I loused up the recipe a bit – I somehow ended up blitzing the cheese with the lovely breadcrumbs, which meant the topping was cheesy but the sauce too bland. Stupid spud. I still feel like the whole thing could use a little more seasoning though.
Cauliflower macaroni:
8 rasher of pancetta
1 head of cauliflower, quartered
300g macaroni
Large sprig of rosemary, leaves picked
200g cheddar
2 thick slices of bread
2 cloves of garlic
150g creme fraiche
Get the oven on 220°C. Lay the pancetta in a baking tray ready to take the finished dish and pop in the oven while you carry on.
Put the cauliflower and the macaroni in a large pot and fill with boiling salted water, and keep on the simmer.
Get the food processor out with the chopping blade. Get the pancetta out of the oven and whizz this up with the bread, rosemary and a dash of olive oil.
Drain off the cauliflower & pasta and reserve some of the water. Tip the veg/mac into the roasting tray you used for the pancetta and put on a low heat. Pour in a little water, crush in the garlic and mix in the creme fraiche and cheddar. Mix everything right up, adding more water and seasoning as necessary to get a smooth, silky sauce. Spread out evenly, top with the breadcrumbs and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until bubbling.
I was referring to a guilty pleasure of mine, Pasta ‘n’ Sauce. Packed with rubbish yet oh-so-moreish on a cold day, I can get real cravings for this horrendous muck. Can’t help it though. I was trying the cheese, leek and ham one and thought I’d have a go at my own version. It ended up tasting not like it at all, but still a very tasty lunch. It is fast though – about as quick as the packet version. And you know where everything comes from.
Cheese, leek and ham pasta ‘n’ sauce:
2 leeks, halved and sliced
100g bacon lardons
50g grated parmesan
250ml creme fraiche
300g penne
Get the pasta on to boil in plenty of salted, boiling water. Cook according to the packet instructions (irony!).
Fry the lardons in some garlic oil, or just regular olive oil if you haven’t got that. When browned on one side add the leeks.
Mix the creme fraiche and parmesan together and when the leeks are tender and the bacon cooked, chuck this in the pan with a few scoops of the pasta water to loosen it. Check for seasoning and toss with the pasta until well combined.
I could take EssexEating’s taunting Tweets on the subject no more. I needed a crispy, cheesy tortilla fix on the quick.
A big pile of cheesy chips like this reminds me of my student days. I would microwave for an instant result, but when I have time I like to bake this so the tortillas have a hollow, crisp edge. I’ve made this one have the pretence of a real meal by adding a protein and a veg but let’s not kid ourselves: this falls squarely in the ‘treat’ category. Ticks loads of feel-good boxes though.
Chicken tortilla melt:
2 chicken breasts, chopped very small
1 pepper, diced
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon coriander
A large bag of tortilla chips, whichever flavour you like
Piles of cheddar cheese
Get your oven on as hot as it will go. Get a frying pan on the hob to pretty hot.
Toss the pepper and chicken in the spices with a pinch of salt and pepper and fry in a little oil. Once the chicken has coloured all over remove to one side. The chicken’s going in the oven too so it can be a tiny bit under.
Scatter a baking tray with tortilla chips and top with cheese. Add a layer of chicken and peppers, then repeat the layering until you’ve used everything up. Try and save some cheese for later.
Place in the oven and bake for 3 – 5 minutes until the cheese has melted. Out of the oven top with the remaining cheese (the combination of melted cheese and barely warm cheese is really interesting). Grind over some black pepper and serve with sour cream, guacamole and salsa.
I’ve just got back from a trip to Suffolk. I managed to sample some great food in the area; the Queen’s Head in Woodbridge, the Old Mill House in Saxtead Green, and I fell in love with the mini Brighton-esque seaside town of Aldeburgh. A particular highlight was Lawson’s Delicatessen, a gorgeous shop stacked with olives, coffee ground to order, home-made pies and cakes, olive oil literally on tap, more cheeses than I can name and more besides. Brilliant, especially when caped off with local-caught cod and chips on the seafront.
The in-laws had advised me of a cracking deli, Emmett’s of Peasenhall. It’s been featured in Rick Stein’s Food Heroes, Delia Smith goes gaga over it, and it’s been around for 190 years. It’s a beautiful shop, bowling you over straight away with a tasting table where you can sample some of their bestsellers. Then you can peruse their pickled veg, the usual suspects of olives, chillis and artichokes. Then on to the confectioneries, where you can browse the chocolate-covered ginger, huge shards of chocolate studded with hazelnuts and many more.
Then there’s the glory: the cold meats counter. They smoke and cure their own meats onsite and take an awful lot of pride in their work. Something I went back for a couple of times was their Suffolk Black ham, all treacley and rich with a powerful cure flavour. Absolutely divine and worth a detour for. To take home with me I grabbed a couple of things: smoked Montgomery cheddar and ham offcuts. Contrary to the picture you get a great chunk of leftover bacon for just £1. So good.
I could just snack on both of these, but I wanted to do something that would celebrate both of these princely ingredients. So I settled on risotto, and boy did it do them justice: a smoky and rich risotto, packing a punch every mouthful. Great stuff.
If you ever find yourself passing through this area, pop in. You’ll be at least £50 worse off but you’ll take home a clutch of great stuff for the larder.
Smoked cheddar and bacon risotto:
200g smoked bacon lardons
1 onion, diced
200ml white wine
1 sprig of rosemary
4 handfuls of arborio risotto rice
500ml vegetable stock
50g smoked Montgomery cheddar, grated
½ teaspoon sesame oil
Get the stock on to boil in a small pan. Fry the bacon in a little oil until coloured on all sides. Remove to one side for later.
In the same pan as the bacon add the onion and fry over a gentle heat with the rosemary until the onion has softened.
Add the rice and turn the heat right up. Keep tossing the rice around to get a lovely toasted edge to it. After a minute, add the wine and bubble away until the liquid has disappeared.
Turn the heat down to medium and add a ladleful of stock. Push the rice around until the liquid is absorbed. Keeping adding a ladleful of stock at a time, allowing it to reduce until the rice has a lovely al dente texture. Discard the rosemary.
Add the bacon back to the pan and stir the cheese through. Check for seasoning – probably won’t need any! – and serve with a swirl of sesame oil (not too much), grating a little extra cheese over.
