Making Things Go Further Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers

When I've got a little bit of expensive meat I want to pad out,

it's so easy to just think of pasta or rice

or something that will do the job, but there are other things too.

One of my favourites is to use bulgar wheat.

So for Monday's supper,

I'm going to make some cheap and cheerful lamb patties.

It needs very, very little preparation.

Just a little bit oil in a bowl, and all the cooking it gets

is just a little bit of freshly boiled water

over the top, just enough to cover it, and then it'll soak that up.

As well as the bulgar wheat,

I'm using root vegetables to make the lamb go even further.

I'm going to keep...

the pieces quite coarse,

because I don't just want a mush of ingredients,

I want different textures in there.

The lamb's quite soft.

I'm going to have that crunchy wheat.

So the idea of having

little bits of sweet root vegetable in there is going to be very good.

A warm, earthy spice will complement the sweet roots perfectly,

so I'm adding cumin.

There's that lovely dusty, almost...

..almost ancient feel about it.

And it works so well in Middle Eastern cookery.

So it's going to be very happy with the bulgar wheat.

Just thinking about other things to put in there,

maybe some parsley.

This bulgar wheat has soaked up its liquid.

I think you need about the same quantity of grated vegetables...

..and bulgar wheat as lamb, so it's about half and half.

This is really the whole point - once you start adding vegetables,

maybe something like the bulgar wheat,

you suddenly find that it's going to feed a whole family.

And I like a good coarse-textured patty.

I don't want some perfectly smooth thing

that looks like it's come out of a packet.

It's the whole point of doing things yourself

that you get a chance to get more interesting textures

than you will with processed food.

Leave the patties in the fridge for about half an hour

to marry the flavours, before frying in a little oil.

Whilst they're cooking, I want something to go with them.

They're going to be a little bit spicy

with the garlic and the cumin in,

so I want something quite cooling.

Some chopped mint, plain yoghurt, and a grated cucumber

will soothe and balance the heat and spice of the patties.

I'm leaving the peel on,

because I want this to have quite a coarse texture.

Depending on how much bulgar wheat I've put in,

these might be very crumbly.

If you put the knife under them and quickly turn them over in one go,

they stand a better chance of holding their shape

than if you do it very timidly.

That's better than just a lamb burger.

It's got more going on -

the crisp wheat and the soft lamb.

A little bit hot, little bit cool.

I just started out to make it cheaper.

I think I've actually made it better.

Bulking out a meal with bulgar wheat and grated veg

not only looks fantastic,

it enhances the flavour of the lamb rather than diminishing it.

The challenge with growing your own veg is that it's so unpredictable.

You can have a bountiful crop of something one year,

hardly anything the next. I guess it's part of the fun.

There's never any peas for the pot in my house.

I always end up eating them when I'm walking round the garden.

But they're so sweet like this.

I've become a master at finding how to make a few peas go a long way.

But what I do is use the whole plant.

When peas are very, very small, you can eat the whole thing,

you can eat the peas inside and the pod,

and even the little shoots on top.

My slim pickings are going to need help

if they're going to stretch to a proper supper.

I don't want to hide their lovely freshness and texture.

A simple pea and pasta supper will do just the job.

If you've only got a little bit of something, it's always tempting

to use them with lots and lots of other ingredients to bulk them out,

but I think sometimes that's a mistake.

Because they get lost.

I still want something like lovely fresh peas

to be the star of the show.

I want them to get top billing,

so I don't hide them with lots of cream and stuff.

There's something so sweet and tender about them.

They're everything I want a vegetable to be,

and shelling them, it's just a joy,

you know - it's something that I do in a quiet moment.

A slightly mindless moment -

you can just clear your head just sitting shelling peas.

You don't have to think.

I'm just going to cook them with a little bit of butter...

..some grated cheese

and then toss them with the pasta.

Peas and pasta can either be wonderful

or it's a disaster waiting to happen.

If you've got long strings of pasta, spaghetti or fettuccine,

then the peas are just going to fall off

on the way from the plate to your mouth.

Any pasta with a dip, a curve or a hollow will keep your peas in place,

and a decent block of Parmesan will tie it all together.

Always eaten peas with pasta.

As a kid it was one of my favourite meals,

although it wasn't Parmesan in those days.

And of course the peas came from a packet, but it was good.

It's a combination that works.

I don't want them to fry,

I merely want them to soften, to become tender.

So into that I also put...

..pea shoots.

What I'd really like in there is a little tiny bit of fresh basil.

So a little bit of basil. I know basil is unusual with peas,

but it's just something that I think works.

It's not one of those traditional pairings

that's very well known, it's just something that I did a while ago

and thought, that really works.

Add all the ingredients to the pan,

and out of hardly anything, you've got a bountiful supper.

And there really weren't many peas there,

and even fewer pea shoots,

and yet somehow, we've got supper for two.

It's everything I want a plate of pasta to be.

It's soothing, it's filling, it's also got a freshness to it.

And I like the idea of bringing the store cupboard

and the garden together.

This really works for me.

This is a great dish if you're trying to make

a handful of goodies from the garden go further.

Because the star ingredient is so fresh,

keep whatever you're adding really simple.

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