With the cost of food and energy going through the roof, everyone started to act differently in the way that they shop and feed themselves and their family. And I really wanted to be as useful as possible to you in this time. So for me, it's about thinking about those basic cooking skills that can look after you.
I've had to study hundreds and hundreds of ingredients across four big supermarkets. Really go back to basics, principles, hacks, tips. Come on.
We might be cooking on a budget, but this is delicious food. Every single ingredient has been costed to offer recipes that are incredible value. Clever cooking to keep cost down. Have a look at that. Maximum flavor, minimum cost.
This time I've got a delicious chicken roast that saves time and money but doesn't scrimp on flavor. Everything's there. The smoky bacon is definitely there. And an utterly delicious recipe that flips humble ingredients into a beautiful meal. Oozy, creamy, spinachy ham. I've got two super tasty family favorites that are cooked in cost-efficient and surprising ways. Have a little go at this. You won't regret it. And I've called on my old pal Gennaro to share some tips on traditional Italian cooking to keep cost down and flavor up. You will love it.
Everyone, even if you're cooking on a budget, deserves a delicious Sunday roast. And boy, have I got a good one for you.
My time-saving chicken roast uses one of the cheapest cuts of chicken and is filled with a super simple, delicious stuffing with some clever tips to ramp up flavor, cook faster, and cut costs. This beauty will make six people very happy. So, chicken thighs, skin on, on the bone. Okay. Often people are getting it with skin off and the bone out. And you're paying, of course, a butcher to do that for you, and they're going to charge up for that. So, this is the most economic way to buy your chicken. It's a beautiful cut. It really is. We're going to get that skin really crispy. That meat's going to be juicy and tender and falling apart. And we're going to stuff it with incredible things that makes it feel beautiful, exciting, and something a little bit different.
So, first job is actually prepping some onions, sweet onions. These are the smaller onions which are by far the cheapest that you can get in nearly all of the supermarkets and they're out-of-spec ones, right? So they're either too big or too small and it helps farmers sell all of their product, not just the certain size and specific ones. So I'm going to slice two of these onions. And then with this third onion, I'm just going to quarter it and put it to one side here. Now, these onions I'm going to put into a pan. Let's get that onto a medium-high heat. Okay, we want these onions to be sweet and caramelized and delicious. So, we're just going to lightly fry these off with a little pinch of salt and pepper for about 5 minutes while we do a little bit of butchery. And these are basic skills that a lot of people have lost. And there's no real reason for it because it's so simple. You can see the bone here, right? Use your two fingers and just go very simply on the side of each bone and just kind of chip away. If you do it badly, it doesn't matter. And then we have that bone which you can make the most incredible gravy out of. The idea of taking a cheap cut of meat, doing basic things to it to make it fabulous and stretch more and allow you to add flavors to create incredible dishes and you know all the kind of challenges around food prices and energy. What's amazing is when you can cook, you can cook around some of these challenges. Now, I've got one rasher of bacon here. I'm just going to slice it up and it's going to add a depth of flavor to our onions and a smokiness. So, just one rasher goes a long way, I promise you. Right now, two trays that we're going to cook in. First up, we're going to go in with the chicken bones. But if you want to extract more flavor, then you need to crack them in half. And to do that, you use the butt of your knife. We'll just do one little crack. You've exposed the bone marrow and you will get the most amazing gravy. So, onions are done. Okay. And they've gone nice and golden. So, we're going to leave that to cool down. And now the quarters of onions that I put aside, you can put in this tray with the bones. The other thing I've got are these lovely carrots here, which I am going to peel. And I'll put the peelings into this tray because that will give flavor to the gravy and just drop them in there. So that is making good use of the oven space. The oven is more expensive than the electrical gas hob, right? So if you're going to use the oven, it's good to use it properly and fill it. And this is a perfect recipe that will express that. So just a little oil in there. Give that a toss up. And that is actually a really important job done because you're going to get amazing carrots and amazing gravy from one tray, which we like. Right, just going to wash my hands for a second.
The next thing I'm going to do is an amazing roast potato. I've washed these, given it a little prick with a knife, and I'm going to put them in the microwave for 10 minutes at full whack. And that's going to par-cook them. And a little bit of time in here will save time in here. So, it's all clever cooking. So, as they cook, let's stuff these incredible chicken thighs. The first thing you'll be thinking is like a chicken thigh. One of them isn't enough, but we're going to stuff it. We're going to stretch the meat. We're also going to tenderize it. And we're going to make a combination that is going to slap me around the face. It is a delicious thing. So, how do we do that? Salt and pepper.
And then we're going to add a herb, dried sage. You can use any herb you like, but dried is definitely a good value way of getting concentrated flavor into your cooking. Then, I want to tenderize this chicken and flatten it out. So, I'll just take a little bit of greaseproof paper. Take something heavy like a little small pan or a rolling pin. And two at a time, I'm going to bash this out. This just makes it easier to wrap around a stuffing. It's a fantastic little principle to learn. So, let's talk about the stuffing. First up, I'm going to go with cranberry sauce. Okay. So, a little something sweet, a little sour. I just take a teaspoon and I plop it in the middle of our chicken like that. Then if you think about a traditional stuffing, what do you always have? Bread. So I'm going to take three slices and some mustard and I'm just going to butter it over the bread. Slice them in half. Take the bread, put it on the chicken. It will catch and go crispy. And then last but not least, our cooled onions with smoky bacon.
Here. Push it all in and roll it over. The great thing about the bread is it helps you stuff the chicken, but it also soaks up all the gorgeous juices and becomes debatably the best bit of the whole dish. Right? It's the bit that everyone fights for. I've got six bits of string that I'm going to use to secure this. So, you go underneath the chicken thigh like that. You just crisscross it and do a little knot. And then I can send one underneath and back on top again to secure it. These simple preparations make a little go a long way, but also add flavor and drama and excitement. So, look, here we go. Into a roasting tray, we've got our chicken. Let me just wash my hands.
Let's get our potatoes out. And they're hot. Woohoo! They're hot and steamy. So, put the potatoes on here and squash the potatoes. It will cook quicker. You'll have more contrast of textures. So, this is going to go in with the chicken in between the little gaps.
Just give it a little oil, salt, and pepper. Chicken board will get a proper wash.
So, the chicken and potatoes are going to go in for 1 hour at 180°C, which is 350°F. The carrots and trivet will go in for 40 minutes. And then I'm going to cook the most delicious cabbage in the most unusual way.
So this is what they call in the supermarkets a sweetheart cabbage. I call it a pointed cabbage, but basically today this is the cheapest cabbage I can get my hands on and it's delicious. I've given it a wash, then put the knife carefully like this all the way to the end. Now we're going to keep the stalks on and that's going to hold the whole thing together. I'm just going to cut the cabbage like that into a nice wedge. How beautiful is that? So, we'll get six out of a whole cabbage.
And instead of boiling it or steaming it, we're going to go to the oven. We're going to pull out our carrots and our bones. And I'm going to lay our cabbage on top. And it's going to scald and roast. The outside layers will go golden and crisp. And the inside layers will be soft and steamed.
So, back in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Happy days.
So, the cabbage has had about 25 minutes. Before I get it out of the oven, I want to get an old friend out the freezer. Frozen peas, just under 500 g. I'm going to do nothing to it at all. There's enough moisture already on here to steam them. I'm going to add on top of those our beautiful cabbage. Can you see how it's been roasted and caught? So, on the inside, it's really delicate, sweet, and steamed. So, I'm simply going to pick these up like that and lay them onto our peas. As I reheat the peas, just for four or five minutes, that'll also reheat our beautiful cabbage.
This chicken's nearly done. All the lovely bits of the old cranberry sauce trying to fight through. The skin is all golden and crisp. If I show you one of these potatoes, can you see? See how crispy that is? Come on. Sticky bits. So, we can actually turn if you want to the potatoes around. Any of those juices that have come out, we can just drizzle over the top. So, what I'm going to do is put the carrots back in with this to carry on roasting. This goes back in the oven for give or take 10 minutes while I make some beautiful gravy. So, get a medium heat on. And then a couple of tablespoons of plain flour.
Go in with some boiling water. Use a spoon to really scrape all the sticky bits off the bottom and sides. And then squash the onions and the carrot to really get all the maximum flavor out of that. And then simmer that for like 10 to 15 minutes until it's the thickness that you like. And also check it for seasoning. Around the same time, our carrots, potatoes, and chicken are going to be ready. And then I'll show you how to plate it all up.
Okay, come on. Chicken. Beautiful potatoes. I've got the carrots in there as well. Look at that. Crispy, golden. I've got the gravy basically done. Then you can see here I just put a lid on top. Give it a little shake. Literally that's just a little pinch of salt and a tiny drizzle of oil and that's going to be delicious.
Let's plate a portion up. Lovely potatoes. Look at that. You can see how the squashing gives you the really crispy bits and nice fluffy bits.
Look at this. It's such a nice way to cook the cabbage. Load it with peas.
Then got the lovely carrot.
Let's get on to the chicken. So, these are like little gifts, right? Wrapped up. Just remove that little bit of string and then slice the chicken in all of its glory. And that thigh meat is just beautiful. It's juicy and you've done a fantastic job of adding value to this incredible cut of meat. Right, we've stretched it even down to the gravy. Push it through the sieve. It's nice and thick. Proper homemade gravy. It's something a little bit different, but that any day of the week is a thing of beauty. So, let's try some. Let's go straight in with the chicken.
Oh, the thigh is juicy. You've got all of that lovely stuffing in there. The crispy skin. Everything's there. The sage, the onion, the smoky bacon is definitely there. So, look at the potatoes. You got the crispy skin here. And then on the inside, it's so fluffy because they've cooked with the chicken. They're almost like stocky. And then the cabbage. You've almost got the roasted side here. On the inside, it's just pearly white and fresh and tender.
That's what roast dinners are all about. It's incredible value, but also it's a beautiful thing that you can enjoy with the people that you love.
There's nothing simpler to make than a homemade pancake batter. And I want to give you the tools and principles to turn that into the most delicious showstopping dinner.
This cheesy pancake stack uses humble ingredients to really make a meal of things with layers of pancakes, delicious spinach sauce, smoky ham, and oozy cheese. This beauty is what cooking on a budget is all about.
So pancake batter is a really versatile thing to use. So you can go sweet, you can go savory, so you can go thick or thin. So there's loads of things you can do. I've got a very simple recipe. So starting off with two eggs. I'm going to go 70 ml of milk and then 70 ml of water.
I want a nice little pinch of salt. I would do that whether I go sweet or savory just to bring out the flavor of the flour. So I'm using plain flour. 120 g goes in. So it's all in one bowl. It could not be simpler. So, we call it a pancake. The French would call it a crepe. Actually, the inspiration for this dish comes from a trip I did to Provence. You go to a little bistro and you'd have this sizzling dish come out and it was basically layer upon layer of pancakes, a lovely bechamel cheesy sauce with spinach and tomatoes and ham and basically I've replicated that memory and it's delicious. The only thing I haven't got is the tomatoes. But what I have got is a lovely little side salad as well. So this is a lovely lunch, a really nice dinner, and I absolutely love it. So what I'm going to do now is get a 26 cm pan on a medium-high heat. We should be able to get six pancakes. I'll just put a little oil onto there.
So in there we go. I'll just move the pan around.
Just get it to fill out on the edges. Pretty standard that the first pancake is always your problem pancake. So that's going on the bottom by the way of the dish. But it's about adjusting the temperature so you get a really nice color. So the first one is done. So just put that here like that and then straight in with the next one all around the edge.
After you've done the first one, you get your mojo. Get your pancake mojo. So pancake batter to me is a really helpful thing to have in the home. It's great for Yorkshire puddings. A toad in the hole. I think probably pancakes is one of the first things I learned to cook along with an omelette.
So there we got the last one. Six done. I'm going to use the same pan to make a nice little sauce. I want two tablespoons of olive oil. And I'll go in with some sliced garlic.
So now is when we can make things a little bit fancy. Let's get the flavors of France going a little bit here. I don't want to cook it too fast. I don't want it golden. Just soften up the garlic. Then I'm going to go in with four tablespoons of flour. Just regular plain flour. Then use a spoon to bring this all together.
Slowly, bit by bit, add some milk. Every time the milk kind of cooks into the flour, we're going to add a little bit more. It's a really useful sauce to make. You know, whether you're using it for your lasagnas or cannellonis or, you know, over a little bit of fish. You can see it's getting thicker and thicker and it gets easier and easier every time you add a little bit of milk. Last bit of that milk goes in. So that's a very rustic version of a basic white sauce. Now that memory of mine in that Provençal bake had spinach, you know, it had the cheese, right? We're going to go with that vibe. And the best way to get spinach in there is actually not fresh. It's frozen. And it's also the cheapest way to get it in there. So, I'm going to use just under 250 g of spinach. I have frozen spinach in my freezer all the time. It's super useful. I use it in curries, stews, I use it in lovely little flatbreads. It's really nutritious and you take what you want. You don't waste any. You can see it's starting to defrost and you got those lovely sort of laces of green spinach in the white sauce. A little pinch of pepper and salt. One way you can really kick a little bit of flavor into this is to add a little mustard. So you could go French, you could go English. So that little bit of mustard gives it delicious flavor, amazing color.
And I'm just going to let that tick away for a couple of minutes until all the spinach has defrosted.
Right, let's put it all together and make something really scrumptious. So, in this recipe, we have got a nice little side salad. I'll come to that later. Cheese and ham. Now, if you didn't want to use ham, you could use leftover meat. You could go vegetarian, use mushrooms. It's a really flexible recipe that will have your back no matter what you want, no matter what you like, and it's good on the wallet. The principles are worth their weight in gold. So, we've got the sauce, we've got our pancakes, we've got the ham. Now I'm just going to grate some cheddar. So look, 250 grams. I'll leave a little bit to grate on top, but you can see why we're going to love it, right? Pancakes, ham, cheese, creamy sauce. It's going to be a good thing. So these things that I'm trying to tap into, like these are old techniques and finding those ways to create something really special out of just humble ingredients. So first layer goes in to a nice ovenproof dish. We'll then go in with our sauce. We'll go in with some lovely cheese. Imagine that melting in the layer. We go in with some lovely ham. Just repeat. Now, even if you put this together badly, it's still going to cook up and be amazing. But look at that. Who could argue with that? Creamy spinachy sauce, cheddar cheese, lovely smoked ham.
This is totally child's play. Actually, get the kids involved in this. They'll love it. You know, that's going to taste good. Every layer will start to ooze and melt. And I've still, by the way, got that last little chunk here.
Little bit more cheese on this layer. So, look at that. Come on. So, I cooked that in the oven for half an hour at 180°C, which is 350°F. And when it's golden, blipping and gorgeous, then you can enjoy it.
It's looking pretty special. Let's get her out. Smells amazing as well. There she goes. Oh, my legs used to get up there, but my trousers are holding me back. Look at that. Come on.
Look at all the crispy bits. Every now and again, it just goes blop.
So, what I like to do is let that sit for 5 minutes. And it's so much easier to serve. So, if I put this just to one side here, I want to show you probably the simplest of salads that you could possibly do. 3 tbsp of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper, 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar, and here I've got what is normally the cheapest salad leaf. That and iceberg. So, this is round lettuce. It's soft. It's sweet. And actually, we eat the whole thing, even the stalk. We'll just slice that up. Nothing will go in the bin. So, the simplest salad leaf, beautifully dressed, served with this beautiful thing. Come on, let's get in there now.
Go right to the bottom. The first one's always the tricky one, but let's get in there. Let's hope for the best. God, look at the layers. Layers.
Yes.
Gorgeous oozy layers. That with a few little salad leaves is a thing of joy.
Little pepper. Right. Come on. Let's go for a bit of edge. I know this is going to be too hot, but I have a plan. A cold, tangy lettuce leaf going. That's the mouthful right there.
Oozy, creamy, spinachy ham. Utterly delicious.
That is not a compromise. What I've tried to do for you is keep the flavor up and the cost down. It's the principles that I think have value. A good celebration of pancakes, what you can do with them. It really is an absolute cracker.
I've had a lot of fun developing the next recipe. It's naughty, but very nice and is all done in one pan.
My very cheeky homemade pizza is so fast to make you don't even need to turn the oven on. With a properly crispy base, it's topped with tomatoes, onions, red peppers, and oozy cheese. Served with a dressed salad, this dish really delivers on flavor.
So, this cheat's pizza is brilliant, right? You can start and finish it from scratch much quicker than your average takeaway. It's going to be a fraction of the price. And we're not even going to turn the oven on, right? It's all happening in the pan. So, 250 g of self-raising flour. Okay, that's going to give you the kind of sponginess, the crispiness. We're not going to use any yeast and have it proven for hours and hours. No, no, no, no, no. A nice pinch of salt. Then 150 ml of cold water. Get a fork. Taking just little bits of the flour. You don't want to bust the well. So go around in circles. You'll see it getting thicker and thicker. Then you can just start bringing the sides in like this. And this little dough that I'm making, this is brilliant for quick little flatbreads, for little naans. This is a brilliant principle in itself. Once it's come together, just knead this dough for a minute or two and it's going to be definitely done from start to finish in much less time than your average delivery is going to come through the door. So it's a bit of a win-win really. There's your dough. Let it just relax for a second. So, flavor, onion and pepper. I'm going to use half a pepper and a runaway onion. Just take the stalk out and the seeds and we'll slice that up. I'm going to finely slice the red onion and the peppers. Obviously, the finer you slice the peppers, the quicker they're going to cook. The pan is getting hot. We're going to go in with a nice lug of olive oil and we will scrape the onions and peppers in.
Now that's getting nice and hot. Just add a little drizzle of water and put a lid on. It's going to cook the peppers and onions quicker. It's going to bring out the softness and the natural sugars. Also, by using a lid, it's more time efficient and economical for cost, which is great. We can give it a nice little shake like that. Let's get some cheddar cheese. Great. 50 g, which is just about half of this. I'll have a little bit just to put on top when I finish it. Have a little try. Yeah, it's already sweet. Super quick. Just put that on your board and then the pan goes back.
So, this is when things get quite different. Wipe out your pan, get your dough, and just press it out. So, look, this dough was so quick. No proving, no waiting for hours for the yeast to ferment and do its business, right? We're cheating here. So, just use your hand to push this out. We're going to go in now with the dough. Hot pan. Lid goes on. You can see there's a little bit of humidity there. It's got the heat underneath. You can see the little bubbles coming up. That's the raising agent, the self-raising flour kicking into action. So, we're ready and raring to go. So, it's still fresh pizza, right? Still got love. It's just breaking a few rules. Let's flip it. Look at that color. So, we're going to turn the heat down a little bit now. And then we're going to go in with half a tin of tomatoes. And you can use your hands to push this out. We've got a lovely peppers and onions.
That cheese. Put some on the edge as well. So, a small amount of ingredients go a long way on a pizza. Salt and pepper.
Maybe a little drizzle of oil.
The temperature's turned down to a medium. Lid goes on top. Let that cook for about 2 minutes until the bottom's crispy and the cheese is easy. Okay, enough time to knock out a really simple salad. So, I've got round lettuce. I'm going to use a carrot and a speed peeler to turn the humble carrot into something a bit more beautiful. Right. How quick was that?
It smells so good. If you're talking about being clever, you know, budget friendly, you got an oozy top, crispy base, dress up your salad, little bit of olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper. You know, this is a cheat's pizza, and that's what we want in a busy life, right? I might have broken a lot of the rules in this pizza, but I like it. Super quick, incredibly budget friendly. Let's get amongst it and have a little try.
That's hot.
You've got sponginess. You've got crispy base.
The veggies are sweet, soft, seasoned. You got the ooze from the cheese. Much cheaper than a takeaway. Much faster than a takeaway. But as a principle and without even turning the oven on, naughty, but very nice.
This time, it's not just me in the kitchen. I've called upon Gennaro, my old friend and mentor, to share one of his own low-cost meals. Italian cooking is full of clever ways to create beautifully tasty food using whatever simple ingredients you have to hand.
