Cook on a Shoestring - Book review

 

In this new cookery book, Sophie Wright has developed a selection of recipes that show you don’t have to spend a fortune on tons of ingredients to make delicious, mouth-watering dinners.

Sophie encourages readers to multiply meals from simply roasting a chicken and using the leftovers to make a number of different dishes eg. Shredded Chicken Quesadillas. 

On first look at the book, the stunning food photography really stands out .  The food looks very tasty and certainly makes me want to try out some recipes. 

All the recipes look fab, but the ones that initially appeal to me include the Pork Parmigiana, Mum’s Midweek Honey & Lemon Chicken, Tray-baked Ginger-glazed Salmon, Patatas Bravas (I’m a big tapas fan) plus Singapore Noodles.

The book can be found on amazon.co.uk for between £10-£12 and over the next few weeks, I am going to test out some of the recipes from the book, include photos of my efforts plus post feedback both from me on ease of cooking plus from the family/friends I am cooking for.

The first dish we tried was the Pork Parmigiana:

This dish appealed to me as I am keen to introduce carb-free meals to my diet.

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2-3 large aubergines, cut into thin strips lengthways

2 tbsps olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

500g pork mince (Sophie recommends you could use turkey if you prefer)

2 garlic cloves, grated
2 tsps dried oregano
Pinch of nutmeg
Zest of 1 lemon
1 bunch (15 leaves) fresh basil
1 x 125g-150g mozzarella ball, torn into strips
25g grated Parmesan
For the tomato sauce:
2 tbsps olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
500ml passata or 2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
½ tsp chilli flakes.

 Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.  Heat a frying pan or griddle on the highest setting.  Put the aubergine slices into a bowl and add the olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Lay the aubergine slices in the pan (don’t overcrowd it – you can do this in batches).  Cook until looking lovely and golden brown underneath, about 3-4 minutes, turn then over and cook the other sides.  Remove from the pan, and leave to cool.
2. Next, put the pork mince into a bowl and add the garlic, oregano, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt and pepper. Mix well.
3. To make the sauce, combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes.  If you are using canned tomatoes you may want to blend the sauce to make it smooth, but it’s up to you.
4. Now lay out the fried aubergine slices.  Put a spoonful of the pork mince at one end of each slice, lay basil leaf on top along with a piece of mozzarella and roll the aubergine up tightly.  Spoon some of the hot tomato sauce into the base of a baking dish.  Arrange the aubergine rolls in the dish and cover with the remaining sauce.  Add any remaining mozzarella or basil leaves.  Sprinkle generously with grated Parmesan and bake in the hot oven for 35-40 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven once golden brown and serve.

Hubby actually cooked the dish, which was a nice treat for me, he thought it was an easy dish to cook and he followed the instructions well.  Here is the finished result.

 

Our thoughts:
The dish was delicious, really enjoyable with a nice spicy kick.  Loved the idea it was a carb-free dish.  Our 23 month old twins loved it and kept asking for more.  Definitely a winning dish and will be cooking it again in the future.   Also apart from the aubergines and pork mince, we had all the ingredients at home so didn't have to spend lots of money on the dish