Budget Bites: Three warming recipes in less than 10 ingredients

If you want a quick, filling and comforting dinner, but you’re low on ingredients, these recipes are for you

These recipes maximise on flavour, and minimise on food waste, mess and washing up (Sorted Food)

In the mood for something quick, filling and comforting? Here are some warming recipes that require less than 10 ingredients each!

As part of our Budget Bites column – where we’ve teamed up with Sorted Food to bring you easy, affordable, quick and (most importantly) tasty recipes once a month – we’ve brought you three warming recipes that require less than 10 ingredients each. Maximising on taste and minimising on both mess and food waste, they also make the most of your staple ingredients while keeping your fresh shopping list minimal.

We’ve also provided a handy shopping list for the ingredients (thoguh hopefully most of it will be knocking about already), which are used across all recipes to ensure minimal food waste. You just need to decide where to shop, whether it’s locally or online.

Shopping list

• 1 brown onion, small
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 small leeks
• 1 lemon
• 30g fresh parsley
• 400g cherry tomatoes
• 375g frozen peas
• 80g serrano ham
• 4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
• 35g unsalted butter
• 150g creamy blue cheese
• 200g mascarpone
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp harissa paste
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 200g dried pasta Rigatoni
• 1 baguette
• 1 250g ciabattas

Fiery roasted chicken with croutons

Take Buffalo chicken to another level with the creamy funk of blue cheese and spicy harissa (Sorted Food)

If you don’t like blue cheese, try using cream cheese.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on

2 tbsp harissa paste

2 tbsp olive oil

1 250g ciabattas

15g fresh parsley

400g cherry tomatoes

75g creamy blue cheese

½ lemon

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.

2. Pop 4 chicken thighs into a deep roasting tin. Carefully pull the chicken skin to release it from the meat slightly with your fingers, then divide 1 tbsp of harissa evenly under the skin of each thigh. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and drizzle over 1 tbsp of olive oil, then rub to coat the chicken well. Wash your hands after handling raw meat.

3. Get the chicken into the oven for its first cook and roast for 15 -18 minutes until coloured. It won’t be fully cooked at this stage, but don’t worry, we’ll be finishing it later on. Meanwhile, get on with the rest of the dish and do any washing up.

4. Cut 1 large ciabatta into bite-size chunks. Finely chop 15g of parsley.

5. Once the chicken’s first cook is complete, add 400g cherry tomatoes, the ciabatta, 1 tbsp harissa, and 1 tbsp olive oil to the roasting tin around the chicken. Give it a nice mix to coat in the olive oil and juices from the chicken.

6. Pop it back into the oven for another 15-18 minutes until the chicken skin is golden and crisp, and when pierced, the juices run clear.

7. Crumble 75g of creamy blue cheese over the chicken, then zest in half a lemon and squeeze in its juice.

8. Garnish with the parsley and tuck in!

Crispy ham and blue cheese pasta

A tubular pasta is great for this dish (Sorted Food)

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

40g serrano ham

35g unsalted butter

2 small leeks

200g dried pasta Rigatoni

75g creamy blue cheese

150g mascarpone

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

½ lemon

15g fresh parsley

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Fill a kettle and put it on to boil - this will be for your pasta later.

2. Lay 40g Serrano ham on the parchment paper - save the rest for the other recipe this week. Pop the tray into the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until nice and crispy, then let them cool completely. We will serve these on the pasta.

3. Place a large frying pan over a medium heat and add 25g of butter. While the butter melts, split 2 leeks in half lengthwise and run them under cold water to wash away any dirt.

4. Cut the washed leeks crosswise into 1cm slices. Add them to the pan with the foaming butter. Fry for 8-10 minutes, until they become translucent and soft. Stir regularly to avoid the leeks sticking to the bottom of the pan. Wash up your cutting board and knives.

5. Chuck 200g of dried pasta into a medium saucepan and cover with boiling water from the kettle. Season generously with salt and cook over a medium-high heat for 10-12 minutes, until soft with a slight bite. Drain through a colander, saving a mug full of the cooking water. Meanwhile, finish the sauce.

6. Once the leeks are translucent and soft, reduce the heat to low. Add 75g of blue cheese, 150g of mascarpone and 1 tbsp Dijon mustard. Finely zest the half lemon and squeeze in its juice. Stir to combine and melt through.

7. Add the cooked pasta to the pan - it doesn’t matter if some water comes with it. Rip 15g of parsley leaves into the pan. Season with salt and pepper, then mix well. Loosen with a splash of the cooking water to get a silky sauce that just coats the pasta.

8. Divide the pasta between bowls and crumble the serrano ham over each bowl. Tear some parsley on top and dig in!

Creamy ham and pea soup

Ham and pea is a classic combination. Peas are a staple to have on hand in the freezer for quick warming soups like this (Sorted Food)

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 brown onion, small

2 cloves garlic

375g frozen peas

1 chicken stock cube

50g mascarpone

40g serrano ham

1 baguette

1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Fill a kettle with water and bring to a boil - this will be for the stock.

2. Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

3. Halve, peel and dice 1 onion. Peel and crush 2 cloves of garlic.

4. Add the onions, garlic and a pinch of salt to the pan. The salt helps draw out the moisture so they soften. Cook for 5 minutes, until translucent.

5. Add 350g of the peas to the pan and cook for another 2 minutes. The peas should be a nice bright green.

6. Lay 40g of serrano ham on a lined baking tray. Pop the tray into the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until crispy, then let them cool completely.

7. Add the remaining 25g of peas to a small bowl and cover them with boiled water to heat through. These will be for garnish.

8. Chuck a stock cube and 600ml of boiled water from the kettle into the pan. Give it a good mix to dissolve the stock cube. Let this simmer for 3 minutes until the peas are soft.

9. In the last 5 minutes of the ham baking, add the baguette to the baking tray.

10. Add 100g of mascarpone cheese to the pan. Blitz until smooth and silky with a hand blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

11. Drain the 25g of peas into a sieve from the boiled water. Divide the soup between bowls, sprinkle with the peas and place slices of serrano ham over each. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top and break the crusty baguette in half to serve.

In response to the rising cost of living, we have teamed up with Sorted Food to bring you easy, affordable, quick and (most importantly) tasty recipes once a month. Find out more about Sorted and their nifty meal-planning app Sidekick at sortedfood.com/sidekick.