HOSTING ON A BUDGET

a delicious dinner party for less then £20

romesco, spring green & feta salad

It will surprise precisely no one that my favourite thing to do in life is cook dinner for my friends. I am at my happiest dolling out plates of shimmering pasta, pouring wine, lighting candles and gabbing about my latest embarrassment to a group of my favourite people at the end of a long day. I have always been big into hosting, gathering the people, feeding them the food. And I can hand on heart say that that hasn’t changed from my poorest days in my early twenties to now. I’ve lived hand to mouth for most of the last decade in London, as is the fate of most young creatives in the city, but I have always found a way of making it work. While eating out hasn’t been regularly available to me for much of the last ten years, eating in has. I strongly believe that delicious food is possible on any budget. That doesn’t necessarily mean extravagant food, or indulgent food, but delicious nonetheless. Some of my favourite meals and the cheapest and simplest to prepare.

I found a perfect fit in the warehouse: we all care about food and like to invite friends for dinner regularly, so on a random Wednesday, it’s not rare to find upwards of ten people around our table. This always seems to fit into our budget and we rarely have to supplement the weekly shop. I put this down to not hosting every night of the week, and on the nights when there are less people at home, eating simpler, cheaper meals. Having said that, none of this is strictly planned or forethought.

Through sharing our weekly budget and living arrangements online, and having received a mountain of questions, I’ve felt the need to investigate how we really do make it work, because understandably, people are curious - perhaps even sceptical.

My conclusion is this:

• we eat a mostly vegetarian diet with a little bit of fish

• we shop mostly own brand items in bulk at the most affordable supermarket

• we do a once weekly online shop, delivered to the warehouse

• there are seven of us contributing £25 to the weekly budget and the bigger the group, the further the money goes

• we make a lot of things from scratch! the flatbreads in the below recipe cost £1.49 to make, that’s roughly 21p per flatbread - the shop bought equivalent cost close to four times this!

(I’ve included a full cost breakdown at the end of this email, prices quoted at the amount used in the recipe, working from totals from our weekly shop - only thing I didn’t include is salt as we didn’t buy any this week)

I’m aware everyone’s home looks different, and we don’t all live in a disused carpet warehouse with six of our friends. My point is that it’s cheaper and easier than you might think to cook for your friends. No one has bags of extra cash right now, and inviting your mates round for a good plate of food is a cheap and delicious way to have fun. Whether you are all sitting on the floor, eating out of Tupperware for lack of plates, or at a flower adorned table with linen napkins and silver cutlery - it’s all a complete and utter vibe.

Love life. Love food. Invite your friends round for dinner.

Sending love, Rosie x

(Disclaimer: I was actually having too much fun and forgot to take pictures of all the dishes, so please forgive me and watch this video if you’d like a sense of the bigger picture)

SALT & VINEGAR CRUSHED POTATOES

2kg baby potatoes

25g chives, finely chopped

50ml olive oil

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp flaky sea salt

• Preheat the oven to 200c

• Boil the potatoes whole in a large pan of salted water for 15 minutes, until tender but not falling apart.

• Drain and allow the potatoes to steam dry for 10 minutes

• Toss in the olive oil and half the salt, tip onto a large baking tray and crush each potato with the bottom of a cup or bowl

• Roast for 1 hour until golden and crispy, turning once halfway through

• Toss in the vinegar, chives and the rest of the salt - serve.

Do ahead: you can boil the potatoes and keep in the fridge up to five days in advance, crush and roast from chilled. They are best straight from the oven but still a vibe at room temp.

ROMESCO SPRING GREEN & FETA SALAD

150g blanched almonds

300g jarred roasted red peppers

2 garlic cloves

1tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp smoked paprika

a pinch of chilli flakes

75ml olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

250g frozen peas / broad beans (I used a mix)

150g asparagus, roughly chopped

1 x lemon zest & juice

200g feta

• In a high speed blender combine the almonds, red peppers, garlic, vinegar, paprika, chilli flakes, olive oil and salt - blend until smooth.

• Blanch the peas, broad beans and asparagus for 2-3 minutes, until just tender - I like mine quite crunchy.

• Drain the greens and toss in the lemon juice and zest.

• Serve the romesco sauce onto a large platter, pushing it right out to the edges, add the spring green mix to the middle of the platter and top with the feta crumbled over the top. Finish with a little more olive oil and a good grind of black pepper.

Do ahead: both the romesco sauce and the spring green mix can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the fridge, then you can just bring to room temp and assemble at the last minute.

MIXED BEAN & SARDINE SALAD

2 x 400g tins of your favourite beans, drained and rinsed (I used cannellini & borlotti)

2 x 120g tinned sardines in brine, drained and roughly broken up

2 x garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 x lemon zest & juice

1 tbsp capers

1 tsp sea salt

A small bunch of dill, roughly chopped

• In a large bowl, mix together the beans, sardines, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, zest, capers and salt.

• Serve onto a platter and top with the dill.

Do ahead: this salad tastes best after it’s sat to marinade for a little while so it’s actually a great one to make a few days ahead! Just make sure to bring it up to room temperature before serving, then add the dill.

GARLIC BUTTER FLATBREADS

300g strong white bread flour

1 tsp baking powder

300g natural yoghurt

1 tsp salt

1 tsp nigella seeds

1 clove garlic, crushed

50g salted butter, melted

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, yoghurt, salt and nigella seeds.

• Mix until a dough starts to form, then tip onto a clean work surface and knead into a smooth dough.

• Leave covered to rest for 10 minutes.

• Split into 7 equal balls, then on a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball into a circular flatbread roughly 15cm in diameter.

• Set a frying pan over a high heat and cook the flatbreads one by one, flipping once until golden brown and crisp on both sides. Repeat with all the dough.

• Mix together the melted butter and garlic, then brush over each flatbread as it comes out of the pan.

Do ahead: these flatbreads freeze really well so you can make them in advance, freeze and defrost on the day - waiting to add the garlic butter just before you serve.