How to feed 5 on bugger all

Ok, dinner for this evening was shoestring 'nowt left int fridge' variety. I had 3 courgettes, 1 packet of chicken breasts = 2 normal size and one obviously from a dwarf chicken, 2 onions and some potatoes. I came up with Chicken Gratin.

For the guts:
2 & half chicken breasts chopped into 1cm cubes
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp ginger
3 springs of Rosemary
Can of tomatoes (blitzed with a hand blender)
2 glugs of red wine
1 large courgette
3 large potatoes sliced on mandolin.
1 bag of frozen stock made previously from the water I boil the veg in.
salt and pepper

Cheese sauce:
Milk, cornflour, butter and grated hard cheese.

Fry the onion until soft, add all the rest of the stuff including the frozen stock (seen here as a lump of pale beige in the middle of the pan. Boil it all until chicken cooked... about 15 mins.


Then make the cheese sauce. Bumg milk in a pan and large dollop of butter and a large pile of cornflour. Keep whisking until it thickens. Stuff makign a roux and all that shenannigans. This is much easier and you have no lumps and it tastes the ticket. Then when cooked, take off the heat and add the grated cheese whisking it in and it will thicken more and melt into the sauce.


Slice the potatoes with their skins on with a mandolin, or if you can slice potato that thin, then give it a bash with a knife. Good luck with that btw!! If using a mandolin, remove and parts of sliced finger and nails before placing in the dish.


melt some butter and grease the whole dish, sides, bottom, everything. Then layer some of the potatoes on the bottom.


dollop some of the guts ontop of the potato slices and then ladle some of the cheese sauce like you are making a lasagne. then top with potato and keep doing this for ages or until all your stuff runs out.


You end up with a layer of potato slices and just brush them over with melted butter and set aside for when you want to cook it. When you want to cook it, put it in the oven for 1 hour at 170 deg C or about gas 5.


The result. Tuck in and enjoy with home made crusty bread


A fun sized (HAHA) MSG free meal for about 8 people above. Cost... oooh about £7. Nice.