Back to the mash!

Here are two more recipes both using mash and veggies – cheap and cheerful!

Pea and Spring Onion Champ

1.5kg Potatoes, scrubbed

100g butter

500ml/18 fl oz milk (or if a richer consistency

75% milk to 25% double cream)

450g frozen peas

75g spring onions, chopped

4 tbsp chopped parsley

salt and black pepper

Cook the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain, peel and mash. You could use a ricer for absolute “lump free”. Add half the butter – 50g, after mashing or ricing. Place the milk/cream in a pan with the peas and onions and boil, gently, for 4/5 minutes. Add the parsley, take off the heat.

Add the potatoes, keep some of the milk back – you may not need it all. Season to taste and beat until creamy and smooth – add more milk if required.

P.s. If you wish you could add grated mature cheddar cheese.

Colcannon

Savoy cabbage, finely shredded – half a cabbage

approximately 350g in weight

30g butter

Bunch of spring onions finely chopped

1.5kg Maris piper potatoes,

Salt and black pepper

There are no exact weights here – you may have leftover mashed potatoes and cabbage – it really doesn't matter.

If you've not got leftovers, cook the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain, peel and mash. You could use a ricer for guaranteed lump free.

Put the cabbage in a pan with the butter and cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes until tender, stirring frequently.

Add the spring onions and cook for another minute or two. Mix with the mashed potato and season well.

Quick and easy but, above all, delicious!

Coming up … more cheap and cheerful

Back to mid week supper ideas …

… another soup – with tweaks to follow.

There are so many soup recipes to try - here's my version of a Sweetcorn Chowder.

The Chowder originates from long journeys by ship – they used ingredients that would survive and the soup was thickened with hardtack. Hardtack we know as a “ships biscuit” - it was inexpensive and long lasting – perfect for long sea voyages. It arrived in North America from England and France. Probably the most famous version, certainly in the USA, is clam chowder but there are many variations. It is principally a soup with cream or milk, although you can use stock, adding potatoes, sweetcorn and other veggies or add fish and seafood if that's your bag. I suppose you have to like sweetcorn but, by its nature, it's quite popular with the kiddies.

Sweetcorn Chowder

Serves 2 large or 4 smaller portions

300g/10½oz Charlotte potatoes, peeled and finely diced

1 medium carrot, finely diced

1 medium onion, finely diced

90g/3½oz Two small red sweet baby peppers, finely diced

50g/2oz of unsalted butter

175g/6oz sweetcorn or two cobs, stripped

1 tbsp plain flour

2 pints of milk – I use semi-skimmed

(568ml or 1.2 litres)

celery salt and pepper – white or black

chopped flat leaf parsley to sprinkle

Sweat the carrot, onion and peppers gently in the butter for 10 minutes, covered. Add the flour and the celery salt and pepper of your choice. Add the milk gradually – I use a whisk - this will prevent lumps. Add the diced potato and sweetcorn and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste and adjust the seasoning to suit. Check the thickness of the soup – if it's not thick enough, again to suit you, blend a ladle or two and add it back to enrich.

You don't have to use celery salt, you can use sea salt if you prefer. I love the extra oomph it gives – a fab flavour, especially in soups. I also mention a choice of white or black pepper – it's entirely a matter of choice, either is fine. If you're not fond of black flecks from black pepper then white is right!

Coming up - three tweaks and a photo guide …

Coleslaw … again!

I know I'm always going on about coleslaw, but, if like me you enjoy it all year round, the only downside is you don't always have the time to make up a raw slaw bag.

A raw slaw bag is very convenient – if you have the time to shred the veggies. I'm always on the look out for a product that makes life easier. In the past I've found bags of prepped raw slaw but it has not been pretty – badly shredded, woody and tough.

You'll be very pleased to know there's a new product on the block – a crunch coleslaw mix, washed and ready to eat from M&S Food 300g for £1 – great value. Spot on for pulling together lunches or sides for supper during a working week.

Here's a thought or actually a question. The last time you indulged in a curry did you have sides of raita, mango and onion salad? In other words cold sides. I very often have a side of coleslaw with a cheese, potato and onion pie – if I'm feeling really “Northern” I'd have mushy peas too.

Why not with other favourites. I've not eaten meat for forty odd years but I can still remember having a lunch of Lancashire Hot Pot served with a side of coleslaw – clearly memorable if I can remember that far back!

If it's not something you'd normally try, give it a go, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Some hints and tips - your fridge, your freezer and your fruit bowl!

In a hurry? You don't have to roast fresh beetroot if you have no time. The organic vac packs you can buy are a great product and are not soaked in vinegar. The vac packs have good “best before” dates and so are a perfect fridge stand by.

I always have a small jar of creamed horseradish in my fridge too – you can make and box the smoked mackerel, horseradish and mayonnaise and fridge it, ready to use whenever you are.

You could buy the smoked mackerel when it's a good price and freeze it. It also has a reasonable fridge life so long as you keep it in its sealed pack.

Finally your fruit bowl – Autumn brings delicious apples. I know there are many different varieties to choose from - personally I love a Cox - it lends itself well with the smoked mackerel and the beetroot.

You don't have to go to the trouble of a stack if you've no time and want a quick healthy “salad” style supper. It takes minutes to flake the smoked mackerel and mix with the mayonnaise and the horseradish.

If you fancy treating yourself make the smoked mayonnaise for added zing! Check out Matt's mayonnaise for the stick blender recipe and method.

The moral of this missive is that there's no shopping required – all your ingredients are in your fridge, your freezer and your fruit bowl.

Have a look at the photos coming next for an alternative beetroot idea.