Anglesey Eggs (alternate version)

I came across a cauliflower variation on the classic Anglesey Eggs in a very old recipe book recently, with a little bit of tweaking to suit my tastes I rustled up this little beauty in next to no time.

This version lends itself very well to leftover cookery – especially if you cook surplus to make sure you have ‘leftovers’ (please tell me I’m not the only one who does that?!).  With a bit of forward planning and cheating this is really nothing more than a quick assembly job.

Quantities very much depend on your appetite and the number of people you are cooking for but the ingredient list for one, is :

1 cup cauliflower – par-boiled for a few minutes

The green part of a small/baby leek, halved and cut into fine half-moon slices

1 hard boiled egg cut into halves and then quartered, or chopped – as you prefer

½ cup or thereabouts of cheese sauce

Salt and pepper to taste and a scant sprinkle of cayenne pepper

Grated cheddar to scatter generously over the top

Layer the sliced leek at the bottom of an oven-proof dish, arrange the cauliflower florets on the top and poke the slices of egg among them, or scatter the chopped egg over the top and around the cauliflower.  Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

Cook in a hot oven for about 30 minutes until bubbling nicely and the cheese topping is browned.

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice

I can’t claim any credit for the provenance of the recipe - it’s a Delia, but I do claim the shortcuts as my own!

I love my freezer, and I love my leftovers.  I’m always stashing Ziploc bags of cooked rice, cooked pasta and tubs of cheese sauce for quick meals on lazy days.  This one was put together to use up some leftover cooked broccoli from the day before and is simplicity in itself. 

Quantities depend on how many you are cooking, I think in terms of about 1/3 cup a person. 

This is really nothing more than a simple assembly job!  Defrost a bag of cooked rice (Camargue red rice is flavour of the month here at the moment) and tip into an ovenproof dish.  Top with the cooked broccoli (par cooked would be better if you’re making this from scratch) and then with the cheese sauce.  Add a grating of cheddar and parmesan (if you have it to hand, if not good old cheddar is just as good) and then pop into the oven.  I cooked mine at 200^oC (400^oF/gas mark 6) for about half an hour – until the cheese is bubbling and the dish is hot right the way through.

My cheat hero ingredient! 

Delia’s original recipe is here :

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/vegetarian-food/cauliflower-and-broccoli-gratin-with-blue-cheese?utm_source=https%3A//www.bing.com/&utm_medium=d&utm_campaign=otn&utm_content=recipes/type-dish/vegetarian-food/cauliflower-and-broccoli-gratin-blue-cheese

Barefoot in Bologna

This is another one of my favourite cheat sauces.  Glorious Barefoot in Bologna, a really tasty sausage ragu.  I often use it as a sauce with good chilled ravioli or tortellini.  

You simply need to thin out the tub of ragu with a little chicken stock and season with a little salt and pepper to taste, quickly cook the pasta parcels and then arrange in a dish before adding the sauce.  Add a good snowfall of grated cheese (parmesan mixed with cheddar is my favourite) over the top before popping into a hot oven for 25-30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and hot through.  This is a lovely, quick after-work dinner for next to no effort.

Cheat Ingredient : Cheese Sauce

Cheating is all about knowing which corners to cut, and which packets and tins to buy.  If it’s good enough for Delia, it’s good enough for me!

This is one of my favourite cheat ingredients, and this particular brand one of the better ones.  To be truthful, I haven’t made a cheese sauce in more years than I care to remember, not since these tubs of good cheese sauce hit the shelves in the 90’s!

Cheese sauce is a particularly useful ingredient.  I always use it to top lasagne; when you’ve spent an hour making the meat sauce, making a cheese sauce can be enough to tip you over the edge!  This is the shortcut to make.  No-cook pasta sheets are another handy shortcut.  Back in the day I’d have one pan going to make the meat sauce, another cooking lasagne sheets and a third for the cheese sauce.  By the time I’d done all the washing up I often couldn’t face eating it!

Cauliflower cheese is a favourite, and with a tub of cheese sauce it’s next to no work at all.  I cook the cauliflower (and often broccoli for a bit of colour) briefly before decanting into an ovenproof dish, topping with the cheese sauce and some extra grated cheddar and finally popping it into a hot oven to finish.

A tub of cheese sauce can also make very short work of mac and cheese, especially if you have some leftover bacon or cooked ham hanging around.  Then it’s nothing more than a matter of thinning out the cheese sauce with some milk and a quick assembly job.

Cheat's Mac and Cheese

I made this a few weeks ago with a large tub of cheese sauce from Tesco.  This tub is about half as big again as the regular sized tubs you get in other supermarkets so if you buy one of those you will either need to thin it out a bit more, or make three serves not four.  It was so easy to put together that I had to share it with you all!

For four sensible portions I used :

300 g dried pasta

1 large tub of Tesco cheese sauce

6 rashers of bacon

About half a cup of milk

About a cup of grated cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and parmesan)

Salt and pepper to taste

Two handfuls of cherry tomatoes sliced

About half a cup of fresh breadcrumbs

Cook the pasta according to the directions.

While the pasta is cooking add the cheese sauce to a large basin and whisk in the milk to thin out the sauce a little.  Add half of the grated cheeses and season to taste with a little salt and pepper.

Cook the bacon and cut into strips/rough dice.

Drain the pasta well and return to the pan, add the cheese sauce and bacon and combine all together.  Turn out into a baking dish, top with the tomato slices and then scatter over the breadcrumbs, finally scatter the last of the cheese over the top.

Bake in a hot oven for 25 – 30 minutes.  I cooked mine at 200^oC (400^oF/gas mark 6).  

This freezes very well (without the tomato slices) so it’s worth making a double batch for a quick after-work meal.