Posts Tagged ‘Vegetarian 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).

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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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Posted in Pasta Recipes

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Cheesy Baked Onions Recipe

February 18th, 2009

This recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

Serves 4 | Prep 10 mins | Cook 25 mins
4 large onions, peeled
75g ball light mozzarella, roughly chopped
85g cheddar, grated
2 tbsp olives, halved
50g roasted red peppers from a jar, drained and roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
50g breadcrumbs
leaves from few thyme sprigs

(1) Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Halve each onion through the middle. Microwave in pairs for 4 mins on High until soft. Remove the middles of the onions, leaving about 3 outer layers in place, like little bowls. (BBCGF)

Heat the oven - fine.  Halve each onion - uh oh - first boo boo.  I halved the first one the wrong way - down from the root end rather than across ways.  I was looking at it wondering how I was going to stick it together with the filling to make it look like the recipe’s picture when it dawned on me I’d screwed it up.  Never mind I had a spare and did the next two the right way.  (I was halving the recipe just for the two of us.)  Right “microwave in pairs” - next boo boo.  I missed the “pairs” bit, so microwaved my two onions for 2 minutes, assuming I should halve the cooking time along with the ingredients.  This is probably wrong in a microwave anyway - who knows?  When we were eating the onions later I thought the larger one was a bit harder - not hard enough to be horrible or anything - but I just thought to myself I’ll microwave these a bit longer next time!  Removing the middles was easy by just jabbing them with a fork.

(2) Whizz the onion middles in a food processor until pulpy. Mix with the mozzarella, half the cheddar, the olives, peppers, garlic, crumbs and most of the thyme, then season well. Spoon the filling into the onion cases and transfer to a baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheddar and thyme, then roast for 15 mins until hot through and golden. (BBCGF)

I’m amazed my food processor is still going.  I used to use it with my Mum about 20 years ago and I stole it from her when I left home and since it’s moved around a few times in England before coming out here to Spain.  Anyway I made the breadcrumbs in it first with a crust I had lying about and then bunged in the onions.  Keep an eye on the onions - they don’t need much whizzing or they’ll turn into a wet paste.  I mixed the rest of the ingredients in other than the olives, which we can’t stand, and the peppers, which we didn’t have in the cupboard.  Ooh and the thyme which we didn’t have either!  So just the cheese and the garlic then - yes!

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Cheesy Baked Onions

Cheesy Baked Onions

I liked the idea of this recipe as an unusual vegetable side dish and it didn’t disappoint.  The onions were nice and squidgy and the filling blended well with the onion cases and was subtly cheesy.  Even without the peppers and the cock up on the time I microwaved the onions for, they were good and we will have them again.  So with peppers and me reading the recipe a bit more carefully they should be super!

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French Onion Soup Recipe

January 22nd, 2009

This recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

Massive Spanish Onions

Look at the size of these onions!  I had to make this as my neighbour had kindly given us two humongous onions at the beginning of the week. I’d used about half of one on the two previous night’s meals but I was never going to get through them otherwise so decided to give this soup a try.

4 large Spanish onions (about 900g) (or one from my neighbour!)
3 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil
4 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
300ml dry white wine
1 rounded tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp Swiss vegetable bouillon

For the topping
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil
4 long slices from a baguette
25g Parmesan, coarsely grated
50g gruyere, coarsely grated

(1) Cut the onions in half lengthways, then slice down into very thin slices.  Heat a very large pan, add the oil when hot, stir in the onions, 3 of the thyme sprigs and the bay leaves, then season with a little salt.  It will seem like a lot of onions, but they reduce right down.  Cook over a high heat for 5 mins, stirring often.  The onions shouldn’t brown yet, just start to soften.  Lower the heat, then cook slowly for 35 mins, uncovered, stirring often until the onions have reduced right down and are very soft. (BBCGF)

Cutting the onions, or in my case, THE onion, took forever. Thankfully they weren’t the tear-inducing kind or I think I may have given up although the upside down teaspoon in the mouth trick has worked for me in the past to avoid this. I was a bit dubious about heating the oil very hot as I was sure the onions on the bottom would burn but I did it. Even though the pan was nearly overflowing with onions at the start they did shrink greatly. I kept stirring for the 5 minutes and managed to avoid any burnt bits.

(2) While the onions are cooking, bring the wine to a boil in a small pan, then bubble away for 30 secs.  Remove and leave to cool.  Tip the flour into a small heavy pan and toast over a medium heat for a few mins, stirring occasionally, until light brown in colour.  Set aside. (BBCGF)

OK boiling the wine was fine but toasting the flour made me nervous. I’d toasted some spices a few weeks before and had burnt them so I was more careful this time. I stirred constantly and turned off the heat at the first sign of browning, letting the heat of the pan do the rest.

(3) When the onions are very soft and reduced, turn up the heat so they caramelise, then cook for another 12-15 mins, stirring along the bottom of the pan occasionally to mix in the brown sticky bits.  When the bottom of the pan and all the onions are sticky and a rich brown colour, stir in the flour.  With the heat still high, gradually pour in the wine, again stirring in the bits from the bottom.  Pour in 1.2 litres of cold water.  Stir in the bouillon, then slowly bring everything to the boil.  Skim off any froth from the surface.  Simmer for 15 mins so all the flavours can mingle. (BBCGF)

Uum caramelising - I’ve never had much luck with this either. The only brown sticky bits I got on the bottom of the pan were burnt bits, however the onions did brown after a while so I added the flour then.

1.2 litres of water seemed like a lot and we prefer our soups thicker rather than watery so I only put in 0.75 litres. The resulting soup was quite thick so a bit more water would have been better.

Bouillon - what is this? I went with a vegetable Oxo cube (kindly donated by my in-laws in the UK as I can’t get them here in Spain)!

“Skim off any froth” … how rude, I won’t have any froth on my soup - or so I thought. WRONG - I did, and skimmed it off as told.

(4) While the soup simmers, make the topping.  Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas6.  Mix the garlic and the oil together.  Brush all over the bread slices, then cut each one into cubes.  Scatter over a baking sheet, then bake for 8-10 mins until golden.  Set aside.  Line a baking sheet with baking parchment or a sheet of non-stick silicone.  Remove the leaves from the remaining thyme sprig, then mix with the grated Parmesan.  Scatter and spread over the lined baking sheet into a 13 x 8cm rectangle.  Bake for about 8 mins until melted and turning golden.  Remove, leave to firm up, then snap into jagged pieces. (BBCGF)

Luckily I have a baguette delivered from my Spanish bread van to my door every day so this bit was easy. This amount of garlic and oil though, only covered one side of my baguette slices. I figured this was enough and got it in the oven. I didn’t have any parmesan though as I can’t get past the smell so skipped this bit, preferring to sprinkle grated Cheddar on the end result.

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French Onion Soup

Fabulous. Simon and I both really enjoyed it and were glad there was enough to freeze for next week.

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Posted in Soup Recipes

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