Warm Avocado Salad with Spicy Chorizo

Warm Avocado Salad with Spicy Chorizo
Serves 4

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small ciabatta , torn into small bite-pieces
• 200g sliced chorizo
• 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 medium avocado, cubed
• 200g spinach
• 100g kale (leftover from here)

1. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Fry the ciabatta for 8-10 minutes, tossing occasionally, until starting to crisp and brown, then tip into a large salad bowl.
2. Lay the chorizo in the pan and dry-fry for 2 minutes until it gives out a red oil. Toss in the tomatoes and cook over a high heat for 1-2 minutes until they start to soften. Drizzle over the vinegar, add the sugar and season well.
3. Gently toss the avocado, salad and remaining olive oil with the croutons. Spoon over the chorizo and tomatoes and drizzle with any pan juices. Serve immediately.

From http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1891/warm-avocado-salad-with-spicy-chorizo

This meal was alright the night I made it, but vinegar soaked bread and spinach does -not- keep well. There isn't even a good way of separating out the ingredients and recombining them later. I'm writing this recipe off as a loss and I'm pretty sure I won't be using chorizo any time soon.

Chorizo, 2/3 of a 300g pack at EUR 2.99/pack = EUR 2.00 at Lidl
Balsamic Vinegar, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 1.29/bottle = EUR 0.06 at Lidl
Baby Spinach: EUR 1.49 at Tesco
Kale, 1/2 of a bag at EUR 1.69/bag = EUR 0.85 at Tesco
Cherry Tomatoes: EUR 1.79 at Tesco
Avocados: EUR 0.59 * 2 = EUR 1.18 at Tesco
Ciabatta Roll: EUR 0.39 at Tesco
Olive Oil, 1/10 of a bottle at EUR 3.99/bottle = EUR 0.40 at Aldi
Total Cost: EUR 8.16 for 4 servings or EUR 2.04 for one serving

Kale, Chorizo and Bean Stew

Kale, Chorizo and Bean Stew

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• olive oil
• 100g chorizo, chopped into pieces
• 500ml chicken stock
• 100g curly kale, chopped
• 400g  of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1. Cook the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil until soft and starting to color. Add the chorizo and cook until it starts to release its oil. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer.
2. Drop in the kale and beans and simmer for about 6-7 minutes until the kale is tender, then serve.

Once again, I'm not sure where I found this recipe. It's not an actual stew, by the way, it is way too watery for that. 

Honestly, there was nothing about this dish to recommend it - it was pretty bland.

Chorizo, 100g of a 300g packet at EUR 2.99/packet = EUR 1.00 at Lidl

1 Onion: EUR 0.53 at Tesco

400g can of cannelli beans: EUR 0.99 at Tesco

Curly Kale, 1/2 of a bag at EUR 1.69/bag = EUR 0.85 at Tesco

Garlic, 1/8 of a bulb at EUR 0.85 for 4 bulbs = EUR 0.03 at Lidl

Olive Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 3.99/bottle = EUR 0.20 at Aldi

Chicken Stock Pot, 1 of 4 at EUR 1.99/packet = EUR 0.50 at Lidl

Total Cost: EUR 4.10 for two servings or EUR 2.05 for one serving

Fried Eggs and Sauteed Rosemary Potatoes

From http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2948/fried-eggs-with-rosemary-sauted-potatoes:

Fried Eggs with Rosemary Sauteed Potatoes

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 425g new potatoes
• 1 tbsp butter
• a few springs of rosemary leaves, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp oil
• 150-200g of spinach

1. Cut the potatoes into cubes and, in a large frying pan, fry them in butter for 15 mins until golden and cooked through.
2. Five minutes in, throw in the onions  
3. Tip in chopped rosemary leaves and fry for a few minutes until softened.
4. Push the potatoes and onions to the side of the pan and add a further 1tbsp oil or butter. Break in the eggs and fry to your taste.
5. Serve the potatoes piled on two plates and top each serving with a fried egg and spinach on the side, or fry only one egg and save half of the potatoes for leftovers

This was pretty delicious and a well balanced meal. I don't think the spinach went too well with it but that might have been the brand. When I used the leftovers, I fried the spinach leaves in a bit of olive oil and that went over better.
Conceptually, all this took was some chopping and frying. There was nothing too complicated about it and there was enough for two servings.

2 Eggs, of a carton of 6 at EUR 2.09/carton = EUR 0.70 at Lidl
Baby Potatoes, 1/2 of a 1 kg bag at EUR 1.09/bag = EUR 0.55 at Lidl
Rosemary, 1/2 of a packet at EUR 1.19/packet = EUR 0.60 at Tesco
Onion: EUR 0.29 at Tesco 
Olive Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 3.99/bottle = EUR 0.20 at Lidl
Spinach, 1/6 of a bag at EUR 1.39/bag = EUR 0.23 at Lidl
Total Cost: EUR 2.57 for two servings or EUR 1.29 for one serving

Broiled Cheese, Honey and Apple Open Sandwiches

I got this recipe from a friend:

Broiled Cheese, Honey and Apple Open Sandwiches
1. Two slices of bread (Soft and white works best, but any kind will do)
2. Goat cheese or other soft cheese or other sliced cheese
3. Apple, sliced thinly
4. Honey
5. Sliced Almonds (Optional)

Preheat oven to "broil", 500 F or 250C. Spread cheese on bread, then broil till it's sufficiently crispy/melty for your tastes. Optional: place almonds and apples on before broiling, to make them extra crispy/toasty.
Place apple slices on bread (if they're not there already), drizzle honey, and you're done!

Sourdough bread...

With cheddar cheese...

and one topped with apple slices.

Right after broiling

One with broiled apple slices, one with crisp apple slices, drizzled with honey

The sandwiches, with leftover apple pieces

This was really good! The cheese melts into the bread and makes it soft - I think this would work even with stale bread. There wasn't really a difference between the broiled apple slices and the crisp ones: the honey was perhaps better discernible with the crisp slices. That would be delicious with wildflower honey or blueberry honey. The broiled slices were softer and the sandwich didn't fall apart as often.

The bread was Tesco's Sourdough bloomer, the cheese was Tesco's Cathedral City Mild Cheddar, the apple was from Lidl and the honey was a generic brand from Dunnes.

Modified Plowman's Lunch

Also known as 'what did I have in my pantry?'

This, apparently

That is two slices of bread with mild cheddar cheese, one sliced apple, and three carrots cut into strips. Making a meal does not get much easier than this. And it was delicious and cheap.

Keep in mind that this is the same day I made the Irish Breakfast and the Chunky Sausage and Tomato Pasta. I would wager that this plate here would work out to less than EUR 2, so the cost for food for the entire day was about EUR 5.

Chunky Sausage and Tomato Pasta

When I made my version of the Irish Breakfast, I had 6 sausages left over. Because I didn't have a way of safely storing pork, I used up the rest of the sausages later that day in this dish:

Chunky Sausage and Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 thick pork sausages , cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500g box of passata (seived tomato sauce)
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 500g penne

1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the sausages. Fry for about 8 mins until golden and cooked through. Tip in the garlic and fry for 1 min. 
2. Stir in the tomato passata and tomatoes and simmer for 15 mins.
3. While the sauce cooks, boil the pasta according to pack instructions and drain. Stir the cooked pasta into the sauce, then serve in bowls.

Modified from: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2625/chunky-sausage-and-tomato-pasta

There wasn't much to this dish, which is probably why it is the cheapest I've made yet. It used up the extra sausage and made several leftovers but it wasn't anything special.

6 Sausages from a pack of 8 at EUR 0.95/pack = EUR 0.71 at ALdi

400g can of Chunky Chopped Tomatoes with Herbs: EUR 0.49 at Aldi

500g package of Passata: EUR 0.59 at Aldi

500g of penne: 0.49 at Lidl
1/20 of a bottle of Olive Oil at EUR 3.99/bottle = EUR 0.20 at Aldi
Garlic Cloves: 1/6 of a bulb at EUR 0.85 for 4 bulbs = EUR 0.04 at Lidl

Total Cost: EUR 2.52 for 5 servings or EUR 0.50 per serving

Irish Breakfast - Take 1

Irish Breakfast 
Serves 1
Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 sausage links
• 2 slices of bread
• 1/3 of a can of baked beans
• 1 tomato
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 2 tbsp of olive oil

Cut the tomato in half and place on a roasting tray. Roast in the oven on 180C for 15 minutes or until the skin starts pulling back from the fruit. While the tomato is roasting, cook the sausage in the olive oil until the sausage is browned all over and is no longer pink in the middle.

Fry the eggs sunny-side up in the butter to your liking as the sausages are cooking. While the eggs are cooking, slice the bread if necessary and heat the baked beans in the microwave if they are cold.

Serve the bread, tomato, beans, sausages and eggs together and enjoy.

This was my own spin on the Irish Breakfast, traditionally made with fried eggs, sausage, rashers (slabs of bacon), white sausage, black sausage, toast and occasionally with tomatoes or beans.

The meal was about pub-level quality (meaning decent but certainly a lot cheaper) but not good enough to run out every weekend for the ingredients. If the mood hits me, I will make it again but certainly not very often.

2 Eggs, from a carton of 6 at EUR 2.09/carton = EUR 0.70 at Lidl
2 Sausages, from a pack of 8 at EUR 0.95/pack = EUR 0.24 at Aldi
1/3 of a can of baked beans at EUR 0.29/can = EUR 0.10 at Aldi
1 Tomato: EUR 0.41 at Lidl
Sourdough Bread, 1/8 of a loaf at EUR 2.05/loaf = EUR 0.26 at Tesco
Total Cost: EUR 1.71, plus the cost of the olive oil and butter

Smoked Salmon and Avocado Open Sandwich

Smoked Salmon and Avocado Open Sandwich

Serves 1

Ingredients

• ½ avocado
• lemon juice (optional)
• 1 slice of bread
• a few slices of smoked salmon, about 20g

Scoop out the avocado into a bowl and mash, with a few drops of lemon juice if desired. Spoon the mash onto the bread, top with the smoked salmon and enjoy.

From: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5127/open-sandwiches--smoked-salmon-and-avocado-on-rye

I have apparently forgotten what it was like to make a meal and not have leftovers. This was a delightful little sandwich that was made, eaten and done with in 10 minutes. I, of course, had two because how do you store half an avocado? You don't, obviously.

Two slices of sourdough bread

Not exactly mashed avocado

Two open sandwiches

The original recipe called for rye bread but that apparently doesn't exist in Ireland, so I went for sourdough instead. Frankly, any type of bread would work.

This sandwich does fall apart easily - the avocado tended to fall off as I ate it. Still, it was delicious and easy to make so I will certainly make this again.

Sourdough Bread, 1/6 of a loaf at EUR 2.05/loaf = EUR 0.34 at Tesco
1 Avocado: EUR 0.59 at Tesco
Smoked Salmon, 40g grams: EUR 1.69 at Tesco
Total Cost: EUR 2.62 for two sandwiches or EUR 1.31 for one sandwich

Salmon with Cucumber Avocado Salsa

This was a risk - I had never cooked salmon before and I was hesitant to move away from pasta/rice/potato dishes. I'm glad to say it worked out! I will be keeping this recipe even though it is more expensive than my previous dishes.

I got this recipe from http://www.thespinachspot.com/2012/05/salmon-with-cucumber-avocado-salsa.html.

My version:

Salmon with Cucumber Avocado Salsa

Cucumber Avocado Salsa

2 avocados, cubed

1 cucumber, cubed

1 yellow onion, diced

3 tbsp basil, chopped

1tbsp olive oil

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Mix together, refrigerate until needed.

Salmon

1 salmon filet

1 tsp olive oil

Lemon juice

Rub salmon filet with olive oil and squeeze a few drops of lemon juice onto the filet. Fry the filet skin side down in a frying pan for 4-5 minutes on medium high heat until the skin is golden brown. Flip the filet over and fry the other side for another 4-5 minutes or until the fish is pink all the way through.

Serve with spinach or kale. 

The cucumber and avocado are hidden behind the salmon

The cucumber avocado salsa

Frying the salmon

One serving of salmon, salsa and spinach

Overall I am very pleased with this dish. It has a good serving of vegetables and protein, which is something I've been missing in the pasta dishes. I've discovered that salmon is very easy to cook and it goes well with the spinach and the salsa.

Notes:

I really like avocados so although I don't like cucumbers that much, the salsa came out well. I accidentally added parsley along with the basil so it was a little over-spiced.  I would substitute the red onion back in for the yellow onion - the onion was a little bitter. The salsa itself made 8 servings which meant I was eating it for the better part of a week - I'm sure cucumber doesn't freeze well but there must be a way of storing it. 

The 200g bag of spinach made 7 servings and the salmon filet made only two. In order to use up the salsa, I bought another filet a few days later, I made rice and served that instead of salmon, and I just had it plain with the spinach. 

It is really a meal that should be made for multiple people (3-4). Despite that, I enjoyed this recipe and will definitely make it again.

Cucumber Avocado Salsa:

1 Cucumber: EUR 1.18 at Tesco

2 Avocados: EUR 1.18 at Tesco

1 Onion: EUR 0.23 at Tesco

Lemon Juice, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 0.79/bottle = EUR 0.04 at Tesco

Basil, 1/10 of a bottle at EUR 0.35/bottle = EUR 0.04

Olive oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 3.99/bottle = EUR 0.20 at Lidl

Total Cost: EUR 2.87 for 8 servings or EUR 0.36 for one serving

Salmon:

1 Salmon Filet: EUR 3.00 at the local fisherman

Olive oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 3.99/bottle = EUR 0.20 at Lidl

Lemon Juice, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 0.79/bottle = EUR 0.04 at Tesco

Total Cost: EUR 3.24 for 2 servings or EUR 1.62 for one serving

Spinach, 200g bag: EUR 2.49 at Tesco

Total Cost: EUR 2.49 for 7 servings or EUR 0.36 for one serving

Total Cost for one serving: EUR 2.34

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