SALMON PASTA BAKE

I am so happy school went back today - I have been craving the routine and normality. Arabella also came back after a week at her fathers house and I was so excited to see her. 

This recipe is from the Saturday Times magazine and I knew Pascal would hate it as he is not keen on fish pasta or cream but Arabella would love it as salmon pasta is one of her favourites. However Pascal isnt here, so it was the perfect time to try it out.

Ingredients for 2 people:

300ml of double cream
200g of salmon 
A bay leaf
90g of pasta - I used penne but you could use macaroni or fusilli or serpentelli
1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard
25g sourdough bread, blitzed into breadcrumbs
A handful of dill, blitzed with the breadcrumbs

I also added some grated Parmesan cheese into the breadcrumbs but this wasnt part of the recipe and is entirely optional - I just couldnt bear a pasta bake without cheese!!

Preheat the oven to 200 C / gas mark 6.

Pour the cream into a saucepan and add the salmon fillet, a bay leaf and some black pepper. Bring almost to the boil and then lower the heat. Let the salmon cook gently for about 10 minutes, until the flesh comes apart in large flakes with ease, then remove from the heat.

Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted, boiling water according to the packets instructions. I always like to cook mine al dente and this took around 8 minutes. Drain when ready.

At the same time as the salmon and pasta are cooking, blitz the bread in a food processor with the dill, into coarse breadcrumbs.

When the salmon is ready, remove it from the cream and cut into pieces, discarding any skin.

Mix the fish with the pasta.

Stir in a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard and a little bit of salt into the cream and then pour over the pasta and salmon and mix together.

Pour into a baking dish and top with the breadcrumbs. As I mentioned I also added some grated Parmesan.

Finally cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the crumbs are golden and lightly crisp.

This was really quick and easy to make and really tasty. Both Arabella and I enjoyed it although it is quite rich….next time I will definitely serve it with a green salad for myself and some cucumber for Arabella or alternatively add some peas. It was a great way to make Arabella eat oily fish with no complaints whatsoever…..normally when I suggest salmon she turns her nose up a bit as she thinks its boring……this was anything but!

Read More..

TUNA PASTA BAKE

My favourite ever cookbook is Fays Family Food by Fay Ripley. Whilst I have always owned several cook books, namely Jamie Olivers, I rarely cooked from them and instead just admired the pictures and fantasised about the dishes (yes I know I am a weirdo)! However Fays first cookbook has so many delicious recipes which arent actually that complicated and it really encouraged me to start cooking. Before I bought this cook book, I could barely boil an egg. Fast forward 4 years and I now cook from scratch most nights. 

Here is one of the first recipes I ever cooked from Fays Family Food - it is simple to make and takes around 45 minutes.

Ingredients for 3-4 adults (depending on your appetite):

260g penne or fusilli pasta
100g sweetcorn (you can use frozen)
75g spinach (you can use frozen)
3 big leeks, washed and roughly chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
240g good quality canned tuna
200g grated mature cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
200g tub half fat creme fraiche
100g grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 200C fan / 220C / gas mark 7.

Slice the leeks and fry in a splash of olive oil for about 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente - ours took 7 minutes.

About 3 minutes before the pasta is ready add the spinach and sweetcorn (5 minutes if using frozen vegetables).

Drain the pasta, spinach and sweetcorn and then pour back into the saucepan.

Add the tuna and leeks.

Add 200g creme fraiche.

Add 200g grated cheese.

Sprinkle with half a teaspoon of nutmeg and season with black pepper.

Give it a good stir so it is all mixed together and then pour into an ovenproof dish.

Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the top (I also added a little bit more grated cheese as well)!

Put into the oven for 20 minutes and then serve!

This was so easy to make and really delicious - so good I broke my golden rule and had seconds! It is a great one for kids as it contains lots of hidden vegetables and tuna is full of iron and potassium….to be honest it is good for adults too!! This could be made the morning before and then reheated in the oven for slightly longer (30 minutes) and it is freezable as long as you do not use frozen vegetables.

A perfectly simple family supper.

Read More..

ITALIAN SAUSAGE ROLL PASTA BAKE

I am sure I have mentioned before that I have a weird obsession with keeping the freezer as empty and tidy as possible - not sure where that comes from?! I also have a tendency to tidy the fridge as well!!
Anyway I have had some leftover lasagne sheets in the freezer from when I made my vegetarian lasagne and I was desperate to use them up. After doing a "2" day (only 500 calories) yesterday I knew I would want something filling so this Fay Ripley meal seemed the perfect recipe.

I only cooked this recipe for the three of us and it took roughly 15 minutes to prepare and 1 hour to cook.

Ingredients for 6 people:

2 tbsp of olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
250g portobello mushrooms, finely chopped
30g bunch of fresh sage, leaves finely chopped (keep back a handful)
450g good quality sausage meat 
200g tomato puree
150ml dry white wine
250g fresh lasagne sheets
600ml tomato passata
200ml half fat creme fraiche

Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4.

In a non stick frying pan, add a splash of olive oil and cook the onion for 5-10 minutes to soften.

Add the chopped mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes.

Then add the chopped sage for another minute. I chopped the sage in a mug with scissors - super easy.

Now add the sausage meat.

With a wooden spoon, break it into mince as it browns.

Keep turning it over until it is cooked right through - this took about 5-10 minutes. Next add the tomato puree and stir again for another minute or two.

Finally add the white wine and let it bubble for a further 5 minutes and season.

Using scissors, cut each lasagne sheets in half to make rectangles. Lay them all out and divide the filling evenly between the sheets.

Roll each pasta sheet around the filling to make short stubby cannelloni rolls and arrange them in an ovenproof dish in a single layer (around 22 x 26cm). This was easier said than done and mine looked a right old mess! My lasagne sheets cracked all over and would not stay in position!

Mix the passata and creme fraiche together in a bowl and season, then pour over the pasta.

Toss the remaining sage leaves in some olive oil and scatter over the top. Then bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Serve and enjoy.

This was lovely - I was expecting it to taste exactly like lasagne but it has a different flavour - more tomatoey. We all really liked it however decided it was lacking in one very important ingredient…..cheese!!! When I do this next time I will definitely be adding some mozzarella and cheddar on top or some cheesy garlic bread on the side would be a good alternative. The sage was wonderful - definitely buy fresh leaves. This is one of those recipes that you can prepare the day before (just cook for an extra 10-15 minutes) and would taste delicious as leftovers…..unfortunately there were none in our house - we polished the whole lot off!

Read More..

EASY CHICKEN AND LEEK BAKE

I love a chicken pie but I am not that mad on pastry, therefore I was delighted to find this recipe for a chicken bake with a crispy topping. The weather is miserable and winter is on its way so this was the perfect recipe to cook. Plus it was easy!! It took about 45-50 minutes in total to prepare and cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

2 tbsp olive oil
6 chicken thighs,skinned, boned and cubed
6 rashes of smoked streaky bacon, roughly cut into 1 cm wide strips
2 leeks, sliced
4 lemon thyme sprigs (I just used normal thyme as that is all we had in the garden)
350g tub of cheese sauce (I used a three cheese sauce)
35g fresh white breadcrumbs
2 x 25g packs Walkers Sour Cream and Cracked Pepper Sunbites, crumbled
25g flat leaf parsley, chopped

Prepare all the ingredients such as cutting the chicken, crumble the crisps (I squeezed the packets), slice the leeks and chop the parsley.

You can fry the bacon but I prefer to grill it as it is "slightly" healthier so heat the grill to a medium to high heat and then put the bacon in for around 8 minutes, turning half way through.

Once the bacon has cooked start preheating the oven to 200 C / gas mark 6.

At the same time heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large pan and cook the chicken over a high heat for 6 minutes until nicely browned.

The bacon should be ready around now and so chop into strips and then add to the chicken with the leeks and the thyme and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until the leeks are softened.

Stir in the cheese sauce, cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through - it is always wise to check….no one wants food poisoning!!

Meanwhile stir the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil into the breadcrumbs and then mix in the crumbled Sunbite crisps and parsley.

Spoon the chicken mixture into an oven proof dish.

Scatter over the parsley and breadcrumb mix.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until crunchy and golden.

Serve either on its own or with a mixed green leaf salad or vegetables.

This was good - I will admit we added some grated cheese which I think it needed, however I am a cheese obsessive. When I cook it next time, I will add some Parmesan to the breadcrumb, crisp and parsley topping. If you are a vegetarian you could substitute the chicken and bacon for some mushrooms, peppers and courgettes and the chicken mixture is freezable.

I much preferred this to a normal pie - Arabella moaned there was too much parsley and I think I should have chopped it into smaller pieces however it didnt really make a difference as we really enjoyed it and managed to polish off the entire portion between the three of us! 

Read More..