Recession bites?

rhapsodyway

This is my recession busting chicken stew which tastes delicious AND nutritious:

1. 1 packet of chicken thighs (in my local supervalu costs less than 3 euro)
2. Onions, celery, garlic (the holy trinity for this kind of thing)
3. Carrots and whatever other bits of veggie are to hand
4. Marigold Bouillon (really worth buying as really gives the best flavour by far)

Start off my sauteeing the onions, and garlic. Add the celery and carrots after five/ten minutes. A lot of recipes tell you to fry the chicken pieces first but I have stopped doing that and i just put them straight into the pot and it turns out fine. Mix in a tablespoon of plain flour at this stage.

Make up the stock according to the packet instructions and bring that all to the boil. Then simmer for at least an hour until the flavours all come together. There is no need to put this in the oven - it cooks happily on the top of the cooker which of course is cheaper too!

I used to be a great one for adding fancy ingredients and thinking you had to do a lot to a dish to make it taste great but believe me this simple dish never fails to taste good and is perfect for cold winter evenings.

If I am feeling particularly frugal I only use half the pkt of chicken and freeze the other half for the next time. I bulk out the stew with lentils, chickpeas and veggies. Makes it very healthy too. As I am only cooking this meal for two people, I get two days out of it. Often on the second day I will make a chicken pie out of this by adding sauteed leeks and topping it with some puff pastry ( i always keep a pkt handy in the freezer for this). So there you have my frugal chicken stew and chicken pie. Try it and tell me what you think:)

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neuro-praxis

Brilliant thread. However that boiled egg curry sounds horrendous! Appreciate the sentiment though.

Mince ain't as cheap as it used to be, but home-made burgers with mountains of fried onions, gravy and mash is a cheap and satisfying budget winter dinner.

Eviledna

Just to let ye know, the cocoa in Aldi is really great, of high quality. They have loads of caster sugar and golden syrup too, so they are great for making chocolate cakes on a budget

corblimey

rhapsodyway wrote: »

This is my recession busting chicken stew which tastes delicious AND nutritious:

1. 1 packet of chicken thighs (in my local supervalu costs less than 3 euro)

I want to try this, but when you say thighs, do you mean on the bone or off? I would have assumed they'd have to be off the bone for your chicken pie variation to work, but frankly why bother with thighs if you're taking all the meat off the bone, why not just get a couple of good chicken fillets?

gary82

I'd have to recommend PIZZA!

If you've never tried making pizza - it's a lot earier than people generally think. It might be a bit pricey to get all the ingredients initially but you'll get a good load of pizza's out of it!

The Base...
1 cup warm water
8g sachet dried yeast (you get a box of 10 or so sachets)
1 teaspoon caster sugar
2½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano (optional for herby base)
1 tablespool olive oil

Mix all the dry ingredients into a big saucepan, then add the olive oil and warm water until you can form it into a big dough ball (balance with +/- water and flour). Now you've to leave it in a warm place for half an hour. I generally put the lid on the saucepan and float the saucepan on warm water. After 30mins it will have risen, work it a bit then flatten out on a flour-dusted oven tray using your fingers, you'll get a feel for how thick you like it after a while. Add more olive oil to do this, makes it much easier.

The Topping...
I always start with one of those small (and cheap) tins of tomatto puree spread over the base. Add a bit more dried oregano or other herbs.

Now for the toppings that's all up to your personal taste, chop up all your ingredients and top off with cheese. My favourite is to get one of those Dunnes bags of 3-cheeses and add some grated mature cheddar. Mixed herbs on top is good too.

Here's a pizza I really like...
Chorizo (sliced up quite fine)
Onion
Mushroom
Basil
Sweetcorn (small amount)
Clove of garlic
(and Cheese, as mentioned above)

(all chopped up while the base rises).

Now put in a preheated oven at 180deg for 20'ish minutes - just keep an eye on it.

And finally, Bon Appetit!!

I'll probably cook this next Friday so I can put up photos if you like...?

gary82

Oh and if you need inspiration for toppings, simply check out the online menus for pizza delivery companies! :cool: