Spinach and Soft Cheese Lasagne

I still had a large bag of spinach that I managed to get for cheap (around £2.50 if memory serves). Whatever was left of it was quickly expiring and I had to somehow cook it in one go. I have seen vegeterian lasagnes made of spinach and ricotta before in my travaills. Since spinach was the main ingredient in those pasta dishes, it seemed a good idea to make use of those.

And so I set off to Sainsbury's. While getting the Basics Lasagne sheets was pretty straightforward, a question arose as to what I was going to get to top the lasagne. I noticed that at least for my local branch, Sainsbury's has withdrawn the Basics Grated Mild Cheese and replaced it with Mild Grated Cheddar, which costs slightly more. I decided to go with it anyway, as it seems reminiscent of the grated cheese that most university undergraduates are familiar with.

So I started by frying the spinach with some garlic until it has wilted slightly.

From experience, even though the box states that the lasagne sheets can be used immediately, from experience they dry up when exposed to the oven. I soaked mine in water for a few minutes.

Combine the spinach with some cream cheese, and use it to build a lasagne in brick-and-mortar fashion, starting with the cheese and spinach layer, then lasagne sheet, and so on.

In case anybody is wondering, that was my flatmate's salmon, which he had for dinner. The lasagne was on the right, flanked by sheets of lasagne that have been exposed to the oven. I still have no idea how to use the sheets properly, so any feedback would be highly appreciated.

For those who crave meat, I would imagine adding some spicy sausage or bacon would be great.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Lasagne Sheets	£0.40	250g	+£0.48 for 500g (ie +4p for 250g)	Not known
Mild Grated Cheddar	£2.30	500g	+£1.10	Better-tasting cheese

Spam Carbonara

Sometimes, your kitchen will not be as well-stocked as you hope it to be, because of your commitments, so much so that you will be left with very little to make something meaningful. I encountered one such situation today when all I had left was the leftover Basics chopped pork and ham, frozen from last time, a serving of spaghetti, an egg and some spinach. Then again, the British Army, known for their resilience, have managed to make do with less for much longer.

Due to the United States' involvement in World War II and its resultant global military presence, Spam was to be found almost everywhere you go, having left its cultural mark in the post-war period in the UK, South Korea, and the Philippines, amongst other places. It is claimed that in the mean time, the Italians were supplied by American occupation troops with bacon and eggs, giving rise to Carbonara, though the veracity of that claim cannot be ascertained. If it were true however, they could have just as easily used Spam instead, and so it would have been interesting if they really did. With all that in mind, I decided to make myself some luncheon meat carbonara.

The preparation was very simple: start by frying the luncheon meat with some garlic, while the spaghetti is cooking. Throw in the spinach when the spaghetti is almost cooked, and then add the pasta. Take the pan off heat, beat an egg, and then pour it into the lot, stirring vigourously. Add Basics grated hard cheese and serve.

This was quick to prepare, and satisfying. The only drawback here would be the nutritional value, but if you are, hungry, in a hurry and caught short on kitchen stock, that would probably be the last thing on your mind. Oddly enough, this also brought to mind the Spam sketch, Monty Python's last ever comedy item, where the overwhelming presence of the word "Spam" on the cafe's menu gave rise to its use to describe Internet junk mail.

Tiramisu

With February comes Valentine's Day, and with that come the joys and perils of courtship and romance. During this period, the sharing of gifts and food is just as common as the sharing of affections, and desserts often feature heavily. I fondly remember in particular my ex-flatmate, who, in the run-up to 14th February, made tiramisu repeatedly so that he can perfect his recipe and technique for his then-girlfriend. Needless to say, the entire household benefitted from all the tiramisu prototypes lying around. Given the timing of this post, I thought that it would be appropriate to attempt tiramisu.


One of the key components of tiramisu is Savoiardi biscuits (known as sponge fingers in the UK), soaked in a blend of espresso and Marsala wine. As none of these are available from the Sainsbury's Basics line however, we are going to have to make do with shortbread fingers, instant coffee and brandy.

In a region where people are very serious about their coffee, I've always been surprised that a product like instant coffee can thrive here. Sainsbury's Basics only recently introduced their version of instant coffee very recently, but would be handy to people like the final year medical students in my flat, who are currently studying for their final exams and would probably appreciate preparing a hot caffienated drink for cheap. The coffee itself is nothing yo write home about though, and from a cook's perspective, would be more useful in chilli con carne and stews than in desserts, where the ingredients get more attention.

As noted earlier, Sainsbury's do not have Basics sponge fingers, so I decided to use Shortbread Fingers instead. Other than being similar in shape, they also are richer than most biscuits, and hence share cake-like characteristics with the thing that they replaced.

I was planning to get Basics dark rum in place of Marsala wine, since fermented molasses sounded like a good substitute for sweet wine. However, it appears that Sainsbury's has discontinued both dark and white versions of the Basic rums. An empty shelf with a tag saying "Sale: While stocks last" stands where the white rum used to be. The only other spirit that I know is used in desserts is Brandy, so I grabbed a plastic bottle of the Basics version. Just as well, since in my opinion it is closer in refinement to Marsala wine than rum.

In making this Tiramisu I followed a recipe from the BBC by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi from the programme Return to Tuscany, with the ingredient substitutions made above, along with Basics soft cheese in place of mascarpone. I also merged it with information from Cooking for Engineers, specifically the part involving making Zabaglione, to avoid food poisoning from consuming raw eggs.

So I started by beating three egg yolks, saving the whites for later. I then added 100g of sugar and about 85ml of the Basics French Brandy.

The mixture was then heated on a hot water bath until thick and smooth. 125g of cream cheese was then  beaten and added in.

About 125ml (use less if you're attempting this) of double cream was then whipped and added. The mixture was constantly kept warm and whisked frequently until thickened. If the mixture starts becoming lumpy it's being overdone, the result of which you can see in the final photo.

Prepare a cup of coffee using 3 teaspoons of Sainsbury's Basics Instant Coffee, and another 85ml of Brandy. Dip one packet of Basics Shortbread Fingers, biscuit by biscuit, and make them form the first layer. Cover that layer with the cheese/eggs/cream mixture, and repeat for one more layer.

Store in the fridge overnight.

I have very high hopes for this and will write back tomorrow on the outcome. Initial sampling of the cream cheese mixture has been very positive, and the substitution of the ladyfingers and mascarpone has turned out much better than expected. If this works well, this would be a very cheap way to make a very impressive dessert, especially with the soft cheese now costing 75p for a large 300g tub.

(Back to Sainsbury's Basics accepts no responsibility for any adverse effect this recipe or blog post might have on your marriage, engagement or relationship. Use at your own risk.)

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Shortbread Fingers	£0.37	160g	+£0.31 for 200g	Not known but probably not much
Instant Coffee Granules	£1.64	100g	+£0.30	Stronger coffee
Brandy	£9.29	700ml	+£1.20	Not known

Economy Fried Instant Noodles

Economy fried bee hoon, essentially stir-fried rice vermicelli with other cheap ingredients, chiefly fried luncheon meat (known in the UK as Spam, or chopped pork and ham; luncheon meat in the UK refers to a deli cold cut) and a fried egg, was something I ate on occasion, either because it happened to be there when we were outside and stuck for breakfast options, or a quick dinner given prior to an event, provided by the event organisers. It has not been a major feature of my diet so far though. That said, when I came across this blog post I was reminded me of home, and the little things that made home so special. In the Google searches that followed, I learnt just how much luncheon meat mattered to people back home, when a government import ban triggered panic buying.

It took a while for Sainsbury's to come up with a Basics version of chopped pork and ham, but its introduction would tie in pretty nicely with the overall theme of this blog. No supermarket in the UK stocks rice vermicelli though, so to compensate I will probably cook three packs of Basics chicken flavour instant noodles. Incidentally, doing this is popular in Hong Kong, where time-poor residents can even go to cafes which serve instant noodles with luncheon meat and egg. To assuage my mother's concerns about my diet I will cook up some spinach to go with it too.

The gelatin you see on the block of pork comes from the bottom of the can. I remembered having the luncheon meat in semi-circular slices, so I did the same. Half a can of the luncheon meat would be enough for one person, according to Sainsbury's nutritional guidelines anyway. The other half could be saved for something else, like fried rice.

Pan-fry the slices until golden brown.

Cook the instant noodles while frying an egg sunny-side up.

When fried to a crisp, the Basics chopped pork and ham tastes more like bacon than the luncheon meat I'm familiar with, possibly due to differences in the meat itself. The cost breakdown of the meal is: 50p for half a can of meat; 12p for a Basics egg; 30p for 3 packs of instant noodles, and; a variable cost for vegetables depending on what you add. Replacing the instant noodles with pasta would probably lower the overall cost of eating this. Still, it's good to know that when homesick and the nearest Chinatown is inaccessible, one can still turn to Sainsbury's to be reminded of home.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Chopped Pork and Ham	£0.99/kg	200g	+£0.30	Higher meat content.

Pineapple Tarts

Lunar New Year is almost upon us, but it has been almost seven years since I have actually spent it back home. Amongst other things, I miss the festive snacks and tidbits, though my friends do bring some up to the UK every year or so, such that I have an ample supply. This year, my friend's fiancee was baking pineapple tarts, and given feedback from a reader to do something festive, I decided to join in, albeit a few thousand kilometres away. Since Sainsbury's has all the ingredients in their Basics range, right down to pineapple pieces, I can take the liberty of documenting my experience here.

Pineapple tarts consist of a shortbread topped with a pineapple conserve. Based on that knowledge and experienced cook would have been able to make this without any guidance, but as I am relatively inexperienced with baking I had to look up the recipe on the Net. I managed to find one at Rasa Malaysia, the Southeast Asian culinary blog that has made the rounds in the States. I will refrain from publishing the instructions here other than adding my own comments as we go along. If using one can of Sainsbury's Basics pineapple, halve all quantities listed on the blog (You will need half a block of Sainsbury's Basics salted butter, and no salt). I also have some suspicions about the liberal amounts of sugar used, so reduce where appropriate.

Making the pineapple conserve. Pineapple after blending....

... and after cooking and turning into a conserve.

Simple shortbread pastry making. I overestimated the flour to be used here, but then again, I don't have any weighing scales in the kitchen.

They may not look pretty, and certainly nothing like pineapple tarts found on other blogs, but they certainly are palatable. The Sainsbury's Basics Pineapple pieces were very suitable for making jams and conserves from, so like most of the other Basics products, they will help where presentation does not matter.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Pineapple pieces in juice	£0.20/kg	227g	+£0.41	Not known. slices is +£0.28 from basics pieces.

Beef Pot Roast

Braising is best suited for cheap but tough cuts of meat, where the time that slow cooking affords goes into tenderising the meat and mingling of flavours, leading to a very rich dish, and meat that has melt-in-the-mouth texture. Finding braised meat while dining out however is difficult, unless you happen to be in Chinatown, where cheap cuts of meat are favoured for their cost-effectiveness. Braised beef brisket happened to be one of the few things I ordered when I was out with friends for dinner while at university. I still order it today, and it happens often enough that in recent times I found myself looking at the Sainsbury's Basics Beef Pot Roast, wondering if I can braise beef the way the Chinese restaurants do.

There are a couple of techniques that the Chinese use for tenderising meat that I was told about quite some time ago. While searching for recipes to braise the beef, there appears to be some confusion and lack of familiarity on the Internet about using such techniques, and as such, I thought I will try to shed some light on the matter, and use the techniques in my braised beef to see if they will work.

The first techinque involves adding bicarbonate of soda to the beef, leaving it to stand for a while, and then washing it off. This is the more difficult of the two techniques as if the soda is not properly washed off it will adversely affect the final flavour of the food. From what I've read on the Internet so far, the bicarbonate works by making the beef more alkaline (hence the ruined flavour if not washed off), allowing the coiled up proteins in the beef to straighten out, making it more tender.

The other technique involves covering in cornflour. This then acts as an insulating layer when frying so that the direct heat doesn't result in a toughened cut of beef. Since we are limited to the Sainsbury's Basics range, we shall use Basics plain flour instead, along with whatever we want to marinate the beef in (we use Basics black pepper and herb mix here). An extension of this technique, known as 'velveting', involves marinating the meat in cornstarch, egg white, and rice wine along with other seasonings for about 30 minutes.

So while waiting for the beef, prepare anything else that you want to braise together with the beef. I have opted to go 'Yankee-style', as described by Wikipedia, and included a parsnip and carrot. Chop up some onion as well.

Heat a wok, before adding olive oil. Fry the onions until they just start turning brown, and then start browning the beef.

Deglaze the wok using Sainsbury's Basics vinegar, and then transfer contents into a saucepan or pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until tender.

This was only fairly successful. The parts of the beef that were in contact with the bicarbonate of soda and flour were tender, with the rest of the beef making for rather tough eating. While it is reassuring to know that the techniques work, my approach to braising beef might need a bit of tweaking before I can try it on my friends. 

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Beef Pot Roast	£6.49/kg	by weight	+£unknown	Better quality beef?