Crabstick Baguette

While on holiday back home, a friend related his college experiences to me. Outside his university, there was a sandwich shop which was very popular amongst students. One of the sandwiches that they offered was the crabstick baguette, which, as the friend related, was the epitome of cheap food, being a combination of cheap protein (ie, the crabstick), cheap mayonnaise and bread made from cheap flour. For the price the quantity was substantial, but one quickly got sick of the sandwich halfway through.

Intrigued by the idea of having crabsticks in a sandwich, I decided to try to do a take on the crabstick baguette offered by that sandwich shop. The British happened to like fish fingers in a sandwich, so why not crabsticks? I replaced the mayonnaise in the sandwich with cream cheese as the Sainsbury's Basics offering is known to be awful, and comes in a big tub that I would have trouble finishing. Other items I used include the Basics Young Leaf Salad, Basics Seafood Sticks and Basics Part-Baked Baguette.

All in all, the resulting sandwich was tolerable, although the sweetness of the crabstick combined with the savouriness of the cream cheese got some getting used to. This would be another useful idea to have, as thus far, I have only seen crabsticks being used in instant noodles and pasta.

Chicken Roll

One of the few things I have bought as we pack up over here is Sainsbury's Basics Chicken Roll. This was done as I was looking for something to use to finish up the Sainsbury's Basics sliced bread that I have in the freezer for a while now. Since I have tried the Basics corned beef and ham already, I thought of having chicken roll for a change.

The chicken roll consists of reformed chicken, which, according to this link, is chicken that has been finely chopped, cooked, compressed tightly, then bound together with milk proteins, which give the result its milky colour. There is a Sainsbury's own-brand version of the product, though if you would like to have chicken that has not been processed as much, Sainsbury's does have other products in its range (though not in the Basics range) that is simply, say, sliced roast chicken.

For all intents and purposes though, the Basics Chicken Roll is just chicken. I have used it in a sandwich and found it very palatable, and at 97p for 400g of cooked meat, is a cheap source of protein that does not have as strong a smell as ham.

There has to be more use for chicken roll other than sandwiches though. Unfortunately I couldn't think of any, and so I had to run down the chicken roll with nothing but sandwiches. Feel free to comment here with suggestions as to what I could have done aside from sticking it into bread, for the benefit of other readers.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Chicken Roll	£0.97	40, 400g	+£0.18 for 10, 125g (!)	Slightly thicker slices

Burger Salad Pasty

I still had some leftover dough from the last post. I figured that I could attempt to make a pasty of some sort, using the one remaining Basics burger patty in my freezer and some vegetables.

I still remember being introduced to the pasty when I was much younger, seeing it on the lunch menu and thinking that the word "pasty" was probably a typo. The person serving me wasn't particularly happy that I asked for "cornish pastry" however, and got me to repeat the correct word twice and explained to me what it really was before giving me what I wanted.

Since I was using burger patty as pasty filling, I thought it might be a good idea to also use common burger condiments for seasoning. To this end, I chose mustard and French dressing, the latter a key component in the Big Mac special sauce, according to Top Secret Recipes and other sources. In addition, while getting vegetables for today's lunch, I noticed that the Sainsbury's Basics mushrooms were now quite interesting. The supermarket chain has been offering 2-3 large flat white mushrooms for 50p for some time now, and it seems that some of the large mushrooms that don't make the cut find their way into the Basics range. I mean, look at the size of these!

So start by chopping up the ingredients you want in your pasty. I used the mushroom, a Sainsbury's Basics burger patty for meat, and 2 cloves of garlic for flavour.

Fry the ingredients, meat first, then garlic, then vegetables. Add half a teaspoon of Basics mustard and Basics French dressing to season.

Throw in a few spinach leaves picked from the Sainsbury's Basics Young Leaf Salad to add to the wok. prepare the pasty casing by taking the dough from the Murtabak recipe and pressing it into a flat sheet on some aluminium foil. Place the filling into the centre, and wrap into a pasty. Or at least some semblance of it.

Bake for 200 degree Celsius in the oven until golden brown.

This is a hearty alternative to your regular burgers, and a nice way to use up leftovers. Given its similarity to curry puffs, and the availability of Basics canned chicken curry, I might want to look into making some, once I get over having to deep-fry stuff and cleaning up after that.

Quick Cheese Salad

My mother reminds me on a regular basis to take my servings of fruit and vegetables every day, and I must admit, doing so has been a challenge, since I am not particularly fond of them. As such, I occasionally resort to various methods to make the experience of eating vegetables and fruits that much less unpleasant.

Today while waiting for my chicken kiev to cook in the oven, I thought I would take the opportunity to make a quick Basics salad using the leftover Basics shredded cheese in the fridge and the Basics young leaf salad I bought two days before to appease my guilty conscience (and my mother). I cannot add too much cheese however, or the salad might end up containing more saturated fat than an avocado.

On the other hand, I didn't want to end up eating bland salad, so it was a good thing that I bought Sainsbury's Basics French Dressing. Unfortunately, while the dressing was significantly tangy, I personally felt that there wasn't much else going for it in the flavour department.

With the recent spate of weather and subsequent outdoor activities though, this French Dressing might come in handy when bulk-catering salad, to complement your barbecue. Besides, barbecued sausages, burgers and chicken wings are probably so strongly flavoured that people might not notice the lighter flavoured dressing. They might even appreciate the contrast, who knows.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
French Dressing	£0.70	250ml	+£0.18	More oil, better tasting dressing?

Salami Pasta with Spinach

The Sainsbury's Basics Young Leaf Salad was a very recent introduction to the line, having being first spotted only in summer this year. For only 17p more, you have a much better alternative to the Basics Crunchy Salad, which consists mainly of unpalatable cabbage. The composition of the young leaf salad is mainly various kinds of lettuce and spinach. It is the latter that we will be using for our dish today.

Young leaf spinach is usually very cheap, but they come in large bags costing £1.50 each. If you have the time to pick through the leaves for spinach, this could be a cheaper alternative.

Alright. Once the spinach leaves have been extracted from the salad, prepare the salami, slicing into strips.
Start cooking the pasta. I recommend the use of the penne, since spaghetti does not have a solid structure and would hence not be suitable for use since this dish lacks a strong hearty sauce.

Meanwhile, start pan-frying the salami.

Once the salami is slightly crisp and the fat is more or less rendered from it, add the cooked pasta, and mix well, thoroughly coating the pasta with the salami fat.

Season with herb mix and pepper.

Take out of pan, and garnish with spinach leaves.

End result is very palatable, with the salami permeating the dish. The refreshing and crunchy spinach serves as a good contrast against the saltiness and the crispness of the salami. This recipe is probably a keeper - in addition to being easy to prepare, there is also little washing to do: I did not even have to use a spatula, relying instead on tossing to mix the pasta.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Young Leaf Salad	£1.17	1	+£0.33	More salad variety