Easy Cheesy Pasta Bake

I was in the mood for comfort food yesterday, and this absolutely hit the spot.  It's a sort of mac 'n' cheese, with a few twists to make it lower syn / food optimising.  I've tried versions before with quark / fromage frais / cottage cheese to make it free, but I like this version better - worth spending a couple of syns for I reckon.  The cheese included comes to 4 x HEA allowances, so I only spent syns on the crème fraiche. 
Serves 4


Ingredients


350g pasta (I used a mix of conchiglie and fusilli)
Frylight
1 gammon steak, cut into cubes
2 leeks, sliced
1 courgette, cut into quarters lengthways then sliced
200g low fat crème fraiche (check syns, as brands vary - mine came to 8 syns = 2 per portion)
1 tsp mustard powder
A pinch of nutmeg
120g reduced fat cheddar, grated
30g parmesan, grated
4 tomatoes, sliced


Method


1.  Cook the pasta for a couple of minutes less than the packet instructions say.  If it's overcooked you'll end up with a hot soggy mush at the end.  Reserve some of the cooking water for loosening the sauce later.


2.  Spray a pan with frylight and pan fry the gammon cubes for 4-5 minutes.  Add in the leeks and courgettes and fry for a couple more minutes.


3.  Stir the mustard powder and nutmeg into the crème fraiche.


4.  Tip the cooked pasta into an ovenproof dish.  Add the gammon mix, the crème fraiche, and three quarters of the cheddar and parmesan.  Mix together well, adding some of the reserved pasta cooking water to loosen up the sauce.  Top with the sliced tomatoes and the rest of the cheeses. 


5.  Bake at 200-220C for 15-20 minutes, until golden and bubbling on top.  Serve with a green salad.

Marrowfat Pea and Ham Soup

I haven't posted anything for a while, but I made this for taster night at group this week, so thought I'd share the recipe. It's very filling, and just the thing to warm you up as the nights start drawing in.

It's based on a recipe I found for Lancashire Pea and Ham Soup, but I've simplified and slimmified it.  The original recipe calls for a ham shank, but I used a cooked ham joint instead.  It also has chopped carrots in it, but my other half isn't keen so I left them out. Add them back in if you like.

Ingredients

500g dried marrowfat peas

500g cooked ham joint, cubed

2 onions, finely chopped

3-4 celery sticks, finely sliced

A few sprigs of thyme

2-3 chicken stock cubes

Water 

A handful of chopped fresh parsley

Method

1. Prepare your dried marrowfat peas. Either: 

- soak them in tepid water overnight (about 8 hours) 

or

- boil them up in a pan of water for 3 minutes, and then cover and simmer for a further 45 to 60 minutes until the peas are tender.

2.  Drain your prepared peas, and put in a large heavy saucepan / stockpot with the ham, onion, celery, thyme, 2 chicken stock cubes and 4 pints of water.  Bring to the boil then turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours.

3. At this point the original recipe says to liquidise half the soup, but I skipped this step.

4. For best results, make a day in advance and refrigerate overnight.  Reheat for 15-20 minutes the next day, adding water to loosen it if necessary.

5. Before serving, stir the parsley through and check the seasoning. You might want to add another stock cube if you think it needs it, plus the usual salt and pepper of course.

Courgetti Spaghetti!

I found a bargain spiralizer thingy in Lidl yesterday - at £2.99 for a set of three, I couldn't leave it on the shelf, worth a go even its rubbish (I think that's probably Lidl/Aldi's entire business strategy right there, and I'm a sucker for it).

Verdict: not bad for the price. I've never used a proper spiralizer, so I have nothing to compare these to, but they seem to work alright with a bit of trial and error.  The courgetti was lush so I can see me investing in a proper all-singing all-dancing gadget before long.

We're in the middle of a courgette glut at the moment, so I picked one of our home grown monsters to test out the new kit. 

Once I got the hang of it, it was pretty easy. Half my courgette was too fat to fit in the attachments, but I reckon it would work fine with regular sized shop bought produce.  I had bits left over but I used them in the pasta sauce.

We grow courgettes every year, so I have a few courgette recipes in my repertoire (courgette cake anyone?)... One of our favourites is from the River Cottage Cookbook. It uses single cream, but I adapted it yesterday to make it SW, not free but low-syn, and the result was seriously scrummy.

Courgetti Spaghetti (Serves 2-3)

1 monster home grown almost-a-marrow, or 3-4 normal sized courgettes

200g spaghetti

Frylight 

4 smoked bacon medallions

1-2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 level tbsp low fat crème fraîche (syn for the brand you are using - they vary)

Fat free Fromage Frais

Salt and pepper

Grated fresh Parmesan / Grana Padano (syn, or use 30g for your HEA)

1. Spiralize about half your courgette(s). Dice the rest.

2. Cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions.

3.  Spray a large frying pan with Frylight. Chop the bacon and fry on a medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add the diced courgette and garlic, and cook until the courgette reduces down. Add your crème fraîche, and enough Fromage Frais to make it into a nice creamy sauce.  I also added a splash of the pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce up a bit.

4. When the pasta is cooked, add the courgetti and swirl it around in the water to mix it in with the spaghetti. Drain, and chuck the whole lot in the frying pan with the sauce.  Mix well, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  You can either add your Parmesan now, or after portioning out if you're counting your syns / HEA allowance (the cheesier the better, IMHO, but perhaps not if you're on plan!)

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Slovakia: Oravska Pochutka

I used a recipe from the Hairy Bikers Big Book of Baking as the basis for this. Sausage, potato and sauerkraut casserole, from the Orava region of Northern Slovakia.  Very simple to make and very filling too.  This would be a great winter warmer (or summer warmer with this weather).  

Ingredients

1.5kg potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 large onions, sliced

1 tbsp sweetener

6 juniper berries

1 tsp ground cumin

900g-1kg jar of sauerkraut 

500g pork mince

1 egg

1 tsp mace

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp smoked paprika 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Half a pint of chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C fan.

Boil the cubed potatoes until tender. Drain and set aside when ready. 

Fry the onions in Frylight until softened. Stir in the sweetener, juniper berries, cumin and sauerkraut and simmer until tender.

Make the "sausage meat" by mixing the pork mince, egg, mace, coriander, smoked paprika, salt and pepper.  I mixed it with my hands then whizzed it in the food processor to bring it all together.

Layer the potatoes in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Pour in the chicken stock.  Break the sausage meat into small pieces to make a layer on top of the potatoes.  Pile the sauerkraut on top to make the final layer.  Season the top, and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Turkey: Tabbouleh

I love tabbouleh. It's really simple and quick to make, and it tastes so lovely and fresh. I first ate it when I went to Syria in 2004 with my friend Hala, so it also brings back memories for me of all amazing food I had over there, not to mention all the wonderful people I met! I've loved Middle Eastern food ever since, and this is no exception.

There are literally hundreds of variations of this recipe, but this is my SW friendly version.

Ingredients 

100g bulgar wheat

3-4 fresh tomatoes

3-4 Spring onions

A quarter of a cucumber

A large bunch of parsley

A small bunch of mint

Juice of half a lemon

Put the bulgar wheat in a bowl and pour over enough boiling water to just cover it. Chop the tomatoes finely, and put these on top of the bulgar wheat so the juices soak in. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Finely slice the Spring onions. Finely chop the cucumber and herbs. 

When the bulgar wheat is ready, fluff the grains up with a fork, and stir through the chopped ingredients and the lemon juice. Season with salt to taste.

Serve on a bed of lettuce leaves.  We had ours with roast chicken, and it was lovely.

 

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Spain: Lamb Albondigas and Patatas Bravas

I used a recipe on the BBC website as the basis for this, but I've made it syn-free and I've baked everything to make it a bit more low maintenance (running around after a three-year-old = much easier to prepare stuff and bung in the oven than watch the hob!)

Ingredients

Meatballs:
500g lean lamb mince
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp hot paprika
2 tbsp. chopped fresh herbs (the original recipe says parsley, I used oregano and mint)
1 egg
salt and pepper
Frylight

Sauce:
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
3 garlic cloves
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp. tomato puree
0.5 tsp crushed chillies.
1 tsp sweetener

Patatas:
3/4 large potatoes
Frylight
Season-all seasoning

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Make the sauce.  Finely chop the onion, carrot, celery and garlic.  Spray a frying pan with Frylight and sauté the veg until softened.  Add the tomatoes, tomato puree crushed chillies and sweetener.  Leave the sauce to simmer while you make the meatballs.

In a large bowl, combine the meatball ingredients together with your hands.  Divide into 16 meatballs and place in a casserole dish. 

Pour the tomato sauce over the meatballs and cover the dish with foil.  Place in the oven to bake for about 1 hour.

Chop your potatoes into cubes and par-boil for 3 minutes.  Drain.  Spray a roasting tin with Frylight and tip the potatoes in.  Spray with a bit more frylight and sprinkle with season-all seasoning.  Put in the oven for the last 40 minutes of cooking, turning them once or twice.  Take the foil off the meatballs for the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Romania: Sour Chicken Soup

This is very definitely sour, but I quite like it!  You can put noodles in it too, but it's weigh day today so I'm being extra good.

Ingredients

2 chicken thighs, bone in but skin removed

2 small onions, diced

2 celery sticks, sliced

3 medium carrots, diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 pints chicken stock

A handful of fresh parsley, chopped

4 tbsp reduced fat soured cream

Juice of 1 lemon

Fry the onion, carrot and celery until the onion is translucent. Add the chicken thighs and brown them on each side.  

Stir in the garlic, parsley and stock. Simmer on the hob until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken thighs, strip the meat off the bones and shred the flesh.  Add the shredded chicken back into the soup.  Stir in the lemon juice and soured cream. Season and serve.