Easy and affordable meals
Mains for under £5 per head that take just over 30 minutes to make
Winter Partridge Salad
Smoky Chicken Noodle Soup (vegan option)
Tagliatelle with Roast Monkfish, Cherry Tomatoes and Pinenuts
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Serves 1
- 1 garlic clove - 4p
- 100g partridge breast - £1.40
- 1 tbsp Rocks cranberry cordial - 8p
- 1 ½ tsp balsamic vinegar of Modena - 7p
- 50ml rapeseed oil - 32p
- 1 large or two small parsnips - 26p
- 1 tsp wildflower honey, clear - 5p
- 50g slice of long fermentation bread - 21p
- 1 tsp unsalted butter - 4p
- 5g fresh rocket - 20p
- 1 fresh English apple - 45p
- 1 tbsp pinenuts, toasted - 28p
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
£3.40 per person
Preheat your oven to 190C.
Finely chop the garlic clove and rub into the partridge breasts. Whisk the cordial, balsamic vinegar together and pour over partridge breasts. Marinate for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, drizzle the rapeseed oil in a roasting tin and pop it into the oven to heat. Peel your parsnips and quarter is small or cut into 6 or 8 pieces if larger. Coat in the hot oil, season and roast for 15-20 minutes, until crisp on the edges and tender in the centre. Drizzle with honey and cook for a further 3 minutes, to caramelise it.
Decant 1 tbsp of the honeyed, parsnip-infused oil into a warm frying pan. Brown the partridge breasts in this for about 3-5 minutes on each side, until cooked to your liking. A touch rare is preferred. If they’re browned but need to cook through a touch more, pop them in the oven which should still be warm from the parsnips.
Butter the bread slice and pop it in the oven to toast.
Keep the partridge pan on the heat and add the marinade. Let it bubble up and reduce by about half. Add the partridge to this, just to give a bit of a sweet, sticky glaze.
Assemble the salad: Place the rocket leaves on a large plate. Arrange the parsnips on top. Slice the apple, cutting the core out but keep the skin on (unless you want it off) and scatter it on top. Cut the toasted bread into 2cm cubes. Arrange it in and around the leaves, parsnip and apple. Top with the partridge breasts, a drizzle of the reduced marinade and finally, with the toasted pinenuts.
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The soup is then just a matter of gradual assembly – it’s very simple and quick to make. You can create a vegan version of this dish by swapping the hot smoked chicken breasts with 200g smoked tofu, cut into 2cm cubes, and use vegetable stock, rather than chicken stock. Serves 2
- 1litre chicken stock*
- 200g hot smoked chicken breast - £5.80
- 100g carrots - 16p
- 100g parsnip - 26p
- ½ white onion - 6p
- 50g fresh spinach - 26p
- 10g fresh chervil - 48p
- 100g brown rice noodles - 68p
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger root - 4p
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
£7.74 for 2 servings / £3.86 per person
First, heat your stock. While it warms, prep meat and vegetables. Shred the chicken breast. Peel and very finely slice the carrots and parsnips – you want very thin slivers; use a mandolin, a vegetable peeler or a very sharp knife. Peel the onion and slice paper-thin. Pile your spinach leaves on top of one another and slice into very thin ¼-1/2cm thin – this is called a chiffanade. Roughly chop your chervil. Snap your rice noodles in half to give you 4-5cm long pieces. Make them shorter or keep them long, if you like.
Start adding the ingredients, starting with the chicken, carrots, parsnips, onion and a good grinding of black pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the carrots are tender. Then, add your noodles and ginger. Simmer until the noodles are tender – about 7 minutes. Take off the heat, stir through the spinach and chervil and serve. Add pinch of sea salt or a splash of soy sauce as a finishing touch.
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This is an extraordinarily cheap considering the quality and full-flavour of each ingredient. You could trim the price of this right down by using cod or whiting, or having no fish at all. However, the added luxurious touch of monkfish shows that you can eat very well indeed and still stick to a budget. Serves 1
- 1 ½ tbsp unsalted butter - 15p
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - 10p
- 1 garlic clove - 4p
- 70g (or 1/6 of a 425g pack) monkfish fillets - £2.71
- 125g cherry tomatoes - 93p
- 100g tagliatelle - 28p
- 5g fresh rocket - 10p
- 1 tbsp pinenuts, toasted - 28p
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
£4.64 per person
Preheat your oven to 200C. Place 1/2 tbsp butter and the 1 tbsp olive oil in a small roasting dish. Pop in the oven to melt the butter and warm the oil. Crush, peel and finely chop your garlic clove. Season your monkfish with salt and pepper, add the chopped garlic to the oil/butter, then coat fish in the butter/oil on both sides. Arrange the cherry tomatoes around the sides of the monkfish. Roast for 20 minutes, until the fish is cooked through and the tomatoes are soft and sticky. Cook a touch longer, if needed.
Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook your pasta while the monkfish roasts. Drain and toss with the remaining 1 tbsp butter. Season with a good pinch of sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Flake in the roasted monkfish, toss. Then, toss in the roasted tomatoes and all the juices from the pan. Top with a few torn rocket leaves and the toasted pinenuts.
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