Easy Flatbread Pizza

These pizzas are a great last minute dinner. So easy to make and a great (healthier) alternative to takeout pizza. You need to start with flatbreads rather than tortillas (try a turkish corner shop for the best) as they are sturdier and will hold up to the toppings better.


I often make an absurdly quick tomato by sizzling some garlic and chilli in olive oil, pouring in a can of chopped tomatoes and simmering for 15mins or so until thick and seaoning well. But you could just as easily use halved cherry tomatoes.

Top with whatever you like and bake for 10-15mins until the cheese is bubbling and golden. The key here is restraint - keep it simple and don't pile on the toppings if you want to keep your pizza crisp otherwise, and I'm speaking form experience here, you end up with a soggy mess.

Some ideas for toppings:

• A thin layer of tomato, a little mozzarella and some pine nuts. Top with shredded basil when cooked.
• Top with rocket and avocado
• Goats cheese, walnuts and a few dollops of onion marmalade
  
• Chargrilled aubergine and pine nuts (a little oregano would be good here)
  
• Any combination of anchovies, capers and olives
• Thinly sliced pear, gorgonzola and pine nuts, topped with some rocket or watercress.
  

Read more...

Chickpea Fritters

This is part of my resolution to actually cook something from the various food magazines I buy every month. These little chickpea fritters are from Olive. I made them as a starter when some friends came over, but they are pretty filling so would make a good lunch. I layered them with chargrilled aubergine and mozzarella and a tomato and coriander salsa. A deviation from the actual recipe which suggests using beetroot instead of aubergine, I've earmarked this for next time.


Whilst they were definitely delicious, flavoured with tahini, coriander and garlic, they are a little time consuming to make - separating eggs, whisking egg whites and the like. Don't let it put you off, just be prepared to spend a decent 30mins on it. The good news is leftovers keep pretty well, I actually made mine in the morning and warmed them through in the oven.

Ingredients

makes 8-10 small fritters

1 can chickpeas, drained
150ml milk
2 eggs, separated
1tsp baking powder
100g plain flour
1 small bunch coriander, chopped (reserves some for garnish)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 chilli, finely chopped
2tsp tahini
lemon, a good squeeze
1 aubergine, sliced
1 mozzarella ball, sliced
Tomato Salsa
250g cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
small bunch coriander, chopped
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp lemon juice

• To make the tomato salsa, mix all the ingredients and season well.
• Drizzle the aubergine slices in a little sunflower oil and rub in.
• Heat a large griddle pan and fry the aubergines for a few minutes on each side until soft.
• Remove from the pan, season well and squeeze over a little lemon juice.
  
• Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl,whisk the egg yolks and milk into a smooth paste.
• Sift in the flour and baking powder and whisk in well.
• Add the coriander, garlic, tahini, chilli and lemon juice and stir well.
• Now stir in the chickpeas.
• Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks, fold gently into the chickpea mixture.
• Heat a large frying pan and add a little oil. Spoon in about 1tbsp of mixture at a time into the pan and cook for 2-3mins on each side. you should get 8-10 fritters
  
• Drain on kitchen paper once cooked.
• To assemble, layer a fritter, a slice of aubergine and a slice of mozzarella and spoon over a little tomato salsa.

Read more...

A New Ready Meal...

I can't remember the last time I bought a ready meal. Seriously. I'd rather eat a boiled egg and soldiers or beans on toast or a bowl of ice cream for my tea. Not only are they expensive, but they are generally pretty unappetising affairs.

But now, Innocent have gone and brought out their veg pots, I'm not sure where they're aimed exactly, but I'm thinking a healthy alternative to crappy shop bought sandwiches, pumped full of salt and fat. One of these little pots is 3 portions of veg, and a smoothie is 2 portions of fruit; so eat both and you get your 5-a-day. Clever, huh?

Anyway, I digress. The point of this post is that my firend who works at Innocent got me some for cheap and I set about thinking of ideas to tart one up for dinner. Of course, I would happily heat one up and eat it on it's own, straight from the pot, no need for washing up. But, I think with a little effort, you could use one as a base for a really taste meal. All the hard work making it tasty and cramming it with vegetables has been done for you; all you need to do is spruce it up and think about adding some protein (they're all vegetarian). See what other people have come up with here.

First up is the Sweet Potato Chilli - 'a spicy hearty stew of sweet potatoes, red peppers and smoky paprika'. I used it as a base for a mexican-esque wrap. Take one warm tortilla, dollop on some warm chilli and top with diced avocado, red onion, a splodge of yoghurt and some fresh coriander. You could stop here, wrap it up and enjoy (with lots of napkins) or go further and grate on some cheese and top with a fried egg, or some chorizo or chicken or steak...

Read more...

Cauliflower Cheese

Most things are improved by the addition of cheese sauce. I remember eating a sunday dinner at a friend's house once; the usual roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips and greens. The meat of choice was a large ham, with a sticky sweet glaze. All in all a good spread I thought, then out came the piece de resistance, a jug of cheese sauce! Can you think of anything better than being allowed to douse all of your food in a cheesy blanket?

Alas, I like to think to think that my tastes have moved on a little and these days, I sometimes even eat meals that don't don't contain any cheese. But cauliflower and any other slightly bitter counterparts such as green cabbage and kale really do benefit from a bit of cheese sauce. I'll often eat it as a meal in itself with some salad or a few roasted vegetables. Roast potatoes, super crispy with a fluffy centre are particularly divine dipped into the sauce.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 medium cauliflower
40g butter
40g flour
500ml milk
125g strong cheddar, grated
1/2tsp english mustard
2tbsp breadcrumbs

• Remove the outer leaves from the cauliflower and break into small florets. Place in a large saucepan, cover with water, add 1/2 tsp salt and bring to the boil.
• Once the water comes to the boil, drain and tip into a large baking dish.
• Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large saucepan, once melted add the flour and whisk thorughly, continue cooking until the mixture (a 'roux') turns a nutty brown colour.
• Now add the milk slowly, whisk it completely into the mixture as you go to avoid lumps.
• One all the milk is added, cook over a low heat, stirring all the time until the sauce thickens, it should coat the back of a spoon.
• Now take off the heat, season well and add the cheese and mustard, allow it melt for a minute or so and stir well.
• Pour over the cauliflower and top with the breadcrumbs.
• Cook at 200C for 20-30mins until bubbling and golden.

Read more...

Pea and Leek Tart

So, I've been a bit lax with the blogging, christmas seems to have come even earlier this year and time is just slipping away from me!

I have of course, still been cooking, dutifully storing up pictures to share... I've also really gotten into cooking lots at the weekend so there's always something tasty and filling at the end of the day. I made this tart in the same vein and it worked perfectly - leeks sweated down slowly and sweetly with peas thrown in, all encased in a cheesy, eggy custard and baked in flaky pastry ( although I did cheat and buy it from a shop!). Perfect for lunchboxes, or a little slither as a snack, not that is lasts that long...

Most vegetables work well in this quiche-like set up, try this Swiss Chard and Onion Tart, or Potato, onion and Goat's cheese. Combinations on my list to try are:

Bacon, cheddar and tomatoes

Smoked mackerel and dill

Roast tomato, pesto and mozzarella

Broad bean and goats cheese

Asparagus, Lemon and Ricotta

Broccoli and blue cheese

Ingredients

300g shortcrust pastry
2-3 large leeks, finely sliced
50g butter
200g frozen peas (or fresh peas when in season)
3 eggs
400ml cream
175g cheddar, grated
1tsp dijon musard

• Line a 24cm tart or flan tin with the pastry and bake blind
• Boil a kettle and cover the peas in boiling water. Leave to sit for 5mins, then drain.
• Meanwhile fry the leeks gently in the butter for 5mins until completely soft and pour in the defrosted peas, seasoning well.
• Whisk the eggs, cream and mustard together with plenty of seasoning.
• Once the pastry is cooked, tip the pea and leek mixture in and spread out across the whole pastry base, sprinkle over the cheese and pour over the eggy custard.
• Bake at 190C 25 mins until the top is golden and firm to the touch.

Read more...

Leek and goat's cheese risotto

Another autumnal treat - leeks. I love this milder cousin of onions, when sweated down slowly, they are incredibly sweet and work well with peas, that other deliciously sweet vegetable. I love them with cream and cheese, a little bit of mustard or lemon for sharp contrast. My default idea is usually to have this decadent sauce with pasta.

In the interest of expanding my culinary horizons, however, I looked for inspiration and came across this risotto. Sounded simple enough so I gave it a go. Obviously, the deliciousness of your risotto is all down to stock, the better it is, the richer the flavour and the less butter and cheese you need to use. I must admit that often I don't bother making my own, especially if its a mushroom risotto as you can use dried ceps to boost the flavour.

Having said that, as I made this at the weekend, I sliced my vegetables in advance and popped all the skins and bits of vegetables left over into a pan, I added a carrot, some peppercorns, a bay leaf and the stalks of the parsley, covered with water and simmered for an hour whilst I went about my weekend business (reading the paper and drinking coffee). Then, strain into a pan, ready for risotto making.

This turned out really well, I loved the little pockets of sharp goats cheese that added a lovely contrast to the rice. I also threw in some peas for added colour and a little lemon juice and zest to freshen it up.

Recipe Read more...

Couscous Salad

I went camping this weekend, no ordinary camping, to a tipi! Camping trips always conjure up thoughts of lovely local shops selling lovely local food and cosy pubs with lovely warm fires. In reality, depending where you are, it can be hard to find a good pub and even harder to find one with good food. So, as we arrived late on Friday and wanted to make the most of our tipi, I planned ahead. Out came some sausages from the freezer, some homemade bread, leftover haloumi and... busy trying to use as much things from the fridge that were on the turn as possible, I decided on couscous, the perfect snack for the journey.

In reality of course, the campsite was brilliant (another winner from The Cool Camping Guide), with a delightful cafe on site, selling delicious breakfast and several pubs all within walking distant selling grat pub food, mostly mussels, which were literally caught over the road. Still... being the country, by the time we arrived on Friday, nowhere was selling food so I glad of my pack lunch (and the bottle of wine I thought to pack).


I love couscous, its such a pleasing vehicle for so many things - roasted carrots, smoked mackerel and brocolli.. I like it fresh and zingy as below with feta, parsley and lots of lemon juice, or with roasted vegetables and flaked almonds. The recipe below is obviously just a starting point, use whatever you have handy - peppers always nice, as are olives, anything you'd put into a salad really... Hummus is another great partner, or some leaves packed into the top of the box so they don't get soggy.



Serves 2

150g couscous
225ml hot vegetable stock
1/2 can chickpeas
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cucumber, cut in half, the middle scooped out and sliced
100g feta, crumbled
1 medium carrot, grated
bunch parsley(and some mint too if you have it), chopped
juice 1/2 lemon
3tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, diced
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small handful toasted sunflower seeds or pine nuts

This is really just an assembly job...

• wiegh the couscous out in a large bowl, pour over the hot stock, cover a with a large plate and leave to steep for about 5mins.
• Once all the stock has been absorbed, fluff up using a fork. Pile all the ingredients into the bowl and mix thoroughly.
• Squeeze the lemon juice over and pour in the olive. Mix really well and taste, it'll probably need some salt and pepper.

Read more...

Party Time

A birthday is always a good excuse for a party, couple that with just having moved into a flat and you're onto a winner. I resisted the temptation to spend days creating elaborate canapes as although I knew people would expect food (it is my party) they'd be more interested in the wine...

We're into baking bread at the moment, so I thought several loaves of homemade bread, some dips - hummus, tapenade, roasted red pepper pesto, maybe a baked camembert or two, and some posh crisps ought to do it. the idea was to have lots of finger food that didn't require plates (less washing up or wasteful paper plates).

My one concession to canapes were fabulous little caramelised onion and feta pastries. Deliciously sweet onions are well known partners to sharp, salty feta and these were little mouthfuls of joy. Seen as though everyone liked them so much, here's the recipe below.

Caramelised Red Onion and Feta Pastries

Ingredients

Makes about 50

250g shortcurst pastry
8 medium red onions, sliced into half moons
50g butter
4tbsp balsamic vinegar
4tbsp sugar
200g feta, crumbled
1 small bunch parsley, chopped or a small bunch thyme (just the leaves)

• Heat the butter in a large frying pan and tip in the onions, stir to coat in the butter and leave to cook on a low heat for about 15mins, stirring occasionally until completely soft.
• Season well, add the sugar and blasamic vinegar, and leave to simmer until the onions are sticky, brown and caramelised.
• Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.
• Preheat the oven to 180C
• Roll the pastry out until a few mms thick and cut into rounds (I used a small glass to do this, bear in mind that you want the pastry in mouth sized circles).
• Place onto a baking tray lined with greasproof paper and bake in the oven for about 10mins until golden and cooked through. (the pastry will rise a little and bubble in places, after a few mins baking, whilst the pastry is still soft, you can push the bubles down gently).
• Once all the pastry is cooked, leave to cool.
• To assemble, you probably need someone to help, to get an assembly line going. One person to spoon the onions onto the pastry and someone else to sprinkle on the cumbled feta and a little parsley or thyme. Just try not to eat too many whilst you're making them!

Read more...

Chickpea and Haloumi Salad

Aaah another recipe from good old Cranks, combining all the old favourites, chickpeas, olives, sun blush tomatoes and haloumi. This is possibly my favourite way to eat haloumi, although now there is a contender in the fennel and pomegranate salad.

You could make up the chickpea part in advance and just add rocket and tomatoes to serve with the haloumi, the chickpea marinade will dress the salad.

Ingredients

Serves 4

½ small red onion, diced
juice ½ lemon
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
250g cherry tomatoes, roasted
1 block haloumi, sliced
1 tin chickpeas, drained
small bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
100g rocket

Combine the chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, parsley and red onion with a 1 tbsp olive oil and some seasoning, stir well and set aside to marinade. Spread the rocket over a large plate, top with the chickpeas and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Heat a frying pan or griddle pan and fry the haloumi on both sides for a few minutes. lay over the top of the salad and eat immediately Read more...

Haloumi, fennel and pomegranate seed salad

You'll have to forgive the slightly hazy photos, they were taken when my friends Kat and Jamie came for dinner, they are not so used to the obligatory 5mins spent trying to take a good picture, so these were taken in haste.... I digress, the point is, this salad is great! Its actually a recipe from Waitrose, you know those little recipe cards you get in supermarkets? Except the Waitrose ones tend to be quite good.

Its a salad of fennel, leaves, haloumi and pomegranate seeds with a sour cream dressing. I've only recently come round to the idea of fruit in savoury food, but here, with the salty haloumi and garlicky dressing, it works really well.

This is the Waitrose recipe, I've also given my own below as I did it slightly differently and didn't faff about putting the fennel in iced water etc.

Ingredients

Serves 4
1 fennel bulb
100g yoghurt, sour cream or creme fraiche
1 small clove garlic, crushed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 handfuls salad leaves - watercress or rocket are good
Juice of ½ lemon
1 pack haloumi, sliced
seeds of 1 pomegranate

Use the biggest plate you have, spread the leaves across the bottom. Cut the fennel in half lengthways through the root. If there any leafy fronds, finely chop these and add to the plate. Cut off any old looking ends of the fennel and slice as finely as you can. Sprinkle these over the leaves. Mix the yoghurt, lemon juice and garlic and season well. Set aside. Now heat a frying pan or griddle and fry the haloumi for a couple of minutes on both sides, lay the haloumi on top of the salad and drizzle over the dressing before sprinkling judiciously with pomegranate seeds. Read more...

Pizza

I don't normally go in for homemade pizza, I would much rather make flatbread pizzas, so much quicker! But, dinner was left up to Pete and this is what he came up with. Very impressed I was too. He used the Jamie Oliver recipe for pizza dough (he prefers Delia's though) and we got 4 decent sized pizzas out of it with half the quantities.

Now the topping, invented by us is where this really comes into its own. We roasted cherry tomatoes with the usual garlic and dried thyme, then chucked some basil on them and mashed them with a fork (watch out for the boiling liquid that squirts everywhere!) . Two 250g packs of cherry tomatoes should be enough to cover 4 pizzas (Use this recipe to roast them).


And there you have a delicious pizza sauce that's pretty good on its own with some mozzarella strewn on top and some black pepper. Bake at 200C for about 20mins until bubbling and golden and the base is cooked. Once out, drizzle with some good olive oil, and sprinkle over some more chopped basil. A few slices of creamy avocado would be nice on top, a handful of rocket or some toasted pine nuts....

The toppings for pizza are endless, the only rule I would say with home made pizza is to avoid the temptation to overload with toppings as it can make the pizza soggy and its best to instead make a few different pizzas and be able to actually taste the individual toppings.

To really avoid the soggy bottom of homemade pizzas, you need to get a pizza stone, to achieve a really crispy base, that's if you're really serious. Or, like Pete you could use an old kitchen tile....

Read more...

Quesadillia

Mmm.. the perfect snack and a great way to use up any veg lurking in the bottom of the fridge. Feel free to experiment with this recipe, its all about using up what you have. I didn't have tortillas so used pitta instead and it worked perfectly well.

Ingredients
Serves 4

Black Bean Paste
1 can black beans (borlotti beans will do), drained
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
1 bunch coriander, chopped, stalks and all
Juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp Maldon sea salt

8 tortillas

some spring onions, sliced
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 avocados, diced
125g cheddar, grated
2 handfuls spinach, finely sliced
1 small tub soured cream
Some jalapeño chillies in vinegar or sliced red chilli as garnish

To make the black bean paste, either blend or mash all the ingredients together. Preheat a griddle pan. To assemble the quesadilla, spread 2tbsp of the bean mixture on the tortilla, makingsure you leave a border, add a tbsp of the soured cream and spread also. Next sprinkle over some cheese, tomato, spring onion, avocado and spinach. Finally topping with the chilli. Fold the tortilla in half and carefully place onto the griddle pan, cook for a few mins on each time, until the cheese is bubbling and the filling is warmed through, cut into slices and eat with plenty of napkins! Read more...

Fatty Sandwich

This sandwich literally dripped with fat (well, oil) and therein lies the beauty. Thankfully, I wasn't eating this, I had the lighter cheese sandwich option, this was for my friend who incidentally is a boy and therefore has an insatiable urge to ingest calories. Anyway this came about by me frying everything that looked tasty in the fridge. Namely, onions, cooked slowly in thin slices, then bacon and finally a fried egg, sandwiched in a thick ciabatta roll, one side with melted cheese on. Like I said, a fatty sandwich, but amazing all the same, you could remove the bacon to make this veggie and lose none of the fatty goodness. It could probably have done with some salad, but we didn't have any, oh well...

Read more...

Easy Peasy Pizza

With a little inspiration from BBC Good Food and driven by hunger, wine and the lack of food in Tesco Metro, we came up with these little babies when my friends Brid and Jenny came to visit from oxford. Possibly the easiest pizzas ever (apart from the ones that get delivered to your door)

We used Turkish wholemeal flatbreads, but I think even tortillas would do the job as long as you don't put too much topping on otherwise they'll probably go soggy. Spread them with pesto, the better quality the better, and top with halved cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and pepper. Put them in the oven until the cheese melts and is golden, about 15minutes and top with the avocado and maybe some olive oil. Simple as that and honestly, soo tasty.

Since then, I've been thinking of other possibilities... spread onion marmalade on the flatbread and top with goats cheese and some walnuts or pesto, thinly sliced pear, gorgonzola and pine nuts, both topped with some rocket or watercress. Chargilled aubergine, sliced tomatoes, oregano, pine nuts and mozzarella. Anything with anchovies, capers and olives always works well...

Read more...

Pasta with blue cheese and walnuts

This is a seriously easy pasta sauce. Basically just stir some blue cheese, a little chopped garlic and some chopped walnuts into (hot) cooked pasta. The cheese melts and forms a silky sauce for the pasta. This is amazing if you REALLY love blue cheese otherwise, it can be a bit strong, in which case, add a spoonful or two of creme fraiche to dilute the effect. Read more...

My Favourite Cheese Sandwich

This is the ultimate Saturday afternoon snack. Well actually its a pretty good snack any time, I just always end up having it on a Saturday afternoon. This is no ordinary cheese sandwich. Its grilled cheese, and the cheese should be very strong cheddar (try Montgomery cheddar)topped with slowly cooked onions, some chopped gherkins and a little salad if you're so inclined. Amazing.

It all about the onions and gherkins, so don't be tempted to miss them out, believe me, it all works. This sandwich also benefits hugely from good quality bread. When I used to sell bread for the Born and Bread Bakery at Clapham Farmers' Market, I would come home and make this with their amazing sundried tomato sourdough. Mmmm

Ingredients
Serves 1
2 slices of sourdough
enough cheddar to cover one side, about 50g
1 onion, halved and cut into rings
3-4 gherkins, chopped
1 tomato cut into slices
handful salad leaves
olive oil

Cook the onions, drizzled in a little oil very slowly for about 15mins until they're completely soft. Meanwhile toast the bread under the grill on one side, turn them over and toast the other side lightly, then top one slice with the cheese and the other with a couple of slices of tomato, a drizzle of olive oil and some pepper. Grill until the cheese in molten and bubbling. Top with the salad leaves, onions and chopped gherkins. Enjoy. Read more...

Superfood Salad

I'm not going to lie, in an attempt to eat a bit healthier, I was trying to recreate the delicious superfood salad at Leon. Anyway, writing this, I discovered there's already a recipe online!

The key is lots of lovely fresh green things, paired perfectly with feta and crunchy seeds. Oh and sprouts and quinoa, possibly the healthiest things ever, hence the 'superfood' title.

Ingredients
(makes enough for your lunch for several days)

1 cup quinoa
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 handful sprouts
1 handful toasted pumpkin seeds they taste sooo much better toasted)
1 brocolli, cut into small florets
½ cup frozen peas
1 avocado, sliced
250g feta
1 bunch chopped mint and parsley
½ lemon
olive oil

Add 1½ cups water to the quinoa, bring to the boil, simmer for 10mins until the water is absorbed. Meanwhile, boil the brocolli and peas for a few mins, drain and refresh under cold water. Mix all the ingredients together, except the avocado, place this on top when serving and feel virtuous. Read more...

Potato, Onion and Goat's Cheese Tart

Mmmm this tart was delicious. In a bid to use my new heart shaped tin,we found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website, which I think is a lot better than the BBC food website, there's still the mine of recipes but you get great pictures, new and innovative recipes without the rubbish Ready Steady Cook recipes.


Seen as though we cheated and used ready made pastry, this recipe was super easy. Make sure you cook the potato and onion until they're really soft and caramelised. This tart is also really rich, so you only really need a salad to go with it or some simply cooked vegetables.

Recipe



Read more...

Leeky Chessy Pasta

Yes, this is the title, I can think of none better. This is based very loosely on a recipe from Cranks Bible, my favourite vegetarian cook book ever. Although, really, it is borne out of my desire to eat cheese and pasta most days...


Start by finely slicing some leeks and cooking really gently in butter and a little oil until soft and sweet. Meanwhile cook your pasta until al dente. Add some finely chopped garlic to the leeks a sprinkling of bouillon powder and a handful of frozen peas with enough water to just cover the peas, simmer for a few minutes until the water has reduced and the peas are soft. Then, depending on how decadent you're feeling, stir in either a pot of creme fraiche or mascarpone, mascarpone being the richer, (much) fattier version of the two. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, ½tsp dijon mustard and seasoning to taste. Stir in the pasta with some grated cheese and enjoy sans guilt, think of all those vegetables!

Whilst making the version pictured and enjoying a mid-week bottle of pinot, I thought it would be nice to add some to the peas. I'm still undecided, it was nice, but I'm not sure whether I add added too much wine, didn't boil off enough alcohol or it just didn't work. Hmmm... Read more...

Macaroni Cheese

Macaroni Cheese is without doubt, my all time favourite food. By macaroni cheese, I only mean my mum's version, unadulterated with anything but unhealthy amounts of cheese. What could be better? Its like a hug in a bowl. As with all the best food, its steeped in memory for me, we always have macaroni cheese as part of a roast dinner (its a West Indian thing), believe me, it works! Try it with roast chicken and gravy - mmm....

Since leaving home, I've tried many times to recreate this myself, and whilst they were good, they were never the same. But I think I finally cracked it last night. Basically, you need to use more cheese than I feel comfortable using, and there needs to be a lot of thick cheesy sauce to macaroni. If you're going to do it, you need to do it properly I say!

My mum always makes her white sauce in the microwave and I can testify it does work really well, I do however, usually do it in a pan. Recently, I've got particularly lazy and even use cold milk when making a white sauce, as long as you whisk it in slowly, its fine!

In an attempt to feel more virtuous (and not end up feeling sick) I had mine with a mustardy pea, rocket and tomato salad(trying this mustard dressing), although I eat plenty more out of the dish afterwards, but still had enough for my lunch the next day.

What follows is (a version of) my mum's recipe...

Macaroni Cheese
serves 2

• 30g butter
• 30g flour
• 300ml (½ pint) milk
• 175g mature cheddar
• ½ tsp english mustard
  
• 200g macaroni

Cook the macaroni in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Melt the butter in a pan, whisk in the flour and cook for a few minutes more. Take off the heat, whisk the milk in the slowly to avoid lumps. Return to the heat and cook slowly until the sauce thickens (it will coat the back of a spoon). I usually wait until it just starts to bubble. Take off the heat, season well and add the mustard and cheese, wait a few minutes for the cheese to melt and mix with the macaroni. Bake at 200°C for about 30mins or until bubbling and golden. Read more...