Macaroni Cheese

The ultimate comfort supper. Just look at it. Bubbling hot from the oven,cheese oozing out, inviting you to have a forkful. While watching the pennies a bit more recently, this plain homely dish often appears on the menu. Little bits of salty bacon added or not as you prefer. Slowly cooked onion adding sweet buttery flavour. A few green leaves for your hearts sake and that's all it takes.

The one thing I am fussy about is the sauce. It needs to be thick as the water from the pasta can dilute it and make the sauce very runny. I want something that sticks to my ribs. If you can be organised enough (I am not but try to make the effort for this.) add a peeled onion chopped in half, a handful of black peppercorns and a couple of torn bay leaves to the milk the night before you make it. Not hugely important but if you try it you will be glad you did. Don't throw the onion away as it can be cooked to go into the dish. We don't want to waste anything now do we?

I use about 75g-100g (3-4 ounces) macaroni per person cooked as per packet instructions. I would like to warn you at this stage that when I cook pasta I could feed the street with it. I never seem to get it quite right.
Now when it is cooked and drained throw in a lump of butter. Yes I know it's supposedly bad for you but nothing tastes quite like it. Now just do it. It's wonderful. Trust me.

Strain the milk if infusing, reserving the onion.
Now finely chop the onion and gently fry in a little oil and butter (yes more butter) for about ten to fifteen minutes in a small pan until it is very very soft and sticky. Keep the heat low and don't let it burn. Set it to the side



For the Sauce

50gms/2 ounces butter
50gms/2 ounces flour
350 mls milk infused as mentioned above if possible
1 large teaspoon of mustard, whatever you have in the cupboard will be fine
A good shake of cayenne pepper
 As much and as varied a choice of cheese(s) as you want. In other words whatever you have in the fridge.
I like to use strong cheddar and parmesan. I also like to top it with mozzarella. Delicious

Melt the butter and then stir in the flour letting it cook for a few moments over a low heat to get rid of the floury taste.
Remove from the heat and stir in the mustard and a little milk. keep adding the milk a little at a time and using a whisk get it all blended in.
Return to the heat and keep stirring until it is thick. Then keep stirring until it becomes very thick.
Remove from the heat and stir in the onion, cayenne pepper and your chosen cheese.
Now stir in your macaroni and put it all in a buttered pie dish and top with mozzarella if desired. This bit is not necessary but did I tell you it's delicious?
Set the whole thing on a long piece of oiled foil and pull the foil over the top to form a loose parcel.
Pop into the oven at 180.C/350.F/gas4 and bake for half an hour or so then remove the foil top to let it brown.

Serve with some good for you salad leaves. Enjoy

Parmigiana

This was just an unpretentious supper of ragu pasta of which we all enjoy from time to time.So easy to prepare. I serve it with a little salad and garlic bread and love its simplicity of flavour. This uncomplicated dish however, was  pushed into a different dimension using a wonderful  three year old Parmigiana from Tuscany. A very dear friend had the big heart to send it to me. If you are used to the supermarket variety of this cheese nothing will prepare you for the real flavour of Italy. My tongue is still tingling two hours later. Heaven on a plate. The rather nice Chianti helped too. Perfect to wash it down with. If you ever have the good fortune to visit Italy please leave room in your case to take home a big chunk of this. You won't regret it.

Paremesan Chicken

This is a really quick and very tasty meal. The chicken stays superbly moist throughout the grilling but has a satisfyingly crunchy top. Great way to use up your slightly past their best salad leaves too

Ingredients

1 chicken breast per person
1 Medium potato per person
1 tablespoon oil(or melted butter if you prefer)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
A good squirt of sweet chilli sauce
1 egg white
1 good tablespoon finely grated parmesan cheese per chicken breast
A good handful of spinach leaves or tender salad leaves per person
One scallion chopped per person
A handful of frozen peas per person


Method

Turn the grill on to a medium heat
Line the grill pan with foil.

If your chicken breasts are very large baton them out under cling film a bit to flatten.
Beat the egg white in an oval/rectangular dish with salt an pepper just until it is no longer slimy.
Now roll the chicken in the egg white and then into the grated parmesan cheese to cover.
Place the chicken breasts in the grill pan and grill for ten to twenty minutes until cooked through and golden. Turn once during cooking.

Wash and chop the potatoes into cubes and set to boil for ten minutes or until just cooked.
Towards the end of cooking toss in the peas.

Combine the oil vinegar and sweet chilli sauce.

When the potatoes and peas are cooked drain and toss the salad leaves onions and the dressing through them. Serve onto warm plates with the chicken breast on top

Enjoy

Note

You can use up all sorts of bits of salad in the fridge doing this.
If you don't have new potatoes use old ones but make sure they are waxy and not floury as they will just break up.

Cauliflower Cheese

Comfort food. Plain, simple, everyday cooking. So why am I putting it in my blog? Well this blog is destined to be a recipe book for Rhyley so a few basics must be included. Everyone has their own way. All a matter of taste isn't it? I always make enough for leftovers to make the soup below. Some of the leaves must always be included for me. They look attractive as they add colour and why waste them? They have a lovely flavour and have all the nutrients of any green leafy vegetable.. I always make a very thick cheese sauce to go with the cauliflower. It is quite a watery vegetable and this dilutes the sauce. I also think it is worth doing a bit of prep to the milk by bringing it just to the boil with a quartered onion, a bay leaf, some black peppercorns , a few sprigs ot thyme, and a crushed garlic clove, leaving it to infuse for a while then straining before use. The sauce won't be a disaster without this but it really does improve the flavour

Pre heat oven to 200.C/180.C Fan/gas 6/400.F

Ingredients

Head of cauliflower cut in to florets discarding the outer leaves but keeping the sweet inner ones. Wash and then boil for five minutes. Strain and run cold water over the florets and greens to keep them from cooking any longer and leave to drain.
When well drained arrange in a buttered oven proof dish

For the sauce

75g/3oz butter
75g/3oz plain flour
500 mls milk (for a very rich sauce you can replace some of the milk with cream)
1 tablespoon of white wine or vermouth
1 teaspoon of mustard ( either dijon for a mild flavour or English for more bite)
A little cayenne pepper (optional)
Grated cheddar cheese. I like to use extra mature cheddar and lots of it but it's up to your taste buds.
A little grated parmesan to sprinkle on top

Method

Melt the butter gently in a saucepan over a low heat.
Stir in the flour and leave to cook for a minute or so.
Remove from the heat and stir in the mustard and wine/vermouth
Start to whisk in the milk gradually.
Return to the heat. keep the heat lowish and keep stirring until it thickens. ( I find my mini whisk perfect for this job.)
Continue on until it becomes very thick.
Remove from the heat and stir in the cheddar cheese and cayenne if using.
Pour over the cauliflower and sprinkle the parmesan on top.
Bake for about 20-30 mins until golden and bubbling.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

For me this is a great reason to make cauli cheese. I always make sure there are left overs for this. Really quick and easy.

Chop an onion and fry gently in a saucepan until soft
Add about 500mls chicken stock and some chopped parsley
Add the left over cauli cheese and let it heat through in the stock, then puree.
That's it. So delicious


Note

I find that half or just over half the quantity of sauce is enough but I always make the full amount and keep the remainder to make a baked pasta dish later in the week

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

These are about the most wickedly decadent things I have ever had the pleasure of making. How can anyone not like brownies? I love full fat cream cheese too so mix the two together and it's heaven on a plate. They are very very easy to make. Gorgeous warm from the oven. Just the thing for unexpected visitors or a quick dessert or just for sheer indulgence

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies



Ingredients

125g/5oz butter
125g/5oz dark chocolate, chopped
200g/7oz brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
50g/2oz plain flour, sifted
50g/2oz cocoa powder
0.25 tsp baking powder
200g/7oz Philadelphia or other full fat cream cheese
50g/2oz caster sugar

Instructions

Combine butter, chocolate and brown sugar in a medium saucepan and stir over medium heat until chocolate and butter have melted. Remove from heat and whisk in eggs.
Add flour, cocoa, and baking powder and stir until well combined. Pour into a greased and lined 18cm x 28cm rectangular tin.
Beat Philly cheese and caster sugar until smooth and creamy.
Spoon randomly over chocolate mixture and swirl with the tip of a knife. Bake at 180ºC, 350ºF, gas mark 4 for 35 - 40 minutes or until cooked through.
Allow to cool before slicing.

(I used self raising flour because I'm lazy)

Enjoy

Baileys Cheese Cake

My hairdresser Wendy gave me this recipe at Christmas time. It is so quick and easy. Quick and easy is always good at Christmas. It was such a hit I made it today for the family who have a habit of dropping by for dinner. Very very rich unhealthy and huge in calories. If you want healthy don't eat dessert. Have an apple. It takes but a few minutes to throw together and just needs a little chill in the fridge.

Baileys Cheese Cake

500g/1lb 4 oz Philadelphia Cheese
100g/40z icing sugar
250mls/9fl oz/1 cup double/heavy cream
Baileys Irish Cream to taste


Base

15 digestive biscuits
50g/2 oz melted butter

Method

Crush the digestive biscuits into fine crumb and mix with the melted butter. I did this in the food processor.
Press into the bottom of a 20cm/8" springform cake tin

Mix all the other ingredients together in a large bowl.
Beat until smooth, thick and well combined
Pile on top of the biscuit base
Chill in the fridge until needed
That's it

I decorated it with bits of chocolate. I just spread strips of melted white,milk and dark chocolate on the work top then when it was hard scraped it up with a palette knife to make splinters. I had too much so I popped the extra in a jar for another day.

Daring Bakers Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Thank you to Jenny for this month's challenge. I have never made a baked cheesecake before and I was delighted to have the opportunity to try. It was gorgeous. Very simple to make. The only problem was the amount of mixture for the size of the pan. I would certainly reduce it next time and a next time there will be. This was delicious. I added rose water to the mix and drizzled with rose syrup. A few pomegranate seeds for colour. It was heaven on a plate. I can't urge you enough to try it. It's a bit like making baked egg custard, done in a ban marie in the oven. The variations in flavour are endless. All you need is this one basic recipe.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Some variations from the recipe creator:

** Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool)

** Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).

** Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.

** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.

** Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Some variations from Jenny (from JennyBakes):

**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.

**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.

Vi's Oaties

These simple biscuits have become a weekly event in our house. They are wickedly addictive. Really easy to make. The recipe comes from Vi the administrator on 'Vi's Pantry ' food forum. She has a lovely Blog too. It was her Mum's recipe. I always double the quantities as they disappear so quickly. The recipe is quite easy to tweak. I like to use soft brown sugar instead of caster sugar as I like the caramely flavour it gives. To double the quantities in the recipe I also add 100 gms dried cranberries. They spread a lot so leave plenty of space on your baking trays. The recipe will give you about 15-16 biscuits.

Ingredients

4 oz/100g self raising flour

4oz/100g porridge oats

½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

4oz/100g butter or margarine

4oz/100g granulated sugar

1 rounded tablespoon golden syrup

Method


Heat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180 c

Grease on large baking tray with butter or margarine.

Mix flour, oats, and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl put to one side.

Put margarine or butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and heat on a low heat until butter and sugar are melted, stir occasionally, take off heat and stir in the oat mix, beat well with a wooden spoon.

Scoop dessert spoons of mixture up and make into ball shapes and place on a greased baking tray when the tray is full slightly flatten the balls out with the back of the dessert spoon.

Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, when ready remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet for 5 mins before moving onto a wire rack.

Repeat and do the same until all the mixture has been used up.