inspiration for a cheap meal

[The Major]

I dont often cook, quite frankly cause I cant, but Tonight I feel like trying to attempt something but dont know what.

Now I say for a cheap meal as I dont want to spend loads of money then cock it up and make something that is inedible.

my only stipulation is that it cant have egg in it, as I'm allergic.


so, over to you

[shakotan]

The Major said:

I dont often cook, quite frankly cause I cant, but Tonight I feel like trying to attempt something but dont know what.

Now I say for a cheap meal as I dont want to spend loads of money then cock it up and make something that is inedible.

my only stipulation is that it cant have egg in it, as I'm allergic.


so, over to you

[neilski]

Job done!

[The Major]

thought I would get a good response here.

I can do more than beans on toast and dont like stagg chilli lol

[ambuletz]

^ brilliant combo.

you can always make a jacket/baked potato. mix 1 tin of beans with a tin of tuna (drained of course). be warned though, beans & tuna is immensely filling.

[chrismcg1]

Chicken Chorizo Pasta
(Serves 2)
Chicken breasts x 2 – cut up
Chorizo - sliced
Chilli flakes
Tin of Chopped tomatoes
Small cup of chicken stock
White wine
Onion x 1 (diced)
Penne Pasta

Fry the onion till soft and add the chicken. When sealed add the sliced chorizo and chilli flakes and cook for a few minutes. Add small amount of wine and chicken stock and tomatoes. Allow to cook for 20 minutes or so stirring occasionally (so sauce thickens slightly). Pour over penne pasta.
Obviously use as much chilli as you like!

Enjoy.

[scdan4]

chicken, onion, pepper, rice and a jar of pataks.

way nicer (and healthier) than you'd get from the curry hotline.

[Shaw Tarse]

Have a look here
How long do you want to spend cooking or waiting for your meal to cook?

[Stu R]

I'm doing pulled pork yet again.

6 quid for the pork, 6 hours to cook it, a quid or two for some nice soft buns, and a couple of quids worth of ingredients for the BBQ sauce (cider vinegar,mustard,salt,pepper,ketchup,a couple of spices etc). All in it costs about a tenner and 6 hours worth of coals for indirect BBQ cooking, and from one tray you'll get 10-12 good sized sandwiches. It gets even better when left overnight in the fridge, heaven on a plate!

[Composite Guru]

These are cheap and very easy to make. Filling too.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-reci...

[The Major]

Stu R said:

I'm doing pulled pork yet again.

6 quid for the pork, 6 hours to cook it, a quid or two for some nice soft buns, and a couple of quids worth of ingredients for the BBQ sauce (cider vinegar,mustard,salt,pepper,ketchup,a couple of spices etc). All in it costs about a tenner and 6 hours worth of coals for indirect BBQ cooking, and from one tray you'll get 10-12 good sized sandwiches. It gets even better when left overnight in the fridge, heaven on a plate!

that sounds really good.

few Q's, what pork joint would I need and how would I cook it?

[Shaw Tarse]

The Major said:

Stu R said:

I'm doing pulled pork yet again.

6 quid for the pork, 6 hours to cook it, a quid or two for some nice soft buns, and a couple of quids worth of ingredients for the BBQ sauce (cider vinegar,mustard,salt,pepper,ketchup,a couple of spices etc). All in it costs about a tenner and 6 hours worth of coals for indirect BBQ cooking, and from one tray you'll get 10-12 good sized sandwiches. It gets even better when left overnight in the fridge, heaven on a plate!

that sounds really good.

few Q's, what pork joint would I need and how would I cook it?

I think Pork shoulder, onions BBQ sauce, slooow cook?
Tastes better than it looks?

[zac510]

Vegetable tagine with cous cous is always pretty cheap. Even with lamb it's reasonably priced if you don't mind eating the same thing again 2-3 nights.

[Stu R]

The Major said:

Stu R said:

I'm doing pulled pork yet again.

6 quid for the pork, 6 hours to cook it, a quid or two for some nice soft buns, and a couple of quids worth of ingredients for the BBQ sauce (cider vinegar,mustard,salt,pepper,ketchup,a couple of spices etc). All in it costs about a tenner and 6 hours worth of coals for indirect BBQ cooking, and from one tray you'll get 10-12 good sized sandwiches. It gets even better when left overnight in the fridge, heaven on a plate!

that sounds really good.

few Q's, what pork joint would I need and how would I cook it?

Pretty much any decent cut with plenty of fat in will do, shoulder is ideal. Bone in shoulder is best, but it's not that easy to get. The bigger you get the longer it takes too cook obviously. If you've got a Costco card their butchered shoulder is great for pulled pork as the cooking time is much lower than a full sized butt and it's got the perfect amount of fat. I'll pop a recipe thread up tomorrow if the weather's nice. Here's a basic breakdown of it.

Make a basic dry rub using whatever spices and herbs you fancy, I always use equal measures of paprika, garlic salt, onion salt, cayenne powder, a spice mix (basically just habanero, paprika, cumin, and a few others), salt, pepper and brown sugar. Cover the pork in it and leave it in the fridge for as long as you can - an hour will do but I leave it overnight whenever I've got time.

The key is too cook indirectly (coals on one side, meat on the other), keep the lid down on the BBQ and use soaked wood chips to get it as smokey as you dare. Don't get it too hot, cook it for hours (you can finish it off in the oven if needs be but smoke it first - 4-6 hours will do nicely). Once it's cooked the meat should fall apart as soon as you show it a fork - set it aside for a few minutes, then shred it using two forks (one to hold, one to pull). I use 1/4 of a bottle of cider vinegar, a couple of tablespoons of malt vinegar and some brown sugar as a wet mop sauce to apply while it's cooking (I only lift the lid on the bbq to refuel, thus I only put that on when I refuel too!) but that's not essential.

When it's nearly ready to shred start working on your BBQ sauce - I only ever use vinegar based ones (perfect for pork). It basically consists of half a cup of tomato ketchup, 3/4 bottle of Aspall's cider vinegar, half a cup of brown sugar, a splash or worcester sauce, some salt and pepper and a spoon full of mustard. Stick it all in a pan and simmer for 15 minutes.

Shred the pork in a roasting pan, apply a good amount of your BBQ sauce (not too much, you don't want to overpower the smokey flavours), stick it in the oven for 10 minutes and serve in a bread bun with a bit more sauce lobbed on. Honestly, it's amazing.

It takes a while to cook, but it's well worth it - costs very little given the amount of pork you get (pork and bread from costco, the rest from the supermarket, total of about 11 quid), and as said one of the trays from Costco will make a dozen hefty sarnies easily. I'll make a proper guide with pictures tomorrow

If you can't use a BBQ for whatever reason, you can make a pretty good job of recreating it by slow roasting in the oven at 130C, but you'll be missing a huge part of what makes them so amazing - that beautiful smokey flavour.

Edited by Stu R on Friday 24th June 16:48

[The Major]

cheers

Dont have a bbq so the last bit about oven cooking is great.

sounds really nice just wish I could smoke it as I love smokey stuff

[Stu R]

You can improvise, all you need is a way of trapping smoke - it takes ages to get it properly smoked but you can use anything from a biscuit tin to a plant pot and some burning wood just to give it a gentle smoke. I've even used the woodburner at home

[Pferdestarke]

scdan4 said:

chicken, onion, pepper, rice and a jar of pataks.

way nicer (and healthier) than you'd get from the curry hotline.

Disagreed. Healthier yes, nicer, no.

[Melman Giraffe]

My one pan sticky chicken goes down well - See linky

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Stu R]

Chucked my pulled pork recipe w/ pics up in this thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Total cost: £6 for the pork (1.5KG), 3 quid on bits and bobs like cider vinegar and ketchup, buns etc. 15 portions, for <£10.

[Stu R]

Melman Giraffe said:

My one pan sticky chicken goes down well - See linky

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Must try that, looks superb