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, let the fun begin. I've got a decadent chicken and veg pie that's a treat for your taste buds and your budget. People will judge me and then they'll do it and they'll keep it as their little dirty secret. It's a good little hack, and a super satisfying pasta dish that uses everyday ingredients to create big flavor. Hot, steamy, gorgeous. I'm sharing a low-cost chocolatey fix that's an absolute joy to make and eat. What's the matter with you? Come on. I've been working with you for so many years. And I've asked an expert in low-cost cooking to serve up a mighty feast that will stretch your money further. A little jiggle of the pan and it sort of all smooths out nice.
I want to prove to you that with a little bit of love and creativity, you can make the most delicious food on a budget. And I'm going straight in with the big guns. We're going to make a beautiful homemade pie.
My chicken and veg pie is an absolute crowd-pleaser. And it's a belter for your budget, too.
This old-school classic uses some clever hacks to keep cost down without compromising on flavor or texture.
Get yourself a nice big casserole pan on a medium-high heat. So, chicken thighs are great. Amazing for flavor, amazing for price, but you're going to always pay more if someone's done some butchery for you. So, at the moment, it's much cheaper to get a thigh with the skin on and the bone in. Right, taking the skin off is as easy as that. That's going to go into the pan first. This is just pure chicken fat. Now, let me show you how to remove the thigh bone. We'll just put the tip of the knife next to the bone. Go to the end. Do the same on the other side. And then you can pinch it and just put the tip of the knife through. I can then slice it into little inch chunks. And that's going to allow me to cook this chicken much quicker, which of course saves you cost on the energy.
So, if you look in the pan over there, that chicken skin that might have looked a bit miserable has now turned into the most incredible cracklings. Look at that. Golden, crisp, and delicious. And we're going to use that in the most fantastically creative way later. And then in the pan here, we've got that lovely chicken fat. So, I can take this chicken. We'll brown that off for a few minutes.
We can have a nice generous pinch of pepper. A good pinch of salt. Now with the bones, get yourself a little sandwich bag. Grab those. Put this into a freezer. Then you can make a lovely broth, stock, soup, ramen, you name it. The idea is to waste as little as possible and maximize flavor. So you can see the color going on this chicken in the most lovely way. So what can we do to add to it? If you're talking about value for money and maximum flavor, then dried herbs are really, really good. I've got here some dried thyme. About two teaspoons I'm going to use. So, the great thing about dried herbs is they last for ages. And the minute this hits the fat from the chicken, the smell is amazing.
So, next we are going to celebrate the freezer and tins. And this is all part of this savvy cooking. All right, we've got tins here of mushroom soup. Yes, you heard it right, mushroom soup. It gives you a really delicious, really good value, immediate sauce. And then let's talk about frozen veg. It can really capture nutrition in the most brilliant way. So there's no compromise there. Also, it's often much cheaper. So this simple combo, onions, carrot, celery in this one bag, it's in all the supermarkets. 400 g here. And the nice thing about frozen veg, of course, is if I wanted to use half a bag, I can put some back. You waste none. The other veg I'm going to use is spinach. This is really useful. So, in here, we go in with 400 g. We're also going to give it a hit of beautiful mustard as well. At the moment, English mustard is cheaper than the others, but every day the prices are changing. I'm going to use about three teaspoons in here. Oh, it smells amazing already. I just got a waft of mustard up me nose.
What I'm trying to show you is principles that you can use in different ways. So you could swap chicken out for different meats. You could swap different veggies out. And I think that idea of everyone being a little bit more alert to prices and bargains, different cuts of meat, utilizing frozen or seasonal vegetables. These are like not new skills for this time. These are skills from our grandparents. These are really important life skills that all of us can really, really benefit from.
Now let me show you how to make beautiful homemade pastry. Super simple. So here I have got some plain flour, 250 g, and then 125 g of cold butter. Then a quick way to get the butter in a nice kind of size is to grate it. Now of course you can buy pre-made pastry. It will cost you more money, but also homemade pastry is just a thing of joy. I'm going to go back to our friend thyme. One teaspoon goes in. And the idea that you can flavor pastries is really exciting. Different herbs, maybe a little spice, and then push the flour and butter together. And that little grating tip really helped because how quick was that? All you need now is about three or four tablespoons of cold water. So, when making shortcrust pastry, yes, I want to push it and mold it, but I don't want to move it too much. If you move it too much, then you're going to strengthen the gluten and it will be a hard pastry, and we want a short, crumbly pastry. Here we go. Homemade pastry. Look at that. Let that dough just rest for a little bit. I'll put this in the fridge.
And then with regards to this beautiful stew here, the next very thrifty hack is using tinned mushroom soup. So why would we use mushroom soup to do this? Look, it's got multiple ingredients. So you get a good bang for your buck for one product. That's really useful to you. Now bring it to the boil and then switch it off. And then I'm going to show you how to make the most beautiful pie.
Look at this. That's had some time to relax. So, just roll it like that. And you want it about half a centimeter thick. And if you look at our pastry, you can see it's almost sort of uneven, right? And that's good. The fact that it's uneven is going to give you little kind of pops of butter and that will be lift and that will be crumble and that will be a wonderful shortcrust pastry. Very, very exciting. So, what I'm going to do is get my pie mold and I'm going to get this sauce put in there. Look at that. Can you see how creamy this sauce is? Look at that. Come on. Chunks of chicken. And like, who thought frozen spinach would look so blinding delicious? And people will judge me for using the tinned mushroom soup, right? And then they'll do it and they'll keep it as their little dirty secret. It's a good little hack and you're getting a really quick solution. We didn't have to cook it as long, right? So, we're saving time and energy. It's a really clever thing. Then, I'm going to take a little bit of the sauce and just put it around the edge. That's going to help the pastry stick.
Okay. So, that's a nifty little tip. Like that. Now, look at that little lonely piece of chicken skin, which is now a gorgeous little chicken crackling. We're going to chop it up. And you wait till you see this. Listen.
We need to talk about crispy bits. That thing that might have gone in the bin. That on a lovely salad. Next level. This on a lovely noodle dish. Fantastic. Slightly chunkier with a beer. Crispy bits. And I'm going to take these now and I'm going to sprinkle them over the pastry. And that's your first impression. Smell, texture, deliciousness.
I want to give you savvy tips that make you salivate. And this is one of those. Come on. And I'm just going to roll it back. Then I'm going to push in front my lovely chicken stew and then unroll it. This is outrageously satisfying. You know, pies definitely make the world a better place. For sure. For sure. Now, we're going to use our fingers to do a crimp and make it look a bit posh. So, put a bit of flour on your fingers. Push it in like that and like that and like that and like that. Come on. Chicken pie loaded with veggies. We got that thyme-flavored pastry. It's going to be short and crumbly. And now we got the crispy bits.
Crispy bits pastry. It's a thing. Now, at this stage in doing a pie, you normally use beaten egg, an egg wash, to stick the pastry to the dish and make the pastry itself golden and gorgeous. Now, I don't want to spend that money on the egg for this recipe. So, you could use milk. Nice little tip. But, I'm not even going to do that. I'm going to use some of this gorgeous creamy sauce and that will do a fantastic job. And the great thing about this principle of the stew that I made is it can really use up leftovers, odds and ends, bits and pieces, leftover meat from a roast dinner, right? It's really, really flexible. Look at that. A thing of joy. Now, this is going to go in the oven at 200°C, 400°F for 35 minutes.
Come on, let's serve it up.
Look at this. Absolutely scrumptious. I've done some peas in the microwave just with a little drizzle of olive oil. And this all comes in on budget. So that, my friends, all right, maybe I made a bit of spillage there, but that is a... All right. And I'm wrecking the kitchen, but that is a beautiful thing. Pie and peas, right? You can't argue with that. This is really good home food. Food that makes you happy. Okay, let's plate up. Creamy, hot, steamy. Look at that. Come on, Eileen. There's more. Let's not forget that little crimpy rim. Oh, no. Let's dislodge it. Yes. The best bit. Come on. The crimpy bit with all the love. And that's about a portion. Delicious. You know, we've learned how to make a stew, homemade pastry, take a waste product like chicken skin and get crispy bits. We've used the freezer. We've used tins. We've used cheaper cuts of meat. And now the best bit.
Okay, first thing, the crunch from the chicken skin is awesome, but then the pastry just flakes away. It's short. It's delicate, right? Delicious. The chicken's tender. Yummy. I'm really pleased with that. That, my friends, is brilliant. Happy days.
In this recipe, I've got two fantastic freezer tips that are going to help us make this incredible classic dish that has all the flavor at a fraction of the cost.
My mushroom risotto is quick to make and an absolute treat for your taste buds. This beautiful creamy mix of rice, onions, mushroom, and celery will save you money and make four people very happy.
Risotto. Without doubt, one of the most famous Italian rice dishes out there. It's such a joy to eat. My family love it. It's a real crowd-pleaser. And actually, if I rewind to when I was like 17 years old, that's when I made my very first risotto. And it was a mushroom risotto. And when I've been developing these recipes, I've struggled to get fresh mushrooms on the menu because they're so expensive. Until I went to the freezer department, and it's been a bit of a revelation. In the pan, we're going to start off by making beautiful garlicky mushrooms. Right, this is the base of our flavor. I'm going to finely slice three cloves of garlic.
Then I'm going to go for about 750 ml of boiled water. Crumble in the stock cube like that. Let's give it a little stir. With frozen mushrooms, I just put it in the fridge overnight. And when you defrost these, juice comes out. But when you're talking about mega flavor, right, that's really helpful. And make a little hole in the bag. That is free mushroom flavor. It will make all the difference. Look. Look at the depth of that color. Come on. So, we're going to take a frozen product and we're now going to make it amazing. And in it goes. Now, start treating it like any other mushroom. Little salt, a little pepper, a little teaspoon of dried thyme. I didn't know that the mushrooms were in that freezer department. So, for me, I'm buying it now. Like, this is a thing. Like, fresh, brilliant. I'll use it frozen. Really, really handy. Now, the mushrooms I'm just going to put onto this board and we'll start making our risotto. So, we've got two small onions. Just chop it any way you want to.
And then celery, two sticks.
Now, let's have a look at the mushrooms. So, just divide it in half. I'm going to have some chunks that look beautiful. Look at that. Right. But then over here, I'm going to chop it. And just chop it and chop it. And you don't have to do this. But by having chunks and finely chopped mushroom, you get like the depth of flavor and color.
Okay. So, I've actually got this on medium-high. Once that softens, we're ready to go.
Now, 300 grams of Italian risotto rice. So, why do we need a risotto rice? Well, this rice is a starchy little number, very creamy as it cooks. That's why we love it. So, as the rice goes in, it's going to suck up the oils, the flavor from the celery and the onions. And just let it toast for a minute until it goes slightly translucent. Now, lots of recipes for risotto would have a little swig of white wine. Some would even have red wine, and many would have nothing. But if you were to accidentally just be sipping a little glass of wine, oh, you know, I'm not going to have a go at you, right? But this is costed without any booze. We're going to still get loads and loads of flavor, no compromise. So, the mushroom, or half of it, goes in. And then we begin this ritual, adding a little bit of stock and stirring. And then as that stock gets absorbed into the rice, we add some more. Never too much at a time. Always little drips. We're not boiling rice. We're adding. We're stirring. It gets absorbed. We add a little bit more.
Come and have a look at this. We're about three or four minutes in. You can start to see the starchiness coming out. Can you see that? So, as I push the rice out the way, this starchiness, that is risotto. That's what it's all about. This is going to take about 15 more minutes to cook. So, 20 minutes all in. Right. I've got the second freezer tip that I want to do now. It's actually about fresh herbs. So, I'm often asked like, 'Oh, I've bought a bunch of herbs. This is parsley. Oh, I've used it, you know, in a bit of a recipe, but I've got like half left.' Okay, so I've costed for half of this parsley. So, how do I look after this? Well, what you can do is just wrap it in some kitchen paper, get it wet, and you're going to get a number of days more if you put that in the fridge. But the other thing you could do is I'm going to turn all of this into a really simple, delicious parsley oil. I can use half of it in this recipe now just to finish the dish. But the other half I can put in little ice cube molds and freeze it. So the next time you roast a bit of chicken or cook a bit of fish, right? So it's all about thinking ahead and utilizing all that good stuff. So first up, what I will do is just steal the stalks and use those in my risotto.
Okay, let's turn this into a flavored oil. Just a few rough chops. To do this, you could even liquidize it, but I didn't really want to use flashy equipment. So, I'm using a pestle and mortar. And in about 30 seconds, with the help of a pinch of salt and pepper, you can pound that up to be like a kind of bright green nutty pulp. Garlicky mushrooms in there, and then you've got like light, irony parsley. It's going to be a lovely contrast. So, as I'm doing that, I continue to love our risotto. Bit more stock. Not far away. It's minutes. Minutes.
Look at that. Come on. And we've done a nice job that can be a gift that keeps on giving. So, do that. That simple thing. And then we go into the freezer. And then you got these little flavor bombs.
So, a conundrum that I had was parmesan. So, I'm sure if you've got parmesan at home, rattle and roll, you can use it. Happy days. But it is expensive. So, the nearest thing I could do was use cheddar because it's very tasty, very reliable, and a great price. And I started thinking about what would the Italians do. So, I phoned up Gennaro and he goes, 'Listen, when the Italians first came to this country, do you think they stopped cooking risotto because they didn't have Parmesan?' Of course, they used what was local to them. So, what we're doing here is the spirit of being Italian, which is resourceful, savvy.
Okay, we're so close. You can still see that the grains are holding their shape. And then just add just a little swig of oil. And then I'm going to add this cheddar. Turn the heat off. Now, I don't want to be cooking risotto with cheese in it. You can see it getting thicker. Look, look, look, look, look, look. It's getting oozy, oozy, oozy. And then we got the chunks of those mushrooms. And you can see, look, can you see how lovely and oozy that is? That is just beautiful. After about two minutes, it's rested. And then the most exciting bit. Let's plate this dish up. So, four portions. I promised you.
Normally, I'd use a ladle, but I'm too excited. Look at this. Here we go. Beautiful mushroom risotto. There's more going around. Love. Care. And to flourish it, you've got beautiful parsley, full of life. Just a little bit. Don't need much. Look at the color, the freshness. And then on that little fine side with cheese. Just a little push. So, come on. Let's get in there.
That is serious deep flavor. Risottos make you feel good. There's something really homely about it. And this is about helping you guys be resourceful. This is a beautiful plate of food. And using the freezer in those two clever ways with the mushrooms, with the flavored oil, it just means that you're really ninja at meddling with flavor and budgets and being thoughtful and thinking ahead. Delicious.
Loads of people ask me what are my top 10 things to have in the store cupboard. Tins are your best friend as they're great value and last for ages. Number one, tin tomatoes. A true all-rounder. Coming in at number two, tins of beans and chickpeas are a great source of protein when you don't have meat. At three, underestimate at your peril. Tinned fish are a quick fix packed with omega-3s. My choice at number four is packets of dried pasta, which can be one of the most versatile friends to have on hand. And when it comes to jars, at five is honey, which adds a touch of sweetness. Mustard adds a bit of a kick at six. And seven, olive oil, a store cupboard hero that can give most things a lift. Eight, a bag of good old plain flour. Nine, sea salt and black peppercorns. And 10, stock cubes if you can. So, the store cupboard really is your best friend, ready for you whenever you need it.
Everyone needs a quick homemade bread recipe up their sleeve. And in this next dish, it's big on flavor, low on price.
My bargie burger and flatbread uses simple ingredients to create a flavor-packed winner of a dinner. It's a great way to use up leftover veg and keep those costs down.
One of my favorite things to eat when I was a kid was an onion bargie. So crispy and delicious. The flavors were really exciting. So I've got a recipe that can embrace all kinds of different veggies. And originally it went in a beautiful bun. Then the prices went bonkers again. So then I made my own bread which I turned into little mini naan. And actually, it's cooler, cheaper, and better. So, first, let's slice up the garlic and the onions. So, look, we're working to a budget, but we're using garlic, we're using ginger, chili, herbs, we're using citrus. There's no compromise in diversity of ingredients and excitement of ingredients. No way, Jose. I've got the ginger here. And then on the same box grater, do nice long strokes of paneer. That's an interesting Indian cheese. By the way, it's in all the supermarkets. So, I've got 200 grams of squash. I'm going to remove the seeds here. Seeds are often incredibly nutritious. So, what I might do is crispen them up in the pan to sprinkle on top. And obviously, by using the box grater, we're making the squash cook much quicker.
Now, look at that beautiful palette of colors. And it's going to get better as well because even though we're doing a budget-friendly recipe, I'm still using fresh herbs. And if you don't like coriander, go mint or basil. We have the stalks here. And often they go in the bin. Don't. And then the lovely leafy part at the top. Just click that off. Right. And we'll save that for later. With the stalks finely sliced. And then to turn this into a bargie, I'm going to use 100 g of self-raising flour. Right. That will clag it up and turn it into that frittery sort of light batter. Now, another ingredient that we're going to use is a fresh lime. This is going to give fragrance and real freshness. Then, last but not least, two heaped teaspoons of curry paste is a brilliant thing because you can create big flavor really, really fast. I'm going to add a nice pinch of salt and then really scrunch this all together. Let the juices from the onion and the squash come out and be absorbed by the paneer and the flour. And then you want to make these into like four even balls that you can press down to be a nice little patty. Now let the fun begin. I'm going to add just a little bit of oil to the pan. Just pat these down. They're a bit tatty and raggedy. We like that. We want to get a crunchy crispy edge. So, when we're not using meat, you can tell by the type of ingredients we got, we've got more to play with. And look, I'm a meat eater. Absolutely. But two or three times a week minimum, I'm trying to have veggie dinners.
Next up, we're going to make some bread. So, fantastic principal recipe. It is so simple. So, for four medium-sized naans, 250 g of self-raising flour, pinch of salt, just a little drizzle of oil. Then you want about 150 ml of water. And we want to bring it together as a nice dough. We give that a little knead. So look how easy was that? Just roll it out. Cut it in half and then each half in half. And then get them roughly into a ball. So get yourself a rolling pin. It's like a medium naan, not a big one. That sort of size. I've got big hands. And don't worry about them being perfect. So, look at that. Four homemade little flatbreads. Super quick. Now, I'm going to put this pan on a high heat so we can cook these lovely flatbreads. But, as it's heating up, I'm going to try and get these beautiful little seeds here to be crispy and edible and delicious. Waste not, want not, right? Maybe a little black pepper. Just because we're cooking on a budget doesn't mean we can't have little embellishments of gorgeousness, textures, flavor bombs.
Now look, if I go back to the fresh coriander, I'm going to put that in a pestle and mortar, pinch of salt, and bash it up. I'm going to show you how to make the most delicious flavored yogurt that is going to be so good with this dish. So, pound it up to kind of like a mush. And I've budgeted for four tablespoons of lovely yogurt. So refreshing. Look at the color. Look at the color. It's such a beautiful pastel green. So that can go aside. Did you hear that? Starting to pop. So when they start popping, give it a little pinch of salt. Let that cool down. Then I'll sprinkle that over the dish at the end. Let's just turn these fritters over. Look at the color. They're starting to get crispy.
Now, let's cook the first two flatbreads straight in. You'll see the self-raising flour get activated and little bubbles coming up. I'm going to get a little tea towel here just to be a welcoming party to our flatbread. And in no time at all, we've got color there. Look at that. Nice color. Golden. So, the only other job I've got actually is shredding some gem lettuce. So, let's check the flatbreads.
Look at that. Beautiful. And then cover it up. And they'll just keep nice and steamy cozy. In with the next two. Fantastic. Let's plate the first one up. So, I'm going to load this with some of that shredded lettuce. We're then going to go to get our fritter and place that on top. Look at the sizzle. Some of that amazing coriander yogurt, some of those lovely squash seeds. Few bits of coriander like that. Just beautiful. Little bit of mango chutney. And then half a papadom just kind of cracked up all over the place. That's the dish. Four of those. So, let's do it.
Oh, squeeze the lime. Don't forget the lime.
Mmm. That was a big mouthful. Wow. These flavors are absolutely banging. So, there you go, guys. Completely messy, completely delicious. It's fun. It's vibrant. It's full of life. And I love it. What are you waiting for? Give it a go.
I wanted to give you loads of ideas for beautiful, budget-friendly meals. So, I've asked chef and author Miguel Barclay to share one with you. He's written loads of cookbooks packed with great value recipes. I suppose my mantra is, what's the shortest way to the tastiest food for the least cost?
Miguel's aubergine parmigiana is a total treat. His take on an Italian dish hits the spot with tomatoes, oregano, and cheese. Served with a crispy lettuce salad, this beauty is a winner for your budget.
