gourmet foods for less « Penny Golightly

Book review: Gourmet food for a fiver by Jason Atherton

September 23rd, 2011 by Penny Golightly

We haven’t had a book review for a while, have we? Let’s get straight back into it with this copy of Gourmet food for a fiver by Jason Atherton.

He’s the clever clogs behind the dishes at the Michelin-starred Maze. The premise of the book is that you can have fine dining for a fiver per head, by which he means a light-ish two-course meal (starter and main, or main and dessert) without drinks.

Without a doubt this is dinner party food, or a hearty lunch for foodies, and the recipes are all to serve four people. It’s easy enough to scale the portions up or down too. In order for it to truly be a meal for a fiver you have to have quite a few store cupboard staples already otherwise you’ll be buying in extra ingredients that can cost a fair bit for a whole bottle or packet.

It also helps if you live near a decent fishmonger or butcher, as there are many ingredients that work out great value for money and are very tasty indeed, but you’re unlikely to get them from the average supermarket. Likewise, some of the flavourings would be best purchased from an Indian grocery shop, or a Chinese or Thai supermarket.

The book also relies on seasonal foods, things that are at their best and also hopefully cheaper because they’re plentiful. I’d say that you’d need to be a fairly confident cook to tackle some of the dishes, intermediate to advanced level mainly, but you’d be able to make some real show-stoppers.

It’s the chef-y touches that really make this book, including the ‘plating up’ directions. It’s all designed to look beautiful when you serve it up, and each recipe is accompanied by a full page colour photo. The desserts are stunning.

If I’m going to be niggly, some of the chef-yness is also a slight drawback at times as the home cook cannot haggle for trade discounts on ingredients and loses out on economies of scale. One example is the creation of a pudding that’s entirely made from staple ingredients, which then has ’15g of fresh coconut’ shaved over the top of it – fine of you’re making 20 in a restaurant kitchen, not within budget for the average home cook as it’s impossible to buy this amount on its own. This is where experience and ability to improvise comes in handy, as a little grated chocolate or sprinkle of toasted dessicated coconut could be possible substitutes.

In summary: a very beautiful cookbook with fresh, innovative recipes and seasonal ingredients. Not one for beginners, but definitely a book to consider if you’d like to shake up your romantic dinner repertoire or try something new when you’re feeding your foodie friends. Worth it for the desserts alone.

Gourmet food for a fiver by Jason Atherton is published by Quadrille Ltd and has an RRP of £14.99. It’s currently available from Amazon priced £7.70 and qualifies for free Super Saver delivery.

Tags: book review, cheaper food, cook book, fine foods, gourmet foods for less, Penny Golightly book review, seasonal food
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Easy crispy pizza dough recipe

January 27th, 2011 by Penny Golightly

Once a month or so I make up a batch of bread dough. This time around I’ve made pizza bases, and they have that magical combination of delicious plus easy plus cheap. Mmmmm, my favourite.

Here’s the recipe, for those interested people who asked for it yesterday.

Ingredients

650g strong plain white flour, or Italian ’00′ white flour
2 level teaspoons of salt
1 level teaspoon of sugar
A 7g sachet of easy bake dried yeast
20ml of olive oil
400ml warm (not hot) water

I sometimes replace 200g of the white flour with wholemeal flour, for a bit more flavour and texture.

Method

1. Stir the first five ingredients together in a large bowl.

2. Add the olive oil, and slowly stir in the warm water a bit at a time to make a soft dough, then put a little flour on your hands and turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

3. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and elastic in texture, then dust the inside of the bowl with a little more flour and put the dough back into it. Cover with a damp tea towel or cling film and leave for around an hour or so to double in size.

4. Give the dough another quick knead for a few seconds, then cut it up into portions with a floured knife. Divide it into 6 if you want to make yourself some 8-inch round pizzas, or divide it into 4 portions to make baking-tray-sized thin and crispy pizzas big enough for two people to share. At this stage you can freeze the dough, tightly wrapped in individual portions.

5. To cook your fresh or defrosted pizza dough, heat the oven to 230 degrees C. While the oven’s heating up, roll out the dough to the desired shape and thickness, place on a lightly oiled baking tray then top with a little passata and add your cheese and other toppings. Bake for around 10 minutes, until crisp and golden brown around the crust.

The pizza in the picture above is topped with thinly sliced onion and red pepper, capers, fresh oregano and red chilli.

Tags: cheap food, cheap pizza recipe, cheap recipes, easy pizza recipe, freeze pizza dough, frozen pizza dough, gourmet foods for less, home made pizza, homemade pizza, save money on food, using up leftovers
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Borough Market on a budget

April 15th, 2010 by Penny Golightly

The UK foodie paradise of Borough Market is just a short walk from London Bridge on the South Bank. Popular with locals and tourists alike, it has a well-earned reputation for the wide range of quality foods stocked by the different stallholders.

You can easily spend hours here wandering from stall to stall, taking in the atmosphere and visiting the excellent surrounding cafes, pubs and restaurants. The only drawback is that you can also end up spending a lot more money than you thought you were going to. How can you enjoy a day at a place like Borough Market if you’re travelling on a shoestring or feeling the pinch in the run-up to payday?

I’ll happily agree that some things are worth spending the extra on, whether that’s Freedom Foods, Fairtrade goods, or good old expertise and panache. For example, the organic small-estate and cooperative coffees from the Monmouth Coffee Co cost about the same as drinks from the big chains, but to me they represent better value and I think they taste better too.

If you go around all the stalls and shops, chances are you’ll be offered enough free tasters to make up a substantial mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack if you time your visit right, although it’s best not to be too cheeky. If the weather’s good you can buy yourself a delicious take-away snack or picnic ingredients to eat in the grounds of Southwark Cathedral or Tate Modern, rather than going for a full-price sit-down meal somewhere. A perfect way to end the day is to head to the Old Vic or Shakespeare’s Globe for a spot of theatre, both are great venues too.

When it comes to shopping, I have two favourite stalls for bargains. The first is fruit and veg merchants Elsey & Bent, who are a little less chi-chi than some of the other greengrocers at Borough and consequently have lower prices. They also stock plenty of seasonal foods, which tend to become cheaper when large amounts hit the markets. On a similar note, the £1-table at the Pays D’Auge Fromages stall is a don’t-miss part of the market. They sell off ripe French cheeses that are still perfectly good for eating, and many foodies would say that’s when they’re are at their best. Happy eating!

Borough Market opening hours: Thursdays: 11am – 5pm, Fridays: 12 noon – 6pm, Saturdays: 8am – 5pm.
www.boroughmarket.org.uk