Author: Jack

Beet Wellington, £1.34 [from ‘Veganish’]

Published by Jack

This is one of my more difficult recipes, but I approach it in stages, treating the duxelles as a separate recipe on its own and making it in advance to lessen the workload a little. I can promise you that the end result is completely worth it – a vegan ‘special occasion’ dinner for Sunday roasts, festive feasts, date nights, or any other occasion where you really want to push the boat out. I have made many a vegetarian wellington, ranging from whole flat portobello mushrooms wrapped in spinach, to a black bean and chestnut version, but my favourite by far is this beet wellington, and not just for its nomenclature. It requires a little care in the assembly process, but then so does a standard fillet beef wellington, and this keeps as close to the original as possible with the inclusion of a mushroom duxelles and a crepe layer. The duxelles provides a distinctive depth of flavour, and the crepe layer, although it may seem overly fancy, acts as a barrier between the vegetables …

Gluten-Free Berry Buckwheat Pancakes, 33p

Published by Jack

I made the batter for these last night after finding a bag of buckwheat flour in Holland and Barrett for half price. I asked Twitter for a decent soft honey-oat style buckwheat bread recipe for it, and was overwhelmed with responses telling me to make buckwheat pancakes instead. Curious, and on the cusp of Shrove Tuesday, I decided to give it a go. In for a penny, in for a pound, I went for a full gluten free pancake recipe, as the only one missing from my extensive pancake repetoire – and these were such a success, I am now making up an entire 2 litre Kilner jar of the dry ingredients, with dried berries in, for instant pancakes whenever we fancy them. Oh dear me, these were DELICIOUS. Buckwheat isn’t actually a grain – it’s from the same plant family as rhubarb, so ideal for gluten-free baking. (I’m not gluten-free, but my Mum is, and many of my readers are, so I do develop gf and coeliac-friendly recipes from time to time.) If you …

All The Best Pancake Recipes, from 8p each [GF/DF/VG]

Published by Jack

Whether you’re after vegan pancakes, dairy-free, savoury, classic crepes or fluffy American style puffs of glory, there’s a pancake recipe here for you! Happy Pancake Day, fellow tossers! Fluffy Berry Pancakes from Cooking On A Bootstrap: Fluffy Berry Pancakes, 41p [Cooking On A Bootstrap] Gluten-Free Berry Buckwheat pancakes: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2020/02/25/gluten-free-berry-buckwheat-pancakes-33p/ 3-Ingredient Banana Pancakes: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2019/11/18/banana-pancakes-recipe/ Courgette and Lemon pancakes, from Cooking On A Bootstrap: Courgette Lemon Pancakes, 24p [Cooking On A Bootstrap] Vegan AppleSauce Pancakes: Applesauce Pancakes, 17p [from ‘Veganish’] Rolly-Up Pancakes: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2020/02/25/rolly-up-pancakes/ Egg-Free Dollar Pancakes: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2018/02/12/dollar-pancakes-recipe/ Porridge Pancakes: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2015/02/16/jacks-porridge-pancakes-recipe/ Apple & Sultana Pancakes: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2013/11/20/apple-sultana-pancakes-22p/ Click here for my books! All text copyright Jack Monroe. This site is free, and always will be, but it does incur costs to keep it running. If you use it and benefit, enjoy it, and would like to keep it going, please consider popping something in the tip jar, and thankyou.

Rolly-Up Pancakes, 8p

Published by Jack

Unless you’re very deft with your pans, don’t try cooking more than one at a time. Just serve them as soon as they’re ready, or keep them warm on a heatproof plate over a pan of gently simmering water. Makes approximately 10 from 8p each. Prices correct at time of publication 2 eggs, 25p (£1.48/12 medium free range, Asda) a pinch of salt, <1p (27p/750g, Smartprice at Asda) 120g plain flour, 4p (45p/1.5kg, Smartprice at Asda) 400ml milk, 20p (49p/l, Asda) 50g butter, melted, 29p (£1.45/250g, Smartprice at Asda) To serve: lemon and sugar Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, and add the salt, flour and milk. Beat until you have a smooth batter, then cover with a tea towel and leave to stand for an hour. Melt the butter in a thin, shallow frying pan on a medium heat, tilting the pan to run the butter around it as it melts. Ladle in just enough batter to form a thin layer when you tilt the pan. When the pancake starts to brown around …

Peanut Butter Ice Cream, 43p

Published by Jack

Caster sugar is generally more expensive than standard granulated sugar (currently £1.19 for 1kg compared to 69p for granulated at the supermarket) – but a few years ago I worked out that I could make my own substitute for it. All you need is a small powerful blender, and a bag of regular sugar, and you can blitz it up to a finely ground sugar suitable for making ice creams and floaty-light cakes with. Admittedly the blender is an initial investment, but I use mine every day for making soups from scrappy leftovers, hummus from cans of chickpeas, light and creamy batters for pancakes and yorkshire puddings – so it’s well worth digging into your pocket for in the long term, if you can. This recipe is from A Year In 120 Recipes, my 2014 book of seasonal, thrifty recipes, available here. Serves 6 from 43p each. Prices from Tesco, correct at time of writing. This recipe is not sponsored, however I make make a small fee if you click a link and make a …

Cornish Yarg Fish Pie, £1.11 [ITV]

Published by Jack

I was asked to make a fish pie for ITV This Morning ‘with a Cornish element to it’, so I opted for a healthy dollop of Cornish Yarg in the mash. Yarg is one of my favourite cheeses; it was brought to prominence by a couple called Alan and Jenny Gray (Yarg is ‘Gray’ backwards!) around 30 years ago, after they found a recipe dating from 1615 in a dusty old book in the attic. I love a bit of foodie folklore, so I happily went and found some, but if you can’t get hold of it, you can use a blend of mature cheddar and Caerphilly for a similar flavour. Also, the lovely Gemma in makeup did my HAIR AND LOOK AT IT!! (Back to the fish pie, sorry!) Serves 4-6 from £1.11 per head Mash: 800g white potatoes with skin, 40p (£1/2kg, Farm Stores at Asda) 100g butter, 58p (£1.45/250g, Smartprice at Asda) 120g Cornish Yarg, £2.56 (£5/235g, Waitrose) Filling: 100g sliced leek, 14p (99p/700g, frozen at Asda) 2 sticks celery, 5p (50p/10 …

Tips To Reduce Your Food Waste [Love Food Hate Waste X Jack Monroe]

Published by Jack

I’ve partnered with Love Food Hate Waste for their #FlungTogetherFood campaign this month to help raise awareness of the need to reduce food waste. You can find out more about Love Food Hate Waste here: lovefoodhatewaste.com and get involved with the #FlungTogetherFood challenge by sharing your creations on Facebook or Instagram and tagging @lfhw_uk Do you know how much food you throw away in your household every week? As a former foodbank user, I am almost fanatical about not throwing food away. I take leftovers home from restaurants, wrapped in napkins and stuffed in my handbag. I have a jar of butter portions, sugar and sauce pots from cafes, and teabags and biscuits from hotels I stay in on tour. I can’t bear the idea of throwing food away – or other people throwing it away on my behalf – because I know what it is to go to bed hungry, and to be hungry for days. But sometimes, life doesn’t work out as planned; the meal plan doesn’t come together, the fruit or veg spoil faster than …

Come-To-Bed Parmigiana, 74p [from ‘Veganish’]

Published by Jack

Almost three years ago now, I turned up to work late, sleepless, an incoherent babbling wreck chewed up by an 18 month landmark court trial and with bright copper dye fading from my wiry, tousled mania of hair. I left my walking stick in the lobby, and limped in to work…to find a hand thrust towards me in a polite gesture of welcome, a smile, a curt hello. She introduced herself. I apologised seven times for my lateness and my pulled-from-a-car-wreck appearance. She was firm and professional, and she smiled at me again. And I felt that self-same car wreck collide with my solar plexus and toss me down a rabbit hole of giddy head spinning highs and that soaring, almost nauseatingly disorienting feeling of time stopping and slowing and turning on its head. I stumbled away, a new crush ablaze across my cheeks and in every tip of my fingers, burning coiled springs in the soles of my feet, a song whispering in the cold, grey, slumbering chamber of my strange little heart. And …

Stand By Me.

Published by Jack

Bear with me please, for what I am about to do. Some of my longtime readers may know that when I was a single mum, living on delayed, suspended and cancelled benefits in this hellscape of a smashed-up welfare system that we have in the UK, I held an ‘open house sale’, like a yard sale without the yard, and I sold everything I owned. Everything. My sons bed. My own shoes. Almost all of my books, clothes, crockery, the light fittings, everything. And my beautiful, wooden, upright piano. I stopped singing that day. Poverty literally took my voice away, like Ursula with her manic grin, strangled it out of me. I have since learned that it is a relatively common response to trauma, but, eight years on, that brings me very little comfort.   I used to write my own songs – the last few I ever wrote were about living in that scenario – ‘Whistlestop Tour’, ‘Girl On The Radio’, ‘All Out’ and others. I don’t know where they are these days; probably …

Lemon-Drop Tuppence Cookies, 2p

Published by Jack

My son, who is nine years old, absolutely adores lemon curd, and we often have half a jar of it knocking around the house. I had had a particularly awful few days with my badly-wired head and poor mental health; an adrenaline crash from coming back off my Veganish book tour, plus a piece of horrible news that sent me into a spiral. I won’t go into it, but it’s been a grim few days round here. So I spent a couple of piteous days eating my way through all of the leftover Christmas junk in the house; four mince pies in one sitting, all of the selection box chocolate I had hidden on top of the fridge, five bags of crisps, a whole packet of grissini – and still craved a swift sugar hit at the end of the day. I know it isn’t sensible, but sometimes you just have to give in to the gremlin and start again tomorrow. Failing to turn up any more crunchy junk no matter how hard I looked, …

JACKANOSHY, The Recipe Reading Corner by Jack Monroe. Episode 1: Cannelini Beurre Blanc, from Tin Can Cook

Published by Jack

Dear readers – it’s been a busy week for me! And I have a few things to share with you all – so buckle up, because there’s a lot to take in. Last week I was invited onto ITV’s This Morning programme to cook three family dinners for four people for a fiver – and viewers at home LOVED it! And what’s more, I really, really enjoyed myself. I’ve been very awkward and nervous about cooking on television or in front of any kind of camera for the last six years, but it was like something snapped very gently inside me that day, and I came home and threw my self doubts and gremlins in the bin. I knew that I had to seize this good feeling and run with it, but, television being fickle and schedules being unpredictable, I didn’t have any idea if I was ever going to be asked back again. (I was, but that’s another story!) So I came home, and decided to record my first ever proper video for YouTube. …