Sandra Bekkari: ,,A dish with minced meat is usually one that you can certainly score with children. What to keep in mind when buying ground beef from the store: you don’t need to use a large amount in your dish to get the full flavor. A little mincemeat is more than enough. I usually opt for a smaller portion of the slightly more expensive veal mince here, because it contains less saturated fats. Mixed minced meat is of course no problem now and then, as long as the basis of your dish consists of vegetables.”
Tip: You can also make a vegetarian version by replacing the minced meat with a mixture of stewed vegetables.
Ingredients
1 clove of garlic
1 onion
2 carrots
2 tbsp olive oil
pepper and salt
1 tbsp Provencal herbs
500 g canned diced tomatoes
800 g veal mince
2 tsp spaghetti seasoning
8 leaves of Chinese cabbage
a few stalks of fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preparation
– Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
– For the tomato sauce, first peel the garlic and onion. Chop them fine. Then clean the carrots and cut into cubes.
– Saute the garlic, onion and carrot cubes in a pan with some olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and Provencal herbs, and let it simmer for a while. Then add the tomato cubes and let it simmer until the carrot cubes are nicely cooked.
– Season the minced meat with salt, pepper and spaghetti herbs.
– Take a leaf of Chinese cabbage and put some of the minced meat mixture on it. Roll up and secure with a wooden skewer if necessary. Repeat for all rolls.
– Put the tomato sauce in an oven dish and arrange the cabbage rolls on it. Bake them in the oven for about 50 to 60 minutes.
– Finely chop the flat-leaf parsley and sprinkle over the cabbage rolls. Serve immediately.
“We often buy ingredients on autopilot because we already know them. But maybe there is a more budget-friendly alternative? For example, you can exchange cod for whiting, as I did in this recipe. Whiting is a tasty, but also cheaper fish. The only disadvantage? Whiting has quite a few bones. So ask your fishmonger for whiting fillets to make it easier on yourself.”
Tip: cook the celeriac and the potato in water with a splash of milk. This way you get a nice white puree.
Ingredients
1 celeriac
250 g potatoes
150 g frozen peas
pepper and salt
pinch of nutmeg
4 whiting fillets
5 tbsp olive oil
a few sprigs of fresh chervil
Preparation
– Peel the celeriac and the potatoes. Cut both into pieces. Boil them al dente in salted water.
– Blanch the peas in salted water.
– Mash a nice puree from the potato and the celeriac. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix in the peas and keep warm.
– Season the whiting fillets with salt and pepper and fry them in a pan with olive oil.
– Spoon the celeriac puree onto the plates, arrange the whiting fillets next to it and drizzle with some olive oil. Garnish with some fresh chervil.
Stew with parsnip, pumpkin and chickpeas – 4 euros per person
The vegetables on your plate are usually not that expensive. What makes your shopping bill so expensive? Fish and meat. Especially when you serve it in large quantities. If you eat vegetarian one or more days a week, you will already save a lot on your shopping budget. In addition, you also take care of our planet. Keep in mind that vegetarian meat substitutes are also usually expensive. And make no mistake, because veggie is not synonymous with healthy. When I cook a vegetarian dish, I prefer to use legumes. These are important sources of protein, they are rich in fiber, beneficial for the heart and blood vessels, and they contain a lot of B vitamins and minerals.”
Tip: Don’t you eat meat? Then tofu is definitely a good meat substitute. Be sure to try minced tofu, it is very accessible and tastes good.
Ingredients
1 large parsnip
1 black radish
1 small butternut squash
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
pepper and salt
2 tbsp ras el hanout
1 tsp cumin powder
a few sprigs of fresh thyme and sage
500 ml vegetable stock
200 g canned chickpeas
a few stalks of fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preparation
– Peel the parsnips, black radish and pumpkin. Remove the pumpkin seeds and cut the parsnips, black radish and pumpkin into cubes.
– Peel the onion and garlic and finely chop. Saute in a stew with olive oil. Add the pumpkin cubes, black radish and parsnip. Season with salt, pepper, ras el hanout and the cumin powder, then add the sage and thyme. Stir everything well and let it simmer for a while.
– Deglaze with the vegetable stock and let it cook for another 25 minutes. Drain the chickpeas and add them.
– Stir. Finely chop the flat-leaf parsley and finish the stew with the flat-leaf parsley.
Pasta with chicken fillet, chicory and curry – 5 euros per person
“Vegetables are cheaper when they are in season. And then they are of course at their best. If you take the seasonal calendar into account, you will win twice. At the moment you can find, for example, winter vegetables such as chicory, celeriac, Brussels sprouts, kale, red cabbage, parsnips, leeks and winter carrots. In the fruit department, you do delicious things with apples, pears and mandarins.”
Ingredients
8 chicken tenderloins
pepper and salt
1 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp olive oil
4 stalks of chicory
2 tbsp butter
240 g wholemeal pasta
250 ml oat drink
2 tbsp grana padano
50 g lamb’s lettuce
a few stalks of fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preparation
– Season the chicken fillets with salt, pepper and a pinch of curry powder. Fry them nicely golden brown in a pan with olive oil.
– Halve the chicory. Season with salt and pepper and fry it in a pan with some butter until golden brown.
– Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta but keep a cup of the cooking water. Mix the oat drink, curry powder and grana padano into the paste. Mix in the cooking liquid. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
– Arrange the pasta in the plates, add the chicken fillets, chicory and lamb’s lettuce. Finely chop the flat-leaf parsley and scatter over the plates.
Oven dishes with kale, mushrooms and egg – 3 euros per person
“Eggs are tasty and also nice for your weekly budget. With vitamins A, B12, folic acid, vitamin D and many high-quality proteins, an egg is a very valuable and yet inexpensive food. Extra budget tip: use leftover vegetables from the previous day in an omelette, then you immediately have a quick (homework) lunch ready.”
Tip: mushrooms are usually cheaper than wild mushrooms, although you can also find the latter for a good price during the season.
Ingredients
4 large kale leaves
1 clove of garlic
200 g mushrooms or wild mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
pepper and salt
pinch of za’atar
4 eggs
optional: wholemeal bread
Preparation
– Rinse the green cabbage and cut into pieces. Peel the garlic and chop finely. Saute the garlic together with the green cabbage and the mushrooms in some olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and za’atar.
– Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the vegetable mixture in 4 ovenproof ramekins. Make a well in the center and crack an egg into it. Place the ramekins in the oven for about 10 minutes.
– Remove the ramekins from the oven and serve immediately with some wholemeal bread, if desired.
Also handy: cooking from your pantry and freezer. Danny Jansen shows how he does this in this video series:
#Delicious #cooking #euros #dietician #budget #recipes