Curried Chicken Risotto

When the end of the week comes and there's not a lot left in the fridge and cupboards, a hamper full of fresh fruit, veg and new Knorr Flavour Pots is a welcome arrival.

I love the Knorr Herb Infusion Pots and use them regularly but I was keen to try out the Curry Flavour Pot and decided to make a risotto.

This dish serves 4-5 and I just used one flavour pot and it gave a mild curry flavour which was perfect for my non spicy loving kids. For a stronger flavour I would recommend using 2 pots for this quantity.

Curried Chicken Risotto - serves 4/5

1 tbsp oil

1 onion, finely chopped

500g chicken breast, cut into bit sized pieces

350g Arborio rice

1 Knorr Curry Flavour Pot

150g Okra, sliced (or you could use green beans)

approx 1 litre chicken stock

200g fresh or tinned pineapple

thinly sliced peppers or chilli

• Heat the oil in a large pan
• Fry the onion gently for 1 minute
• Add the chicken and fry for 5-10 minutes
• Stir in the rice, flavour pot, Okra and approx 1/4 of the stock
• Place a lid on and simmer gently, adding more stock as required, until the rice is tender
• Stir in the pineapple just before the end of the cooking 
• Serve with thin slices of fresh chilli or red pepper on top

I was sent a hamper of products for the purpose of this review - the Knorr Flavour Pots come in Mixed Herb, Garlic, Chilli, 3 Peppercorn and Curry flavours

Sous Vide Pea & Potato Soup - A Budget Recipe

I've had the Sous Vide Thermo Circulator for a couple of weeks now and had only tried cooking meat in it. Whilst browsing the Internet I spotted some recipes for soup so I thought I would try it out for myself. One of the benefits of cooking vegetables in the sous vide is that they keep their colour - great for butternut squash or carrot soups but less so when it's potato as I was doing. I decided to add some peas to give the soup some more flavour as well as colour but in hindsight I should've added them to the water bath towards the end of the cooking time as they don't really need cooking as such and would have been a more vibrant green.

This recipe can of course be made in a saucepan or slow cooker, in which case you would cook the potatoes in the stock and add the peas towards the end of cooking. I only added a little rosemary, and a lot less than I would normally add if I was making this soup in a pan, but you could really taste it in the finished soup.

Sous Vide Pea & Potato Soup

1kg potatoes, peeled and chopped
350g frozen peas
pinch of salt, pepper and dried rosemary
1 litre of vegetable stock
Creme Fraiche for serving

• Seal the potatoes and peas in vacuum bags, ensuring that they are spread evenly within the bag
• Set the water bath to 82C
• Immerse the bags and cook for around 2 hours
• Blend the vegetables with the stock until smooth and heat through before serving
• Serve with a blob of creme fraiche

This is another of my budget recipes coming in at a little over £1 for the whole recipe which served all 5 of us.

Baked Chilli & Wedges - a Budget Recipe

In a bid to save for Summer holidays I'm attempting to cut down on the weekly shopping bill by including more potatoes, pasta and rice in meals and cutting down on the meat further than it is already.

This recipe is similar to my lentil and brown bread bolognaise, however I have included red kidney beans instead of lentils before pouring over baked potato wedges and topping with grated cheese. The bread is a great alternative to minced beef and nobody ever realises that the dish doesn't contain meat!

It's a very thrifty recipe and came in at only £2.57 for the whole meal, which serves 4 people.

Baked Chilli & Wedges - serves 4

1kg potatoes, scrubbed clean & cut into wedges

Olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp Oregano

2 400g tins chopped tomatoes

2 slices wholemeal bread, whizzed to bread crumbs

Knorr beef stock pot (or vegetable if you want to make this vegetarian)

1 tsp smoked paprika (you can add 1 tsp chilli powder to make it spicier)

1 400g tin kidney beans

150g mature cheddar cheese, grated

• Place the wedges into a large baking dish and drizzle or spray with olive oil
• Bake in a preheated 200C oven for approx 40 mins, turning once
• In the meantime make the chilli
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the onions and garlic over a low heat for 2-3 minutes
• Add the Oregano, tomatoes, breadcrumbs, stock pot and paprika
• Cook over a medium heat for around 30 minutes until the sauce is thick & rich
• Stir in the kidney beans
• Remove the wedges from the oven and pour the chilli over
• Sprinkle with grated cheese
• Return to the oven and bake for around 15 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling

Three Course Summer Family Meal for under £10

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It was due to be a scorcher of a weekend so when I was asked to shop in Asda to create a family meal for under £10 I knew it had to be something that we would be eating outside, and with as little preparation and cooking as possible - who wants to spend all day in the kitchen when the weather is good.

We were having friends over on Saturday so I decided that we would have the family meal on Sunday afternoon. Most of the weekend was spent in the garden, playing and splashing around in the swimming pool.

I was up early as usual on Saturday morning to take Hanna to swim training and then onto Asda for some shopping. I'd decided on a 3 course family meal and checked the prices of ingredients needed online on the Asda website the previous evening. You can read more about my Asda shop and see photos here.

The menu was as follows :

Starter :

Melon boats

Main :

Beef Koftas

Flatbread

Salad

Lemon, parsley & mint Cous Cous

Yoghurt dip

Lime wedges

Dessert :

Lemonade lollies

I prepared the lollies and koftas in advance and kept the lollies in the freezer and koftas in the fridge until we needed them.

I listed down the ingredients I needed and they came in at a total of £9.78

Melon £1

Lean Beef Mince £3.33 (part of a 3 for £10 deal)

Self Raising flour 40p

Smart Price natural yoghurt 45p

Fresh Mint 78p

Fresh Coriander 78p

Cucumber 50p

Lettuce 50p

Spring Onions 50p

Lime 27p

Lemon 27p

Ainsley Harriot Cous Cous 50p

Cloudy lemonade 50p (part of a 4 for £2 deal)

Unfortunately there was no fresh mint or coriander on the shelf but luckily I had some growing in the garden and used that.

If you fancy giving the menu a try here's how I made everything:

Beef Koftas

675g Lean Beef mince

handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Spices from storecupboard (optional but not essential) : 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1 tsp paprika

• Mix the ingredients together with your hands
• Form into sausage shapes and squeeze around a wooden skewer if you have them (I used wooden coffee stirrers)
• Cook on the bbq or griddle until cooked right through (which will depend on how hot your bbq is)

Flatbreads

350g Self Raising flour

350g Natural yoghurt

pinch of sea salt

• Mix all the ingredients together, starting with a fork and then using your hands
• Turn out onto a well floured surface and divide into 8 equal pieces
• Roll each piece flat with the palm of your hands, using extra flour if the dough is sticky
• Cook on a bbq or griddle for a couple of minutes each side until puffed up

Yoghurt Dip

Mix the remaining yoghurt with a small handful of chopped fresh coriander and mint

Cous Cous

Follow the directions on the back of the pack (adding boiling water)

Salad

Slice the cucumber and spring onions lengthways and shred the lettuce, top with fresh coriander and lime wedges

Lemonade Lollies

Squeeze the juice of the lemon into a jug of cloudy lemonade and pour into ice lolly moulds

Freeze for at least 4 hours

The meal went down very well, although Jack was only interested in eating the melon, bread and lolly as I think the heat had got to him.