Posts Tagged ‘Pasta Recipes’

Saucy Macaroni Cheese Recipe

March 6th, 2009

This recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

I love macaroni cheese.  It’s my favourite comfort food.  I saw this recipe in the 2009 Good Food Calendar for March.  It looked a bit of a variation on the norm so I thought I would give it a try.

Serves 4 | Prep 20 mins | Cook 15 mins
splash sunflower oil
1 medium onion, halved and sliced into thin wedges
250g macaroni
250g broccoli, cut into long, slender florets
50g butter, softened
50g plain flour
700-850ml milk
100g mature cheddar, grated
50g parmesan, grated
1 rounded tsp Dijon, mustard
handful flat-leaf parlsey, roughly chopped
8 rashers streaky bacon, grilled until crisp

(1) Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and a pinch of salt, then fry over a medium heat for 5-8 mins, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp.  Drain on on kitchen paper.  Set aside, keep warm. (BBCGF)

OK nice and straightforward - that’s what I like!

(2) While the onion is cooking, tip the macaroni into a pan of boiling water and cook for 6 mins, then add the broccoli and cook for another 4 mins.  Drain, then tip back into the pan. (BBCGF)

I actually cooked my broccoli for the whole 10 minutes as I thought it would be a bit crisp for our taste.

(3) Make the sauce while the macaroni cooks.  Put the butter, flour and 700ml of the milk in a pan then, using a balloon whisk, whisk continuously over a medium heat until thickened and smooth.  Simmer on a low heat for 2 mins.  Combine the cheddar and Parmesan.  Stir the mustard and three quarters of the cheese into the sauce. (BBCGF)

Ooh.  My husband makes cheese sauce using this all-in-one method.  And he makes a lot of cheese sauces - at least one a week for me for my Sunday roast as I don’t do gravy!  I have to say I’m still amazed when it’s not lumpy but not being brave enough myself I used the old fashion roux method (melting the butter, stirring in the flour and then gradually adding the milk).  I substituted the Parmesan (yuk!) for extra cheddar and actually ended up putting in a bit more cheddar still as the sauce wasn’t that tasty when I checked it.  I didn’t bother with the mustard either.

(4) Stir the cheese sauce into the macaroni.  If you want it a bit thinner, add some of the remaining milk and briefly warm through on a low heat.  Season to taste.  Top with a scattering of onions, parsley and the bacon, then serve with the rest of the cheese. (BBCGF)

When I read through the recipe trying to get a feel for how everything was going to come together at the same time I wondered “When do I cook the bacon?”  Then I re-read the ingredients to find the bacon was already cooked.  I thought this was a bit annoying and that they should have had cooking the bacon going on during steps (2) and (3).

TASTE ON TRIAL

Saucy Macaroni Cheese

Saucy Macaroni Cheese

Oh dear.  My husband’s first comment was “Is this a white sauce?”.  The accompanying screwed up facial expression didn’t help.  I told him that I’d added extra cheese already but I have to admit it could have done with even more.  Then the meal went from bad to worse.  This is one of a handful of meals that he’s left half of.  He did eat all the bacon bits though.  He had had a bad day and wasn’t feeling too well but still … he always eats.  That is when you wish you hadn’t bothered.  As for me, I quite liked it - admittedly it would have been much better with more cheese but the crispy onions and bacon on top were a nice change.

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Tagliatelle with Lime Chicken Recipe

February 16th, 2009

This recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

This is an old favourite of mine.  The torn out recipe is so battered I could hardly see where I had found it from in the first place.  I have to say the thought of the “lime” puts me off ever serving this dish to friends or family as I imagine it is an acquired taste, but give it a go, I really love it.

2 large skinless chicken breast fillets
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp chilli sauce
300g dried tagliatelle
4 spring onions, thickly sliced

For the sauce
300ml chicken or vegetable stock
200ml carton coconut cream
1.5 tsp Thai fish sauce
6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 garlic clove, sliced
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper

For the garnish
Coriander leaves

(1) Cut the chicken into strips and toss with the sesame oil, soy sauce and chilli sauce.  Cover and leave to marinate in a cool place for 1 hour. (BBCGF)

I like to cut the chicken into long, thin strips so they absorb more of the flavours.  I don’t have sesame oil so just went with sunflower instead.  I’ve used both spicy chilli sauce and sweet chilli dipping sauce in this and both work just as well although for the sweet variety I use at least 1 tsp.

(2) Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.  Place all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer until reduced by half.  Pass through a fine sieve and keep warm. (BBCGF)

Right, I usually use stock from an Oxo cube as I’ve always used fresh stock in a soup.  I also can’t find coconut cream here in Spain so have to use coconut milk.  This thins the sauce down a bit and takes an age to simmer to half volume but tastes lovely all the same.  When I say an age, it’s a good 20-30 minutes, but keep an eye on it as otherwise it will boil over.  I’ve still got some Thai fish sauce I brought from England but that reminds me I could probably do with a new bottle - note to self, scour the internet for suppliers!  I could do with oyster sauce too I think.  As for the kaffir lime leaves, well I can’t get them either.  These ingredients are a bit of a nightmare aren’t they really?  Instead I take the yest and juice of one lime and bung them in  instead.  The other good thing about this is that I don’t need to sieve any dodgy leaf bits out at the end.

(3) Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.  Add the pasta and cook until al dente. (BBCGF)

I never cook with salted water as I never remember and we prefer our pasta a bit softer than al dente but it’s up to you.

(4) Meanwhile, heat a wok or large frying pan until hot.  Add the chicken and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes until browned and cooked through.  Add the spring onions, toss well and remove from the heat.

This is nice and easy.  You don’t need any extra oil to cook with as the marinated chicken is quite oily

(5) Drain the pasta and spoon into warmed bowls.  Top with the chicken and spring onion mixture and drizzle over the lime sauce.  Serve at once, garnished with coriander leaves.

My lime sauce is generally sloshed, rather than drizzled as there’s quite a lot of it for two of us, probably due to my coconut cream versus milk issue.

TASTE ON TRIAL

Tagliatelle with Lime Chicken

Tagliatelle with Lime Chicken

We really love this dish.  It’s like something you would be served in a restaurant but doesn’t take too long to cook and isn’t difficult.  The lime gives it a real tang which brightens up the chicken.

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Posted in Chicken Recipes

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