Cauliflower Cheese Like My Mother Didn’t Use To Make!
I like cauliflower and as a child, my mother used to make cauliflower cheese quite often. So when I saw Lindsey Bareham’s recipe for a good cauliflower cheese, I just had to make it.
I started by cutting up a medium sized cauliflower into florets and grated about a 100 grams of cheddar cheese.
Cauliflower And Grated Cheese
I also took two sliced of Genius gluten-free bread, which after decrusting, I mixed with some grated parmesan in my Little Chopper.
Making Breadcrumbs
The cauliflower was cooked in boiling salted water and then drained and placed in one of my Le Creuset dishes.
Cooked Cauliflower
I then made a sauce by melting 25 grams of butter in a saucepan and adding 75 grams of gluten-free flour, a teaspoon of English mustard, about 100 grams of the water from the cauliflower and 200 ml. of milk. When it boiled, I simmered it for 5 mins and then stirred in the cheddar until it melted. It was then poured over the cauliflower.
Cauliflower In Cheese Sauce
Then the breadcrumb mix was added over the top, with a couple of knobs of butter.
Ready For The Oven
I then cooked it for 20 minutes in the oven at 220°C.
Cauliflower Cheese
I did make a mistake and cooked it at 240°C, so it was slightly over-cooked, but it was certainly very tasty. I’d also added slightly more mustard than recommended, but that was probably better to my taste.
It was very definitely, a good cauliflower cheese. I shall be cooking it again!
Cinty’s French Fish Pie
Because this recipe from Lindsey Bareham is so good and very quick, I’m putting the pictures up from when I made two on Friday; one for my supper and one for the fridge and later.
I first took 400 g. of trimmed leeks, halved them lengthways and made an attempt to slice them into thin half moons, before I rinsed and drained them. Note that as with all Lindsey Bareham’s recipes it’s based on the standard sizes of packs you get in Waitrose. So it’s 400 g because that’s the size of their packs of trimmed leeks.
A friend has said that she has a problem with leeks. But no matter, as the original recipe also specified the use of fennel!
400 g Of Prepared Leeks
At this point I put my oven on to 200°C.
I then melted 20 g of butter in my Le Creuset shallow casserole and stirred in the leeks, seasoning with salt and pepper. I covered and cooked them for 8-15 minutes, giving the occasional stir, until they were tender or in my case looked like the algae you get on ponds.
Cooking The Leeks
I then added 75 ml of dry white wine and simmered briskly, uncovered, until it was just juicy and not wet.
Juicy Not Wet Leeks
The leeks were then put into two 0.6 litre Le Creuset dishes, which I find make the ideal size pies for one.
Leeks In Le Creuset Dishes
And a piece of haddock was carefully placed on top. A tip here is to go a fishmonger, who sells square fish! As I got mine in a packet from Waitrose, they were a bit fish-shaped and didn’t fit too well.
Fish On The Leeks
The fish was in turn covered with crème fraiche. I used about 150 ml per pie and just spread it with a trowel like you would Artex.
After Adding The Creme Fraiche
It was then covered with a mixture of breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan. I actually used a couple of slices of Genius bread, which I decrusted sand then pulverised with the parmesan in my Little Chopper. Here’s the one I kept for later, just before I wrapped it in clingfilm.
A Pie Ready For The Oven
The other was in the oven for thirty minutes and came out a lovely shade of brown, which I forgot to photograph at the time. This picture shows it on my plate, just before I ate it.
A Pie Ready For The Stomach
It was delicious and the great thing about this recipe, is that there is only a little washing up to do! So if like me, you have to do it yourself, It’s not too much of a problem.
A Great Way To Cook Cabbage
On Friday night, I cooked Lindsey Bareham’s recipe for Pork Chops With Braised Cabbage
A Great Way To Cook Cabbage
I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I doubt it would have been acceptable to life-long cabbage-haters like C.
A Fish Pie For St. David’s Day
Lindsey Bareham on Friday published a recipe called Cinty’s French Fish Pie.
As it used a lot of leeks, surely it is not French, but Welsh. The leeks were cooked in fifteen minutes, and placed in the bottom of one of my Le Creuset dishes, then covered with a fillet of haddock for each dish, which was then covered with crème fraiche and a crust of breadcrumbs and parmesan.
Here’s the finished pie.
![DSCN7850[1]](https://anonw.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/dscn78501.jpg?w=450&h=337 "A Fish Pie For St. David's Day")
A Fish Pie For St. David’s Day
Tagliatelle With Beef And Red Wine Ragu
This is a Lindsey Bareham recipe that I did for supper yesterday. I’d decided to do it in the morning, but when Waitrose were selling 400g packs of diced braising steak for just £2.25, I couldn’t resist making two portions of the ragu, with one for supper and one for the freezer.
I started by taking the whole pack of diced braising steak, which I seasoned and browned it in a couple of tablespoons of hot oil in my Le Creuset shallow casserole.
Browning The Diced Steak
The meat was then scooped out of the casserole and then 100g each of finely chopped onion and celery, together with some garlic, a tsp of thyme and a pinch of chilli flakes were then gently softened in the meat juices and tossed for five minutes.
Cooking The Onion, Celery And Spices
I then took 100g of finely chopped chestnut mushrooms and added them to the pan. I cooked this until it was all dark and juicy.
Cooking The Mushrooms
I then chopped the meat and added this to the pan.
150 ml of red wine was added and it was allowed to bubble up for a few minutes, before stirring in a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes.
It was then baked in the oven for 60 minutes at 160°C.
I served it with some of Carluccio’s gluten-free pasta.
Tagliatelle With Beef And Red Wine Ragu
My one mistake was perhaps not to put in quite enough wine, so it was perhaps a tad dry.
I shall make this again, I see the diced steak on offer at Waitrose. I know I don’t need to economise, but it shows you can make a delicious meal for two with £2.25 of steak, an onion, some celery, a tin of tomatoes, some spices and some wine.
This recipe also shows the usefullness of my shallow casserole. It is definitely something that I don’t regret buying.
Sausages And Balsamic Onions
I cooked these the Lindsey Bareham way last night and I’m putting the guts here for ease of access.
For myself, I use three Black Farmer sausages and an onion of about 120 grams.
I cooked the sausages like this.
Fry the sausages in a tbsp oil over a low heat, turning every so often, until crusty and done to your liking. Mine took 30 minutes.
The onion is finely sliced then cooked like this.
Heat a tbsp oil in a second frying pan and add the onion. Cook briskly, tossing constantly for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring often, until slippery soft. Add a measure of balsamic vinegar and two of water. Let it bubble away. Turn off the heat.
The result with some microwaved small potatoes is shown.
Sausages And Balsamic Onions
It may take a bit longer than a quick fry, but it is a lot nicer.
A Simple Ham And Vegetable Soup
I cooked this on Friday, using the leftover vegetables from the fish pies, I cooked earlier in the week. The recipe was based on this soup from Nigella.
I started by chopping up an onion, two garlic cloves and a fresh chilli and sautéing them in olive oil until they were soft.
Onion, Garlic And Chili
I then added a diced carrot, two diced sticks of celery, one bubble of some of Waitrose’s ham hock, some chicken stock and some water. I brought it to the boil and then simmered it for an hour.
Simmering The Soup
After that, I added a few sliced courgettes, half a cup of frozen peas, a small tin of three bean mix and a generous handful of pasta and then cooked it for ten minutes, until it was nice and hot.
Cooking The Courgettes, Peas And Pasta
The only problem, was that I made it a bit thick, but it tasted good.
A Big Bowl Of Soup
I think next time, I’ll make a bigger pot of it and work out how to freeze it for later.
Delia has a page here about freezing soups and a whole list of soups. But beware, the page is full of annoying adverts.
Shopping Lists For My Favourite Recipes
I’ve been meaning to do this for some time.
Medium onion, finely chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
500 grams extra-lean minced beef
2 tbsp gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Waitrose organic tomato paste
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
250 ml, beef stock
1 cup frozen peas
1 kilo of King Edward or similar potatoes
1kg potatoes
1 carrot
2 sticks of celery
150g good Cheddar cheese
1 lemon
½ a fresh red chilli
4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
300g salmon fillets, skin off and bones removed
300g undyed smoked haddock fillets, skin off and bones removed
125g king prawns, raw, peeled
A good handful of spinach, chopped
A couple of ripe tomatoes, quartered
Most of the others I do, are so simple, that I don’t need a list.
A Meal To Pair With Lindsey Bareham’s Pasta
I like meals that pair up, where you use the same ingredients in separate meals, so that one purchase does two totally different meals. I cook the pasta with pulled ham hock, peas and yoghurt regularly and always have pulled ham hock in the fridge and frozen peas in the freezer.
So when Lindsey Bareham published this Dijon Ham And Pea Gratin, with the same main ingredients of pulled ham hock and frozen peas. I just had to give it a go.
I started by switching the oven on to 200°C and making a sauce for the first time.
I melted about 15 g of butter in a saucepan and stirred in some flour and mustard. Milk was added gradually, stirring constantly to make a thick smooth sauce, which I simmered gently for 5 minutes.
Grated Emmental cheese was then added and a smooth sauce was made. As Lindsey said, I seasoned it with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
The Mustard And Cheese Sauce
The ham hock and the peas, were then stirred into the sauce and thoroughly mixed.
I then put it in an oval dish and covered it with a mixture of gluten free breadcrumbs and grated cheese.
Ready For The Oven
After 20-30 minutes in the oven, it was ready for eating.
Dijon Ham And Pea Gratin
I enjoyed it immensely.
Last Week Was Chocolate Week
last week was Chocolate Week and Lindsey Bareham celebrated with five recipes using chocolate of which four were savoury.
I cooked this Catalan Lamb Stew With Almonds on the sixteenth.
Catalan Lamb Stew With Almonds
I had a problem in that I couldn’t find any blanched almonds, so I had to use plaked ones and it was a bit gritty. My little chopper also made a bit of the mess with the sauce, so I can’t say it was a great success. I’ll try it again sometimes, with the blanched almonds.
And then on the nineteenth, I cooked Chicken Chili With Chocolate.
Chicken Chili With Chocolate
It was good and I put half in the freezer for later. I did cheat though, by using microwaveable rice.
Next time I’ll cook it with proper rice.
The Anonymous Widower 