Mac and Cheese

It was Wednesday, mid-week and usually around this time of the week, we get a bit lazy and tired and less interested in cooking fancy meals. Mac and cheese is a good mid-week meal: it's quick, tasty and full of cheese! And everything feels just a bit better with a hearty doze of cheddar! The portion was rather big for two people (we still have some left over) so if you do not feel like overeating, reduce the portion. The secret is to make sure that to one portion of macaroni, put in two portions of cheese

Ingredients:
200g macaroni
500g cheddar, grated
Butter
200ml double cream (if you're trying to make it skinny, put milk instead)
1 escallion shallot
 Mushrooms (quartered) or pancetta - cooked until softened (to add more body, if you do not have either, don't worry, it will still taste good)
Breadcrumbs

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 220C. Parboil the pasta (about 5min). Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce. Pour the cream into the pan and add small knob of butter and cheese. Whisk until thick and melted. It should have a similar texture as cheese fondue.

Once the pasta and sauce are done, pour everything into an ovenproof dish, mix well and add mushrooms or pancetta. For the crispy top, cover it with breadcrumbs and place the dish in the oven for about 15-20min until the top is golden. Enjoy!

A bolognese of sorts

Tonight we had pasta with a beef sauce.

some would call this Bolognese some wouldn't, some would call this a ragu, some wouldn't. in the world of food there are many rules for naming you only have to look at the DOC list to get an idea how seriously some take this.... in this house we don't care as long as it is tasty. Tonight we cooked a beef sauce for spaghetti, the recipe is one that has grown ingredients and lost ingredients over the course of time but this version is always tasty and certainly went down well tonight...

Ingredients:

beef mince 1 regular size packet
2 escallion (banana) shallots
2 cloves of garlic
1 spear of celery
200g chestnut mushrooms (sliced and then halved)
3-4 anchovies
3-6 chilli flakes (no more or else you will ruin the flavour)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 small bunch fresh basil
oregano
salt and pepper

Spaghetti - enough for 2


The method:

Firstly prepare your ingredients. crush the garlic, finely chop the shallots, finely chop the anchovies and slice the celery thinly.

heat some olive oil in a frying pan until hot but not smoking add to this in the anchovies,garlic,celery and shallots. fry for a minute until the shallots are starting to soften and the anchovies are starting to dissolve. Add the mushrooms, season and then fry until the mushrooms are starting to pick up colour at this point add the chopped tomatoes then half fill the can with water and then add this water. add oregano and the chill flakes then reduce the temperature and allow to simmer (don't be tempted to keep stirring just leave it be).

Once the tomatoes are in bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti. About 2 minutes before the spaghetti is ready add the basil to the sauce (just tear this up and stir in) season again if necessary.

Drain the pasta then add the sauce and serve. simple.

It isn't pretty, it isn't difficult but it will knock seven shades out of anything you will get in a restaurant (unless you pay through the nose of course).

Bon appetit

a monday in april

Tonights meal is a bit of a long job (so long we went to bed without posting on the night!)

Duck confit and parmesan potatoes (with some greens)

Tonight we are having duck confit.... sounds tres chic but in reality it is simple and tasty.

Ingredients:

For the duck:
2 duck legs (1 per person)
2 cloves of garlic
thyme
pepper
nutmeg
salt
Duck Fat

For the potatoes:
Potatoes 4 or 5 medium size floury potatoes
butter
parmesan

Greens:
tenderstem broccoli
white wine vinegar

The method:

Prepare the duck this will cook for a long time in a low oven so we're gonna tackle this first

Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees.

Pour boiling water over the ducks skin. This reduces the amount of fat and allows it to crisp up properly. Dry the skin with some paper towel and rub salt onto the skin. Crush the garlic/thyme/nutmeg and pepper together in a pestle and mortar then rub over the skin of the duck Place the legs in an oven proof dish skin side up the place in the oven for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 100-120 degrees add 2.5 tablespoons of duck fat at this point and leave this basting occasionally for 2.5 hrs.

As soon as the duck goes in slice the potatoes into thin discs and par boil these for around 5 mins until they are becoming tender. Remove and drain. Then layer in a ramekin with butter and parmesan throughout the layers into and add to the oven as soon as they are ready they will need about 1.5hrs if they are going in with the duck but if you have the luxury of having 2 ovens place these in a separate oven at 200 degrees for 40mins to 1hr.

The greens... these are best steamed (keeps the crunch) I like to add a little white wine vinegar to add a little bite to the flavour.

then enjoy!

(ok we skipped the greens but there were looking a bit iffy after more than a week in the fridge)

Thai green curry mussels

Hello, and welcome to our blog. We cook something new every day, sometimes with the help of cookbooks, sometimes our imagination. We aim to post daily to share our experiences of cooking food and hopefully convince that ready meals are not the best option after a day at work!

Tonight for dinner: Thai green curry mussels with hand cut chips

While we usually cook them with white wine or tomatoes, I remembered that we had a tub of Thai green curry paste in the fridge. A risky experiment but it clearly works. The unusual taste makes the mussels slightly different and coconut milk gives dish some body. And mussels always have to have fries to go with!

The ingredients:
- 1 shallot
- some mushrooms (we used chestnut, but any can do. If you do not have any mushrooms, try adding other vegetables that you would normally put in a curry)
- 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons of Thai green curry paste
- 1 can of coconut milk
- 1 kg of mussels, cleaned
- a small handful of fresh basil
- a few potatoes

Chop the shallot and quarter the mushrooms. Heat a little bit of oil in a big pan, and fry the shallots and mushrooms. Once cooked, add the fish sauce and the curry paste, fry for 30 seconds. Then, pour in the coconut milk, get the sauce to boil and add the mussels. Cover and leave to steam until its cooked (about 5min). Serve with some chopped basil leaves.

Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into fries and deep fry them for about 5-7min at 170C. Then take them out, increase the temperature to 190C and cook for another 5min. We have a deep fat fryer (not advisable for anyone particularly concerned with healthy living, but it tastes sooooo good), but can also be done in a small saucepan with oil. Once the fries are done, season them with salt and serve along with the mussels.

Enjoy!