Stir Fry - Vegetarian, Part 1

I have a tendency to underestimate how much food a dish will make, especially when that dish is stir-fry. This can be a problem when you don't have the containers to store left-overs. One option is, of course, to use half of the ingredients, but if you don't have the means of storing half an eggplant or an onion, that isn't really a choice.

Which means you still need more containers, in any case.

I love stir-fry because a) it is easy to make with whatever you have on hand or whatever's cheap in the store that week and b) you get a lot of different types of vegetables - which makes a nice change from three straight days of spaghetti and meatballs. I usually make chicken stir-fry and that gets me through a few days.

This time I decided to skip the chicken and try a few new vegetables.

Vegetarian Stir Fry 
Serves 6
Ingredients

• one head of broccoli
• one can of water chestnuts
• one onion, chopped
• four or five stalks of spring onions/scallions
• one cucumber
• one eggplant
• one package of snow peas
• two baby bok choi/pak choi
• one cup of basmati rice
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 - 1/3 bottle of stir fry marinade or sauce, according to taste
• rice

Cook the rice according to the instructions, either on the stove or in a rice cooker, if you have one. While the rice is cooking, heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan or wok on medium high heat. Chop the broccoli, cucumber, and eggplant and toss it into the pan. Add in the onion, the snow peas and the water chestnuts, stirring occasionally. Cut the bok choi and the spring onions into small pieces and throw them in, mixing well with the rest. Pour in the stir fry sauce and stir until everything is warm and mixed thoroughly. Serve with the rice.

As you can see, this is a lot of food. I even thought to myself as I was buying it, 'This is probably too much'. But I couldn't use half and store the rest for later, so it all went it.

See? I even needed two pots to hold it all.

There everything is, frying away.

This made a grand total of seven servings. Seven! I was lucky I found a few more containers from last semester or I would have had to throw some out. The problem, of course, is that I spent most of the week eating the same dish and I don't even want to think about stir-fry for a while. I need to re-think this ingredient list.

The sauce I used was Kikkoman Terriyaki Marinade, if only because there is no Wegmans here. Sadly, even Wegmans has re-done its line of sauces and the new version is nowhere near as good as the old bottle with the purple label.

Maybe I should get some freezer-safe containers and do some true batch cooking. 

Broccoli: EUR 1.29 at Lidl

Snow Peas: EUR 1.09 at Lidl

Cucumber: EUR 0.69 at Lidl

Eggplant: EUR 0.99 at Lidl

Spring Onions: EUR 0.79 at Lidl

Basmati Rice, 1/5 of a bag at EUR 1.49/bag = EUR 0.30 at Lidl

Bok Choi: EUR 1.99 at Tesco

Onion: EUR 0.42 at Tesco

Water Chestnuts: EUR 1.05 at Tesco

Stir Fry Sauce, 1/3 of a 250ml bottle at EUR 3.59/bottle = EUR 1.20 at Tesco

Vegetable Oil, 1/10 of a bottle at EUR 1.59/bottle = EUR 0.16 at Lidl

Total Cost: EUR 11.96 for seven servings, or EUR 1.71 for one serving

Sausage and Bean Hotpot - Take 2

After my adventures with the recipe for the Sausage and Bean Hotpot, I decided to give it another go.

My modified recipe:

Sausage and Bean Hotpot

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

• 8 Irish Pork Sausages
• 1 can tomato puree or tomato sauce
• 1 can plum or cherry tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 3-5 chopped garlic cloves
• 3 x 400g/14oz cans beans (any kind)
• 1 tbsp muscovado sugar (sort of like brown sugar)
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

In a large casserole, fry the garlic, onions and sausages in  vegetable oil until the sausages are browned - about 10 mins.

Add the tomato sauce and tomatoes, stirring well, then stir in the beans, sugar and mustard. Bring to the simmer and cook for 20-30 mins. Serve with bread.

Frying first the garlic and onions then adding the sausages:

Adding in everything else and letting it simmer for 20-30 minutes: (Make sure your dish is large enough to hold everything)

Then serve: 

Thoughts: Even after all this, I still can't recommend this recipe. It ranged from being too spicy (wherever the English mustard is) to being too bland (everywhere else). Plum tomatoes are, apparently, the size of regular tomatoes and nearly caused my dish to spill out over the stove. On that note, two onions were overkill and took up a lot of room - if I make this again I will use only one. 

For the beans: I used two cans of baked beans and one can of mixed beans and the mixed beans were surprisingly bland. Given how cheap they were, this should not have been surprising. 

Still, it was cheap, made four meals and was full of protein.

For these reasons, I'm shelving this recipe unless I can figure out a way to make the tastes blend together better. 

8 Irish Sausages: EUR 0.95 at Aldi
Baked Beans, 2 cans at EUR 0.29 a can = EUR 0.58 at Aldi
Canned Plum Tomatoes: EUR 0.37 at Aldi
Mixed Beans: EUR 0.99 at Tesco
Tomato Puree: EUR 0.49 at Tesco
Red Onion: EUR 0.22 at Tesco
Yellow Onion EUR 0.33 at Tesco
Garlic Cloves, 1/2 of a bulb at EUR 0.85 for four bulbs  = EUR 0.11 at Lidl
Vegetable Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 1.35/bottle = EUR 0.07 at Aldi
English Mustard, 1/40 of a bottle at EUR 0.45/bottle = EUR 0.01 at Lidl
Dark Muscovado Sugar, 1/100 of a bag at EUR 1.65/bag = EUR 0.02 at Tesco
Total Cost: EUR 4.14 for 4 servings or EUR 1.04 per serving

Pasta with Roasted Vegetables

It seems all the pasta dishes are turning out extraordinarily delicious and everything else... is not.

The original recipe (probably from BBC Good Eats):

Pesto Penne with Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients

• 75g (3oz) penne pasta
• 1 red pepper, chopped into large strips
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped into large strips
• 1 red onion, peeled and quartered
• A handful of cherry tomatoes, whole
• 3-4 whole cloves of garlic
• 1 aubergine (eggplant) or 1 courgette(zucchini), or a mixture of both (optional), chopped into cubes
• Olive oil
• A handful of toasted pine nuts, optional (in oven for 5 minutes)
• Pesto

Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°F/ Gas Mark 4

Place the chopped onions and the whole garlic in a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper

Cook in a preheated oven for 5 minutes

After five minutes add the peppers, tomatoes and (optional) courgettes or aubergines. Sprinkle with a little more olive oil, salt and pepper

Roast the vegetables for about 20 minutes or until cooked. Check half-way through. Be careful not to overcook – the vegetables should maintain some bite.

When the vegetables have been in the oven for 10 minutes, and about 10 minutes before they are ready, cook the pasta as per packet instructions: this should take about 7-10 minutes. If the pasta is cooked before the vegetables, simply leave it to one side – it doesn’t need to be hot for this dish

Finally, mix together the pasta, pesto, and roasted vegetables. To finish, try sprinkling with toasted pine nuts and some freshly grated parmesan

This is what I actually did:

Pesto Penne with Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients

• 500g penne pasta
• 1 red onion, peeled and quartered
• A carton of cherry tomatoes, whole
• One head of broccoli, chopped into small pieces
• 3-4 whole cloves of garlic
• 2 courgette(zucchini), sliced
• Olive oil
• A handful of toasted pine nuts, optional (in oven for 5 minutes)
• Pesto

Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°F/ Gas Mark 4

Place the chopped onions and the whole garlic in a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil

Cook in a preheated oven for 5 minutes

After five minutes add the tomatoes, broccoli and courgettes. Sprinkle with a little more olive oil

Roast the vegetables for about 20 minutes or until cooked. Check half-way through. Be careful not to overcook – the vegetables should maintain some bite. Toast the pine nuts while the vegetables are cooking.

When the vegetables have been in the oven for 10 minutes, and about 10 minutes before they are ready, cook the pasta as per packet instructions: this should take about 7-10 minutes.

Finally, mix together the pasta, pine nuts, pesto and roasted vegetables. 

I meant to add the pesto, I really did. I just forgot until I was cleaning up.

Before roasting:

 The pine nuts, cooking:

After roasting:

All mixed together:

And one serving:

I seem to be having luck with pasta dishes - this was very delicious and it made 5-6 servings.

Broccoli: EUR 1.39 at Lidl
2 Zucchini: EUR 1.29 at Lidl
Red Onion: EUR 0.22 at Tesco
Carton of Cherry Tomatoes: EUR 1.89 at Lidl (approximate)
Pine Nuts, 1/4 of a bag at EUR 3.99/bag = 1.00 at Tesco
Fusilli: EUR 0.49 at Lidl
Olive Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 3.99/bottle: EUR 0.20 at Aldi
Garlic Cloves: 1/2 of a bulb at EUR 0.85 for 4 bulbs = EUR 0.11 at Lidl
Total Cost: EUR 6.59 for 5-6 servings or EUR 1.32/1.10 for one serving

Chocolate Pots

Time for something sweet! I picked up this recipe from the Irish Cheap Eats site.

Chocolate Pots

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 125ml cream (I used 250ml)
• 1tsp honey
• an egg

Melt the dark chocolate with the cream and honey and let it cool. Stir in the egg until glossy and smooth, then pour into three espresso cups or ramekins. You can sprinkle with chocolate shavings, or chopped crystallised ginger if feeling adventurous. Chill and then take out 20 mins before serving.

I stopped paying attention to the directions after stirring in the egg. There was enough for two cups, which I refrigerated for 5 minutes before serving so they were still warm.

 

 

This was sweet but it wasn't exciting. It tasted exactly like you would think liquid chocolate would taste, and while it was good, it wasn't good enough to make again.

Dark Chocolate, 100g: EUR 0.89
Fresh Cream, 1/2 of a 500ml bottle at EUR 1.99/bottle = EUR 1.00
1 Egg, at 1 6-egg carton at EUR 1.09/carton = EUR 0.18
Honey, roughly 1/10 of a bottle at EUR 2.35/bottle = EUR 0.24
Total Cost: EUR 2.24 for two servings or EUR 1.12 for one serving

Edit: Jan 23, 2013

I have remade this dish and let one glass sit for 30 minutes and the other glass sit for 3 hours. Neither improved the taste. I have concluded that this dish is a flop.

Lebanese Style Shepherd's Pie

I can't quite remember where I found this Lebanese Style Shepherd's Pie but it was an interesting experiment.

What I copied down:

Lebanese Style Shepherd’s Pie

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
200g minced lamb*
1 tablespoon pine nuts
salt and pepper
4-5 large potatoes, boiled and mashed
3 tablespoons butter
100g dried bread-crumbs

Preheat oven to 180c (Gas mark 4).

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan, add the onion and cook, stirring until tender. Add the meat, pine nuts, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the meat is browned.

2. Place the warm mashed potato in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of butter and some salt and pepper and mix well.

3. Grease a deep baking tray with the remaining butter. Spread half of the mashed potato in the tray. Spread the meat mixture over in one layer, then spread the rest of the mash on top.

Sprinkle the bread-crumbs on top and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden.

*I didn't try it but I'm sure minced beef could be substituted for the lamb.

The first thing I did was to cook and mash the potatoes. While we did have a vegetable peeler, I found out too late that it is incredibly dull and cannot actually peel. Whoops...

I ended up leaving the peel on and cut the potatoes into slices. These were cooking while I prepared the rest of the meal.

 I chopped the onion into tiny pieces and cooked that in the oil for a few minutes.

 I threw in the minced lamb and the pine nuts and let that brown while I mashed the potatoes. I didn't have a potato masher, only a fork, so the potatoes were pretty lumpy. I didn't particular care either way. They were cooked through and they tasted good.

I spread half of the potatoes on the baking dish then dumped the onion-lamb mix and the rest of the potatoes. That cooked for about 20 minutes, until the tops of the potatoes started turning brown.

I ate after half of it and refrigerated the other half for another day. 

This one looks like another miss. I don't look forward to mashing potatoes by hand again and while I could use instant mashed potatoes, it seems sacrilegious to use instant when I'm in Ireland. The mixture itself was somewhat tasty but mostly bland. I enjoyed eating it, certainly, but between the equipment needed and the disappointing lack of leftovers relative to the cost, I will be shelving this recipe.

Perhaps I was a bit too ambitious?

Food used for the first time: Potatoes, lamb

Minced lamb, 208g at EUR 10.99/kg = EUR 2.29 at the local butcher's

Vegetable Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 1.35/bottle = EUR 0.07 at Aldi

Onion, 0.185 kg at EUR 1.39/kg = EUR 0.26 at Tesco

Pine nuts, 1/4 of a bag at EUR 3.99/bag = EUR 1.00 at Tesco

Baby Potatoes, 2/3 of a bag at EUR 1.19/bag = EUR 0.80

Total Cost: EUR 4.42 for two servings or EUR 2.21 for one serving

Cherry Tomato, Kale, Goat's Cheese and Pesto Pasta

In which I learn that I should read the cooking directions as well as the ingredients before going food shopping. Nevertheless, this (extraordinarily) modified pasta dish was tasty and made 6 servings - leaving a ton of leftovers.

This was the recipe I copied from BBC Good Eats:

Cherry Tomato, Kale, Ricotta and Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tsp crushed chilli flakes
• 2 x 400g cans cherry tomatoes
• 500g penne
• 200g kale, chopped
• 4 tbsp ricotta
• 4 tbsp fresh pesto
• Parmesan or vegetarian alternative, to serve (optional)

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic and cook for 2 mins until golden. Add the chilli flakes and tomatoes, season well, and simmer for 15 mins until the sauce is thick and reduced.
2. While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta following pack instructions - add the kale for the final 2 mins of cooking. Drain well and stir into the sauce, then divide between 4 bowls. Top each with a dollop of ricotta, a drizzle of pesto and shavings of Parmesan, if you like.

This was the recipe I actually made:

Cherry Tomato, Kale, Goat's Cheese and Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 cartons of cherry tomatoes
• 500g fusilli or penne
• 200g kale, chopped
• Goat's cheese
• 4 tbsp fresh pesto

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic and cook for 2 mins until golden. 
2. While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta following pack instructions - add the kale for the final 2 mins of cooking. Drain well and stir the pesto and garlic into the pasta. Wash the tomatoes and add to the bowl. Spoon out a serving and top with a dollop of goat cheese.

To explain: when I'm out shopping, I tend to make substations on the fly if I can't find what I'm looking for (see: subbing tomato paste for tomato sauce) so when I found cartons of cherry tomatoes, I picked them up, especially since I thought 800 grams of cherry tomatoes would be a lot. Turns out, that was needed to make sauce. I didn't feel like making my own type of tomato sauce so I modified the recipe to one with no sauce and with whole cherry tomatoes.

I also hate chilies so I cut that out and because I could not find ricotta, I used goat's cheese. Lidl was having a special on 500 gram fusilli so I substituted that in for the penne.

I chose this recipe because kale is apparently seasonal to January and I had never tried kale before. Strangely, I couldn't find it at Lidl or Aldi and I could barely find it at Tesco. I wonder if kale's not too popular here in Ireland?

Ingredients: Vegetable oil, 2 cartons of cherry tomatoes, fusilli pasta, pesto sauce, kale, garlic, goat's cheese


First I chopped the garlic cloves, then cooked them.

I let those sit and cool while I boiled water for the pasta.

Like before, I needed two pans for all the pasta.

While the water was boiling and the pasta was cooking, I chopped up the kale. 

Man, was there a lot of it! This whole mess was 200g worth of veggies.

When the pasta needed only two more minutes, I dumped the kale into the boiling water.

Both of the pots went into the strainer under cold water.

I added the garlic, four spoonfuls of pesto and the cherry tomatoes.

I spooned out a serving and added the goat's cheese.

I had another serving and there was still enough left for four containers!


In other news, another cutting board and two more knives, along with what appears to be a measuring cup, have appeared in the kitchen! Maybe by the end of the week a set of measuring spoons will have appeared.

This was my first time cooking with both garlic cloves and kale and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. While not quite as tasty as the Penne with Roasted Fennel, it was still delicious and I would definitely make this dish again.

Now that I think about it, all of these recipes have some ingredient that I'm using for the first time. I guess I should start tracking that.

Food used for the first time: Kale, Garlic cloves

Vegetable Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 1.35/bottle = EUR 0.07 at Aldi
Garlic Cloves, 1/4 of a bulb at EUR 0.85 for 4 bulbs = EUR 0.23 at Lidl
Cherry Tomatoes, 2 Cartons at EUR 0.89/carton = EUR 1.78 at Lidl
Soft Goat's Cheese, 1/2 carton at EUR 1.99/carton = EUR 1.00 at Lidl
Pesto Genovese, 1/2 bottle at EUR 0.95/bottle = EUR 0.48 at Lidl
500g Fusilli: EUR 0.95 at Lidl
200g Curly Kale: EUR 1.69 at Tesco
Total Cost: EUR 6.20 for 6 servings or EUR 1.03 per serving

Sausage and Bean Hotpot - Take One

First things first, I was disappointed by this recipe. However, I believe this meal can be saved through modifications, which I will explain at the end.

I copied this recipe either from the Irish Cheap Eats or BBC Good Food. It can be made gluten free.

Bean and Sausage Hotpot

Serves 4

Ingredients

• large sausages (course-cut ones like Toulouse or Cumberland are ideal)
• ¼ quantity tomato sauce (see 'Goes well with')
• 3 x 400g/14oz cans butter beans
• 1 tbsp black treacle or muscovado sugar
• 1 tsp English mustard

In a large casserole, fry the sausages until brown all over - about 10 mins.

Add the tomato sauce, stirring well, then stir in the beans, treacle or sugar and mustard. Bring to the simmer, cover and cook for 30 mins. Great served with crusty bread or rice.

Ok, I obviously have no idea what I was doing when I copied this down. 1/4 quantity tomato sauce? What does that even mean? I eventually just bought a can of tomato puree because I couldn't find tomato sauce.  Lidl and Aldi did not have plain tomato sauce, only pasta sauce. Tesco had every other type of canned tomato product, including plum tomatoes in tomato sauce, but I could not find it. I assumed Toulouse and Cumberland are brand names but I couldn't find them anywhere, so I used Aldi's 8 Irish pork sausages instead.

Here are my modifications:

Bean and Sausage Hotpot

Serves 3

Ingredients

• 8 Irish Pork Sausages
• 1 can tomato puree or tomato sauce
• 3 x 400g/14oz cans butter beans
• 1 tbsp muscovado sugar (sort of like brown sugar)
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 1 tbsp olive oil

In a large casserole, fry the sausages until brown all over - about 10 mins.

Add the tomato sauce, stirring well, then stir in the beans, sugar and mustard. Bring to the simmer, cover and cook for 30 mins. Serve with bread.

To be fair, this was a pretty easy meal to make.

First, I sliced open the sausage and divided each into three sections. I heated the olive oil in a frying pan and browned the sausages.

When the sausages were brown on the bottom, I opened the tomato puree can and the three butter bean cans and tossed them in. Remember, I still don't have measuring tools, so I used a small spoonful of both the sugar and the mustard. English mustard is pretty spicy but the small amount gives the meal a little kick.

My pan doesn't have a top either, so I brought the mixture to a simmer and let it sit for 30 mins. There was enough water in the butter beans cans that it didn't matter if water boiled off.

I spooned out a serving and topped it off with some bread slices.

There was enough for another two servings, which became my lunch for the next two days.

Frankly, this meal did not impress me. I had never tried butter beans before and they were tasteless. I don't know if they were suppose to absorb the flavor but these definitely did not. There were so many of them too! The only things of substance in this dish were the beans and sausages. When one half of the meal was bland, you tend not to think much of it.

On the other hand, these Irish sausages were phenomenal! They were so tasty and delicious that I have to try them again. That is why I will try a heavily modified version of this recipe in the future.

I will use different beans, possibly a mixture of butter beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, what ever is on sale. The problem with the butter beans was that there was no variety in the taste. I will probably use butter beans again, but not as much and combined with other types of beans.

I will also add an onion. I love onions and this meal could use some sort of vegetable. I do think it would go well with a spinach salad, which would give it a helping of veggies.

I wouldn't recommend this recipe as it stands today but I will try again in another month.

8 Irish Sausages: EUR 0.95 at Aldi
English Mustard, 1/40 of a bottle at EUR 0.45/bottle = EUR 0.01 at Lidl
Olive Oil, 1/20 of a 1L bottle at EUR 3.99/bottle = EUR 0.20 at Aldi
Butter Beans, 3 cans at EUR 0.99/can = EUR 2.97 at Tesco
Dark Muscovado Sugar, 1/100 of a bag at EUR 1.65/bag = EUR 0.02 at Tesco
Roma Tomato Puree: EUR 0.69 at Tesco
Total Cost: EUR 4.84 for three servings or EUR 1.61 for one serving