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Sarah Lockett is a food writer and TV news reporter/presenter with a special interest in healthy eating. She writes on weight loss, healthy food and the psychology and practicalities of dieting. She wrote a daily cookery column for a national newspaper (The Scotsman) for 18 months. She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers. She says: Here are some of my ideas to save money but live well. Remember, we can go for the odd thing that's a bit pricey, but only if it's value for money.

October 5th 2007

Nothing gets thrown away!

You know I love to use up old jars and tins of things, and half-eaten packets of lentils/ pulses just coming up to (or even past?) their sell-by date. Hey, don't knock it -I've made some great dishes this way. And I get huge satisfaction from not wasting food. Sometimes I make a whole recipe or dinner party solely based around a half jar of pesto or two carrots. Of course –then I probably have to go out and buy a whole load of new ingredients to make it. So I’m back to Square One. But it amuses me, having my own little “Ready Steady Cook” each day – making something out of whatever ingredients I have in.

I also tend to put by, from time to time, spare vegetables into the freezer. If I’ve got a few veg that are obviously on their last legs, and I’m not planning to use them in the next few days, I’ll blanche them and freeze them. So now I’m bringing out little packets of things, defrosting them and seeing what I can do with them.

This is a great dish for using things up, and I mean tins as well as frozen veg. It’s also a good use of my frozen grated cheese (half-fat), which is my current obsession. If I’m using cheese for cooking, I either buy it grated (a great indulgence I think, as it’s more expensive), or grate it myself and then keep it in the freezer. It’s good for spooning out a few ounces when you need them. And for putting in cheese toasties, incidentally – the bread and cheese is all frozen and couldn’t be easier to bung in a Breville sandwich toaster for 2 minutes, to come out brown and bubbling and begging for ketchup.

Ratatouille Pasta Bake

Serves 6

Ingredients:

300ml milk (or soya)

1 tbsp sauce flour (or ordinary flour or gluten-free flour)

150g grated cheddar (preferably mature)

salt & pepper

freshly grated nutmeg

2 tins ratatouille (900g in all)

180g lasagne sheets or other pasta

3 tsp pesto

1 leek or onion, sliced and sweated in oil or stock

2 parsnips, peeled, sliced and par-boiled

1 200g tin sliced button mushrooms

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4. Heat the milk and flour in a non-stick saucepan, whisking all the time, until it thickens. Take off the heat and add cheese, nutmeg and seasoning. Spread one tin of ratatouille in a medium lasagne-type baking dish. Spread lasagne sheets with a little pesto and layer on top of the ratatouille. Dollop on half of the cheese sauce. Add leeks, parsnips, mushrooms, and any other veg you’re using, plus the other tin of ratatouille. Dollop on the rest of the cheese sauce and level the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes, depending on how deep your dish is and when it all looks amalgamated.

Hot tip:

Pasta: Use lasagne, fusilli, macaroni, pasta shells – whatever you have in. If it’s pasta shapes, you’ll need to pre-cook them and then – rather than layering - mix with the veg and ratatouille, then cover with the cheese sauce as a final layer.

Mushrooms: All the veg here is interchangeable with whatever you have in. Replace tinned mushrooms with tinned artichokes/green beans/carrots. You could add tinned flaked tuna or snipped, microwaved bacon etc. The only thing you really need is some sort of tomato sauce. I used tinned ratatouille, but tinned tomatoes plus tomato puree plus a few dried herbs and an onion is fine (heated through to take the rawness off the onion).

Keeping: You can make it a day in advance and refrigerate, covered with clingfilm. Just remove the clingfilm and bake it when you’re ready.

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Posted October 5th 2007 in Food

October 5th 2007

Haloween courgette mousse

We’re indebted to the cookery writer Janet Macdonald for today’s recipe. I went to interview her for a TV report (wearing my other hat) about “things to do with pumpkins on Halloween if you’re not going to carve them into faces”. My editor didn’t want it to be a cookery piece though. Well, if you’re not going to carve a face in it, and you’re not going to cook it, what are you going to do with it?! Needless to say, it DID become a cookery piece and Janet and I spent a very pleasant afternoon, tasting the lovely dishes she’d brought along. This courgette mousse appeals to me a) because it’s creamy and tangy at the same time and b) you can use sugar-free jelly instead of conventional (as she did) and thus cut the calories, for no sacrifice in taste. I’ve adapted it a bit from the version in “Pumpkins and Squashes” (£17.99 Grub Street 1998) because I prefer the veg grated.

It’s a nice starter in individual ramekins, and quite cheap as it's mostly veg. Or make it in a big serving dish and it’ll do for several meals with grilled meats or even spread on toast (really nice, I can recommend it).

Lime & Courgette Mousse

Serves 8 Per serving: 106 cals, fat: 3.5g

Ingredients:

½ cucumber

salt

500g low fat cottage cheese

150ml single cream

150ml plain low fat yoghurt

1 medium or 2 small courgettes

2-3 spring onions, chopped finely

1 tbsp fresh herbs, chopped (e.g. parsley and mint)

1 sachet sugar-free lemon or lime jelly

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Method:

Grate the cucumber and put in a colander. Sprinkle with salt. Let the juices run for 10 minutes, then squeeze dry. Whiz the cottage cheese in a food processor. Add the cream and yoghurt and pulse till blended. Grate the courgettes and place in a bowl with the cucumber, spring onions and herbs. Add the cream mixture and stir well. Make up the jelly but use only 200ml boiling water (i.e. less than half you’re supposed to). Add the vinegar and stir into the cream mixture. Pour into individual ramekins, one large soufflé dish or similar serving bowl. Chill until set. Serve with hot toast or Melba toast as a starter if liked.

Hot tip:

Cucumber: Usually I would recommend peeling the cucumber. But here you need the texture of the skin to stop it becoming a big mush. And the watery seeds will set in the jelly nicely, and not stay slimy and watery.

Single Cream: I know I’d normally substitute yoghurt for single cream but this recipe needs a bit of luxury otherwise it can become a bit too astringent and tart. But if you need to reduce the calories, then by all means use yoghurt.

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