A store cupboard lunch fit for unexpected guests.
If you have ever had an unexpected visit from friends or relatives you know the pain of feeding loved ones only from the remnants of your store cupboard. Or feel the dread of washing dishes for additional people, part of the reason I love this recipe is that you can recycle your pan and water for two different elements.
I always have some kind of salad in the fridge, (on pretence of living healthily!) and tuna on the shelf so this is can be knocked up pretty quickly. Plus everybody loves buttery new potatoes, even my mum when she’s (supposedly) on a diet!
I now have the art of boiling eggs to my liking down to a ‘T’. This is something that will develop with practice, but a great place to start is with good old lass, Delia Smith’s guide. After enough trial and error, you won’t even need a timer to know when your eggs are done.
Ingredients
New Potatoes (700g) £1.20
2x tins of tuna in spring water £2.50
Pack of fine beans (200g) £1.00
6x Free Range eggs £1.00
6 Salad tomatoes £0.75
1 medium cucumber £0.65
Salad leaves (200g) £2.00
Reduced fat Caesar dressing £0.25
Mayonnaise (Optional)
Butter & chives (Optional, to dress potatoes)
Serves 4
Total Cost – £9.35
Cost per portion – £2.34
Total Cooking Time – Less than 25 minutes
Instructions
I cook my new potatoes in a pan of boiling water that has been well seasoned with salt. I always halve or third the larger spuds so the cooking time is reduced. Boil the potatoes for about 9 minutes.
In this time trim your fine beans for cooking, prepare and plate the salad tomatoes, cucumber and leaves.
Add the fine beans to the boiling potatoes and cook for a further 3-5 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like your beans.
To save on time and washing up I remove the potatoes and fine beans from the pan with a slotted spoon into a colander to drain.
I then reuse this water to boil the eggs. This reduces your water consumption for the meal and saves energy reboiling a kettle or heating an additional pan on the hob.
Boil your eggs to Delia’s instructions or your own liking. Combine butter and trimmed chives to dress the potatoes, in a small ramekin, if desired.
Whilst your eggs are cooling before shelling, drain your tinned tuna, add to your salad plate. Dress the salad with the Caesar dressing and toss the potatoes and beans in the butter mixture.
Shell the eggs, halve and add to the plates with the potatoes and beans.
Preferably eat outside on a summer evening with family.
Normal People Food 