Chickpea and bean stew with egg, or posh baked beans

Joy! I have a supply of home grown eggs again, from a colleague who has just started keeping hens. I hadn't planned anything for today and I wanted to use them as I know they're only a day old so I had a dig in the store cupboard and decided to make a spicy bean thingy.

When I was lining up the "before" shot I did wonder if I should feel guilty about constructing a meal almost entirely from tinned ingredients, but I don't think I should.  The debate over whether or not tinned vegetables are good for you has opened up again, but I'm pretty sure it's better to eat a tinned vegetable than no vegetable at all.  You also have to factor in convenience and cost - it's not realistic for busy working people to get to the shops every day for fresh, and tinned beans and pulses are an incredibly cheap way to get some nutrition.

I like to use anchovies as seasoning but if you're a veggie, or you just don't like anchovies, feel free to leave them out. I'm starting by sweating an onion in the oil from a tin of anchovies though.  Once the onion's started getting nice and soft (it'll take at least five or six minutes over a low heat) add some spices - cumin, paprika, some cayenne pepper for heat - and mix it all up so that the onions get nicely coated.

Drain and rinse a tin of chickpeas and add them to the pan.  Again, swirl it all around so that they get nicely coated in spice.

Now chuck in a tin of tomatoes.  Chop up the anchovies into small pieces and they can go in too.

Drain and rinse a tin of cannellini beans and it's time for those to go in too.  Give it all a stir, have a taste and season with salt and pepper and add some more chilli heat if you so desire.  I thought it wanted some green herbs too and it's vaguely Italian so I threw in a little basil.

Everything from the tins is already cooked so you don't want to boil anything, just let it heat through.  Pop a lid on and let the whole lot simmer for about 20 minutes, then have another taste and adjust the seasoning if you want to.  Crack in an beautiful garden egg per person, put the lid back on, and let them poach for four or five minutes.

These quantities divided into three equal portions for us - one each tonight, and we'll have the remainder tomorrow between us with a couple of sausages, or maybe on toast for lunch.

Between three, this comes to seven WeightWatchers ProPoints and (depending where you buy your tins - tomatoes in Sainsbury's range from 37p to over £1 and I'm perfectly happy with the cheap ones) less than £1 per portion.

Frittata

We have a huge stock of eggs at the moment, as I bought some from my friend who keeps chickens having forgotten that I'd put in an order to have half-a-dozen included with the veg box this week.  No matter - I've also got various odds and ends of veg lying about so a frittata is called for!

This is what I made today, but frittata is so versatile you can use it to finish up whatever odds and ends you have lying about.  It's lovely with a bit of bacon or chorizo, adjusting the herbs or spices to what you've put in.

Start by boiling some potatoes.  We just had a couple of new potatoes sitting in the bottom of the cupboard.  You could use pasta instead if you like.

If you've got veg that needs boiling, get that going as well.  Asparagus is in season so I've used some of that.

Now, lightly whisk six eggs in a bowl - we're not beating them, just breaking the yolks and mixing them up a bit - and add whatever ingredients a trawl through the back of the fridge turns up: in this case, the boiled potatoes and asparagus, a handful of roughly chopped spinach, a tomato cut into pieces and some grated cheese (cheddar and parmesan, or whatever you've got).  Season with salt and pepper and add whatever herbs and spices you want - I thought basil and oregano with these vegetables.  Mix it all up a bit. 

Now gently fry an onion and some mushrooms in a pan until soft.

The idea with a frittata is to cook it on the hob until the egg is just set, then finish it off under the grill so don't use your Teflon pan here - stainless steel or cast iron will do nicely though.

When the onion is soft, pour the eggy mixture on and let it cook over a low heat until just set.  Don't stir the mixture in the pan like an omelette, but you might need to spread it around a bit with the back of a spatula until it's an even thickness.

When the egg mixture is mostly set, transfer the pan to the grill.  If your grill can be adjusted, put it on about half-heat - we don't want to burn anything, just set the egg nicely and have a little bit of colour on the top.

No grill?  No problem, just bake it in the oven.

It should be the consistency of a pie, and come apart nicely into slices...  but of course a bit is bound to fall off and spoil a nice picture.

The quantities here are enough for four, and it's nice cold so put the rest into tupperwares for your lunch tomorrow!

All you really need is six eggs and some cheese - the rest is just whatever leftovers you have and whatever odds and ends of veg are knocking about in the bottom of the fridge.  A true leftover meal and frugal end-of-the-month dish.

WeightWatchers ProPoints

8 per portion