🍴 2    ⌚ 25 mins     🍳1 wok     £ 4    9 ingredients          

These kebabs are great on the BBQ but just as good in the oven.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, diced
• 1/2 packet mange tout
• 1 pack ready cooked noodles
• 1 red pepper
• 6 spring onions
• 1/2 pack mushrooms
• 4 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 packet Blue Dragon oyster and spring onion stir fry sauce

Step by step:

1. Place the diced chicken in a bowl and add 2 tbsp of sesame oil and tbsp honey 1 tbsp soy sauce. Stir to mix well and leave to marinate for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
2. Thread the chicken onto kebab sticks and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
3. Cook the kebabs on the BBQ or in a griddle pan or place them on a baking tray and cook in a hot oven 200C / 180C fan, or gas 6 for fifteen minutes.
4. Heat the remaining oil in your wok and stir fry the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add the ready cooked noodles and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Stir the stir fry sauce with the rest of the honey and soy sauce. Drizzle this over the kebabs and sprinkle some more sesame seeds and serve.

Notes & tips:

If you are using wooden skewers put them in water at least an hour before cooking

We used Amoy fine noodles but medium noodles are just as good and just need another minute in the pan.

Amoy noodles are available in most supermarkets and own brand products are just as good. Tesco own brand straight to wok brand is £1.00 per 300g pack

There are dozens of variations on chicken tray bake and this one is a favourite with spicy harissa rubbed into the chicken.

Ingredients:

• 4 mixed peppers
• 1 large white onion
• olive oil
• 1 whole chicken
• Harissa (bought or homemade)
• 4 sprigs fresh basil

Step by step:

Rub the harissa paste all over the chicken including the legs and wings.

Chop the onions and peppers into large pieces and fry off the onion in a table spoonful of oil.

Caramelise the onions by adding a dessert spoonful of sugar and cooking a few minutes more.

When the onions are ready, place them in a baking tray. Add the peppers and season to taste.

Spatchcock the chicken and sit it on top of the vegetables and roast for 50 minutes in a preheated oven at 180C.

Alternatively, cook in the slow cooker for 2 hours on high setting.

Remove the chicken from the oven or slow cooker and place it on top of the vegetables.

Cook for 40 minutes in a medium hot oven 180C, until the chicken is brown and crispy on top and the peppers are soft.

Sprinkle over the basil and serve.

TIPS: If the chicken starts to burn cover the whole dish in tin foil. We served ours with basil and peas, but mint and broad beans are just as nice.

We made our own harissa, but a good bought variety is Bart harissa paste (see below).

To make your own harissa

Take the following ingredients:

• 2 Red chillies
• 1 Clove of garlic
• 1/2 Cumin
• Olive oil
• 1/2 Lemon juice
• 1 tbsp honey

Grind all the ingredients while stirring in the oil to make a paste

What is harissa?

Harissa is a hot chilli native to Maghreb. Similar to sriracha in as much as they are both made using spicy peppers and garlic. However harissa includes olive oil and spices whereas sriracha uses sugar and vinegar. Vary the spices, chilli peppers and garlic to suit your own taste, experimenting with flavours is fun.

🍴 4    ⌚ 40 mins     🍳1     £ 1.60    7 ingredients          

Delicious, inexpensive and one of the easiest soups to make. There are many recipes for potato soup and this one has a broth like consistency and wonderful flavour. Use it as a base recipe and simply add cooked chicken or bacon towards the end of cooking.

Historically one of the cheapest ingredients, potatoes were first grown in the Andes 7000 years ago. The starchy tuber imported in to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century and today there are more than 5000 varieties of spuds.

Did You Know? Potatoes are virtually fat free with only 0.2mg of fat in a medium sized potato. They are a good source of fibre and contain vitamin C and B.

Vary the vegetables and herbs to suit yourself. Parsnips, swede and butternut squash all go well. You might like to add some beans or grains, just don’t forget the spuds!

Ingredients:

• 2 large carrots
• 2 large potatoes
• 1 large red onion
• 3 basil leaves
• Handful chopped parsley
• 2 low salt vegetable stock cubes
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Step by step:

1. Peel and chop the carrots and potatoes into large chunks. Chop the onion into smaller pieces
2. Place 2 tbsp of oil in the pan and fry off the onion until translucent . 
3. Melt the 2 stock cubes in 500 ml boiling water and add to the pan with the potatoes, carrots and basil. Cook until the vegetables are soft Add the chopped parsley and serve with half a tbsp of oil on top

Notes & tips:

This soup will keep refrigerated for 2-3 days and freezes well for 3-4 months. Labelling freezer portions clearly with a description and date frozen makes it much easier when you come back to the freezer a few weeks later.

Defrost the frozen soup completely and re-heat in a saucepan (or microwave) until piping hot. You can thin the soup with a little extra hot water or stock, or make it creamy by adding a little Elmlea or single cream. 

Use any potatoes you like, firm ones such as new or baby potatoes will hold their shape well, Charlottes are ideal. 

This soup is a great a next day meal as the flavours get even better. Use leeks instead of onion and add garlic if you like. Add some cooked chicken or bacon if you like. I love to add leftover parsnips, cooked cabbage or Brussels sprouts. Sometimes a finely chopped and deseeded chilli is nice.

Play around with the herbs, dill, thyme, chives all go well. Add extra heat with chilli flakes or a sprinkle of paprika

We used Kallo very low salt cubes (£1.79 most supermarkets) with excellent results.