Pasta with caramelised onions -
Thinly slice 2 decent sized onions. Fry gently in a mixture of oil and butter until softened but not coloured. Put pasta on to boil. Season onions with salt and pepper and sprinkle with a spoonful of sugar. Mix well and keep cooking. Drain cooked pasta and stir through onions. (Aldi has onions for 39p/kg just now if you have one near you.) If you use value pasta this only costs about 20p a portion. You can sprinkle some grated cheese on top if you have it.
Spicy potatoes with cabbage -
Dice 1lb of potatoes and par boil. Chop an onion and 1/2 a cabbage. Fry onion in a good splash of oil until soft. Ad a spoonful of curry powder and cook for a couple of minutes. Add cabbage and stir until coated in oil. Cover and cook until cabbage is wilted. Add potatoes and cook, stirring all the time, until everything is fully cooked. Season well with salt and pepper. (Aldi has savoy cabbage for 39p just now). This costs about 25p or so a portion with the cheap cabbage and is a big favourite in this house.
Tomato rice -
Chop and onion and fry in some oil until soft. Add a cup of rice and stir until rice is coated. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and 1 1/2 cups of boiling water. Season generously with salt and pepper. Stir well, bring back to the boil, cover tightly, reduce heat to low and cook until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 25mins. If you use value rice and tomatoes, this costs about 25p a portion. You can sprinkle with a little grated cheese if you have it and serve with bread and butter, which will probably put it up to about 50p per head.
slow braised cabbage pasta -
chop the remaining half of your cabbage, an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic. Put some oil and butter in a frying pan to heat. Add chopped onion and cabbage and stir to coat. Add 1tblspn paprika and some salt and pepper. Turn heat to very low, cover and cook for a couple of hours, checking regularly that it isn't sticking. Just before serving, cook some pasta. Stir a small carton of soured cream into the pasta, loosen with a splash of pasta water and heat through. Drain pasta and mix through the cabbage. This is another favourite in here, even amongst those who don't like cabbage. Costs about 60p a portion.
pasta e ceco -
Cook pasta. Meanwhile chop and onion and about 1/2 a head of garlic. Fry in a good splash of oil until soft. Add a drained tin of chick peas and heat through. Drain pasta and mix in the chick pea mixture. Serve with a little grated cheese.
This is about 50p a portion. It's even cheaper if you buy a bag of dried chick peas and cook them
pasta and chick pea soup -
chop and onion and the rest of the head of garlic. Add to a pan with a tin if chick peas and about 1 pint of veg stock. Add some dried herbs (I use basil) and cook for about 15 minutes. Blitz with a hand blender but make sure to leave some whole chick peas. Add a handful of pasta, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 15 minutes. You might need to adjust the thickness. Serve with crusty bread probably about 75p or so a portion
scrambled egg rice -
cook 1 cup of rice in 2 cups water. while rice is cooking, chop and fry an onion with a clove of garlic. When the rice id some, add it to the onions and mix well. Pour in 2 beaten eggs, season well and stir about until egg is cooked. costs about 30p or so a portion.
Use some more of the potatoes, an onion and some cheese to make cheesy mash, serve with beans. - about 50p a portion or less.
spanish omelette -
Boil a couple of potatoes and then slice them. Fry a chopped onion until soft, add the potatoes and mix. Beat 4 eggs with a splash of water or milk. Season and pour over the potatoes. Cook gently until set. Sprinkle the top with a little cheese and brown top under the grill. Serve with brocolli (Aldi has ir for 39p this week) about 70p a portion.