Sunday 20 November 2011

Chorizo Carbonara

Based on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls River Cottage every day book

Ingredients

250g spaghetti, linguine, or other long pasta
1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
1 cup Tupperware Mexican Chorizo (recipe follows), crumbled (or Spanish chorizo, diced quite small)- I just used Spanish chorizo as I couldn't be arsed essentially doing two recipes for one meal! The Tupperware Mexican chorizo can be found in the book or online though.
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Add the pasta to a large saucepan of well-salted boiling water and cook until al dente.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the chorizo and fry briskly for about 10 minutes, until crisp and cooked through. If you’re using the soft Tupperware chorizo, you can start with a bit of a lump and break it up with a spatula as it fries, so it forms lots of succulent little nuggets and crumbs, thereby maximizing the surface area available for crisping.

Beat the egg yolks and cream together and season lightly (since the chorizo is already highly seasoned).

When the pasta is done, drain thoroughly and immediately return it to the hot pan. Tip in the crisp chorizo, followed by the egg mixture. Use 2 forks to mix the eggy cream into the hot pasta. It will cook in the heat of the pasta, coating each strand in a light, creamy sauce. Serve right away, with a final grinding of black pepper on top.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Cheesy Bacon Pancakes

This is a Schwartz recipe. You'll find I quite like them, they have lots of good inspiration on their website and I'm sorry to admit I quite like their packet mixes, yes I am perfectly capable of making my own and know that I should but sometimes it's just quicker and easier to use one and it's much better than getting a ready meal in! I'll put the recipe below and then underneath I'll put how I change it!

1 packet Schwartz Cheddar Cheese Sauce Mix
300ml (½ pint) milk
25g (1oz) butter
225g (8oz) unsmoked back bacon
1 tbs olive oil
225g (8oz) button mushrooms, sliced
1 tbs Schwartz Oregano
6-8 ready made savoury pancakes
2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
mixed salad to serve
Schwartz Black Pepper to season

Method

Make up the Cheddar Cheese Sauce, following the packet instructions.

Meanwhile, grill the bacon until crisp and then chop into small pieces. Stir the bacon into the sauce. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the mushrooms with the Oregano for a few minutes until browned. Add to the sauce.

Spoon the sauce into the centre of the pancakes and roll them up. Place the pancakes in an ovenproof dish and then scatter the tomatoes on top and grill for 10 minutes.

Serve with a side salad and season with Black Pepper.


Well I don't use the tomatoes on top - instead I usually put on a tomato sauce, last time I just mixed a tin of tomatoes and some garlic salt and herbs and poured it over, previously I've bunged a little jar of pizza topper over or something like that, depending what I've got in.

I usually put a little bit of cheese on top of it all just to melt.

I usually use Italian or mixed herbs instead of oregano

Oh and I don't serve with a salad, more likely to do sweetcorn or something with it.

SW Bacon and Veg Pie

One of my absolute favourite recipes, really healthy and so yummy.

Recipe shamelessly copied and stolen from Julie S- Thanks!

1lb 12oz/794g Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and chopped
Salt and black pepper
7oz/198g carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3½oz/100g green beans, trimmed and finely chopped
3½oz/100g courgettes, finely chopped
3½oz/100g celeriac, peeled and finely chopped
Fry light
10oz/283g lean bacon, all visible fat removed, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
3 eggs
4 tsp dried parsley
7oz/198g fat-free cottage cheese with onion and chives
1lb 2oz/511g ham, all visible fat removed, finely chopped
3½oz/100g frozen peas
4oz/113g parmesan cheese, grated

1. Preheat your oven to 180c/350f/GM4. Boil the potatoes for 20-25 minutes or until tender, drain well, season and mash.

2. Meanwhile, boil the carrots, beans, courgettes and celeriac for 3-4 minutes, drain and set aside. Place a frying pan sprayed with fry light over a medium-high heat. Stir fry the bacon for 7-8 minutes. Add the onion, fry for 3-4 minutes and then set aside.

3. Whisk the eggs, parsley and cottage cheese together. Add to the mash. Add the cooked veg, bacon and onion, ham and peas.

4. Spray a medium-size pie dish with fry light. Add the potato mixture, sprinkle over the cheese and bake for 35-45 minutes.

Syns per serving: Extra Easy FREE*
* Add 6 syns if not using the cheese as a Healthy Extra


Sticky Gammon

Here is the link to what Shauns Sticky Gammon is based on

BBC Good Food Sticky Gammon Steaks

He has changed it quite alot like and he won't give me a proper recipe but basically the gammon is chopped up not whole and he uses a pineapple juice instead of orange and chops pineapple up into it too. Oh and we have it with noodles not pak choi haha.

It is yummy though.



Sunday 23 October 2011

Tuna and Mushroom Pasta Melt

2 tbs oil
1 onion, chopped
350g (12oz) mushrooms, sliced
1 packet Schwartz Tune and Mushroom Pasta Melt Mix
350ml (12fl oz) milk
2 x 185g tins tuna, drained
175g (6oz) pasta, cooked and drained
Grated Cheddar cheese, to taste


- Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
- Blend the packet contents with the milk and add to the pan. Bring to the boil stirring. Cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the tuna and cooked pasta and heat through.
- Transfer to a heatproof dish, top with the cheese and place under a pre-heated grill until golden.

BBQ Chicken and Corn Rice

Based on BBC Good Food Recipe

4 chicken leg portions, cut into thighs and drumsticks, skin removed (I use boneless thigh joints)
2 onions, 1 chopped, 1 cut into wedges
1 red and 1 green pepper , de-seeded and thickly sliced
2tbsp olive oil
200ml bottled barbecue sauce
2tsp thyme leaves
250g long grain rice, rinsed
600ml chicken stock
340g can sweetcorn, rinsed and drained
½ red chilli , finely chopped (optional)


- Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Slash each piece of chicken 2-3 times. Put the chicken, onion wedges and peppers in a roasting tin or ovenproof pan, then toss with 1 tbsp oil and the barbecue sauce. Roast for 40 mins, turning halfway, until sticky and tender. Add a splash of water if the sauce dries up a little at the edges.

- Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a medium pan, then soften the chopped onion for 5 mins. Stir in the thyme, rice, stock and seasoning. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 12 mins. Turn off the heat, tip in the corn, add chilli if using, put the lid back on and let the rice steam for 10 mins more. Fluff up the rice, then serve with the chicken, vegetables and pan juices.

Thai Veg Curry

Based on Schwartz Recipe - tbh I change this whenever we have it depending on what I want/have got etc and I never measure out for it. Its a good base recipe though.

1 Onion
1tbs Thai 7 Spice
350g cauliflower florets
1 Courgette, sliced
1 Red Pepper, sliced
450ml (3/4 pint) vegetable stock
75g creamed coconut (or tin of coconut milk and less stock)
2tbs tomato puree
coriander (I usually don't bother)

-Heat oil in frying pan and fry the onion for 3-4 minutes. Add the Thai 7 Spice and fry for further minute.
- Add the cauliflower and fry for 3-4 minutes
- Add the courgette and pepper and fry for further 2 minutes.
-Stir in the stock, coconut and tomato puree and bring to the boil
-Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the cauliflower is tender.
- Stir through the coriander before serving (if using)

Offee Pie

Courtesy of Amy-Jayne.

-Crush biscuits (I used about 250g digestives, could be Hobnobs etc)
-Melt 60g unsalted butter and mix
-Press into a bowl (or cheesecake tin if you have one)
-Add a can of carnation caramel on top that (and a layer of bananas if you are using them)
-Whisk 350ml double cream with a table spoon of icing sugar till thick and spreadable (I used a bit more icing sugar because my cream just wouldn't thicken enough!)
-Spoon onto caramel then dust with cocoa powder
-Leave in fridge to chill for a bit

Baking Day

Have felt awful last two days with headache caused by a random upper back pain so as today I'm feeling slightly better I really wanted to get in the kitchen.

Am making bread to go with our Tuna and Mushroom Pasta Melt later and have just had my first attempt at the famous 'Offee Pie'. Recipe to follow.




Tuna and mushroom pasta melt




Bread




Offee pie. Not clever enough to remember to take the pic before we ate some.