Potato cakes are the last word in frugality. Any dish that takes leftover mash and transforms it into a different meal entirely – with the help of only a handful of extra ingredients – deserves a great deal of praise indeed. Of course, you may wish to serve your Gluten Free Potato Cakes with a little something else – smoked mackerel is a particular favourite – but they are just as satisfying with a side salad or slaw.
Dundee Cake is a light fruit cake, first made by the Scottish marmalade company, Keiller’s, in the nineteenth century. It is the perfect bake for those who yearn for a treat somewhere between a Christmas cake and a sponge – not too rich, but not overly light and airy. As with most of my creations, this recipe stays true to tradition and is decorated with concentric circles of blanched almonds (laboriously peeled by my fair hands) – simple yet effective. Indeed, it seems the ideal bake with which to celebrate two years of FrugalFeeding, Katherine’s birthday and our anniversary, all of which happen to fall in the same week – let the celebrations commence!
Dedicating an entire post to a recipe for scrambled eggs may, at first, seem a little extravagant and not at all frugal. However, when you taste these decadent, silky eggs and realise just how much nutty flavour brown butter is able to instil in your breakfast, you’ll be glad that I have. The problem with this recipe is that once you’ve made it once, you’ll want to make it again and again – the syndrome, I believe, is called pringleitis – a dangerous case of not being able to stop “popping” once you’ve started. Terrible though this may seem, there are far more unfortunate curses in existence and you’ll soon come to terms with it and the spare tyre you have unwittingly thought it best to store around your midriff – healthy eating this is not.
The exploration of new food combinations is all well and good, but finding new applications for old pairings can be equally exciting – after all, they are old and well-used for a reason. As I expect we all know, it is eminently possible to unite chocolate and hazelnuts to devastating effect and this flapjack recipe, in my opinion, certainly does so, taking their relationship to stratospheric levels. However, be warned, no quarter is given to healthy eating here – these are full-fat and flavourful. I direct those of you looking for something a little easier on the waistline to this recipe for chewy granola bars.
There are certain things in life that one considers to be truly delightful – they are different for us all. For me, a strong cup of 11 oz colombian whole bean coffee coupled with a crunchy biscuit or flaky pastry, preferably of Italian extraction, is one such delight. However, since moving away from my favourite coffee shop in Aberystwyth, obtaining such a treat has proved a little trickier. Happily, almond biscotti, the traditional Italian biscuit, are jolly simple to make – so there are no excuses not to follow this frugal recipe!