Category: tomato

Categories
curry curry powder lamb potatoes tomato

is HelloFresh worth using?

HelloFresh set me a challenge: recreate one of their recipes. HelloFresh have a wide range of recipes on their website, so I tried HelloFresh’s Bombay-style lamb curry. Was it as expensive? Was it easier than getting it delivered?

Delivery box recipe services send you a set amount of ingredients each week to make specific dinners. Set your dietary preferences, how often you want a delivery, and away you go. Weekly you’ll get ingredients delivered to your door. HelloFresh offer such a service, among others, and has been traditionally popular with professional couples, small families looking for inspiration, and those just looking to go beyond ready meals.

I browsed HelloFresh’s most popular recipes. I was impressed with the range of dishes from many different cuisines, none of which would look out of place on a modern TV cookery show. I asked Mrs Spud what she fancied and she asked for their lamb curry.

I won’t go through every stage of the recipe, you can read the recipe on HelloFresh’s website here.

It’s a quick stir-fry of lamb mince, tomatoes, green beans and onion served with lightly spiced potatoes. It was tasty! There’s not far to hide with the small amount of ingredients, and it reminds me of an dish I used to cook called balti beef. Definitely a good one for midweek meals.

I made a video of my thoughts and a quick cookalong. Have a look here:

Comparing cost

Per portion, my ingredients cost £4.32. You could probably get that down with bulk buying and buying cheaper brands, but I went for mid-range ingredients from Tesco.

HelloFresh have a blanket cost depending on how frequently you want meals delivered, so it varies per portion. But the range is from £3.22 to £5 per serving. I expected my meal to be much cheaper, but I was surprised how similar the costs were.

Comparing time

The time quoted on HelloFresh’s website was 20 minutes. I took about 26 minutes; I wasn’t hanging around but the additional peeling, chopping and grating added up. So the HelloFresh version is there.

Verdict

HelloFresh serve a perfect need for cook-curious but time-poor people. The cost surprised me the most, being really close when making from scratch. The pre-portioning made things quicker for sure. When you buy yourself you can end up with half a jar of something or a jar of spice you don’t know what else to do with. That also gives HelloFresh’s downside, in that the prepackaged ingredients are individually wrapped. This means less food waste, but a little more packaging waste. It’s a delicate balance but a good alternative if you want to expand your culinary horizons but want tested recipes.

HelloFresh’s lamb curry recipe is here

And check out the full range of HelloFresh’s recipes here

HelloFresh have sponsored this post; I was not give any instruction what to say and my opinion was not influenced.

Categories
bbq beans beef sweetcorn tomato

barbecue beef feijoada with spicy sweetcorn

As World Cup fever threatens to take over the globe, people like me think about one thing: what food can I use to celebrate and keep people happy. Things in bowls where people help themselves are always going to work. Aldi asked me for my best ideas, looking to the Brazil v Switzerland game for inspiration. And the former host nation from 2014 Brazil has plenty of ideas, and are also most likely to win according to FiveThirtyEight. Here’s a way of feeding a crowd and keeping with the Latin American theme: barbecue beef feijoada, made with brisket.

South American food is on the rise so couldn’t be more trendy. I’ve eaten feijoada (it’s pronounced “fezz-wah-dah”, by the way) a few times and always enjoyed it. But what’s in it? I consulted a Brazilian friend of mine in order to get a few ideas but like many ‘national’ favourites, everyone has a different view on what it should contain. Like shepherd’s pie, chilli con carne or lasagne al forno everybody has their own take in their house that defines the dish. A few patterns emerge: definitely pork, possibly beef, certainly black beans… other than that it’s fair game. Tomatoes or not? Paprika?

I went down a route I’ve trodden often, based on Jewish comfort food cholent. I started with a brisket, rubbed with herbs and spices, then stewed for several hours. The meat is sliced and finished on the barbecue for a charred and smoky flavour. It’s a bold plate of food, and I can see it going down really well at a party where people can spoon it into corn tortillas with pickled vegetables, or served in little pots with a dollop of sour cream. Make sure everyone can tuck in and help themselves, and serve up refreshing, cooling drinks.

I’m not sure how authentic this is – I say that about a lot of my cooking – but it got my São Paulo-based friend excited! Try my barbecue beef feijoada, and let me know what you think!

If you want to stock up for this recipe, check the great value of Aldi’s range, the variety on offer in store and remember Aldi has great value deals on Meats and fruit & veg every week as part of their Super 6 deals.

For further reading I recommend Hot and Chilli’s post on bite-sized feijoada – brilliant!

I was sent some lovely ingredients and shopping vouchers by Aldi to get inspired to make this.

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barbecue beef feijoada with spicy sweetcorn

Classic Brazilian beef stew. Perfect for parties and gatherings!
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Brazilian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 7 hours
Total Time 13 hours 30 minutes
Servings 8 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

For the beef:

  • 1 kg beef brisket rolled and tied
  • 5 g Maldon sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

To serve:

  • 200 ml creme fraiche
  • Hot sauce I like Frank's
  • Lime wedges

For the stew:

  • 2 onions peeled and sliced
  • 3 carrots diced
  • 2 red peppers
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 1 litre beef stock I used Knorr beef stock pots
  • 250 g smoked pork sausage sliced
  • 140 g dried black turtle beans soaked overnight (any dried pulses you like here would work)

For the sweetcorn:

  • 1 cob sweetcorn per person
  • Large knob of butter
  • Pinch salt
  • Pinch cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Instructions

  • Make sure you've soaked your dried beans overnight before getting started.
  • Get a frying on a very high heat with a dash of oil. In a pestle and mortar bash the rub ingredients together until you have a fiery terracotta dust. Rub this all over the beef, as thoroughly as you can.
  • Sear the beef on all sides, building up a lovely colour. Put to one side when done.
  • In a large casserole dish, gently dry the onions, peppers and carrots in a little oil until softened, then add the remaining stew ingredients and stir until combined. Add the beef and add water as required until just a little of the brisket is peeping out. Cover loosely and simmer for 5 - 6 hours until the brisket is tender - when you put a fork into it it should slide back out easily. Leave covered for 30 minutes to rest. You can light your barbecue and prepare your corn in this time.
  • Parboil your corn in simmering water for 5 or so minutes. At the barbecue, take a small pan, your brisket and the nearly cooked sweetcorn. Slice your brisket in 1cm slices and place on the barbecue to char on both sides.
  • Melt the butter in the small pan and add the salt, paprika, and cayenne. Pop the sweetcorn on the grill and turn occasionally, brushing on the spiced butter. Cook until you have lovely black bits.
  • Swirl your creme fraiche with hot sauce. Serve the stew, beef and sweetcorn with some lime wedges on the side. Maybe serve with tortillas or tacos if you like. Most importantly, start eating!
Categories
food tomato

an evening with antonio carluccio and cirio tomatoes

Have you ever watched the series Antonio Carluccio’s Italian Feast? No? Well, go and find it on a video site. I’ll wait.

…

Good isn’t it?

This series utterly captivated me when I first saw it in the nineties. This avuncular, wiry haired gent with the most stereotypical Italian accent plodded around Italy cooking from the grandest to the humblest kitchens. Often he would be cooking with a handful of ingredients in very quick fashion and making the most delicious-sounding dishes. I think it’s there that my fascination with the Italian philosophy to cooking was born. As Antonio Carluccio himself would say, “mof-mof”: minimum of fuss, maximum of flavour. I distinctly remember his bolognese recipe, a revelation to someone brought up on the weird (but lovely!) English dish. His version has mince, onion, wine, tomato and that’s it. No basil, no carrot, just simple flavours left to get on with it.

On behalf of CIRIO tomatoes, Antonio Carluccio hosted an evening at the Good Housekeeping Institute. He claims to never do promotional work for brands but he couldn’t resist this one; he says he’s always used CIRIO tomatoes. They’re celebrating 160 years and they’re a brand I often have in the cupboard.

In quick succession he tossed out two mof-mof dishes. The first, steamed mussels served with heated-through CIRIO passata, cozze alla tarantina.

The second, a Tuscan-style bread stew of bread cooked down with CIRIO chopped tomatoes. They’re the easiest of recipes; so simple in execution.

After these, he took a seat and begged for questions, And boy, did he have answers! Someone in the small audience would ask a question, then Antonio would spend at least ten minutes on a full and frank answer where he poured forth on this love of food and cooking.

When he arrived in the UK in 1975 he found menus of grilled steak and chicken kiev, with little variety to be found. The trouble he found was the lack of fresh ingredients used. He feels Jane Grigson and Gary Rhodes did huge favours with their programmes and writing by looking to inspiration from abroad… and from the past.

Antonio also talked of his passions, of experimenting with cooking and his favourite foods. He loves many things, loving nothing more than a risotto with his beloved porcini, or a simple tomato and basil spaghetti. He also confessed a perhaps surprising addiction to good Chinese food! Closer to home, of English food he enjoys a juicy bacon roll, or a hearty steak and kidney pie (both great choices!). Antonio also confessed to a love of British game.

If you want to know more about Antonio and his experiences, I strongly recommend his autobiography. He has had a long and interesting life.

I’ve been using CIRIO tomatoes for years, and they’re one of my favourite brands of tinned tomato. There’s almost always cheaper makes available. But when the tomatoes are the base of a dish – whether cooked quickly or long and slow – it’s worth paying a little more for a superior product which you can really taste. And when you have an ambassador like Antonio, how can you argue with that?

Check out CIRIO recipes here

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pappa al pomodoro

A simple and delicious bread and tomato soup which can be eaten hot or cold.
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 1 clove garlic
  • 6-8 slices stale bread
  • 500 ml passata
  • 250 ml chicken stock
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • basil leaves

Instructions

  • Toast the stale bread. Lightly crush the garlic clove and rub the lovely oils over the toast.
  • Layer the toast in a deep saucepan or casserole dish and cover with the stock and passata. Put on the hob over a gentle heat and cook for 45 minutes until thick and the bread has absorbed most of the liquid. Season with salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil, and scatter over basil leaves.
Categories
pasta sausages tomato

sausage pappardelle pasta

Despite working in the capital every day, I don’t spend enough time being a tourist around London. One spare Sunday we tramped off as a family to do just that. We took in the Princess Diana memorial gardens, having fun on the pirate ship. We paddled around the nearby fountain, which was mountains of fun. We then plodded along Constitution Hill, marvelled at how shiny the statue of Eros was, and did some ooh-ahh selfies in front of Buckingham Palace (she was in, by the way).

After all that stamping about, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out. A short hop away was Jamie’s Italian Piccadilly. Now I haven’t set foot in a Jamie’s Italian in quite a while so I thought it was worth a return visit. We all asked for pasta dishes and were served up in double-quick time. There was a lovely pesto gnocchi with purple potatoes, a heavenly carbonara and rich sausage pappardelle. I enjoyed it so much, I set to making my own version.

 

The sausages make or break this one – buy the best you can get hold of. I had some lovely herby Toulouse (not very Italian I grant you) but anything spiked with lots of flavours would be perfect here. I like those ‘Italian style’ sausages you can get from delis, punched up with fennel and rosemary which I’ve tried to ape here. I also chose to make my own pasta because I was in the mood for it having just watching Gennaro knock up a batch but buying your own would be no problem. It’s a rich and delicious lip-smacking pasta dish.

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sausage pappardelle pasta

Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 2 stalks celery finely chopped
  • 6 - 8 good quality sausages
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 leaves large sprig of rosemary picked and finely chopped
  • 400 g passata
  • 300 g pappardelle

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 140C. Get a large pan over a medium heat and add a splash of oil.
  • Add the celery and fennel seeds to the oil and fry for 3 minutes until the fennel is fragrant and the celery has softened.
  • While the celery cooks, skin the sausages and crumble the meat into tiny bits. Turn up the heat under the pan and add the sausage. Cook the sausage for a minute or two and then add the passata, plus fill the same container with water and add that to the pan too. Cover and put in the oven for an hour.
  • When the pasta sauce is ready, cook your pasta according to the packet instructions, drain and fold through the sauce before serving. Grate some parmesan over the top and enjoy with garlic bread.

As fluke would have it, Kavey also visited Jamie’s Italian recently!

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