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).

Stilton Cheese Omelette

 A simple two egg omelette made with some stilton cheese. Cooked really slowly in some sunflower oil, to allow the cheese to melt (about twenty minutes). Dressed in some ketchup and coriander leaf.. Delicious!

Spaghetti Bolognese with Cheese

Fabulous dish, though not authentically Italian, as I've mentioned before.The ground beef was browned in sunflower oil, and then simmered under glass for an hour or so, with the addition of some boiling water and tomato puree. During which time the vegetables were added (diced). Plus diced garlic, and some dried chilli peppers.  

The spaghetti (wheat free) was cooked separately, with some salt for fifteen minutes, stirred frequently. 

Once the dish was served, the cheese was added as a garnish. I used cheddar. Use your favourite. Add white pepper. Delicious!

 

Tomato and Onion Salad in Red Pesto Sauce

The main component of this dish is quartered piccolo tomatoes, a finely diced small onion, black pepper, and red pesto sauce (tomato, olive oil, basil, and parmesan cheese). Carrot was finely diced by a Kenwood chopper, after being batonned. I made a potato salad with boiled potato, mayonnaise, and coriander leaf. Served with a bistro leaf salad (lettuce), drizzled in a little olive oil.  

 

Beef Chilli, with Grated Cheese

A beef chilli, with red kidney beans, onions, tomatoes,garlic, and beef stock,  served with grated Galloway cheese. That works really well. Galloway cheese is slightly more mild than the standard Cheddar cheese, but either will do for this dish.

Served with a crunchy side salad of lettuce and other vegetables. Dressed with dried coriander leaf. Plus a lot of freshly ground black pepper.  Delicious!

Thick Minestrone Soup

Made with diced apple, carrot and potato. Plus diced brussels sprouts, one green finger chilli, and broken spaghetti. I also added some grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

I added a pinch of oregano and coriander leaf, plus some pork stock and two squirts of tomato puree.

Allowed to simmer under glass for two hours.

Brunswick Ham Salad, with Apple and Cambozola Cheese

Some delicious Brunswick Ham from Morrison's, served with diced spring onion, diced Braeburn apple, Camboloza cheese, and some commercially available standard coleslaw.

An utterly fabulous dish, which took very little time to prepare. I was going to add boiled potato pieces, but as I put the dish together, I realised this component was not necessary. Plenty to eat without the potatoes!

Dressed with a little coriander leaf before serving.

Stilton Cheese Salad with Black Olives

Sometimes, in the depths of mid-winter, it is good to have a summery salad, to remind you of other times. The weather here at the moment alternates between miserable, and dangerous. We are looking forward to the spring.

This is a very simple salad, which can be prepared in just a few minutes. About 100g of Stilton cheese, diced into pieces, plus about twenty pitted black olives, strips of red pepper, and diagonally diced spring onion.

No herbs, no seasoning required. Just raw and delicious!

The dish could also be dressed with olive oil, or served with lettuce leaves, or with diced coriander leaves.

Smoked Haddock with Vegetables in a Cheese Sauce

A large fillet of haddock, smoked but undyed, poached in water in a flat lidded pan for twenty minutes. Starting at a high heat, and then reduced to the lowest heat when the water began to boil.

In another pan, the diced vegetables (parsnip, potato, carrot, spring onion) were boiled for twenty-five minutes.

While the vegetables were cooking, I prepared the cheese sauce.

I mixed whole milk (around 150 mls) and a dessert spoonful of cornmeal flour in a jug, plus some vegetable stock, and decanted the mixture (with a little butter) into a third pot, and stirred it until it began to thicken on the hob. I added the vegetables, and around 100g of cheddar cheese (thin slices), and stirred until the cheese had entirely melted.

Dress with freshly ground black pepper, and serve!

Aubergine Parmigiana

Aubergine, spring onion, mushroom and courgette with cheese (Parmagiano Reggiano and cheddar), served with a tomato, red pepper and garlic sauce.

The aubergine, the spring onion and the courgette were finely sliced and laid in an oven proof dish. The layer was overlaid with sliced mushroom, then a layer of thinly cut cheddar.

The Parmagiano was finely grated, and the surface was covered entirely. The oven proof dish was placed in an oven pre-heated to 190 deg C, and allowed to cook for 45 minutes.

The sauce was made with diced cherry tomatoes, some tomato puree (ketchup will do instead),  and half a diced red pepper. Also added were some basil and oregano, and one crushed clove of garlic. Dress with black pepper when served. An excellent dish!

Cauliflower Cheese Tray Bake

Cauliflower florets in a cheddar cheese sauce made with cornmeal.

The cornmeal, milk and cheese sauce was made first.

The chopped baby plum tomatoes, carrot, garden peas (from the pod), diced mushrooms were added to the cauliflower florets in a non-stick oven proof dish. The bubbling cheese sauce (100g of cheese) was poured over the top of the vegetables.

A further 150g of cheddar was grated over the top of the dish, spread as evenly as possible.

The oven was preheated to 190 deg C (about 25 minutes to wait) and the dish was placed on the middle shelf. Cook for at least 45 minutes, and judge by eye when it is ready.

Serve dressed with freshly ground black pepper. Delicious!

Cranberry and Wensleydale Cheese Salad

A bargain wedge of Cranberry and Wensleydale cheese from the local co-op prompted this simple dish, made with halved baby plum tomatoes, green pepper, Iceberg lettuce, and potato, plus the Wensleydale cheese.

The lettuce was chopped and decanted into a glass bowl, along with finely sliced green pepper, and drizzled with olive oil and vinegar. Plus a squeeze of lemon juice. The salad leaves were tossed several times before serving.

The potato salad came from the fridge (commercially bought, and flavoured with chives). Refreshed with a couple of spoonfuls of fresh mayonnaise.

That's essentially it. The dish was dressed with some coriander leaf before serving. .

Baked Pasta Cheese with Chorizo Sausage

A variation on macaroni cheese, made with wheat-free pasta, chorizo sausage, spring onion and tomato, with Cheddar cheese.

I diced about 50g of chorizo, and fried it slowly in an omelette pan for about twenty minutes. The diced tomato was added, along with the spring onion. Cook in the fat from the chorizo for another fifteen minutes.

The stir-fry was decanted into a pyrex bowl. Once the pasta was prepared, it too was added, and stirred through.

Next I made the pasta sauce with cornmeal (use cornflour if you prefer a finer texture), milk and about 50g of grated cheddar. Heated in a saucepan (stirring almost constantly) until the cheese had melted, and the sauce had begun to thicken.

After that the saucepan was removed from the heat, and the sauce was decanted into the pyrex bowl, and stirred in thoroughly. Add white pepper.

Grate another 50g of cheddar and sprinkle on top. Preheat the oven to 190 deg C (about twenty minutes or so), and place on the middle shelf. It should be ready in 40 to 45 minutes, by which time the cheese topping should have begun to brown. Delicious!

Cheese, Pasta and Prosciutto Salad

Diced prosciutto crudo, served with wheat-free fusili, slices of cheddar cheese and spring onion.

The fusili was Sainsbury's own brand, which cooks pretty much like a wheat based fusili (ie, somewhere between nine and fourteen minutes). Cooked in salted water, with a little olive oil to prevent the pasta sticking together.

The dish has a really delicate flavour. No herbs, no chilli, no garlic. Served with a light dusting of black pepper.

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.

Seafood Pie (Red Salmon, Haddock and Smoked Pollock)

This pie was made with a selection of fish pieces found in Sainsbury's supermarket. The fish was first blanched in boiling water, and then poached for seven minutes under glass.

I made a white sauce with cornflour, milk and some Blue Stilton cheese (about 100g). Stirred until the cheese had entirely melted. Add the fish pieces to the sauce, along with a couple of dessert spoonfuls of drained garden peas, and remove from the heat.

Four large potatoes were boiled until soft, then mashed with a little butter and pepper. The oven was heated to 150deg C while the potatoes were cooking on the hob.

Add the fish sauce mix to an oven-proof baking dish, then spoon the mashed potato on top. Texture the surface of the mash with a fork, until it looks a little like a ploughed field.

Cook the pie in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes. Check frequently that the potato topping is browning. The pie will be ready when the topping is a golden brown.

Spicy Shepherd's Pie

Preparing the pie: made with ground lamb, diced onion, diced carrot, four red and green chillies, a clove of garlic, green pepper, diced baby plum tomatoes, chopped parsnip and chopped carrot, mashed potato and lamb stock. 

The mashed potato was mixed with a small knob of butter, and about 50g of Camembert cheese (cheddar cheese can be used instead, or you can skip the cheese component altogether). Seasoned with the herbs rosemary and thyme. 

Add the chopped parsnip and carrot to the bottom of the pie dish. Cover with the layer of spicy lamb. Add the potato on top, and texture with a fork. 

The pie was baked in the oven at a low heat (about 150 deg C for an hour and a half (watch carefully).. 

Served in this case with baked beans, with pepper and some dried basil.

Preparing the ground lamb: browned in a saute pan in its own fat at a high heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning. The onion, chilli, green pepper and diced  baby plum tomatoes were added. The heat was turned down to medium, and the mix stir-fried for fifteen minutes.

After that, boiling water was added to the saute pan. The pot was covered, and allowed to simmer for at least an hour and a half at a low heat, to ensure the lamb was tender.

Add a little turmeric and some oregano after about half an hour, and stir through. 

Wheat-Free Pasta Salad, with Garlic and Onion Mayo

The garlic and mayo salad was made a couple of days before this dish, and kept in the fridge. Made by using a food chopper to dice one clove of garlic, and half a medium sized onion. Mixed together with two dessert spoonfuls of standard mayonnaise.

The vegetables were: half a dozen cherry tomatoes, each cut into three with a sharp vegetable knife, half a green bell pepper, a handful of diced spinach leaves, and one diced spring onion.

The pasta was cooked for nine to ten minutes at a low heat in salted water under glass, then drained, and rinsed in cold water until cool. Drain again.

The vegetables, pasta and the garlic and onion mayo were stirred together in a glass bowl, and then decanted to the serving dish. Topped with some finely grated parmigiano reggiano cheese. Fifteen minutes preparation time!

Chilli and Garlic Pesto, with Green Pepper and Roasted Polenta

I started with a standard commercially available green pesto sauce (essentially made with finely ground basil, parmesan cheese, and olive oil).

I diced a whole green bell pepper, a medium sized red chilli pepper (after deseeding), and a clove of garlic, and fried them slowly in a little olive oil for about twenty minutes. The ingredients were stirred frequently to prevent burning.

Once cooked, I added two teaspoonfuls of the pesto sauce, along with some cornflour in water, to thicken the sauce. I added some salt, and stirred it through.

The sauce is spicy, on account of the diced chilli pepper, but not nearly as hot as you might imagine!

To make the polenta cakes, I first julienned a whole white onion, and shredded a medium sized tomato. Both ingredients were cooked together in an omelette pan, with a little olive oil, for twenty minutes, stirring every minute or so.

At the same time I mixed two dessert spoonfuls of finely ground cornmeal with water (200 mls), and a  dessert spoonful of apple sauce (aka stewed apple). Plus a generous pinch of salt. After that, the contents of the omelette pan were decanted into the mixing jug containing the cornmeal and water, and stirred together thoroughly.

I used a muffin tray to cook the polenta cakes (the specified quantity is enough to make six cakes). Put a little olive oil in each cake tray. Cooked in an oven preheated to 190 deg C for thirty minutes on the middle shelf. Check them after twenty minutes if you are not using an accurate oven thermometer. The polenta cakes can be retrieved very easily with a wooden skewer.

Serve with a dusting of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, or alternatively Parmesan.

Spaghetti and Bacon, with a Blue Stilton Napoletana

I diced two rashers of smoked bacon, then fried the pieces in a large saute pan in a little olive oil. I then added a julienned onion, and half a diced pepper. The ingredients were stir-fried for twenty minutes at a medium heat, until the onions began to brown, and the bacon became crispy.

I mashed a tin of peeled plum Italian tomatoes in a bowl and added them to the saute pan, along with about 400mls of boiling water. Stirred through the dish thoroughly, and add vegetable stock. Then I added about 40g of pieces of Blue Stilton cheese. Stirred for about seven minutes at a medium heat, until the cheese had entirely dissolved in the salsa.

The hob was turned down to a low heat, and was allowed to simmer for half an hour, with occasional stirring. Add black pepper, oregano, and some basil.

Served in this case with a wheat-free spaghetti from Sainsbury's, which behaves in the pot just like  durum wheat spaghetti. The pasta was cooked at a fairly low heat for twelve minutes, in salted water with a pinch of turmeric. Stir frequently!