Hello everyone!!
Well, I know I suck for not updating this but I have some very sad news... my camera has died a sorry death so there will be no pictures from my kitchen anymore. However, this will not stop me cooking, so let's carry on shall we? I will take pictures from online where possible!!
I know a lot of people make everything from scratch but I'm afraid I do cheat sometimes, and I do this only with lasagne!!
Cheat's Lasagne, dairy free! (Serves 4-6)
Pack of lean mince 500-750g
2/3 jars of tomato pasta sauce that you really like, I use LIDL 89p a jar sauce or the £1 Bolognaise Sauce from Farmfoods
1/2 pack mushrooms, quartered
2 medium onions, peeled, sliced or chopped
1/2 courgette, cut into small cubes
HP Sauce
Tomato Ketchup
Worcester Sauce
Glass of red wine (optional)
Pack of lasagne sheets, can be gluten free (available from Real Foods, Asda & Tesco)
Large casserole dish
A medium-large pot
sunflower oil
salt & pepper
basil/oregano/Italian
Optional ingredients: olives, sweetcorn, peppers, spinach, chorizo...
Method
First off, what you are basically doing is making a meaty bolognaise without the spaghetti. Lasagne is in no way complicated and is very simple so take that out of your mind right now!
In the pot, heat up some oil and throw in the onions. Stir them to stop sticking. Cut up the mince with a knife while still in the packet, remember to take off the sheet of paper that's always at the bottom. Throw in the mince and stir it around until it starts to brown. Add a few squirts of ketchup, HP and Worcester sauce, this will flavour it nicely.
At this point you can also add the red wine. This makes your sauce richer and it also infuses the meat. I don't do this often (and hardly do so) as I don't drink red wine and then the bottle goes to waste, but any drinkers out there, feel free to add some of your glass into this recipe.
Add in one jar of tomato sauce. Re-fill the empty the jar with water, stick the lid back on, shake it so that all the remains of the sauce comes off the edges and pour that all into your pot. Leave this to boil for a while, mixing occasionally. If you have more than 500g of mince, I would say put in another half a jar of sauce, though it is up to you how you like your sauce. While you are doing this, pre-heat your oven to 180C.
After about 10 minutes, chuck in your mushrooms and courgette, stir it in nicely and add any herbs. I don't add seasoning until the very end or until I taste it, so don't put it in automatically as sometimes it's not needed. There's already a lot of salt in there from the various sauces after all.
After about another 10 minutes, your sauce should be ready. Make sure everything is piping hot and taste some of the sauce with a teaspoon to make sure it is to your satisfaction.
Take it off the heat and leave to cool and congeal slightly. In your casserole dish, spoon out one thin layer of your meat sauce and flatten it down. Add one layer of lasagne on top. Make sure you fill in the edges. Lasagne never cuts the way you want it, just break it and fill in the gaps, don't worry about any extra pieces. Fill in another layer of sauce and another layer of pasta.
You can do this until you run out of sauce, pasta or space, but always make sure you've got one final layer of pasta on top. I only do two layers because my dish is quite shallow. On top of the final layer of pasta, pour onto - and spread - more of the tomato jar sauce. Slip the dish into the oven, on a medium shelf, for 35-45 minutes. After 30 minutes, test your lasagne by slipping a sharp knife through the middle to check that the pasta is cooking.
After 40-45 minutes, your lasagne should be ready to take out. Make sure you leave around 10-15 minutes for the lasagne to cool down slightly. Divide up into squares, and serve with a green salad and if you want, garlic bread (I use toast with garlic rubbed onto it). Yum!
Here's something else to warm you up on a cold winter evening... for all allergy sufferers: dairy, gluten and wheat free!! Vegetarian and vegan!!
Simple Roast Tomato Soup (serves 3-4)
(this picture belongs to Allison Kaplan of askinyourface.com)
4 large tomatoes, washed and halved
100g or more cherry tomatoes, washed
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced/chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper (optional)
Medium sized pot
Baking tray
Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Method
On a baking tray, spread out the tomato halves and the cherry tomatoes, sprinkle in balsamic vinegar and oil and pop in the oven for 20 minutes.
Just before they're ready (you'll smell them, don't let them burn), fry up the garlic and onions in a pan. Take the tomatoes out of the oven and put them straight in the pan. Mix them in well, add 1/2 litre of hot water and simmer for 10 minutes. Take the pot off the heat and whizz mixture before returning it to the boil.
Serve up in big bowls, season to taste!
Well, I hope these recipes warm you up a bit as they have done me, and if you live alone, also like me, then the soup will do for lunches and the lasagne for dinners! Though you will have to put 2-3 portions of lasagne in the freezer for another time! If you do take the soup for lunch, here's a tip: freeze it the night before, then let it melt beside the sink in your staff canteen, then it'll be ready to pop it in the microwave (2 minutes) for lunch!
Lastly, I'm going to do a restaurant review. This is for the meat eaters, or carnivores as my vegetarian sister A likes to put it!
Zico's Grill Bar
97-101 Morrison Street, Edinburgh
http://www.zicosgrillbar.com/#!/home
What the restaurant says... "Feel the heat at Zico's Grill Bar, an authentic churrascaria, catering to diners with a love of the grill. The meat at Zico's Grill Bar is served in the traditional rodÃzio style, in which expert waiters come to tables with knives and a skewer, cutting freshly cooked meat while it’s still hot."
What I say...
I went as part of a Meet Up group, an online groups community, much like the sports and societies at School. It's free to join and this was the first time I'd been somewhere with this group. There were 18 of us hungry carnivores and we weren't disappointed. We'd all signed up to a Living Social deal, where our leader Jey had bought a 6 2-for-£23 deals originally and everyone else just bought their own. So my meal came to £12.50 plus drinks and a tip. I had a large guava juice for £2 (bargain!). A normal dinner here is £19.95 per adult.
First, we were all welcomed to the restaurant as a group and given a large table at the back. We were all told to help ourselves to the salad and carbs buffet which included all the normal things plus spicy rice and a creamy beef stroganoff. Water jugs were aplenty at our table, re-filled quickly (unlike some places!).
Soon the meat came out... on every table there were little white bowls with tongs, so that we could help the waitresses with the meat. One at a time, the servers would bring out a long skewer, squashed with meat, freshly hot from the kitchen. Each one would start slicing off the skewer (vertically) and someone at the table would have to take each slice from her and put it in the bowl. These bowls were added to in three different places up and down our table and then shared out among us.
First up there were some sausages followed by, in no particular order, honeyed ham, roast beef, top side beef, chicken thighs, chicken legs, beef rump steak, chicken hearts, beef ribs and garlic picanha. All rubbed with amazing herbs and spices! The garlic picanha was the best for sure, followed by the rump which was with rosemary. I have never been so full, it was all amazing! Lastly, a surprising pudding of roast pineapple with cinnamon!
Would I recommend it? Yes! There is nothing for a vegetarian here, sorry! But the meat is amazing, very well cooked and made to perfection! The staff were friendly, the drinks were cheap and the company was good too (go join a meet up group!). ****
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