Post Furlough/Student Food- Butternut Squash Risotto

 Having used tidying the pantry shelves as a diversion activity I found a tin of coconut milk that I had obviously picked up and forgotten about.  I decided to try this butternut squash and coconut combination which had been on my mind for a while.  It uses roasted butternut squash (or pumpkin) - this freezes beautifully so do not use the oven just for this but throw some in to make use of the space when you have it on for something else, I made use of the spare space from cooking Sunday lunch.

Butternut Squash Risotto - Serves 4

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and cut into rough chunks 

vegetable oil

1 clove garlic, sliced

350 g risotto rice

1 tin coconut milk

1 litre vegetable or chicken stock (made from a cube will do!)

Toss the squash in some vegetable oil and roast in the oven (in a metal tray) until slightly soft and with some caramelised edges. - you can freeze the squash at this point to use another time.

Put a little oil in a pan and saute the garlic for about 1 min.  Do not allow to brown.  Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil, then tip in the squash followed by the coconut milk.  (You can use the stock to rinse out the tin if there is any stuck on the inside), Allow to come to the boil and as the liquid is absorbed add a ladleful of the hot stock, stirring all the time, until the rice is cooked.

Variations:

If you cannot get tins of coconut milk then the block form is fine, dissolve about 20 g in boiling water for the same result.

Risotto rice is the best for risottos but of you cannot get it then pudding rice is the next best followed by basically any rice you can get, the texture will be different but the taste will be the same.

You can also sweet potatoes instead of (or as well as) the squash.

Many supermarkets also sell squash in the frozen aisle...

Cost (from Tescos as a mid range ball park)

butternut squash - £1

1 tin coconut milk=69p

1 stock cube (50p for 10) = 5p

1 clove garlic (25 p per head, assume 1 head has 6ish cloves) =4p

Risotto rice (£2 for 1 kg) = 70p

total = £2.48 or 62p per person.

 

Post Furlough/Student Food: Simple Cream Cheese Pasta

 This is another one of the many recipes that is throw it in a pan that I can do in my sleep.  It was something that I discovered as a student 30 years ago and something that we still have for dinner today.  It can be cheap and cheerful or have "added extras" to make it feel more like a whole meal even though it just uses left over bits and pieces.  But what it really is is a substantial comfort food that does not use tomatoes - essential in our house since my daughter was sent home from uni with a stomach ulcer from all the worry.

Cream Cheese Pasta (serves 4)

300 g pasta - any kind will do (75 g per person)

1 onion, chopped

vegetable oil

1/2 a 250g tub of cream cheese, unflavoured or flavoured - up to you

splash of milk

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions.

Saute the onion in the vegetable oil until it is soft.  When the pasta is almost cooked add the cream cheese to the pan with the onion and stir - the objective is to let it melt.  If it looks like it is too thick then add a splash of milk, you want to make the consistency like double cream.  Drain the pasta and add to the pan and toss until coated. 

Serve.

Variations:

Do not use low fat cream cheese - it splits!

Second the cream cheese I mean is the one that is like Philadelphia - not Dairylea, a friend of mine made this mistake and I have to say it was really gross.

The savers brands from the supermarkets work just fine making this a nice cheap version in it's simplest form (62p at time of posting for a whole tub at Morrisons)

Now onto the additions...as always as many as you like...

Garlic can be added to the onion (add when onion is nearly done though so it does not burn)

Add sliced mushrooms

Add chopped peppers

Add leftover roast - any kind

Add tinned tuna

Add tinned sweetcorn

Add sliced cooked sausages

Add leftover cooked cauliflower or broccoli

Add bacon

Add leftover sandwich meat such as ham

Add leftover smoked salmon (Christmas treat!)

Cost for the basic version... 

Morrisons prices used from their website as a mid range cost.

300 g pasta (500g for 45p) = 27p

onion= 10p

Cream cheese (250g for 62p)=31p

total =68p for 4 people or 17p per person plus a couple of pence for oil and milk.

And if you wrap the half used tub of cheese in clingfilm then it will keep for a whole week easily in the fridge making it less than 10p per person for week 2.  Impossible to beat on the money front!

Emergency Meatloaf

 The other day I started cooking Sunday lunch only to discover after all the veggies etc were prepped that the chicken that I had picked up had gone off. What then to do?  My sons are simple as they already have sausages instead of roast meat (it's an autism texture thing...) but this still left me, my eldest and my OH with only veggies, and I had deliberately left off going shopping as long as possible as well so had hardly anything in. (chicken nuggets anyone?)  In the back of the fridge I had 250 g minced beef for the next day and so this was going to have to do.  Luckily I also had a box of savers sage and onion stuffing (no idea when or why I picked that up) .  I followed the instructions on the stuffing mix and made this up and then added the mince and mixed well with my hands to combine it all.  This I then put into a loaf tin and cooked alongside the boys sausages.  Served with roasted veggies and gravy it was absolutely delicious and may well be something that I "pull out of the hat" again.  It would even feed 4 non-greedy people and would have cost about £1.55 total if I used the 15% mince from Tesco.   This would be less than £1 per head even by the time the veggies were added in, not bad for a Sunday Roast if I do say so myself.