Tuesday Tasties No.41

It's been a while since I graced these pages with a recipe I know, don't take this to mean I've not been cooking, but I've been trying out some new bits and pieces which I want to be just so before sharing with you.

In the meantime, since my visit to Joes Southern Kitchen, I'd been craving Macaroni and Cheese, nothing beats a good old Mac 'n' Cheese, it's pure indulgent comfort food. Not that it's comfort food weather of course.

Macaroni Cheese

 

For this dish you'll need the following, the optional ingredients I've marked with a * so you can leave these out if you prefer.

• 250g macaroni
• 250g cheddar or any other cheese which you like, ensure it's grated
• 250ml evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• A pinch of nutmeg
• Salt & Pepper
• Smoked sausage, chopped *

A per usual, stick your oven on at around 200 degrees and grab an oven proof tray. I like to slightly oil mine to ensure nothing sticks.

Cook your pasta as per packet instructions, I've used dried so it'll need to be in the pan for around 10 minutes.

Once cooked, drain your pasta and sling it back into the same pan, you don't want to have any extra washing up to do now do you? I take this opportunity to stick in the sliced sausage so it can warm through a wee bit.

Now it's onto the best bit, the sauce. Add the cheese, evaporated milks and eggs and the nutmeg to a food processor.

Now give it a frikken good blitz.

When you have everything combined, add it to the hot pasta and sausage and give everything a good stir before seasoning to taste.

Tip the mixture into your oven proof dish and whack it into the oven for 10-15 minutes until it's golden and bubbling and looking scrummy.

This mixture is enough to serve four so I'll no doubt have another portion for my lunch this week, not that I'm complaining, this stuff is awesome.

What do you turn to as a fail-safe comfort dish?

This recipe is adapted from one I've seen in the Nigella Express Cookbook, I've just added a couple of extras as Ad likes meat in almost every dish!

Tuesday Tasties No.11

Now we're in December, one of my favourite things to scoff is a good old fashioned pie. There's just something about the combination of something a little bit naughty (the pastry top), a gorgeous filling packed with big chunks of meat and just the right amount of veggies which seems to always hit the spot.

Chicken & Leek Pie
 

Don't be fooled into thinking that pies always need hours and hours of cooking to taste wonderful, this recipe can be done and on your table in under an hour.  This makes enough for four so Ad and I always have the leftovers for lunch the following day....DELICIOUS! You'll need:

• Olive oil
• 4 rashers of bacon, chopped into chunks
• 1 tbsp of thyme - fresh or dried is up to you
• 2 Leeks, chopped - I used a pack of baby leeks which is why they're so small
• Around 400g of chopped chicken or turkey
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 500ml of chicken stock - I used a Stock Pot
• 2 tbsp creme fraiche
• 100g of crumbled chestnuts (any kind of nut will do, I actually used crumbled walnuts)
• 1 beaten egg
• Ready-made puff pastry

So first things first, pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees and lightly oil your pie dish. Then heat a little oil and fry the bacon and thyme together for a couple of minutes. Then add the chopped leeks and cook until they're starting to go translucent.

Once you've reached this stage, remove them from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add a little more oil and fry your chicken/turkey until it's starting to brown; this should take between 5-10 minutes. Then re-add the leek/bacon mixture and season to taste.

Then add your flour; this will help to thicken your sauce once you've added the stock. Cook this off for around a minute. Pop in the stock and bring the mixture to the boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for a minute or two, you should notice the sauce starts to thicken. If this isn't the case you can always add a tiny bit more flour.

Remove the pie mixture from the heat and leave this for a little while. While it's cooling off you can measure out your pastry top for the pie.

Next, it's time to add the creme fraiche and your crumbled nuts. I recommended waiting a short while before doing this as I tend to find if I add it while the mixture is simmering, it has a tendency to split which is anything but pretty.

Bung everything into your pie dish and top with the pastry. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg if desired, this will help to give your pie a nice sheen.  It'll need around 30 minutes in the oven before it's ready to munch.

As you can see, the sauce continues to thicken up while your pie is cooking making it a scrummy comfort food dish whenever you need perking up.  As there's only pastry on the lid, it's not overly naughty either.

Let me know if you were tempted to give this a go. It certainly attracted some attention in the office when I was munching on the leftovers, I've been told it smelt amazing.

This recipe was taken from the Waitrose Kitchen magazine.  You can pick this up for free if you have a Waitrose Card handy.

Tuesday Tasties No.4

As the dark autumnal nights are drawing in, the wind tries to blow us off balance and the rain seems to never end all I want to eat is comfort food. The first thing that springs to mind is a delicious pie. This week, I'm sharing with you a pork, apple & cider pie recipe, but stay tuned in coming weeks for some deeper and richer pideas (hehe!).

Pork, Apple & Cider Pie

I'd recommend saving this recipe for the weekend as it needs a good couple of hours in order to ensure the pork melts in your mouth like butter.  You don't need to spend a fortune on your pork, I used Tesco Essentials Casserole Pork which was around £3.20ish for a portion big enough for four.

You'll need:

• Olive oil
• Around 500g of pork, cut into pieces. Shoulder is ideal or something that's designed to be casseroled or stewed, don't panic if the weight is a little less!
• A little flour
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 2 garlic gloves, sliced
• One bottle of cider - mine was 568ml
• 250ml of good chicken stock
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons of  dried sage leaves
• 2 apples, peeled and chopped
• Ready made puff pastry

First things first, you need to heat up a little oil and start browning off your pork. I added a little flour as this will help to thicken up your sauce later on.  If you need to do this in batches, that's fine, just be sure to set it aside.

Once all the pork is browned, keep it to one side.  Reduce the heat in the pan, add a little more oil and start softening your garlic and onions.  This should take 3-4 minutes.  Return the pork to the pan and add the cider and the stock.

Give it a quick stir and ensure the mixture is simmering.  Now it's time to pop the lid on and leave it to cook for an hour.

After it's been simmering away for an hour, remove the lid and simmer for another 15 minutes.  Then it's time to add your sweet potato and sage, stir, and cook for another 15 minutes uncovered. At the same time, stick the oven on at 200 degrees.  

Once the potato is a little tender turn off the heat, and add your apple.

Right, now it's time to sort out the pie lid.  I have a really quick and easy tip to ensure minimal pastry wastage and the perfect sized lid!

1. Lightly oil the entire pie dish, including the rim
2. Lay out your ready made puff on the side
3. Flip the pie dish upside down so the top is now sitting on top of the pastry like the picture below.  As you've oiled the dish, it won't stick!
4. Cut out your lid with a sharp knife and then remove the dish, make sure you keep the scraps, you'll see why.

Pour your finished pie filling into the pie dish and place your perfectly fitting pie lid on top being sure to squish down the edges a little to seal it.  I always pop a couple of small holes in the top as well and ensure the pie dish is on an oven tray in case of spillages.

I tried to get creative with my pastry left-overs and made a couple of leaves and placed these on top to make it look pretty.

Now, before you stick this beauty in the oven, you need to brush it with egg wash, you can make a simple one using one egg and a little single cream which has been mixed together.

It then needs to go into the oven for 20-25 minutes, and when it comes out, it'll look and smell incredible. The only trouble is serving it up in a graceful manner.

In case you are curious, with half of the filling missing (as Ad and I have scoffed it) it should look like the below.

Right, now it's your turn to give this a go, whilst it takes a little while to cook, I can assure you whilst your scoffing, it's like it's giving your tummy a great big hug.  Be sure to let me know how you get on.

This recipe was inspired by a pie recipe I'd read in the Waitrose Kitchen magazine, however, I had adapted this to suit my own tastes and budget.