Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

valk_scot

thriftlady wrote: »

I've had a read of your meal plan ABmum. Great sounding cheap veggie meals there but I have to ask how your kids coped without a proper lunch (toast and a biscuit or scone) and just cornflakes or toast for breakfast? Mine wouldn't stand for it and I'd be worried about their ability to perform well at school.

Agreed...mine wouldn't last the morning on that lot. What happened to breakfast being the most important meal of the day? Kids need a steady supply of nutrient rich foods if they're going to grow properly and have lots of energy. Two out of three very small meals based almost exclusively on carbohydrate each day is not ideal for kids, surely?

Just hope the food budget stretches a bit more on other weeks, that's all!

cw18

My copy of the book arrived today - but probably won't get to read much of before the show tomorrow......

I've had a quick flick through, and I'm not sure that I like the use of all the different colours (both type and pages). I know I've needed to wear specs more over the last couple of years, but I'm really struggling with this book :eek:

mambury

well..... We had Norwegian fish pie for tea tonight and I can't say I was that impressed. The sauce itself was nice, the plain (wholemeal!) pasta was nice, the tuna was nice but together?????

I would recommend making more sauce and sweating the onions off a bit before adding to the pasta. It might be improved with the addition of some leek, or peas maybe?

I think I will have another go but improvise a bit. I tend to follow a recipe to the letter (ish:rolleyes:) for the first time and then play around a bit anyway.

The sauce, minus the seeds, with the cream cheese added is genius though and would be a very nice addition to a lasagne for example.

Anyway, hope my little experiment helps....

Mambury

MrsE_2

kingshir wrote: »

Finally!

As I said in a previous post this is a recipe that I got out of the Jackie Magazine and have been making for the last 40+ years:eek: It is gorgeous eaten straight away but IF you can wait 24hrs it gets all fudgey in the middle. It will keep for 2-3 weeks if kept in an airtight container, but I have to own up, it never last longer than 3-4 days in my house!:p

8oz margarine
16 oz brown sugar

Melt the above together in a big saucepan over a low heat and stir well. Remove from heat and add

8oz Plain Flour
1 level tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp salt*
8 tbs of cocoa
4 eggs

Beat together well and pour in a greased (and/or lined) 8 x 12 inch tin.
Depending on your oven (my old oven baked cooler so I used No 5) bake at no 4 for approx 35-45mins.

Mine is always very slightly crisped around the edges by the time the middle is cooked but if you don't like that you can cover it with tinfoil after 30mins or so.

I leave it to cool slightly and then cut into 1inch x 1 1/2 inch squares (the depth is a good 1 inch as well).

I don't do the topping but for those who like it -

8oz Icing Suguar
3 tbs cocoa
1 egg yolk
2 oz marg
3 tbs hot water.

Beat together until smooth and spread onto of the cooled brownies.

As with all recipes you can change things to suit yourself - ie white sugar instead of brown, butter instead of marg, a mix of cocoa and drinking chocolate but I personally wouldn't recommend replacing all the cocoa with drinking chocolate, the result is nowhere near as chocolatey!

The original recipe was for half the amount of the above ingredients but for us gannets that didn't make anywhere near enough;)

* I know that seems a lot of salt but it just doesn't taste as good with less IMHO:o

Hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do:D x

My work collegues are enjoying them right now:beer:
I did the topping too & I put the egg yolk in, but I'm wondering after should I have? With all we know about salmonella now a days is it better to omit it?

MrsE_2

mambury wrote: »

well..... We had Norwegian fish pie for tea tonight and I can't say I was that impressed. The sauce itself was nice, the plain (wholemeal!) pasta was nice, the tuna was nice but together?????

I would recommend making more sauce and sweating the onions off a bit before adding to the pasta. It might be improved with the addition of some leek, or peas maybe?

I think I will have another go but improvise a bit. I tend to follow a recipe to the letter (ish:rolleyes:) for the first time and then play around a bit anyway.

The sauce, minus the seeds, with the cream cheese added is genius though and would be a very nice addition to a lasagne for example.

Anyway, hope my little experiment helps....

Mambury

I'm planning on doing this Friday, I'm always keen for Tuna recipes as its the only fish (apart from shellfish) my DD likes & I hate tuna combined with tomato. I got a tin of anchovies in Waitrose for less than £1:D

ifonlyitwaseasier

well i'll have to watch tonights episode tomorrow as i have last minute tickets to the footie (C'Mon England!) but i'm looking forward to catching up with the critique

NoahsPennilessMummy

Thriftlady they have cooking Chorizo at Sainsburys and Tescos near the sausages. I also order them online from Spanish mail order places if I am needing some morcilla and paella rice etc. Another lovely similar thing is sobresada which is soft spreadable chorizo.

kingshir

MrsE wrote: »

My work collegues are enjoying them right now:beer:
I did the topping too & I put the egg yolk in, but I'm wondering after should I have? With all we know about salmonella now a days is it better to omit it?

Am so glad you like them:T I made some on Monday - they're nearly all gone now :eek:
Funnily enough I did wonder about the egg when I was typing the recipe out, I wouldn't worry personally but you could miss it out and I don't see that it would make any difference to the topping. Perhaps you could do a recipe search for a fudgey icing topping to use as a substitute if you are really concerned? 40+ years ago, we didn't know about samnonella:p

cw18

Don't forget the "Simple Suppers" show starts on BBC1 at 7:30pm today

So it's BBC1 from 7:30-8pm and then BBC2 for Economy Gastronomy from 8-9pm.

zippychick

I missed that. Must look it up. Also the cooking/food channel has a 4 ingredients show on each night i think. Rachel Allen? i only caught the tail end yesterday so have to actually look it up to find out more.