Dinner - Mac 'n' cheese

Cannot get over how great this tasted!

Last night my boyfriend came home from work and said the words, "Can you make Mac 'n' Cheese tonight?"
I swear I could have heard angels singing. Mac 'n' cheese is my ultimate meal - I could probably manage to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week straight.
So, what makes a tasty mac 'n' cheese?
First of all, it has to be creamy, gooey but with a crisp top. Now the crisp top is probably the most important part for me which is why I always leave it under the grill for probably a liiiiittle too long!

Ingredients:
Macaroni
500ml milk
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp mustard
250g cheese - I use mature cheddar
8 cherry tomatoes
Half a red onion

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.

2. Cut the red onion into long thin strips and put into the oven covered in olive oil to roast. They only need about 10 mins.

3. While the onion is roasting, put the pasta on to cook for a couple of minutes less than however long it says on the packet. The pasta will finish cooking in the sauce in the oven.

4. Once the pasta has been put on, it's time to make your amazing cheese sauce!! Melt the butter in the pan along with the mustard and slowly mix in the flour to make a smooth paste. Then gradually add in the milk stirring the whole time to avoid lumps. When all of the milk has been added, turn the heat down a little and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened.

5. Take your sauce off the heat and add most of the cheese leaving a little to grate on top. Season the sauce and then stir in the pasta and red onions.

6. Pour your cheesy mix into an oven-proof dish, place the cherry tomatoes on the top and cover with the remaining cheese.

7. Pop it into the oven until bubbly and golden (probably about 20 mins).

8. If like me, you love your bake to have a bit of a crunch, put it under the grill for a couple of minutes at the end.

Voila! You end up with an amazing, comforting Mac 'n' Cheese!

Let me know what added extras you like with your mac 'n' cheese!

Lunch/Dinner - Feta Cheese and Tomato Open Omelette

A fantastically fresh frittata!

In search of a lighter dinner option tonight, I decided to go for a frittata. I searched through my recipe books in search of one that I thought looked a mix between interesting and comforting and ended up settling on a feta cheese and tomato omelette in my amazing 'Easy Vegetarian One-Pot' book (published by Ryland Peters and Small). I didn't have all of the ingredients so missed out a couple, but what I did use ended up tasting really good!

Ingredients:




4 eggs
3 spring onions
8 cherry tomatoes halved
A handful of fresh basil
75g feta cheese cut into cubes




Method:

Mix, mix, mix!

1. Break the eggs into a large bowl and whisk up so that the yolks and the whites are fully mixed together.

2. Finely chop up the spring onions and basil and add to the eggs along with 2 tablespoons of water. Season the mixture, ready for cooking.

3. Heat some oil in a large frying pan and pour in the mixture.

4. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the feta and the tomatoes with the cut side facing up.

5. Cook for a further 2 minutes and then transfer your frittata to under the grill to finish it off. Wait until it is lovely and golden and then serve! I chose to serve mine with broccoli.

This meal tasted really fresh and was really simple to make. It took less than 15 minutes from walking into the kitchen to sitting down and eating! I will definitely be making this again - a major success!

Brunch - Buck Rarebit

Buck Rarebit - a brilliant brunch!

As a massive Masterchef fan I am always really keen to try out the recipes that I see, especially those in the skills test part. In Series 8, episode 4, the chefs were given the challenge to make a Buck Rarebit which is something that I have never heard of. However, the sound of cheese, bread and egg was very appealing to me so I decided to have a go! I was not disappointed. It tasted absolutely amazing - cheesy, carby and wonderful. It's definitely not a low cal breakfast/lunch option but definitely worth it for a 'first day of the Christmas holiday' treat!

Ingredients:


2 eggs
1 bagel/bread
20g cheddar cheese
15g of flour
15g butter
120ml milk approx (I measured out 140ml but didn't use all of it)
Pinch of curry powder





Method:

1. First job is to cut the bagel in half (if you're using a bagel). No matter how hard I try, one side always ends up fatter than the other!

Just an incy pinch of curry powder.

2. Start to make the cheese sauce. Cook the butter and flour in a small saucepan whisking quickly until it forms a kind of paste. Slowly add the milk stirring constantly to avoid making lumps. When the sauce is smooth and thick, add an egg yolk and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of curry powder (seriously, a really small pinch, you don't want it to taste of curry, just have a slight kick). Once seasoned, add the cheese a little at a time until it's melted into the sauce.

3. Toast your bagel/bread.

4. Spread the sauce thickly over the toasted bagel and put under a preheated grill until the cheese sauce is bubbly and golden!! This will only take a couple of minutes so keep an eye on it.

I had made more sauce than was necessary and, embarrassingly, ate the remaining sauce straight from the saucepan..

5. While your cheesy bread is toasting, it's time to make your egg! I think traditionally Buck Rarebit is meant to be made with a fried egg, but I much prefer my eggs poached so I used my amazing poaching pan to make my egg. I know it's cheating, but it works perfectly every time!

6. Take out your bread and plate up. Pop your egg on top and enjoy!

Nom! This was amazing!
A perfect runny yolk too!