Making do when money is tight

By Lauren Taylor

You wouldn’t think a top chef would dare serve a Michelin inspector instant custard power – but that’s exactly what Phil Vickery did.

“I did a steamed sponge pudding, and I served it with Bird’s Custard – and I got a [Michelin] star for that meal. OK, I adapted it – I put a few vanilla seeds in it and bits and pieces – but essentially, it was a thickened starch-based custard – and he loved it!” says Vickery, 60.

The chef, who’s been a mainstay on ITV’s This Morning for 23 years, first started using canned and frozen ingredients in the early Nineties when he took over as head chef of a hotel in financial difficulty. “That hotel owed a huge amount of money to the bank, so I just couldn’t afford to buy expensive ingredients,” he says. So, he delved into the store cupboard and used what was there instead.

Even when a famous chef came to lunch with a renowned food critic, Vickery served them soup made from water, stock cubes, tinned butterbeans, onions and garlic, with a sprinkle of thyme and olive oil on top.

“That food critic said, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s the nicest butterbean soup I’ve ever had – can I have another bowl?’ So I thought, ‘If it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for my customers’.”

What was originally conceived out of financial necessity made him “view things in a different way”, and he’s been cooking this way for years at home. His new book, The Canny Cook, celebrates all things canned and frozen, and the cheap, sustainable, easy meals you can make from them.

While some preserved ingredients can simply be thrown into whatever you’re cooking to save time and money, others need a bit more love.

“I hated frozen cauliflower,” he admits, “but I bought some in a bag, a kilo, I roasted it in the oven – to get rid of the moisture – and I put salsa verde and chopped anchovies on it out of a can, and it was amazing!”

Sweet Potato, Cauliflower and Peanut Curry

Serves 4

4tbsp any oil

250g frozen chopped onions

1tbsp dried garlic granules

½tsp dried chilli flakes

2tbps frozen chopped ginger

400g can coconut milk

2 heaped tbsp peanut butter

10g vegetable stock cube, crumbled

500g frozen cubed sweet potato

500g frozen cauliflower florets

1–2tbps cornflour

300g (about 6 × 50g balls) frozen spinach

1–2tsp sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 × 250g packets microwaveable basmati rice, warmed, to serve

Heat the oil in a pan over a high heat and then add the onions, garlic granules, chilli flakes and ginger. Cook for six to eight minutes to drive off the moisture and colour a little.

Add the coconut milk, half-fill the can with water, then add to the pan along with the peanut butter and stock cube and whisk. Bring to a simmer, then cook for five minutes.

Add the frozen sweet potato and cauliflower and bring back to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Mix the cornflour well with two tablespoons of cold water and then add to the simmering curry: it will thicken pretty much straight away.

Check the seasoning and adjust if needed, then drop in the frozen spinach pucks. Cover and simmer for five minutes, then stir in the sugar, turn off the heat and leave for 15 minutes.

Stir well and serve with the basmati rice.

Squidgy Creme Egg Brownie

2tbsp golden syrup

110g salted butter, softened

150g caster sugar

150g bitter chocolate

75g plain flour, sifted

4 eggs, at room temperature

Finely grated zest of 1 large orange

4 Creme Eggs, halved

Vanilla ice cream, to serve (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 20 centimetre square baking tray with grease-proof paper, or oil well.

Melt the golden syrup, butter, sugar and chocolate together in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water.

Remove the bowl from the pan, then stir in the flour, eggs and orange zest. Mix well but do not overmix, or the finished brownie will be chewy.

Pour into the prepared tray, then carefully place the eight Creme Egg halves into the top of the mix, pressing down slightly.

Pop into the oven and cook for 35–40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before cutting. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if you like.

The Canny Cook by Phil Vickery is available now