After the successful experiment with chicken and sun dried tomato paste, I couldn’t resist having a go with some beef.

We had had a beef joint recently and the leftovers were sliced and frozen for another day. So out came some of that and I used the same proportions.

125g beef. If you aren’t lucky enough to have any joint leftovers, use some mince.
50g butter, 90p/250g,  18p
25g sundried tomatoes Asda, Merchant Gourmet 100g/£1.48, 37p

Beef mince, about £4/kg, 50p, brisket joint, about £8/kg, £1
Total cost £1.05 or £1.55

Use about a tblsp per sandwich, 1 tblsp weighs 20g
Total nutrition, 604 calories,  25g protein, 56g fat, 6g carb.    Per tblsp 43 calories, 2g protein, 4g fat, neg carb
The finished paste filled a jam jar and when I weighed it (excl the jar)it was 290g, so 14 sandwiches, 7p or 11p per tblsp
with two slices of a value wholemeal loaf, 2p, that’s 9p or 13p a sandwich.

My beef was cooked, so I just chopped it up small. If you are using raw mince, cook it now and scrape all the meat and juices into a large jug, I used a plastic one.

I used the same sun dried tomatoes as yesterday. I soaked them in a little warm water for about 20 minutes, they were still quite hard, but I bunged them in the jug anyway. I then added the butter and a piece of preserved lemon. Then I used my stick blender to whizz it to a smooth paste. I had to add the tomato soaking water as well to get it to go to a paste.

If you don’t have a stick blender, try grinding it with the bottom of a rolling pin, or similar, in a big mixing bowl. You’ll probably have to let the tomatoes soften properly first.

The taste was extremely beefy and even better than the chicken one yesterday. If I did it again, I wouldn’t use the preserved lemon, so have left that out of the ingredients list.

It occurred to me this morning that it would be lovely on toast, and so great for breakfast. So this morning that’s what I had, one slice of the chicken and tomato, and one slice of the beef and tomato. I really, really enjoyed it, so I shall probably use my trio of sandwich pastes as a spread for breakfast toast. I have now stashed away the meat pastes in small containers in the freezer. I keep the small pots that hold salad dressing when we have an Indian takeaway. I use them dozens of times before they become unusable, and they are perfect for things like this.

I had lost track a bit of what was in the freezer, so when I put the meat pastes in, I took out the drawers, one at a time, and refreshed my list of frozen goodies. Makes it so much easier to know what I have, and to make sure that things get used. I don’t want to rummage through the entire freezer in search of the pack of Halloumi that I think I still have, or did I use it last month? Or have I still got one last pot of broad bean pate left, and where on earth have I put those last few peas?