As we all know the cost of food an be expensive, especially if like me you are only cooking for 2 people. The larger bags of fruit and vegetables tend to work out cheaper per kg, when you compare them to the smaller bags.
But will you use a full larger bag of vegetables before they go off and then you have to throw them away? If this is the case what you saved by buying a larger bag, you have just lost by having to put some on the compost heap. Good for the compost not so great for the bank account.
You will see as I do more posts on the blog, that I like to buy the larger bags of vegetables and then I will have a cooking afternoon on the weekend and use similar ingredients to make a couple of dishes. Then what we don't have for dinner that day I can put into portions and freeze for an easy meal in the week when I have less time. This has the advantage of using the vegetables that I buy, but it also saves just a little bit on electricity if the oven will be on to cook one dinner, why not put another in at the same time? It saves the oven having to be used twice, so saves me a few more pennies along the way.
Fish - Two for one
This weekend just gone, I really wanted to make some fish recipes. I do like fish, but it is one of the ingredients that I think I don't cook enough of so wanted to make a couple of fish dinners. I had some cod ready to use, large bags of potatoes, carrots and leeks, and also some left over filo pastry in the freezer.
I had seen a recipe in a cook book for Halibut Filo parcels, I wasn't going to go out and get halibut especially for this, so I figured the cod would work just as well. I sliced the carrot and leeks into small thin slices and cooked for 5 minutes in a bit of lemon juice and some vegetable stock until they were just tender. I got 2 sheets of filo pastry, brushing some melted butter between them, and placed the cooked vegetables in the middle with a piece of cod on top of this. |
| Ready for the oven |
Following this I folded the pastry over to make a parcel, brushed the outside with butter. I also put some of the pastry off cuts on the top, again brushing them with butter. It was now ready for the oven, 180 degrees for about 20 minutes.
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| Bonus of fish pie |
As the oven was on, and I had the extra fish and vegetables, I also decided to make a fish pie. I just cooked the vegetables for a few minutes to soften slightly. Poached the fish in some milk. Put all these in the bottom of a Pyrex dish. I used the milk from the poaching to make a white sauce, mixed it into the vegetables and fish. Then covered with mashed potato and this cooked at the same time as the parcels.
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| Parcels ready to be served |
I was pleased to have cooked the parcels for our dinner that day. The fish pie was an extra, which was enough for two meals for both of us. This was divided up and is now in the freezer ready for when we need it.
Have you got any Fish recipes that you love to cook? Feel free to let me know
