Caitriona Redmond

Thrifty Tasty Bites

Tag Archives: Family Dinner

07 Jul

Meatball Sub Recipe

Whoever said that a main meal had to include rice, pasta, or spuds? Possibly noodles at a pinch?

The holy trinity of a double carb meal is one that my husband aspires to; a three-in-one contains rice and chips. The gourmet sandwich is always made with white sliced pan filled with Cheese and Onion Tayto. It must be cheese and onion. If it’s not cheese and onion classic, Southern Ireland, Tayto crisps, then it’s not a proper crisp butty.

Have you ever tried making a chicken and stuffing toasty with a smear of garlic mayonnaise? If you’ve never tried it before I highly recommend it, not forgetting a smear of beetroot relish on the side to dip those crispy triangles in.

If you haven’t guessed by now I’m not a fan of being tied to the kitchen sink everyday.

So take my advice, make a batch (or even a double batch) of my meatball marinara recipe. It will keep for up to 3 days in a sealed container in the fridge once cooled to room temperature. It also freezes extremely well.

Buy some ready made soft rolls, of course if you want to make your own go right ahead. If you’re using day-old rolls that are a little crunchy on the outside run them under the tap for a moment so that they soften first.

Slice those rolls down the middle and stuff them with the meatballs in the marinara sauce. Heat the stuffed rolls in a baking tray in the oven until they are warmed through. Sprinkle grated mozzarella on top, or cheddar if you want a bit of sharpness.

What about the double-carb requirement I hear you say?

Less washing up means you have to pair this meatball supper with a bag of cheesey nachos. The 11 year old has spoken and will entertain no alternatives.

Salad to the side is optional but will make you feel a little more virtuous. You will also have more washing up to do afterwards. You have been warned…

04 Feb

Pork Wrap With Lime Salsa

Make Once Eat Twice

Week 4 Recipe 2

The second recipe in the series is another simple assembly job. If you intend on using the rice you used the night before you might like to read my tips for cooling rice quickly so that you don’t risk food poisoning.

Leftover pork can be a little bit bland and this is the reason why I pair the pork with a lime salsa. It’s extremely easy to make.

Ingredients

  • Handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 Red onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 green pepper, diced

Method

Stir all the ingredients together in a bowl and leave to sit in the fridge for about 1 hour before serving.

To assemble the pork wraps, heat a dry pan to medium on the hob.

On a clean surface fill a wholemeal wrap with a tablespoon of rice, pork, and black beans, top with some salsa. Roll the wrap tightly and then toast on the dry pan until heated through. Enjoy immediately!

PS: In the spirit of being open and honest, my 7 year old declined the assembled wrap and instead had the below bowl of leftover pork, baby peppers, and wholemeal wraps for his dinner. I had the contents of the wrap, but not the wrap. The rest of the family enjoyed the wraps!

02 Feb

Pork And Rice With Beans

Make Once Eat Twice

Week 4 Recipe 1

My friend Karin is originally from Brazil and her rice and beans are a thing of legend. She’s pretty partial to our free-range pork so a variation of her rice and beans recipe with a roast pork shoulder is the perfect way to marry her Brazilian traditional food and our Irish ingredients.

For the Beans.

Karin recommends rinsing the black beans at least 3 times to remove dust/dirt/residue and then soaking them overnight. Once they have soaked for at least 12 hours you can boil the beans on the hob for 1 hour.

Alternatively if you have a pressure cooker (her method of choice) put the beans and water in the pressure cooker and bring to pressure cooking point. Cook for 10 minutes, release the steam and then allow the beans to cool before serving.

You can also use a tin of cooked black beans, strain away the water and rinse them well.

Take 2 large onions, peel and chop them finely. In a large frying pan heat a tablespoon of oil (I used lard from the pork but plain cooking oil is fine). Put the frying pan on a low heat and fry off the onions until they turn translucent. Season well with salt. Take half the cooked onion out of the frying pan and use for the rice (see below). Add 3 finely chopped garlic cloves to the remaining onion and cook for a further 5 minutes. Finally, stir in the cooked black beans and mix so that everything is coated in the garlic and onions and heated through.

For the rice

Put half the cooked onion into a saucepan with a lid. Put the saucepan on a medium heat and pour in the dry rice you’re going to cook. Stir the rice so that it mixes with the onion and becomes a little bit chalky. Pour hot water over the rice, so that it is about 2 inches over the height of the rice in the saucepan. Put the lid on the saucepan, bring the contents to a slow simmer for 12 minutes. Serve once cooked.

For the Pork

I have cooked the bone-in pork shoulder (weighing about 2kg) with the skin on for 4 hours at 150 degrees. All I did was sprinkle a little salt on top before putting the pork into the oven. That makes the skin turn crispy. That’s my lot.

If you have a piece of pork that is smaller, reduce the cooking time. If the pork doesn’t have skin or fat to protect the roast, cover it with tinfoil. Once cooked, remove the pork from the oven and allow to stand/rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.

To Serve

The full meal can be served with plenty of fresh raw vegetables and green salad. We like grated carrot, fresh tomatoes, and rocket.

For the second meal don’t forget to keep at least half the pork, beans, and some rice to one side for tomorrow.

27 Jan

Roasted Veg Pasta

Make Once Eat Twice

Week 3 Recipe 2

If you made yesterday’s meal of Paprika Chicken with Vegetables you should by now have half of the vegetables along with the leftover chicken from the roast chicken.

This meal is now extremely simple.

Ingredients

  • Pasta (I used spaghetti here but any type is fine)
  • 1 bag of spinach
  • Leftover roasted vegetables
  • Leftover Chicken

Method

Boil some water and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Make only as much as you need (so check the portion sizes on the packet).

1 minute before your pasta is ready, lash spinach into the boiling water with the pasta. It’ll only take a minute to cook.

Strain away the pasta and spinach, leaving the hob on. Return the (empty) saucepan to the hob and put the leftover vegetables and chicken into the empty saucepan. Pour the pasta and spinach on top. Stir well so that all the ingredients are combined and heated through. Serve immediately.

PS: Apologies with the slight delay in posting this. We’ve had an eventful day and I’m only just getting onto the sofa after the Raheny 5 Mile today. Cxxx

20 Feb

Slow Cooker Lamb Tagine

I get asked questions quite a bit about the slow cooker so I figured I’d pop my tips/answers below, with a slow cooker lamb tagine recipe at the end. As an added bonus, this recipe actually has a video to match. If this is the kind of thing you like to see please do let me know and I’ll do my best to film some more.

Maybe I should have called this post “why I flipping love my slow cooker”! Read More →

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