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Curried Welsh Lamb Stew, Served with Chips – For #NationalCurryWeek

The week beginning Monday 12th, until the 18th October is National Curry Week.

Even as far up North as we are, we do appreciate a good curry, but in our house, curries tend to be more flavoursome than spicy.  My personal favourite is a korma, which has possibly influenced the taste buds of the not so little people in our home.  They don’t mind flavour and taste, but blisteringly hot is off the menu.

I was a little surprised, if I’m being honest, as I had no idea that national curry week even existed.  When I did a little digging, I found that it started in 1998, to promote the food, and raise money for charities dealing with poverty and hunger.  Some of your local curry houses might even have special deals on to celebrate.  If you’re a curry fan, it might be worth checking out, or you could even make your own.

Not everyone who likes a curry dish, likes the traditional accompaniments, so I added a slightly different theme to mine, as a way to bring a new flavour for my kids.  My curry dish is a curried lamb stew, made with some of the finest Welsh Lamb available.  I intended to feed someone who dislikes coconut, so although I’d normally add it to a curry I cooked for myself, I’ve left it out of this recipe.

Lamb

 

Curried Lamb Stew, Served with Chips - For #NationalCurryWeek

Lesley Smith
Course Mains
Cuisine Lamb

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g Welsh Lamb
  • 2 Small Onions
  • 2 Teaspoons Ground Mild Curry Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
  • 1 Clove of Garlic
  • 1 Heaped Teaspoon Cornflour
  • 1 Knorr Stock Cube
  • 1 Teaspoon Butter
  • Water
  • 100 g Petit Pois Optional, but my kids love peas in things, so I added them to mine.

Instructions
 

  • Saute the onions and brown the lamb in a frying pan on a low heat, taking care not to burn the onions. Allow the mixture to sweat a little.

  • Break the stock cube over the simmering meat and onions.

  • Add the cumin and mild curry powder, and mix well in the pan, turning the meat and onions all the time, making sure they don't burn.
  • Add enough water to almost cover the meat and let the flavours mix together. I added my peas here.

  • Mix the cornflour into a past with a little water and add to the pan. When the stew begins to thicken, it's ready to transfer into an oven dish for the final step.

  • Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes on a moderate heat.

I was provided with a cut of Welsh Lamb to make this dish for National Curry Week.  #nationalcurryweek  #welshlamb

Lamb 4

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Teriyaki Chicken Kebabs

Ok, this is the cheats way to do it.  I never said I was mega original, did I?  Anyway, these taste lush, and have just the right amount of stickiness, but it does mean changing the recommended use of a standard Maggi, Teriyaki Chicken mix.

The Maggi pack, says that it’s made with natural herbs and spices and given that I managed to get 8 large kebab sticks from it, the added seasoning is only 22 calories and 5 carbs per kebab.  That’s pretty good when you consider that it makes chicken taste so much better than just salt and pepper, or some added spices.

I’m not sure this is really a recipe, but here you go.

Chicken Kebabs with Baked Camembert

Teriyaki Chicken Kebabs

Lesley Smith
I did not have vegetables available for adding to the kebab stick for this recipe. The fridge needed filling, so we had ours with a little lettuce on the side.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Chicken
Cuisine Mains
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 6 Chicken Breasts
  • 1 Pack Maggi So Sticky Teriyaki Chicken
  • Boiling Water
  • Required: Kebab Sticks or Forks
  • Baked Camembert

Instructions
 

  • Simply cut each chicken breast into kebab sized chunks. I had large chicken breasts and got several good sized pieces for each kebab stick.

  • Put your Maggi mix into a good sized bowl and add some boiling water. Not too much, but enough to give you a mixture for coating the kebabs. Stir until the mix is dissolved.

  • Dip the chicken and roll it around in the Teriyaki mix, then pop it in the fridge for half an hour to marinate.

  • Slip your chicken onto the kebab sticks, and lay on foil prepared flat baking trays.

  • Cook at 160C for 20 minutes, or until your chicken is thoroughly cooked. Add your Camembert to the oven at the same time, following the instructions it comes with.

 

 

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Making Burgers & the Quarter Pounder Burger Press

If you know where your mince has come from, then you can be sure that it isn’t full of additives or processed foods.  As a low-carb person these days, I also want to know exactly what is in my food, so that I can count it.

Burgers 1

Lakeland Quarter Pounder Burger Press.  Ref-10481-£8.99.
Lakeland Quarter Pounder Burger Press. Ref-10481-£8.99.

I’d been tempted by the Lakeland Burger Press for a while, but to be honest, I hadn’t got round to it before now.

In the past, I tended to simply make a ball with my hands and then flatten it, but the burgers were usually pretty misshapen, and thinner at the ends than in the middle, so I thought it was worth a go.

While I was online for an order, I had to pop this beauty into my shopping basket.  It’s simple, yes, but also brilliant at getting regular shapes.

Burgers & Fillers

For my mince, I chose the food from my local butcher, Andrew Gordon, of the The Lean Butcher, who has recently rebranded (previously known as the Fresh Food Guru, online).  He has a lean steak mince deal which is perfect for 3KG of mince.

There are 153 calories per 100g and less than 0.1g of carbohydrate.  Perfect in my book.

To make my burgers, I simply chopped up some onion, then added a chunk of garlic from our plot.  It’s the first time I’ve tried our own garlic, and it beat the shop version hands down.

Onion and Garlic Burgers

Lesley Smith
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Burgers, Mains
Cuisine Main Meal
Servings 5

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5 kg Mince.
  • 150 g Onion chopped how you like it.
  • 1 Clover Garlic finely chopped.
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste.

Instructions
 

  • This is actually really simple. I did not add breadcrumbs, as I wanted a burger without the added carbs. I put my mince and onions in a bowl, along with the chopped up garlic. Don't be scared to get your hands into the bowl, and really work the onions into the mince. I like large chunks of onions, but everyone is different.
  • Stir in salt and pepper. We all know how much we prefer, so I just add a level teaspoon of both and mix that in too. You might prefer to do without, or add more.
  • I split my mix into six even sized portions, ie rolling into a ball, then pressed each one into my burger press and push it down with a spoon, to make it firm.
  • I've heard people worrying about getting their burgers out of the burger press, but I find it quite simple. When I push the top to release the burger from the base, I simply slide a long and narrow bladed knife into the place where the burger press and the burger meets. I've never had a failure yet, even though I don't use additional binders.
  • Cook any way you like. I bake mine in a moderate heat for twenty minutes as my children like their meat well done, but you could flash fry or grill.

 

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Egg Pizza with Ham & Tomatoes (Low Carb)

For me, this is just a throw it all in kind of meal.  Fast, simple, and fills hungry bellies.

It’s a favourite of my eldest in the evening if he’s peckish.

This Egg Pizza is a five minute low carb meal.  Yes, it’s fairly high in fat, but if you’re eating low carbs, then you’re fine.  This comes in around 7.3 carbs for the whole thing, which is low for a fairly hefty meal and most people will eat half a portion.  It really does count if you’re keeping to very low carb levels, ie around 30 a day.  Also a perfect meal for diabetics doing LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat)

For everyone else, it’s a luxurious meal that you can use lower fat alternatives for fewer calories.

 

Egg Pizza - Ham and Tomato

 

Egg Pizza with Ham & Tomatoes (Low Carb)

Lesley Smith
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Main Meal
Cuisine Low Carb
Calories 371 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 3 Medium Eggs
  • 40 g Cheddar Cheese Grated
  • 100 g Ham Shredded (I used Ham Hock for this recipe)
  • 4 Cherry Tomatoes Halved
  • 2 Pats of Butter

Instructions
 

  • Add the butter to your frying pan and let it gently heat up.
  • Crack the eggs into a bowl and give them a good whisk with a fork.
  • Turn down the heat of your pan and tip the egg into the frying pan, on a low heat.
  • Leave the egg to cook for a minute, then put your ham, tomatoes and cheese on the top.
  • Leave the Egg Pizza to cook for a couple of minutes, until all the egg is fully done.

 

Posted on 7 Comments

Crustless Tattie, Cheese, Tomato & Onion Quiche

Not everyone likes pastry, or wants the calories and fat that come from making it.  It doesn’t mean we have to do without quiche style dishes.  This version is made using a regular oven dish, with all the ingredients just placed in.

PASTRY FREE POTATO, CHEESE, ONION AND TOMATO QUICHE (CRUSTLESS QUICHE)

Pastry Free Potato, Cheese, Onion and Tomato Quiche (Crustless Quiche)
Serves10-12
Prep time20 minutes
Cook time30 minutes
Total time50 minutes
AllergyEggMilk
Meal typeLunchMain Dish
MiscPre-preparableServe ColdServe Hot
By authorLesley Smith

INGREDIENTS

  • 700g Baby Potatoes
  • 25g Garlic Butter
  • 500g Cheddar Cheese (Grated)
  • 250ml Semi Skimmed Milk
  • 12 Medium Eggs
  • 1 Large Onion (Finely Chopped)
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 1 Vegetable Stock Pot
  • 250g Cherry Tomatoes (Cut into thirds.)

METHOD

Step 1
Set your oven to approximately 160 – 170 c.

Step 2
Wash and smother the baby potatoes in garlic butter. Place them on a microwave safe plate and cook them for 10 minutes. Remember to pierce each one, or you could end up with exploding tatties. If you don’t have a microwave, simply boil them for ten to fifteen minutes, then drain and let the garlic butter melt on the skins.

Step 3
Beat your eggs and mix in the milk. Have your chopped onion ready to go into the dish. Feel free to saute your onions in a little olive oil if you like them done that way too. I would have added mushrooms, but my mother wouldn’t eat the meal and she’s eating with us tonight, so it’s a mushroomless variety.

Step 4
Slice the baby potatoes into evenly thick slices. I usually get about three or four slices from a baby potato.

Step 5
Pour around 1-2mm of the egg/milk mix into the bottom of your dish. Mine is approximately 10 inches by 8 inches in size. You could use a couple of smaller oven dishes just as easily.

Step 6
Place a layer of sliced potatoes onto the bottom of your dish, then layer some cheese on top and add some tomatoes. repeat with some more potato and then the cheese, until you run out of ingredients.

Step 7
Top up the dish with the remainder of the egg/milk mix, making sure to pour slowly, with the intention of not disturbing the filler too much.

Step 8
Pop in the oven and bake until the egg is set. Usually around 20 – 30 minutes.

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Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Chicken enchiladas are a great way of getting some protein into children, by the chicken and cheese, but for me, I wanted to add a little more veg, so the passata was added as a base, and to spoon over the dish.

Instead of finger food, it does take a knife and fork to eat while it’s hot, unless you’re happy to have tomatoey fingers spreading the red stuff everywhere, though as a cold snack, it’s fabulous finger food.

Chicken Enchiladas

Servings 12

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g Passata
  • 1 Medium - Large Chicken Pre-cooked and cut up or Shredded.
  • 500 g Cheddar Cheese Grated
  • pinch Parsley
  • Coriander
  • Pepper
  • 200 g Sour Cream or Sour Cream and Onion Dip
  • 100 g Onions Chopped

Instructions
 

  • Pre Heat the oven to around 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C.
  • Pre-Cook your chicken in a pan until cooked through. Add onions, sour cream, half the cheese, some parsley, coriander, pepper and chilli powder to the pan. Cook until the cheese melts into the mixture.
  • Use a large baking dish, layering the bottom with tomato passata. Lay you tortilla's out, so that you get two with each tortilla wrap. Fill each one with mixture, then arrange in your baking dish, on top of the passata. Use a spatula or teaspoon to spoon some passata over the top.
  • Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the enchiladas and bake for 20 minutes.

 

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Review & Easy Chicken Casserole Recipe: Using Tesco Berndes Cookware, From the Tesco Sticker Promotion

We gratefully received a Tesco Berndes Cookware cast iron casserole dish, from the Tesco Kitchen range, with the challenge of creating a meal in one pot.  I’m familiar with one pot cooking by using my slow cooker, but cooking a meal in the oven as a casserole hasn’t been a common occurrence for me.  The only casserole dish I owned, was not quite able to hold a full meal for six people, so my new dish was perfect for the job.

I really like the large handles at either side of the pot, as they make the dish easy to remove from the oven.  I could fit my hands with oven gloves on around the handle.

Don’t forget to put an oven glove back on to lift it again though.  Four of my fingers suffered when I made that rookie home cook mistake.

Berndes 3

The Berndes Casserole dish has received 5 out of 5 in a recent review on independent.ie, beating some big name rivals! Read the review here.  There are three sizes, the 20cm, 24cm and the biggest, which is 29cms.

In-Store Sticker Promotion:

Tesco are running a sticker promotion between 29th September – 25th January 2015 where you can save up to 70% on exclusive Berndes cookware products at Tesco. For every £20 you spend online OR in-store you can collect a sticker, once you’ve collected five stickers you can use these to save up to 70% off professional kitchenware items.

The Berndes range of casserole dishes starts at £119, up to £134.99.  You can save up to 70% off the Berndes cookware range with 10 stickers at Tesco, find out more at bit.ly/1uwNo3f  You can use your stickers up to Sunday, the 11th of January 2015.

Giveaway

I’m also giving one of these fabulous dishes away.  For the giveaway, the colourful 24cm dish is the prize, and it’s a lovely one, worth £120.  Keep an eye out on the blog, as it will be live later today.

Berndes 24 cm Casserole Dish
Berndes 24 cm Casserole Dish

 

Tesco Challenge For Me:

To create a meal in a pot and share the recipe with them.

My Recipe For The Tesco One Pot Challenge:

Easy Chicken Casserole Recipe

Course Main Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Chicken Stock Pot
  • Boiling Water
  • 50 ml Olive Oil
  • 1200 g Mixed Vegetables I used baby potatoes, leek, carrot, turnip and red onion.
  • 1 Colemans Chicken Casserole Sachet
  • 5 Chicken Breasts Diced
  • 3 heaped teaspoons Cornflour
  • 3 tablespoons Cold Water

Instructions
 

  • Set the oven to 220 Degrees C.
  • Add the olive oil to a shallow frying pan, then sear the chicken to seal the meat. Add the onions and carrots towards the end to lightly fry those.
  • Add the chicken and vegetables to the casserole dish. Top with the chicken casserole mix and stock pot. Fill the dish to almost three quarters of the level of contents, stir, then cover the dish with a lid, or tin foil.
  • Reduce the heat of the oven to 180 Degree C and cook for up to 2 hours, or the chicken and vegetables are fully cooked.
  • If you prefer a thicker gravy, remove the casserole from the dish about ten to twenty minutes before the end of cooking. Mix cornflour with a little water until it is fully dissolved. Add it to the dish and fold into the casserole. Put the casserole back in the oven until the gravy has thickened.

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Mixed Pepper Bake with Turkey Bacon

This is simple to make and easy to feed the family with some lovely colours.

Mixed Pepper Bake 4

Mixed Pepper Bake

Lesley Smith
4 from 1 vote
Course Mains

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Red Peppers
  • 2 Yellow Peppers
  • 1 Green Pepper
  • 3 Small Onions
  • Handful Green Beans
  • Rapeseed Oil
  • 400 g Turkey Bacon

Optional

  • Barbeque Flavouring

Instructions
 

  • Stir fry chopped onions and green beans in a frying pan with some rapeseed oil until they soften. If you plan to add some flavouring, this is the time to add it.
  • Use a slotted spoon or spatula to put onions and green beans into a shallow baking tray.
  • With the remains of the oil used for the onions, lightly fry your turkey bacon until is cooked to your taste. With the barbeque flavouring still in the pan, ours took on that flavour.
  • Pop the chopped peppers and turkey bacon into the baking tray and bake at 180C for twenty minutes, or until the peppers are cooked through.

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Garlic and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Three of the six of us who live here eat mushrooms regularly.  To make a change, I thought some stuffed mushrooms would go down well when we had family round and not much time to prepare anything nutritious, filling, and enough for us all to eat.

Cue, the stuffed mushrooms, stuffed just with what I had in my fridge.

They were delicious.

Enjoy.

Stuffed Mushrooms: Garlic and Cheese

Lesley S Smith
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Appetizer
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 8 Large Flat Mushrooms
  • 150 g Mozarella Cheese Grated
  • 250 g Cheddar Grated
  • 150 g Philadelphia Cheese
  • 45 g Garlic Butter
  • Sprinkling OXO Shake & Flavour Italian Seasoning

Instructions
 

  • Take the mushrooms, wash them thoroughly and cut off any stalks, before placing them on a baking tray covered with a tin foil sheet. You could also take out the inside of the mushroom to make it a bigger hollow if you wish.
  • Grate the cheese into a bowl, or break it into small pieces. Mix with the garlic and herbs and philidelphia.
  • Put the mixture into the microwave for a minute or two if the butter and cheese is not mixing properly.
  • Roll dollops of the cheese mixture together and place them on top of the washed mushrooms. Pat down the mixture gently so that it flattens into the mushroom. Sprinkle the OXO Italian Shake & Flavour over the top of the mushrooms.
  • Pop in pre-heated oven at 200C for around 15 - 20 minutes.

 

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OXO Shake & Flavour: Chinese & Garlic Rib Eye Steaks

OXO Chinese Rib Eye Steaks 3

Thanks go to OXO for the lovely OXO Shake & Flavour Summer Starter Kit, packed full of summer seasonings for cooking great meals.

Oxo 4

I took inspiration from one of the included OXO recipe cards and modified it to suit how my family prefers to eat.  We’re not big on chilli here, so for the OXO Chilli, Garlic and Thyme Steaks, I changed some of the ingredients.

When the weather starts warming up, it’s hard to make big and heavy stews and casseroles, but simply cooking meat on its own can leave food boring very quickly.  I often use spices, herbs and sauces when I’m cooking as it makes the meat more interesting and much more tasty for our family meals.

I wanted our lovely summer food to be quick, easy and fast to do and a marinade seems to be one of the easiest ways to achieve that.  Who doesn’t want good tasty food that is finished quickly and tastes amazing with a massive flavour transformation.

I wouldn’t have thought of using the Shake and Flavours in a marinade, so the recipe cards have been very welcome indeed.   OXO also gave us some lovely cards with a tin to keep new recipes, and that is one thing that I am really lacking.  If I don’t put recipes online very quickly, I tend to forget what I’ve put in them and they’re lost.  I always think I’ll remember what I put in them, but I never do.

Sadly, we seem to have lost the summer connection and the day I made my marinaded dish, the sky clouded over and we had rolling mist, so the pictures I’d imagined outside didn’t happen.

I found the Shake and Flavour seasoning really easy to use, and I can see me sprinkling some over all kinds of dishes, even when just grilling bacon, to add a neat twist to the flavour.

For my recipe, we had some lovely rib eye steaks from my local butcher that I was planning cooking for Sunday dinner and as the steak recipe mentioned rib eye steaks, it was the perfect way to try out the Rich Beef Shake and Flavour.   I like the fact that we can use Shake and Flavour before or after cooking.  I’d just have looked at the pots and assumed they were just for cooking.

Oxo Rib Eye Steaks 2

There are seven different varieties of OXO Shake & Flavour, and they’re all MSG free.

  • Garlic & Herb
  • Rich Beef
  • Roast Chicken
  • Southern Fried Chicken
  • Chinese Tikka
  • Italian (Asda Only)

Oxo 3

We have some lovely chicken burgers from my favourite butcher in the fridge, and those will be treated to a mix of Southern Fried Chicken with some Garlic & Herb tomorrow 🙂

OXO Chinese Garlic Rib Eye Steaks

Lesley Smith
Course Mains

Ingredients
  

  • 4 teaspoons OXO Rich Beef Shake & Flavour
  • 4 teaspoons OXO Chinese Shake & Flavour
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 5 - 6 Rib Eye Steaks
  • 1 clove Garlic
  • Salad To Serve
  • 150 g Soy Sauce

Instructions
 

  • Mix all the ingredients, apart from the salad to serve and the steaks into a bowl big enough to hold everything when it's being cooked. I prefer to use a glass or steel dish rather than plastic. Mix the ingredients until smooth.
  • Add the steaks and make sure the marinade covers them completely.
  • Pop the steaks into the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight which would be even better.
  • Take them out of the fridge at least 20 minutes before cooking them. They can be grilled or barbecued. Spoon over any of the marinade that is left in the bowl before you cook them.
  • Cook on the grill for approximately 3 or 4 minutes on each side, or until your steak reaches the consistency that you prefer. I like my steak well done, so it's a longer cooking time in the Scottish Mum Household. For this version, I oven cooked mine for fifteen minutes each side on a moderate heat and it was perfect for us. You know your own meat tastes and can adjust that to suit.
  • Let the meat rest before serving and enjoy.

This post is part of a BritMums project with OXO Shake & Flavour. Shake & Flavour seasoning granules can be sprinkled into food during cooking or before serving. Find out more about the Shake & Flavour varieties.  

If you’re a Twitter fan, heading over to the #OXOMealtimeMagic will give you some good ideas for cooking from @OXOFamily and the OXO Shake & Flavour bloggers.

 

 

 

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Recipe: Bag Roasted Rustic Chicken Stew

This is one of the dishes I make when time is failing me badly.  It’s simply a case of popping all the veg, meat and flavours into a bag, putting it in the oven, and taking out a fully cooked meal an hour or two later.  It has a slightly smokey BBQ flavour so be prepared for that when you cook it.

Rustic Chicken 3

I am a massive fan of quick cooking,  so bag roasting is up there with slow cooking for me, but without the day long torment of gorgeous smelling food in the kitchen when I’m trying to concentrate.  Chicken is always popular with all of my kids and I’m lucky enough to get mine from a great butcher, the Fresh Food Guru, so it always tastes great.

Consider splitting this over two bags with one sachet of seasoning for each bag if your oven is small.

Bag Roasting: Rustic Chicken Stew

Lesley Smith
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Mains
Servings 5 - 6

Ingredients
  

  • 6 Chicken Breasts
  • 4 Large Carrots
  • 2 kg Baby Potatoes
  • 2 Rustic Chicken Knorr Season and Shake Packs
  • 300 ml Water
  • 1 Turkey Roasting Bag

Instructions
 

  • Pop the oven on to around 190 - 200°C. Open the roasting bag and pop in the chicken breasts. You could cut these into quarters to cook them more quickly. Be careful when you put ingredients in as you really don't want the bag splitting.
  • You can do the vegetables separately, and I suspect I'd do that next time as my bag was absolutely huge. I put my baby potatoes in whole, but I suspect slicing them would lead to a faster cooking time. Add the sliced carrots and the potatoes to the bag.
  • I add the seasoning mix from the Knorr Rustic Chicken Pack and then add two small glasses of water. A gentle mix around of all the ingredients is a good idea to help spread the seasoning around.
  • Close the bag with the fastener but make sure you leave some expansion room in the bag. If your bag is very full, it would be a better idea to use two bags. Put your bag on an oven tray with plenty of room above the bag. If you have several oven shelves, it would be a good idea to remove upper ones to give the bag some expansion room as it will fill out as it fills with steam. The bad shouldn't touch the sides or top of the oven when cooking.

    The recommendations are to put the bag sideways, but I've had some of the liquid run out on me on large bags so I put the tied end upwards on larger bags and lie them on their side with smaller ones.
  • I cook this dish for approximately one and a half hours, but it will depend on your oven. Smaller pieces might well cook faster. When you open the bag, beware of the escaping steam as it can easily burn. I transfer my cooked food into a casserole dish and pop it back into the oven for five minutes to heat the dish.

    We serve the dish by placing it in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves to. Make sure the meat is fully cooked before serving it up.

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Macaroni Cheese Recipe

Apologies, the photos are a bit rubbish, I just snapped them with my phone.

This recipe is one that I came up with to make macaroni cheese just that little bit better, and with more taste than my older versions. Adding the garlic brings out a fabulously strong taste that is just enough for me to taste but not as much as will put the kids off eating it.

I tend to make macaroni and cheese when I don’t have much time and the kids are saying they’re ravenous. I always have some grated cheese in the freezer and just put it in the microwave on defrost for a few minutes before putting it into my white sauce.

If you don’t have the traditional shaped macaroni, you can use almost any other pasta that you have for a similar effect. I also used to use mozarella, but have now moved to a stronger cheddar, which the kids seem to prefer.

Go on, experiment with your pasta.

Macaroni Cheese Recipe

Lesley S Smith
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Lunch
Servings 6 - 8

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g Macaroni Pasta
  • 400 g Mature Cheddar Cheese Grated
  • 1 Onion Peeled and Chopped
  • 8 Cherry Tomatoes Halved
  • 1 clove Garlic Peeled and Chopped
  • 1 l Semi Skimmed Milk
  • 50 g Butter
  • 2 tablespoons Cornflour
  • Teaspoon Salt

Instructions
 

  • Pop the macaroni pasta into a pan to cook. Add salt, onion and garlic and let it simmer for 15 minutes. If you prefer, you can shallow fry your onions and garlic before adding them to your pasta. When your pasta is cooked, use a colander to drain it, and run at least two kettles full of boiling water through the pasta to take away all the starch.
  • You might prefer to make a roux to make your sauce (ie cook flour and butter until it forms and then add milk slowly until it is a smooth mixture). I tend to put my milk into a pan, pop in the butter and let it heat up to almost boiling, and then take it off the heat to add a mix of cornflour and a little cold milk to thicken my sauce, and put it back on the heat to cook in, just in the same way as I would do to thicken gravies etc.
  • Put the oven on to heat at around 190C and butter an ovenproof dish. For these quantities, I use a big stone dish that does the job well. you might find you need to split this over a couple of dishes to finish it off in the oven.
  • Take the white sauce off the heat and add in 300g of cheddar gradually. Put in a handful and stir until it is melted. You can put it back on a low heat while it is melting.
  • Once the cheddar is all melted, pop the macaroni into the sauce and mix well before pouring into the prepared dish for oven baking.
  • Sprinkle 100g Grated Cheddar Cheese on the top of your dish and place your halved cherry tomatoes.
  • Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until the top begins to show a golden brown colour.