Cheese Omelette

 A simple cheese omelette, which I haven't made for some time. Two beaten eggs and a little water and salt, cooked in the oven in a 100% metal and ceramic skillet until nearly done, then I added the chopped cheddar cheese and watched until the omelette was ready. Slipped out onto the plate. Dressed in American mustard (any other kind will do).

Cheese and Apple Salad

A simple cheese and apple salad, served with green and purple lettuce leaves, and a creamy coleslaw.

I used Cheddar cheese, but German or Austrian smoked cheese would do just as well. I cut one Braeburn apple into slices after coring.

Dressed with some black pepper.

Chicken Pasta Bake

A simple dish made in two parts. First the pasta was prepared in salted boiling water, but not cooked to the full extent. This is because the pasta will be the base of the bake, and will cook further once the other ingredients are added. Drain and allow to cool, and add evenly to the base of the roasting tray.

Stir fry the mushrooms and the onion for ten minutes at a medium heat, and then add a third of a pint of water. Add tomato puree and the chicken stock, and then the meat from two chicken  drumsticks. Stir together and cook for half an hour until the sauce is considerably reduced. You can add a mixture of water and cornmeal to thicken, it, or some onion gravy granules.

Add the chicken salsa to the roasting tray lined with pasta. Spread evenly. You can add the Cheddar cheese in grated form, or in thin rectangles, according to preference. Bake in the oven at around 190 deg C until the cheese has melted and has begun to brown. This could be anywhere between twenty minutes and forty minutes on the middle shelf in the oven. Watch it carefully, at least once every five minutes! Take it out when it looks right. Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

Cheese-topped Beef and Mushroom Tortilla

The filling: the beef was browned in a saute pan with a drizzle of sunflower oil. Started at a high heat, and then lowered, stirring regularly.

After ten to fifteen minutes I added two medium sized diced onions, and two diced carrots. Stir-fried for fifteen minutes or so until the onions became semi-transparent.

I added half a green bell pepper, cut into strips. Cooked for another five minutes before I added about half a pint of boiling water, a little tomato puree, and vegetable and beef stock. I added diced pieces of three large mushrooms.

Stirred thoroughly, and simmered under glass at a low heat for another hour and a half, until the beef is deliciously tender.

The tortilla wrap: dampened to make sure it was flexible. Allowed to dry for five minutes, then laid on the serving plate. I added two thin rectangles of cheddar cheese, and added the beef and mushroom mixture. I then folded the sides, and  rolled the tortilla up. The pre-grated cheddar (about 50g) was sprinkled on top of the tortilla wrap and patted down. The plate was put under the pre-heated grill, and left there for five minutes, until the cheese began to brown.

The tortilla was dressed with a little tomato ketchup. Delicious!

Brocolli and Potato Soup, with Smoked Bacon

Some cheap brocolli on offer at the supermarket, so I decided to make a soup. Cut it into florets and steam until tender. Boil semi-skinned potatoes for twenty minutes. Add both to a lidded soup pot and mash together. Add two finely chopped red onion.

Boil for twenty minutes, and then blend the ingredients together for two minutes. Add paprika, smoked paprika, black pepper, 100g of tomato puree, coriander, oregano, two dried red chillies, and some vegetable stock.

Chop a rasher of smoked bacon into small pieces, and fry until it browns. Decant the bacon pieces and the fat from the bacon to the soup pot, and stir together. Cook at a low heat under glass for at least forty minutes.

Serve with a topping of finely grated cheese of your choice - Cheddar, Danish blue, Stilton, etc, and some chunky bread. Delicious!

Smoked Haddock in a Cheese Sauce, with diced Spring Onion

A simple and delicious dish of smoked haddock and a cheese sauce with diced spring onion (chives would do as an alternative).

Make up a mixture of cornflour and milk, and boil until it begins to thicken. Add grated Cheddar cheese, or two spoonfuls of cream cheese, and the diced spring onion. Allow to cool and set.

Roll the haddock and secure in place with a wooden or metal skewer. Spoon the set cheese and spring onion sauce into the rolled haddock, and place in a small metal roasting tray.

Cook on the middle shelf of a preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes at 190 deg C. Watch the fish carefully in the last five minutes.

Decant to a serving plate, and spoon the liquid sauce over the fish.  Serve with flat-cut boiled potatoes, cooked with a little salt. Utterly delicious!

Smoked Haddock in a Cheese and Pepper Sauce

Pan fried angel cut smoked haddock (uncoloured), with traditional cut runner beans, and a cheese sauce.

The sauce was prepared first, with four dessert spoonfuls of Greek style yoghurt (instead of the more usual milk), plus two heaped teaspoonfuls of cornmeal (instead of the more usual cornflour). Add water. Stir the ingredients together, and bring to the boil. Add a quarter teaspoonful of Dijon mustard, and a quarter teaspoonful of black pepper. Add two pinches of salt. Add a quarter teaspoonful of turmeric powder. Stir together. Finally, add about 80g of medium strength cheddar cheese, sliced into squares. Stir together until the cheese has dissolved into the sauce. Turn down the heat, and allow to simmer for ten minutes, stirring regularly.

Drizzle a flat non-stick pan with some sunflower oil, and heat it untl the oil is hot. Add the haddock fillet, and cook for seven minutes, turning once (carefully!) after three and a half minutes. Turn down the heat, and allow the cooking to take place mostly under glass.

The runner beans were cooked in a small pot in water. They should be cooked for around seven minutes in boiling water.

Decant the fish to the serving plate first, then drizzle it with a little of the sauce (the instructions above are for a sauce which will accompany several meals). Add the runner beans with a slatted spoon so that they are drained.

Truly delicious! The combination of smoked fish with a cheese sauce is rarely bettered!

Pasta Bake with Cauliflower and Tomato

Cut off the leaves from a whole head of cauliflower. Cut the florets into smaller chunks, and place in a pyrex (ovenproof) bowl. Shred two salad tomatoes, and add to the bowl.

Cook penne pasta in a separate pan for 8 or 9 minutes, and drain.

Preheat the oven to around 190 or 200 deg. C.

Make a white cheese sauce with cornflour, milk, Greek yoghurt, and a little water. Add 150 grams of medium strength cheddar cheese, thinly sliced. Stir frequently at a medium heat until the sauce thickens. Add half a teaspoonful of white pepper.

Grate about 75 grams of the cheddar. Add the cheese sauce to the cauliflower and tomato, and also add the pasta. Stir together with some vegetable stock. Dress the surface of the dish evenly with the grated cheddar.

Put the bowl on a shelf in the middle of the oven, and cook for at least 45 minutes. Watch the contents carefully, and don't allow the grated cheese to overcook. Turn the heat down if necessary, and extend the cooking time (not necessary in this example).

A very satisfying dish. It takes about thirty minutes to prepare, apart from the cooking time, but it is well worth it for the result!

Cauliflower in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Half a head of a medium sized Cauliflower, steamed for twenty to twenty five minutes until tender.

The cheese sauce was made with cornflour and water, with 150g of finely sliced pieces of mature cheddar cheese. Bring the cornflour and water mixture to the boil until it begins to thicken. Turn down the heat. Add the cheddar pieces and stir in thoroughly. Stir more or less continuously to prevent sticking or burning, until most of the cheddar cheese has dissolved. Add some turmeric. Add coriander leaf to the sauce. Ready in around fifteen to twenty minutes.

Serve with a dressing of freshly ground black pepper. Simple, nutritious and delicious!

Cauliflower and Brocolli Florets in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce

A 400g bargain tray of cauliflower and brocolli florets at Morrison's yesterday, for 19 pence instead of £1.76, inspired this variation on cauliflower cheese. Easy to make, nutritious, and a pleasure to eat. 

The florets were steamed gently for twenty minutes. The sauce was made with standard fresh milk and two teaspoons of cornflour, and 100g of coloured mild cheddar cheese. The milk and the water were added to a measuring jug (about 300mls) containing the cornflour, and stirred together thoroughly. Then the mixture was decanted into a small saucepan. The cheese was cut into thin squares, and gradually added to the saucepan as the sauce began to thicken, stirring continuously. The heat was reduced to the minimum, and I continued to stir for five minutes until all of the cheese had dissolved into the sauce. Then I removed the pan from the heat. 

Decant the florets from the steamer onto a serving plate, and spoon the sauce over them. Dress with freshly ground black pepper. Delicious! Serves two. 

Cauliflower and Brocolli Florets in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce