Weekly Food Challenge

This is a dish from Katharine Whitehorn's Cooking In A Bedsitter that I first cooked when I was actually living in one, and have repeated so many times that I have given up looking in the book. Lunch or supper for one. It doesn't look like anything special but it's tasty and comforting, and quick and cheap and easy.

I honestly did have all the ingredients at home, so the prices are a bit approximate.

Ingredients

1 rasher bacon (pack of ten is £2; this particular pack had already done for a bacon sarnie and a pasta thing) - £0.20
1 small onion - £0.04
2 carrots - £0.12
2 small potatoes (or one largeish one) - £0.40
herbs - I used a handful of fresh herbs from the garden (planter acquired years ago for a price I now forget, but I think I've already had my money's worth out of it) but the original recipe called for a generous pinch of mixed herbs. Thyme works well, in my opinion.
about 150ml water

I would also advise a teaspoon of oil but I was going for maximum cheapskatery.

Total - £0.76

Equipment

Sharp knife
Chopping board
Kitchen scissors are optional but useful
Hob
Saucepan
Wooden spoon


Method

Peel and chop the onion. Peel and slice the carrots and the potatoes.

Cut the bacon into squares (this is where the scissors come in handy).

Either - heat the bacon very gently in the saucepan to release the fat - or - just use oil. Cook the onion and bacon gently for 5 minutes or so. Add the potatoes and carrots and turn in the fat for a minute or so. Add the water and herbs, season, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn, and add a little more water if necessary. When it's done, tip the whole lot into a bowl and eat with a fork or a spoon depending on how liquid it is.

Almost ten years ago, I was an au pair for my aunt and her family in a village near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. On one occasion we went to a fair and picked up a bottle or two of Federweisser - very, very young wine. And my aunt made Zwiebelkuchen to go with it. Because that's what you do.

'Every family,' says my aunt, 'has its own recipe.' Hers is a lovely tangly oniony mess on a bread base.

The following recipe is not really Zwiebelkuchen. In fact, the book I got it out of calls it Farmhouse Potato Pie, but to me it's much more about the onions. It's in no way authentic, but I find that it's very evocative. It's a hassle, so I don't make it often, but it's gorgeous, so I do make it sometimes. It's the right sort of hassle (for me, at least): you can do a bit at a time, and go and have a bath while the base is chilling, etc, and the washing up isn't too bad if you do it as you go along.

I usually have it in the autumn, with cider, but it's worked very nicely in May, with a Spanish red wine. So there you go.

( Recipe under the cut )