to retweet any posts using #speedysuppers that @ mention @maisoncupcake or @cookingkt

So my first speedy supper is…

Rocket and Walnut Farfalle with Creamy Aubergine and Garlic Sauce
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
200g dried farfalle pasta
1/2 jar antipasti aubergine pieces in oil (mine were from Morrison’s own brand range)
100g low fat soft white cheese with garlic and herbs
generous handful of rocket leaves
generous handful of walnut pieces
a few sliced tomatoes for colour

Directions:

Boil the pasta in a large saucepan until al dente.

Meanwhile use a hand blender or similar to blitz the aubergines and low fat soft cheese until smooth.

Drain the pasta and mix with the creamy cheese and aubergine.

Serve immediately in bowls whilst scattering and folding rocket leaves and walnut pieces. Add tomatoes if you wish.

Easily served inside 20 minutes.

Add your speedy supper dish to the linky below! Don’t forget this is a blog hop so feel free to add the code to your own site and encourage your own readers to take part.

[inlinkz_linkup id=367337]

Don’t forget if you have something swift and sweet or pudding like you can enter it into Dead Easy Desserts over at Maison Cupcake which has been extended until Feb 29th after a late start in mid January!

Eggs Benedict – Valentines breakfast guest recipe by Matt Follas

January 24, 2014

Depending just how gourmet your kids are you may or may not consider this a weekend family breakfast. But certainly traditional eggs benedict fit the bill for a decadent Valentines breakfast and if your kids are teenagers maybe you could teach them how to make it and serve you breakfast in bed. Possibly by Mother’s Day they’ll have mastered it!

I’ve got to be honest, poached eggs are my nemesis and I do chicken out (no pun intended) by using Lakeland’s silicone poaching pods – or horror of horrors, the microwave on very low power – rather than fancy swirling about in boiling water.

BUT – I’d never come across this nippy technique by Matt Follas whereby you pre-cook the eggs in their shells for 10 seconds before you break them. Still, if we can’t expect genius from former Masterchef winners, who can we?

What will you have for breakfast on Valentine’s Day? (no smutty answers please this is a family blog!)

Eggs Benedict
Serves 2

Ingredients

4 happy eggs
125g butter
1 tsp white wine vinegar
Pinch salt
Pinch of black cracked pepper
juice of half a lemon
4 slices Parma ham
2 English muffins

Method

For the Hollandaise sauce
In a bowl, whisk 2 egg yolks, lemon juice and vinegar.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter on a gentle heat, the butter should foam as it burns-off the water. As soon as the foaming starts to reduce, pour it (in a slow trickle) in to the egg mixture, whilst whisking. Continue whisking until the butter is fully combined. Add a pinch of salt to season.

To cook the perfect poached egg
Poach 2 happy eggs. A great trick, to hold the egg together when cooking, is to place the whole egg (shell on) in simmering water for 10 seconds, then place it in cold water until it’s cool enough to touch. Next, crack it open and place into simmering water and cook for 3 minutes. Add a few drops of vinegar to the water too.

To assemble
Split and toast the English muffins, butter them and place on a plate. Arrange the ham on top followed by the poached eggs and a generous helping of hollandaise sauce. Top with a sprinkle of cracked black pepper.

Recipe Credit: For more recipes, please visit www.thehappyegg.co.uk

With thanks to Happy Egg Co for sample eggs!

Quick-a-leekie easy leek and potato soup!

January 14, 2014

We like our little family rituals and soup on Saturday is one of them. I like nothing more than sending Nick and Ted off to the playground to practise bike riding, have the house to myself for a bit and knock together some homemade soup using up bits and pieces left in the fridge – before the inevitable weekly shop.

This particular week we were having leek and potato soup.

I bought these leeks seemingly cheaply since they were so huge but frustratingly once you’ve trimmed them and got rid of dirty bits, honestly I might have been better off buying the trimmed ones in the first place.

Boiling the potatoes.

I seem to have missed out photographing the step where I fried the leeks in olive oil so imagine these are cooked leeks going in here – a blend of cooked leek, cooked potato, a little cream and topped up with vegetable stock.

Blended until smooth – or left with “bits” if you like that – my six year old and husband both tend to complain.

A final touch – some home made croutons cut from leftover bread. Toasted on a low heat in scant coating of olive oil.

Leek and potato soup

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

2-3 large leeks, cleaned and chopped into 1 inch rings

4 small potatoes

1 vegetable stock pot in 600ml boiling water

75ml reduced fat single cream

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the leeks until softened.

2. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in another saucepan and drain when cooked.

3. Pour the vegetable stock and potatoes in with the leeks and add the cream.

4. Heat through and blend to desired consistency with a stick blender.

5. Serve immediately garnished with croutons.

This leek and potato soup is my entry to January’s No Croutons Required hosted by Jac and Lisa. There is no theme this month to encourage lots of lovely entries. I’m also sending this to Ren’s Simple and in Season which has returned after a hiatus!

And as if that wasn’t enough I’m also sending it to Credit Crunch Munch and Helen & Michelle’s new Extra Veg event.

Aaaand Tasty and Inexpensive Feel Good Food at Kick at the Pantry Door, Four Seasons Food run by Louisa and Anneli

And last but not least, the healthly themed One Ingredient run by my friends Laura and Nazima and Shop Local at Elizabeth’s Diary (these were organic farmers’ market leeks and reduced fat cream no less).

Getting ready for Christmas

December 18, 2013

Things have been rather busy round here but I couldn’t resist popping up a picture for Jac’s festive photo collection for this month’s No Crouton’s Required.

In December there really are no croutons required as Jac just asks everyone to submit a festive picture of their preparations for Christmas.

I thought I would share my nativity figures that come out every year. They’re a relatively recent addition to our Christmas decorations collection, I actually bought them one January when Ted was 2-3 years old and then it was another 11 months until we go to use them.

They’re a regular centrepiece now and although technically the baby Jesus and three kings shouldn’t be added until later on, I can never resist putting them all out at the start!

If I don’t get to post anything here again before Christmas I hope you have a good one!

Credit Crunch Munch Round Up

December 1, 2013

It’s been a busy month for Credit Crunch Munch and here is the round up. Big thanks to Camilla at Fab Food 4 All and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours for letting Dinner With Crayons host this popular event thank you to everyone who took part.

Helen will be hosting Credit Crunch Munch herself in December – with a special challenge. Details at the bottom of this post.

First up in early November using up that post Halloween pumpkin was Pumpkin Fruit Cake by Fab Food 4 All

Winter warmer Frugal sausage and bean casserole by Anne’s Kitchen

Butternut with honey mustard yogurt dressing on gram flour pancakes in this Diwali Breakfast by Deena Kakaya

Super sounding mid week supper: Potato and sausage hubble bubble by Onions and Paper

Middle Eastern flavours in Lamb apricot tagine by Eat Your Veg

Packing 5 a day into Kids’ bolognaise by Eat Your Veg

Glamorous French cheese on toast: Tartine with Bacon, Goat’s Cheese and Caramelised Red Onion by Delicieux

Tempting chocolate drizzled apricot and walnut shortbread fingers by I’d Much Rather Bake Than

Spicy soup suggestion: Curried root vegetable soup by Fab Food 4 All

Vegetables in biscuits aren’t an obvious thing but these vegan parsnip and date cookies by Allotment 2 Kitchen look most tempting.

Homely yet sophisticated: Simply rye soda bread rolls by How to Cook Good Food

Quick pud in a jar: Instant orange cheesecakes by Fab Food 4 All

More than meringue: Rhubarb meringue tart by Pebble Soup

Amazing minestrone, chock full of veggies: Minestrone Super Soup by Eat Your Veg

Layers of flavour and texture in Nazima’s Roasted squash with crispy moong sprouts and coriander pistachio pesto at Franglais Kitchen

Healthy breakfast Stewed prunes with orange and cinnamon by Taste Space

Country style garlic mushroom parsley pasta by Allotment 2 Kitchen – is that the farmer?

Less obvious than lemon drizzle, easy iced lime cake by Fab Food 4 All

Asian style sweetcorn soup with cumin and coriander rice flour dumplings by Deena Kakaya

Loving the pastry details on these ham cheese and sweetcorn turnovers by Fab Food 4 All

My own contribution: Smokey cheese and parsnip mash by Dinner With Crayons (we just had these as a side with our Sunday lunch again!)

Pastry parcel of loveliness: cabbage coulibac at Onions and Paper.

Exotic flavours in Kim Chi Chickpea Flour Pancakes by TasteSpace

Alternative to mince pies – Christmas Cake Tarts by Laura at How to Cook Good Food

Most inviting cauliflower cheese soup by View from the Table

Restaurant worthy tagliatelle with lamb’s liver by Bangers & Mash

Soothing snack… sweetcorn fritters by Searching for Spice

and finally, a stonking roast chicken and ham pie with suet dumpling crust by Karen at Lavender and Lovage …hmm I have leftover cooked chicken and ham in my fridge and might have to try something like this.

Thanks to everyone who took part in this month’s Credit Crunch Munch!

December’s Credit Crunch Munch is being hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours – Helen is setting a special challenge this month asking bloggers to make their recipes especially frugal this month and donate to their local food banks this Christmas.

Smokey cheese and parsnip mash #creditcrunchmunch #shoplocal #fromagehomage

November 23, 2013

Two ingredient recipes, we like those don’t we?

I saw a smoked cheese challenge but discovered my supermarket only sold one variety – which was the same one everyone else was using.

Wanting to be a bit different I remembered two local Turkish shops sold lots of smoked cheese, it must be popular in Turkey.

I’m never sure what to do about the rind, it seems to be edible rather than wax but I wasn’t taking any chances so trimmed it off.

I’d also bagged some marked down parsnips. I initially intended to roast these with Sunday lunch but got distracted parboiling them so they ended up as mash instead.

So yes that’s simply parsnips mashed up and you let the smoked cheese melt into it whilst they’re still hot. No need to add butter but I did give them a sneaky grind of salt and pepper. A dead easy alternative to mashed potatoes. I didn’t tell Ted they were parsnips, I didn’t want to give him the opportunity to object and he gobbled them up without any problem!

This dish being made with reduced parsnips and locally bought smoked cheese is being entered into Credit Crunch Munch, organised by Helen and Camilla and this month hosted by Dinner With Crayons i.e. me;

Being sent to Cheese Please organised by Fromage Homage, this month with the themed “smoked cheese” and also to

Shop Local by Elizabeth’s Kitchen as the cheese was bought in a local independent shop.