Hi Sat, what are your go-to cheap eats for two, for less than £40 in Nottingham?
Taquero, on Heathcoat Street in Nottingham, is a brilliant new Mexican from Dan Lindsay and Jaque Ferreira, with amazing lunch deals and delicious food. Also a killer Margarita slushy.
The Admiral Rodney, my local – where you’ll get a good Guinness.
Laguna, an Indian restaurant I go to for my twice-a-year curry takeaway. Tony has been running it for more than 30 years and the service is second to none.
The Cheese Shop, Flying Horse Walk, has the best selection of cheeses for a country mile. Webb and Squeak are two hilarious patrons and always let you have a cheeky taste.
Money latest: Britain’s most affordable town revealed
What’s your go-to cheap meal at home?
I had a heart attack in 2021 and then wrote a cookbook, Eat to Your Heart’s Content, on heart-healthy recipes. This is one…
Shiitake mushrooms with beluga lentils and fried eggs
A fricassee of mushrooms is one of the most evocative, delicious things I can imagine: earthy notes, meaty mushrooms – and who doesn’t love a fried egg?
The beluga lentils add a great texture to the dish, and garlic and thyme are just meant for each other. It’s a perfect breakfast/lunch for me.
Ingredients – serves one
- 200g (7oz) shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean
- 50ml (1¾fl oz) olive oil
- 40g (1½oz) salted butter
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 shallots, finely sliced
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 1 x 100g (3½oz) pouch of precooked beluga lentils
- 2 large organic eggs, cracked into 2 small bowls
- Flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
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Method
- Start with a nice hot pan with olive oil, slice the mushrooms and sauté. They take on a highly toasted flavour where they caramelise and release this amazing aroma. That’s what you’re after. The secret word is toasted. That takes a few minutes;
- Add the shallots to give it a lovely lift, then lentils, pre-cooked from a bag. You’re trying to toast the lentils, dry fry almost;
- Add the garlic, spread it out so it doesn’t burn, then a couple of springs of thyme
- Then the butter. There’s a misconception about cooking with butter with healthy food – you want to use whole foods; used in moderation, a little bit of butter is good for you, and it’s got a bit of flavour in there;
- Cook that gently, then add the eggs. The egg, the white, soaks up all the lentils and mushrooms so you end up with these incredibly crispy shiitake mushrooms and lentils;
- You notice I don’t put any salt in this dish anywhere in the initial stage. You always season the egg at the end of frying, otherwise you get white specks on the yolk;
- Add a little olive oil, serve with toast and kimchi.
This recipe is crammed full of lovely flavoured nutritional goodness.
Shiitake mushrooms increase our all-important daily vegetable intake here, and they contain the heart-healthy soluble fibre beta-glucan, which can reduce insulin resistance, lower cholesterol and support body weight and heart health.