Butternut Squash and Goat's Cheese Lasagne

I discovered the delicious combination of roasted butternut squash and goat's cheese at university when making cheapo pasta bakes. Since then I've smartened this recipe up a bit, developing it into a lasagne, which is of course a glorified pasta bake, but it seems to impress friends a little bit more.

These are the basic ingredients, although I actually missed the flour, butter, garlic and oil out of this shot for no apparent reason.

Serves 2 hungry people - fills a 22cm square tin.
Prep: 30 mins
Cooking time: 1hr 30min (but you can prep/relax during this time!)

Ingredients*:
50g plain flour (£0.015)
50g butter (£0.196)
500ml milk (£0.40)
Half a butternut squash (£0.50)
1 tbsp oil (olive, sunflower, vegetable - whatever you have) (£0.02)
2 cloves of garlic (£0.05)
500ml passata (£0.44)
9 lasagne sheets (£0.20)
1 tub of soft goat's cheese (£1.75)

Total price: £3.57 (or £1.79 per serving)

*All prices are taken from tesco.com and are correct at time of writing and are a priced according to the amount used.

Recipe:

1) Start by preheating the oven to 200C. Cut the butternut squash roughly into 1cm cubes, I kept the skin on, but you can peel if you prefer. Chuck the squash into a roasting tin (I used the same tin as I would make the lasagne in to save on washing), crush over 1 clove of garlic, pour over the oil, season with salt and pepper and stir it around a bit to make sure all the squash is coated and then roast in the oven for 50 minutes, or until soft.

2) When there is about 20 minutes left until the squash will be done, pour the passata into a saucepan, crush in the other garlic clove, season with salt and pepper and simmer on a low heat.

3) While the passata simmers, make the white sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan, and once melted add in the flour and stir to combine. Cook the flour out for a few minutes. Now add 100mls of the milk, and stir into the flour and butter mixture until it is well combined and the sauce is warmed through again. Keep repeating this process, 100ml at a time, until all the milk is added and the sauce is bubbling. The white sauce should be thick enough to coat the pack of a spoon. Once you have the right consistency, take the white sauce off the heat, or it will thicken further.

4) Take the squash out of the oven and if you are using the same dish for the lasagne, transfer the squash to a plate. Now it's time to start layering the dish. Start off by putting a third of the butternut squash into the lasagne dish; add a third of the tomato sauce to coat this and then a quarter of the goats cheese sprinkled on in small chunks. Layer 3 lasagne sheets over this - try not to overlap them or it will take longer to cook. Then spoon a third of the white sauce on top of the pasta sheets. Repeat this process (squash + tomato + goat's cheese --> lasagne sheets --> white sauce) until all 3 layers are done, ending with the white sauce, and then sprinkle the remaining quarter of the goat's cheese on top.

5) Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. If the top starts to get too brown before this time, put a sheet of  tin foil loosely over the top.

Serve with a salad of your choice.

Happy eating! SG x

Asian Inspired Chicken and Mushroom Noodle Soup

This dish is one of my go-to dishes when I'm feeling the pinch. The majority of the ingredients are ones that keep in your cupboard for a long time, and so I usually just need to pick up a bit of veg, a lime and (if I'm feeling rich) some chicken and I can knock something tasty up in minutes at minimum cost.

I was hesitant about posting this, as if you have to buy all the ingredients new then it will be on the expensive side. But, if you're like me and you cook a lot of east-Asian food, then you should already have a lot of this to hand.

When it comes to the veg, protein and noodles it's all up to your own tastes. Mushrooms are so cheap and yummy and so I like to use them, but add in some beansprouts (50p a pack) at the last minute for a nice crunch, or a bit of sweetcorn from a tin (30p) can be a nice addition too. You can use chicken, prawns, steak, quorn pieces or pork, whatever you have. This is basically something you can throw together with any Asiany leftovers.

I have done the recipe for 1 person as I was just cooking for myself, but simply multiply away to however many people you're cooking for.

So, enough babble, here is my basic recipe.

I've separated the necessary ingredients from the ones you can miss out if you need to save or don't have them already.

Feeds 1.

Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Necessary Ingredients

1 - 2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs (£1.16 for 2)

300ml Vegetable or Chicken Stock (2 tsp bouillon 2p)

1/2 - 1 tbsp Soy Sauce (5p)

1/2 - 1 tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce (or 1/2 tsp of dried chili flakes and 2 tsp sugar) (5p)

1/2 Lime (15p)

1 Portobello Mushroom (or 2 - 3 normal mushrooms) (20p)

3 - 4 Spring Onions (30p)

60g Flat Rice Noodles (20p)

Total just necessary: £2.13

Ingredients you could miss out

2tsp Chinese 5-spice (or equal quantities of cinnamon, cumin and coriander) (5p)

A sprinkling of Sesame seeds (3p)

1/2 tsp Thai Fish Sauce (3p)

A Small Thumb of Root Ginger, finely grated (5p)

1 Clove of Garlic, crushed (3p)

Small bunch of coriander leaves (40p)

Total with everything: £2.72

Recipe

1) Start by boiling a litre of water. Use 300mls of this for your stock cube and the remaining water to boil the rice noodles in a pan on the stove. 

2) Coat the chicken in the 5-spice, if you don't have 5-spice you can coat it in an equal mix of cinnamon, cumin and coriander, or just miss the coating out all together. Heat a frying pan with a little oil and then fry the chicken until just cooked through (about 4-5 minutes on each side for a flattened out chicken thigh).

3) Whilst the chicken is frying, heat a little oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic and ginger for 1 minute. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Add the soy sauce, sweet chili and fish sauce. Taste and then add more to balance out the flavours if needed.

4) Slice the mushroom into bite size slices and add to the broth. Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer to a chopping board, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and slice into 1cm slices. 

5) Drain the rice noodles, and place in the bowl you'll be eating from. Pour the broth over the noodles and then place the chicken on top. Slice the spring onions into thin circles, chop up the coriander leaves and sprinkle both on top of the noodles. Slice the lime and squeeze it over.

Eat and wonder at the deliciousness!

SG x

Spanish Omelette

 Spanish omelette is traditionally a 'peasant food' in Spain, so I thought what better a reflection of my peasant's salary than this to start off my blog. As would be expected from peasant food, it's super cheap to rustle up, but it really is the simplicity of the flavours that makes this so tasty. You're not missing out here by not having lots of different and expensive ingredients.   

Now I'm sure this is a very unauthentic, distant relation to what can truly be called a Spanish omelette, but Dios mío is it delicious. I was in a bit of a rush when making this, and so, contrary to my instructions, I didn't allow the omelette to cool down before eating, and it was still tasty. But, oh, it was nothing on the deliciousness the left-overs turned out to be after a night in the fridge. So this is definitely a recipe that you can happily eat a second portion of the next day - and I LOVE a meal that lasts 2 days.

What you can swap or miss out:

• New potatoes can be swapped for a baking potato, but make sure you peel and slice them to a similar size a new potato would be.
• Herbs - you don't have to use these at all, but I think it adds a bit more flavour to this very basic dish. I used basil simply because I have some growing at my flat. You could also use parsley if you have it, or dried herbs (either mixed or oregano would be my choice, but whatever you like).

To serve:

• I served mine with a simple rocket salad, but this would also work great with any greens or some roasted peppers.
• If you want to impress, I would also highly recommend serving this with a side dish of grated courgette, mixed with a quarter of a finely chopped red chili, dressed in lemon juice and a sprinkle of olive oil. I will eventually blog about this side dish, as it is a truly amazing salad which is cheap to make and really adds a zing to a basic dish like this.

On to the recipe...

Serves: 2

Cooking time: 30-40 minutes

I used an approx. 22cm diameter, 5cm deep frying pan. If your pan is wider the omelette wont take as long to cook.

Ingredients:

200g(ish) New potatoes (or a  baking potato if that's what you have) - 50p

4 Eggs - £1.40

1 Onion - 10p

1 tbsp Oil (whatever oil you have, I used olive oil) 5p

Herbs (optional) - either a small handful of fresh basil or parsley, or a sprinkle of dried oregano or mixed herbs - basically whatever you have.

To serve:

Rocket leaves (£1), or whatever salad your heart desires.

Total cost (including salad): £3.05
Cost per portion: £1.53  

Recipe:

1) To start, preheat the grill and boil a kettle of water. Cut the potatoes into 1cm thick slices, tip in a saucepan and cover with the boiled water. Simmer for about 8 minutes, or until cooked through.

2) While the potatoes are cooking, heat the oil in the frying pan that you will be using for the omelette. Dice the onion and tip into the frying pan, gently frying.

3) Once the potatoes are cooked through, drain and tip into the frying pan with the onion. Turn the heat up a little so that you get a nice golden colour on the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

4) In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. If using fresh herbs, chop finely. Add the herbs to the eggs.

5) Tip the potato and onion mixture into the eggs, give them a stir and then transfer back into the hot frying pan. Cook the omelette on a low heat until the top is just firm, making sure not to burn the bottom. Once firm, pop the frying pan under the grill (making sure not to melt the handle) until the top of the omelette has a nice golden colour.

6) Transfer to a plate and leave to cool. This is best served cold or at room temperature.

Enjoy! SG x