Guest Author - Nicola Jane Soen

I love using cheap cuts of meat and getting the best possible flavour. It must run in my family because this next recipe is one of my sister’s. It is great because you can add left over vegetables too, and serve with mash. Wonderful for dinner as the days get chilly. If you have some cooked chopped potatoes left over from a previous dinner you can just add these to the pot and save washing up too!

Pennie’s savoury Mince

Ingredients:

1 Kilo or 2LB minced beef
Small tray mushrooms
1 to 3 cloves garlic finely chopped, depending on your preference
1 tin sweet-corn
2 onions finely chopped
1 sweet pepper chopped
1 tin beans (if you like them!)
2 tins tomatoes
3 teaspoons garlic Italian seasoning
Paprika (to your preference)
Salt and freshly ground pepper (to your preference)

Method:

In large saucepan brown the onions, garlic and mince. Add the rest of all the chopped vegetables and fry for a few minutes. Then add the tins of tomatoes, sweet-corn etc along with the seasonings. Check seasonings are to your taste and cook for 20-25 minutes on a low heat. Serve with mash potatoes or cooked potatoes.

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This next recipe is one of my own. I love risotto and fish, they make a wonderful combination and are economical and heart warming on a colder day.

Red or Pink Salmon Risotto

1 tin of Red or Pink salmon (depends on both preference and size of purse!!)
½ large onion diced finely (or two small ones)
2cloves garlic
1 small red pepper
1 tin chopped tomato
2 tablespoons of sundried tomato puree (substitute ordinary puree if you cannot get hold of this)
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic Italian seasonings
1 cup of rice already cooked
Butter enough to fry with

Method:

Melt the butter into a large saucepan and fry the onion, garlic, and pepper together for two minutes. Add tomato puree and stir in well. Then put in the salmon, fry for another two minutes; then add in the seasonings (lemon pepper, white pepper, etc; check it is to your own preference also) stir and add the tin of tomatoes and ¼ tin of water, cook for 5 minutes and add the rice, heat through until piping hot then serve; and as my sister would say Voila!

* I open the tin of salmon and remove the bones before I add it to the risotto.