Slimmers Creamy Pea and Ham Pasta

This is a lovely comforting dish for those rainy days, pasta is always a real comfort food!  It’s very quick and simple to put together and well worth making double the quantity and freezing the surplus as a pasta bake for another time.  Made with light, or extra light Philladelphia cheese this is quite low on the calorie front for such a creamy dish. 

For two people : 

1 cup of peas

2 or 3 slices of ham

200g dry weight of pasta

Half of an 8oz (200g) pack of Philladelphia

½ pint of chicken stock 

Boil the pasta according to packet directions. 

While the pasta is cooking, simmer the peas in the chicken stock and roughly dice the ham.  When the peas and pasta are cooked, add the Philladelphia to the stock and stir well in to make a smooth creamy sauce, add the ham and heat through. 

Drain the pasta and return to the pan, adding the sauce and stirring through to combine.

Baked ham with parsley sauce

I vividly remember the first time I ever tasted ham with parsley sauce, it was with my Grandparents!   Neither of my parents like parsley sauce so  I had never heard of it before.  Then one day I was in my Grandparents’ house and she dished this up.  One taste and I was lost!  Every time I make it now it reminds me of those lovely days with my Grandparents. 

I bought a small uncooked bacon (ham) joint, about 2¼ lbs in weight.  I soaked the joint overnight in a bowl of water to remove any saltiness from the preserving. 

When you are ready to cook the joint simply pop it into a roasting tin, cover with foil and bake in a low oven.  I cooked mine at 150^oC (300^oF/gas mark 2) for 2½ hours. 

The parsley sauce method I use is an all-in-one method that saves a lot of faff and lumps!   I have a really handy small whisk that makes light work of sauces. 

For the parsley sauce : 

1tb plain flour

1 generous tsp butter

½ pint of cold milk

Salt and pepper to taste

2tb chopped curly parsley 

My handy little whisk

Simply place the flour, butter and milk together in a pan and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring from time to time.  As it begins to simmer stir constantly to stop any lumps from forming (if any do form just beat them out with a small whisk).  Stir the sauce as it thickens and turn the heat right down.  The sauce will need to cook for at least 5 minutes, and preferably longer to cook out the flour.  Season to taste and add the parsley for the last few minutes to flavour the sauce. 

I always like this best with boiled potatoes and broad beans (fava beans).  Sadly, broad weren’t available this week so I had frozen peas instead! 

From my Grandmother’s kitchen to yours – I hope you enjoy this little taste of Wales!

Any leftover sauce can be frozen and would be really lovely served over some poached fish.

Linguine with Parma Ham, Rocket and Chilli

I had rocket and parma ham in the fridge leftover from when I ‘customised’ our pizzas on Thursday night.  I knew without a doubt that this was how I would use them up!! 

This is a really delicious pasta dish, and unbelievably quick to prepare as it takes only as long as the pasta takes to cook! 

When I worked this was one of my most repeated dishes! 

For two people: 

200g linquine or spaghetti

1tsp or so garlic olive oil

6 slices of Italian prosciutto or Parma ham

1 red chilli

2 big handfuls of fresh rocket (arugula) 

Parmesan cheese to  taste, at the table. 

Cook the pasta according to packet directions. 

While it is cooking; wash, de-seed and chop the red chilli and cut the prosciutto or Parma ham into strips.  Wash the rocket thoroughly. 

Drain the cooked pasta and return to the hot pan.  Add the garlic olive oil, the chilli, the ham and finally the rocket.  Toss everything together and then dish up into heated pasta bowls, seasoning to taste with black pepper and an avalanche of parmesan cheese. 

Finally, and most importantly ...... apply to face!!

Pan Haggerty

Pan Haggerty is a wonderfully frugal yet tasty dish from the North of England, specifically the mining towns of Northumberland.  It comes from a time of poverty when families knew how to feed themselves for little cost.  Consequently it’s a wonderfully simple dish to prepare, although somewhat calorie laden – a cheap filler! 

Traditionally it was cooked on the range in a large frying pan, cooked on one side and then inverted and cooked on the other.  These days I layer everything up in an oven-proof dish and cook it in the oven simply out of convenience.  Also, I add a layer of ham to the dish, which isn’t traditional! 

When my aunt was a newly-wed, her mother’s advice for her was to always keep bacon, eggs, cheese and potatoes in the house – then you always have the wherewithal to put a meal on the table.  As a woman who reared 16 surviving children on a miner’s wage, I take her advice as golden!  I have to say, they are things that I always keep to hand in my own kitchen.  I never, ever run out of cheese or eggs!! 

To make this lovely dish, for two people you need: 

2 medium/large potatoes (depending on appetite), peeled and sliced fairly thinly

1 onion, peeled and sliced

6-8 oz grated cheese, I used a mix of Cheddar and Caerphilly cheese

Salt and pepper 

Optional, 2 or 3 thick slices of ham 

Well butter your oven dish and add a layer of potatoes, season well with salt and pepper and add a layer of onion and then cheese, another layer of potatoes, seasoning, onion and cheese.  Keep layering up like this, finishing with a layer of potatoes, dot with butter and add a final generous sprinkling of cheese. 

If you are adding the ham just tear the slices roughly and add with the onion and cheese layers. 

Pop into a hot oven, 200^oC for approximately 45 minutes.  The actual cooking time will vary and depends on how thickly you have sliced the potatoes.  It could take an hour if they are thick.   

If you have a hubby like mine who won’t eat cheese you can do what I do and make the pan haggerty in one-serve dishes and make a separate one without the cheese for hubby – in that case I’d add a little vegetable or chicken stock, or even milk. 

This is a VERY calorie laden dish so if you wish do cut down on the amount of cheese you use.  I was very generous with the cheese!

Slimmers Creamy Mushroom and Ham Pasta

 I find pasta such a convenience food.  At only 10 minutes cooking time (or thereabouts) what could be easier, especially on working days.  This sauce is quick to prepare, cooks in the same time as the pasta and is light on calories to boot.  What could be better! 

8 or 9 good sized mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

2 thick slices of ham cut into thin strips

1 cup of chicken stock

2tb of light Philladelphia

200g pasta

2tb freshly chopped parsley

Salt and pepper to taste 

Cook the pasta according to packet directions. 

At the same time, simmer the mushrooms in the chicken stock, adding seasoning to taste.  Cook over a fairly high heat so that the stock reduces and thickens.  Add the cream cheese and stir so that it melts completely and coats everything, then add the parsley. 

Drain the pasta and add to the creamy mushrooms and stir well to combine everything. 

Serve pronto presto!

Spaghetti Carbonara

This is a bowl of comfort food at its absolute best for me!  Bacon, egg and cheese – what’s not to like!  It takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, including boiling the kettle to cook the pasta, and takes only 10 minutes to cook.  What could be simpler than that. 

I feel faintly embarrassed giving a recipe for this, but it’s such an easy and tasty little number that it’s a shame not to. 

For two people : 

200g spaghetti or linquine 

4 rashers of bacon

2 eggs

Grated parmesan cheese (approx 2oz or so, to taste)

Freshly grated nutmeg

Freshly ground black pepper

Small bunch of flatleaf parsley 

Cook the spaghetti or linquine in salted boiling water according to packet directions, usually 10 minutes. 

At the same time, cut the bacon rashers into strips and brown gently in a small pan. 

Break the eggs into a bowl and beat together lightly, season with a little ground black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.  Add a generous handful of parmesan cheese and mix together with a fork. 

Wash and roughly chop the parsley. 

Drain the pasta and return to the pan, add the eggy cheesy mix and stir around and then add the bacon and parsley.  Toss everything together until the egg has cooked in the heat of the pasta and the residual heat of the pan. 

Instead of cooking bacon you can, as I have this time, use cooked ham.  The dish pictured above was made using cubed leftover cooked Christmas ham.  The green parsley gave it a lovely festive finish!

You can, if you wish, make a little extra and keep it aside in the fridge to make a delicious frittata in a day or two.  If you do that, simply chop up the spaghetti with two knives, beat a further two eggs together and mix well through the pasta mixture, adding a little more grated parmesan cheese if you wish.  Then simply tip into a small frying pan and cook until the egg has set, popping under the grill for a few minutes to cook the top of the frittata.  I have made that a number of times, it’s particularly nice with a fresh goose egg!

Butternut Squash and Bacon - pasta and risotto : two for one!

I have been home alone for a couple of days this week so had an opportunity to re-visit this old favourite! 

It came about when I was single and used to find that a butternut squash, even a small one, was really too much for one person.  I absolutely hate waste so I used to cook the whole thing, with enough bacon for two people and either cook one and a half serves of pasta, with the extra reserved to make a frittata the next day, or I would just set aside half of the butternut and bacon mix to add to a risotto. 

These are my ‘recipes’, such as they are!  As they are all one serves, if you are cooking for two people then you’ll need two butternut squashes, or a large one.  Or, you could of course use pumpkin.

Peel and cut a butternut squash into cubes and add to a frying pan with a little garlic olive oil.

Chop up four or five rashers of bacon into chunks and add to the pan.  Snip/chop some fresh sage leaves and add.  

I sometimes add a little crushed dried chilli too.

Cook the whole lot gently until everything is cooked and browned nicely.

At the same time as this is cooking, boil a pan of pasta according to packet directions.  I quite like chilli penne with this.

Now depending on what you want to do with the other half of the butternut and bacon mix proceed as follows :

To set aside for a frittata – drain the pasta and add to the frying pan, stirring so that the pasta picks up the sticky bits from the pan.  Decant half to your dish and the other half to a bowl to set aside for the next day.  Add a good grating of parmesan to both bowls.

To set aside for the risotto, just remove half of the bacon and butternut mixture to a bowl and then add the pasta to the pan. 

To make the frittata : break up the pasta and butternut mix with a wooden spoon, beat two eggs, season and add to the bowl with the pasta and mix so that everything is well combined.  Melt a little butter in a frying pan and add the eggy pasta mix, grating a little fresh parmesan over the top.  Set the eggs on the hob, swirling the pan around from time to time and then finish off cooking under the grill.

To make the risotto, for one person I do as follows :

Finely chop a small shallot, half a clove of garlic and a stick of celery and soften in a little butter or olive oil.  Add 1/3 cup of risotto rice and stir around to coat with what little oil there is left in the pan, add 2/3 cup of vegetable or chicken stock and stir in.  Leave to simmer on a low heat, stirring from time to time as it cooks.  Cooking time will vary depending on the type of rice you are using, but generally takes somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes.  Keep the kettle boiled and handy and if you need to, if the risotto seems to dry before the rice has cooked, you can add more boiling water.  Add the bacon and butternut mixture 5 minutes before  the end of the cooking time.  Then add a generous grating of fresh parmesan cheese.

I know that the recipe for the risotto is an aberration to Italians, both in the quantity of butter and the all-in-one method!  But I’m not Italian, I can’t bring myself to use as much butter as you should to make a true risotto, and I like the convenience of doing the all-in-one as opposed to the pan of simmering stock being added a ladleful at a time!

Chicken Leek and Bacon Pie

I love pies!  I love the fact that they are a meal in a dish so I don’t have as much washing up to do in the evening.  Like my shepherd’s pie, they can be made in two stages to split up the work.

The recipe I used to feed two is :

1 leek (the white part for the filling and the green part for the mashed potato topping)

1 carrot

1 stick of celery

3 rashers of bacon, cooked and roughly chopped

leftover chicken torn roughly

1tb flour

12 fl oz chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Generous knob of butter to cook the green part of the leek

2 medium/large potatoes (depending on the size of your dish)

Begin by chopping the stick of celery fairly finely, then dice the carrot and dice the white part of the leek, setting aside the green part for later.

Melt a little butter in a pan and sweat the vegetables for 10 minutes.

Add the tablespoon of flour and mix well in to absorb all the liquid.

Gradually add the stock, stirring it all in before adding more to eliminate any lumps.  Season the sauce and cook for 10 minutes to thicken and cook the flour.  Allow to cool and then add the leftover chicken and cooked chopped bacon (or ham).

Decant into your pie dish and set aside.

For the mashed potato topping, peel, dice and boil the potatoes, then mash. 

Dice the green part of the leek and soften in a generous knob of butter while the potatoes are boiling.

Once the potatoes are mashed, tip the whole buttery lot into the pan and stir in to combine.

Allow the potato and leek to get cold, and then dollop spoonfuls onto the pie filling and fork through.  The ridges will brown beautifully in the oven.

You can, if you wish, top the pie with some grated cheese, as I do for my shepherd’s pie.

When you are ready to eat, the pie will need around 35 to 40 minutes at 180^oC from cold.  Or 25 to 30 minutes if you’re making it to eat straight away.