24 February, 2010

Cheesey Pasta

My ultimate dish!

I know cheesey is spelt wrong, but this is how it's supposed to be spelt when I cook it - emphasis on the cheeeeeeeeese :D This meal is so easy, so perfect, so simple and so DELICIOUS... I have never encountered anyone who has turned their nose up at it. It doesn't look a lot to look at... BUT DO NOT LET THAT DETER YOU AWAY FROM THIS SCRUMPTIOUS MEAL!
You can't go wrong. Well, you can - of course you can. But you won't, there's always a way around mucking up a cheesey pasta dish. So, what is it? Pretty much, it's a very basic Spaghetti Carbonara. Without the white wine, without the mushrooms (if you want...). It is just as simple as the title - pasta... with cheese sauce.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Plain Flour
3 tbsp Butter
1 and 1/2 cup of Milk
Grated Cheese (As much or as little as you want)
1 tsp Smooth Mustard
Any Dried Pasta: You should know how much you need depending on how many you are serving. I normally scoop a bowl of dried pasta into the saucepan per person. (Spaghetti works well, as does any other shell or shape)
FLAVOURINGS: Bacon. Mushrooms. Onions. Vegetables. Sausage... I could go on.


The method is very simple, it's called a roux method. I learnt that in Secondary School :)

1) Start cooking the pasta. This is a very quick recipe, so it's best to boil the kettle first then add to a hot saucepan. Add your pasta shapes and a bit of salt or vegetable oil for taste.
2) Melt the butter in a hot saucepan. Sift the flour into the saucepan and mix with the butter until a dough has formed.
3) PAY CLOSE ATTENTION. While keeping an eye on your simmering pasta, add a small amount of the milk to the dough in the other pan. Mix together until the dough has formed again. Keep adding small drizzles of milk until the dough begins to relax and forms a batter substance. This is where you have to keep an eye on it, if you do not constantly stir the mixture, it will set on the bottom of the pan very, very quickly.
4) Once you have added all of the milk, you will have a creamy sauce mixture simmering away. This is where you need to add your mustard and cheese. Tough if you don't like mustard - do it anyway. I don't, and my boyfriend's mum slipped it into the dinner one night without my realising. It really brings out the taste of the cheese, even if you have a really mild type.
5) Add any of the other ingredients you want to add for flavour. Bacon is really yummy in this. Vegetables are even yummier for a healthy, vegetarian option.
6) Once your pasta is cooked, drain away the excess water and add your cheese sauce to the pasta. Stir until it's all covered, and serve! Voila!

N.B For an alternative topping, try adding breadcrumbs to the cheesey pasta and grill for a minute or so. Gives the pasta a delicious, crunchy kick.

You guys won't be disappointed... Let me know how it goes!

Kirsten x

21 February, 2010

Croissants

Right, so I've moved straight on from easy basics to flashy pastries now. This is not a recipe for the faint-hearted - I found that out the hard way! After watching the new rom-com, "It's Complicated," I was immediately taken by how easy it looked to make the delicious french treat, le croissant. Meryl Streep portrays a successful chef in the film, and my! She made pastry-baking look so damn effortless.


Mine went wrong. Well, not entirely. I just kind of gave up after spending 3 hours rolling, kneading and flaking my way to perfection. It was near on 11:30pm when I finally pulled the final results from the oven, and I think it was more out of exhaustion that I made do with what I had and went to bed.
 
The next morning, I came downstairs to try my new breakfast treat. They weren't half bad - but they weren't croissants, either. They look like croissants, but actually they are closer to crescent-shaped Chocolate Brioche than all-butter french croissants.
Anyway, this is how they turned out - I'll still show you, but I'm not going to give you the recipe I used. Takes far too long... No one has that amount of time to spend on breakfast items. Try out some of these recipes, though. You might find them more useful than the one found in "The Cookery Year" recipe book (my horrible, horrible choice ). Please feel free to comment if you find that any of these links have worked well for you! It would be a joy if I could actually bake croissants one day, but that day will not be any day soon. I'm going back to basic baking, now.

Bread Recipes: Croissants
Easy Croissant Recipe

Kirsten x

18 February, 2010

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay, so let's start off with the basics - Guilty Pleasure food.
Chocolate Chip Cookies. Easy to manipulate to your own preference. Easy to bake. Easy to devour within seconds. I've found a simple recipe for you to get going with, and mine turned out pretty well. Although, I think the oven temperature might be a little off, 'cause my biscuits started burning a little smidgen around the edges. Don't put you off! This was my bad, but they were still yummy yummy yummy :D


Ingredients to Make 18 Biscuits:

125g Plain Flour

70g Butter

1 Egg/50g Caster Sugar

50g Brown Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

Bag of Chocolate Chips - you choose how much or how little depending on your taste buds.

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease two baking trays with butter or margerine.
2) Mix both sugars, the Bicarb, flour, butter and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Alternatively, use an electronic mixer - this will take about 5-10 seconds.
3) Add the egg and your chocolate to the mixture. Add blobs of cookie mixture onto the tray in golf-ball sized mounds.
4) Ensure all the blobs are evenly spaced - the mixture will spread in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes in the oven, and then turn off the heat. Leave the cookies in there for 10 minutes or they will come out all flat.
5) Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack and enjoy!

Kirsten x

16 February, 2010

My First Time

Hi, so you found my blog? Wonderful, it must mean you're after some tasty treats for yourself and others to enjoy :) I hope I can help you with that. I really do love cooking, not just baking (although, don't you find making dessert is waaaaaay more fun?!) and I've started this blog not only for my personal use but so that you guys can also learn cool new recipes and tips for in the kitchen. I've found that recipe books are so dull and boring to choose and buy that it's just easier to whack in a dish into Google and search 'til you find a recipe you think's gonna work. Most of the sites I end up on are blogs or similar sites that lots of people can add and amend to, so I'm doing the same with this one :)

I'll be blogging my most favourite recipes, and also want to try new things. My boyfriend's recently found out he is diabetic, so this makes it such a challenge for me to find healthy and yummy foods for him. I could learn a lot from you guys, too. If you have any tips I'm more than grateful for you to get in touch!

Happy baking! Feel free to comment if you have any queries.

Kirsten x