Fusili with Chicken, Leek and Fine Beans

Bargain leek and celery from the Co-op, which prompted this dish.

3 centimetres of the head of the celery, finely diced, and one whole leek, cut laterally in half, and then divided into four, and then diced. Boiled for twenty minutes.

The meat from two legs of chicken was added to the pot, along with chicken stock, plus crushed garlic, and 200 mls of tomato passata (tomato puree will do just as well). Stir together thoroughly, and simmer under glass for an hour.

Add chopped fine beans (these were from Morocco), a quarter teaspoonful of paprika, plus the herbs oregano, basil and sage, according to taste. Add black pepper.

The fusili was wheat-free, and from Sainsbury's. Cooks in the same amount of time as standard pasta, but I let it rest after boiling in lightly salted water for a couple of extra minutes before draining. Serve with a dressing of freshly ground black pepper.

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.

Polska Surowa Smoked Sausage in a Cheese Sauce

Thinly sliced Surowa smoked and peppered sausage, fried with onion, until the onion begins to brown. The cheese sauce was made with cornflour, water, milk, a quarter teaspoonful of mustard powder, vegetable stock, two squeezes of tomato puree, and 80g of Sage Derby cheese. Stir continuously until the sauce thickens.  A pinch of oregano was added to the sauce before it was added to the onion and the sausage. 

Serve with boiled potatoes, or penne, or fusili pasta. 

Polska Surowa Smoked Sausage in a Cheese Sauce

Chicken Cambozola

Fried pieces of chicken breast in a spicy chilli and Cambozola sauce, served with wheat free fusili.

The chicken pieces were cooked the day before the dish was prepared, and stored in the fridge overnight. The sauce was made with stir-fried chilli, red onion, yellow pepper, red pepper. After cooking at a medium heat for ten minutes, stirring occasionally, I added tomato passata, and some boiling water to the saute pan. I cut about 100g of Cambozola cheese into strips and added them to the sauce, stirring constantly until the cheese melted (you might want to remove the rind of the cheese first). Add the chicken pieces and allow the dish to simmer under glass for twenty minutes or so. 

Prepare the fusili ten minutes before the dish is to be served. I used ASDA's own brand wheat free fusili, and cooked it in salted water, stirring frequently.  Add oregano and basil to the sauce, stir, and decant the chicken pieces and the sauce into a serving bowl. Add the fusili on top, and stir once with a fork. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste. 

Chicken Cambozola