This week, Highlands students, Pomme d’Or Hotel chefs and Caring Cooks of Jersey all offer low-cost family recipes, each of which have been created using ingredients costing a total of £5 or less
THE Family Meals for a Fiver initiative continues this week with something a little different to previous instalments.
Having been given a ‘mystery bag of Co-op ingredients’, three students at Highlands College – all of whom are studying City and Guilds level 2 Diploma in culinary skills – were tasked with creating a low-cost dish that could feed a family of four (two adults and two children).
The bag was put together by the team at the Co-op Grand Marché and saw the talented young students – Annalise Burns, Kaiden Ferrow and Ruby Gocoul – creating saag aloo new potatoes and roast chicken thighs with red pepper and tomato sauce in the Highlands kitchen.
Dominic Farrell is one of the chef lecturers at Highlands College and said of the challenge: ‘We took a different approach for the task with the mystery bag of ingredients. The surprise contents ensured it was a fun challenge for the students and we were all very happy with the outcome.’
A collaboration between the JEP and the Co-op, Family Meals for a Fiver aims to help struggling families during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, with easy-to-follow recipes made using ingredients bought from the Co-op for a combined total cost of £5 or less.
In addition to the students at Highlands, Bernie Donnelly – who is senior sous chef at the Pomme d’Or Hotel in St Helier – has also created two budget recipes this week, while Sarah Copp of Caring Cooks of Jersey offers a recipe for oven-roasted butternut squash soup costing just £4.05. Sarah is the executive chef for Flourish Primary – the school lunches programme launched by Caring Cooks of Jersey in 2019 – and the winner of the ‘Chef of the Year Public Sector 2021’ award. Turn to pages 28 and 29 for more details.
Sag aloo new potatoes, roast chicken thighs, red pepper and tomato sauce, £4.98
INGREDIENTS
Chicken thighs on the bone, £2.05 of £2.78 packet
1 onion, 15p
2 cloves garlic, 14p
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes, 69p
1 teaspoon curry powder, 20p of £1.39 packet
1 bag spinach, £1.05
New potatoes, 70p of £1.05 bag
Total £4.98
Optional:
1 red pepper
METHOD
1) Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2) Place the new potatoes into a sauce pan, cover with cold water and a little salt and bring to the boil, boil until cooked.
3) Peel and slice the onion, remove the stem and seeds from the red pepper and slice the same thickness as the onion.
4) Peel 2 cloves of garlic, finely chop (or grate) them. Arrange half the onions, peppers and garlic on a roasting tray, place the chicken thighs on top and roast in the oven until cooked.
5) For the sauce, sweat the remaining peppers, onion and garlic off for 4-5 minutes until translucent. Add the contents of the chopped tomato tin and cook out for 5-8 minutes until its forms a thick ragout type consistently, season and keep warm.
6) Once cooked remove the thighs and keep warm in the oven.
7) Once the potatoes are cooked, drain off the water, return the potatoes to the pan and crush the potatoes in the pan with the curry powder to taste. Fold in the raw spinach, the onions, garlic and peppers from the roast chicken tray and season.
8) Arrange the saag aloo in the middle of the warm plate, then place the chicken on top and sauce around the side and serve.
