January 2014 Grocery Challenge

K9sandFelines

In_it_not_to_giveitaway wrote: »

Zest all the clementines and then, using a sharp knife (I use a stanley knife that I keep in the kitchen for finely slicing ginger etc), cut out the triangles of flesh from the clementines. Per 8 clementines - one teaspoon of chinese five spice, one teaspoon of ground ginger, one teaspoon of ground cinnamon, finely shred half an inch square of raw ginger into a pan with boiling water from the kettle just covering the clementine flesh. Add the zest and juice of two lemons to make it more tart at this stage and for the pectin that helps thicken the sauce. Add the finely chopped flesh of an apple and half a handful of raisins/sultanas to make up the constituency numbers. Add a shot of port/madeira.

Bring to the boil and then very gently simmer for about 40 mins.

Now the tricky bit. Essentially, a sauce that complements game needs to balance tartness with the sweetness of the meat, so the sweeter the meat the more tart it needs to be (hence you don't put sugar in apple sauce for pork). Pheasant is quite a fatty game and so is quite sweet, so using clementines that are less tart than lemons means that you need to add lemons so that you can judge the sweetness later in the simmer process as you go. You need to bear in mind that as you taste it the alcohol will make it taste more tart until it has burned off so wait for about 25/30 mins in before deciding whether to add more sugar (and if you use muscavado/molasses rather than white sucrose, not only is it healthier, it better allows for misjudgement because a bit of lemon zest can always be added later). So it depends on what it is intended to accompany.

Don't allow it to reduce too much because it will get thicker as it cools owing to the pectin. The more lemon juice you have added the quicker and thicker it will set.

I have still got some home made cranberry sauce and tried fresh galangal and lemon grass (very finely sliced and soaked for a couple of hours in lime juice) and lime zest etc - absolutely smashing!

Thanks very much. Would just have it with Qiuorn chicken as don't eat meat.

Annie_99

Ive just got home from an unexpected weekend away with my dh. We had savings and got a good deal on a BB in Windermere so just took off and had a great time.
I have just done a £55 shop and we have tons in so ive put the other £70 left from the grocery budget away and hope I will only need bread and milk until payday..
Im feeling in much more control of our finances so thats great..!

Ladyluck1

£32.64 spent today in Mr T and Mr M. Few reduced meat bits too.
Will update siggy later

couponchaos

Have not been posting regularly as crazy shifts at work at the moment. Have spent £58 so far this month. Will update signature.

Fru-gal_2

Been supermarket shopping 3 times this weekend. 11 Aldo, 29 saino, and 1.5 saino ( forgot onions and decided diet hot choc was a good idea). So that's 42 added to signature. I was hoping for a cheap week as DH is away 4 days this week. Not sure what happened there. Must try harder!

just_the_two_of_us

Update - small grocery spends on Wed and Sat - totalling £4.26 - rest of days NSD. Sig updated.
Haven't had chance to read back but may do later - hope you are all doing brilliantly.

B**ts had loads of half price xmas gifts in on Friday including S*nctuary sets!

[Deleted User]

Another NSD for me.
I cooked the Pork Belly recipe from the front page of the challenge and it was very good.
Added pattypan squash (because we are overrun with them at the moment ) and carrots to the recipe. Would definitely make it again.


Have a couple of expensive days ahead. Family have arrived from the UK and we are taking them to Hastings tomorrow so will take advantage of the trip to stock up on summer fruit for bottling,

Soworried

meg72 wrote: »

Wow these do seem cheap, much better than the 1p a bag I usually set as my comfort zone.

They were on the weekend deal, 160pk for 99p, I love their weekend deals and tend to base our weeks meals around them but I am still using up ys from xmas

Our frugal meals this week will be gammon based.
I roasted the 3k ys £4 gammon that I defrosted yesterday, I made a dinner then I made a gammon and spring onion quiche and 2ltrs of gammon and yellow split pea soup. There is still a load left over for other meals.

peony40

Hello all,

No further grocery spends although i will be buying some eggs and butter this week as i have volunteered to make dad's 80th birthday cake,

Just wished to pop on and say thank you to mooomin as i made her recipe of chicken and chorizo gratin this evening and it was delicious.

Peony x

mooomin

peony40 wrote: »

Just wished to pop on and say thank you to mooomin as i made her recipe of chicken and chorizo gratin this evening and it was delicious.

Glad you liked it - I had it for dinner last night and lunch today :rotfl: