Casareccia and Cheddar Bake

Basically, a fancy Macaroni Cheese. Casareccia was used instead of macaroni as we have a lot of pasta to use up (that and it sounds a little fancier).

Ingredients - 

400g Casareccia

2x Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped

1x Onion, finely chopped

50g Butter

50g Plain Flour

1 pint of Milk

250g Mature Cheddar, grated

Oregano or similar herbs to taste

Tomatoes, sliced

Method - Firstly cook the pasta in boiling water and fry the garlic, onion and a little oregano in olive oil until slightly browned and set aside until the cheese sauce is ready.

To make the cheese sauce, melt butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Once melted slowly stir in the flour to form a roux.

Once the mixture looks as above, start to gradually add the milk, stirring all the time to ensure there are no lumps. Continue to heat at a low to medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking or further lumps after around 15 minutes the sauce should begin to thicken. Once it has reached the correct consistency stir in the onion and garlic before adding in the cheese (about 175g of the grated cheese should be sufficient, make sure to keep enough cheese for topping the pasta bake), heating gently until all of the cheese has melted. Preheat the oven to 180°c.

Mix the cheese sauce and the pasta and place into a large ovenproof dish, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Once the cheese starts to brown, add the sliced tomatoes to the top of the bake and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. 

Serve with crusty bread.

JAB

The Rocket Bean Avocado Breakfast Special

After a few hectic months visiting New Zealand and trying out a few new recipes Rocket Bean is back!  Starting it all off with a fast, healthy and simple breakfast favourite of mine.

Ingredients -
2x Slices of Bread
½ Avocado, pitted
Several Tomatoes
Cholula Hot Sauce (or similar Chili sauce)
Cracked Sea Salt to taste

Method - All you need to do with this is make yourself a few slices of toast, scoop the avocado out onto  the toast and mash using a fork. Drizzle with Chili sauce, my favourite is Cholula Hot Sauce, which was served with a mexican breakfast omelette I had in New York last year. Add the chopped tomatoes and sprinkle with a little cracked sea salt, also great served on a bagel. Serve with your favourite breakfast beverage. Mine is served with Tea, not Coffee as the mug may suggest.

et viola. Mug design by Will Bryant.

Breakfast certainly needs more Chili sauce.

JAB

Stuffed Courgettes and Honey Mustard Roast Potatoes

Courgettes stuffed with mushrooms, pepper, cheddar cheese and breadcrumbs served with delicious potatoes roasted in a wholegrain honey mustard dressing. Serves 2. Simply leave out the cheese for a vegan friendly version of the courgettes.

Ingredients-

For the stuffed Courgettes-

2x Large Courgettes

1x Tomato, diced

1x Red Pepper, diced

150g Mushrooms, finely chopped

1x Onion, grated

3x Cloves of Garlic, grated

Breadcrumbs (one slice of bread lightly toasted and crumbled)

250g Cheddar Cheese, grated

For the Potatoes -

300g New Potatoes (with skins left on), washed and halved

3x tbsp Olive Oil

2x tbsp Lemon Juice

2x tsp Honey

2x tsp Wholegrain Mustard

Method - To make the dressing for the potatoes, simply mix together the oil, lemon juice, honey and mustard in a small bowl.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the potatoes, preheat the oven to 180°c. Parboil the potatoes for 15 minutes. Once the potatoes have cooked, remove them from the heat, drain and place them on a baking tray. Spoon over the dressing and place in the oven, cooking for around 25 minutes. Whilst cooking, it is a good idea to turn the potatoes every 5 minutes or so and spoon any excess dressing back over the top of potatoes to give them a nice, even coating. 

Whilst the potatoes are cooking add boiling water to a large pan, add the courgettes and simmer for around 7 minutes, until the courgettes begin to soften. Once cooked, remove the courgettes from the water and empty the pan.

Halve the courgettes and scoop out the soft inside with a spoon and mash with a fork. Set the courgette skins to one side on a grill pan. Heat some oil in a frying pan and add the onion, garlic and any herbs you want and heat for around 5 minutes. Next add the mushrooms, tomato, pepper, half of the breadcrumbs and half of the cheese and mix well, cooking for a further 5 minutes. This mixture makes up the stuffing for the courgettes.

Spoon generous amounts of the mix into the courgette skins, topping with the remainder of the cheese and breadcrumbs. Cook in the oven at 180°c for 15 minutes, until the cheese starts to bubble and the breadcrumbs become crisp.

JAB

Walnut, Apple and Blue Cheese Salad

A personal take on a dish I had whilst on holiday in New Haven, CT. A nice and simple salad that requires very little preparation.

Ingredients - 

Spinach

Cucumber, sliced

Tomatoes, sliced

Apple, sliced

Carrot, peeled and sliced

Stilton cheese, crumbled or grated

Broccoli, cut into florets

Walnuts, finely chopped

Balsamic Vinegar to dress

Simply prepare the ingredients as listed above. Cook the broccoli for 5-7 minutes (or longer if you prefer it softer). Place all the ingredients into a bowl, with the cooked broccoli on top and finally sprinkle the chopped walnuts and blue cheese over the salad. Dress with the balsamic vinegar to taste. Note - You may wish to leave the blue cheese to melt for a minute or two over the cooked broccoli before dressing.

Can be made vegan simply by leaving out the blue cheese, still very tasty.

JAB

Quesadillas and Homemade Guacamole

First up on Rocket Bean is an awesomely tasty recipe for quesadillas and homemade guacamole that serves 4 people. This also makes a great snack that can be eaten cold.

I'm currently looking at ways to make this recipe vegan friendly without the use of vegan cheese (not a huge fan of it) so watch this space. As with any recipe using fresh chilies, increase/decrease the quantities to your own personal taste and leave in the chilli seeds if you want it really spicy. Also, fresh coriander makes a huge difference to the taste of the guacamole and so it's worthwhile seeking out.

Guacamole
Ingredients-
2x Avocados
10-12 vine ripened cherry tomatoes, chopped
½ bunch of coriander, finely chopped (or 2tsp of dried coriander leaf)
3x cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1-3 chillies, finely chopped
1x lime, juice only
Salt and pepper, to taste 
Note: you can also add spinach to make the mixture go further.

Method - Very quick and easy to make. Halve and stone the avocados and spoon out the flesh into a blender (or a container suitable for use with a hand blender), add in the rest of the ingredients, squeezing the lime juice over the top of the contents. Now blend and the guacamole is ready to serve. Salt and pepper can be added after blending to taste. 

You can also simply mash all the ingredients together using a fork if you prefer a more chunky dip.

Finely chop the garlic and chillies before adding to the blender.

Chilli Mushroom and Bean Quesadillas
Ingredients-
8x flour tortillas
1x onion, grated
2x garlic cloves, grated

chilli powder

olive oil for frying
1x can of kidney beans, drained and mashed
1x can of butter beans, drained and mashed
1x chilli, finely chopped
1x red pepper, sliced into strips
200g strong cheddar, grated
250g mushrooms, sliced
tin foil

Method - Add the olive oil to the pan and heat to a medium temperature.

Next, add the grated onion, garlic and chilli powder to the pan with a little salt and fry gently for 10 mins, allowing to brown over the heat. Add the chopped chilli and mushrooms and continue to cook for around 5 mins until the mushrooms soften.

Preheat the oven to 180°c.

Drain the beans and mash together in a pan. 

Canned beans will generally not need to be cooked for this recipe and will be soft enough to mash straight from the can. Dried beans can be used instead but will need to be soaked overnight before being cooked and mashed. 

Once cooked place a tortilla onto a sheet of tin foil and then layer on the mashed beans, chilli mushroom mix, peppers and grated cheese spreading evenly across the tortilla and top with a second tortilla. Now place another sheet of foil on top of that tortilla repeating the layers until you have used all tortillas and filling (making a stack of 4 quesadillas).

Place the stack in the preheated oven for 15-20mins until the cheese has melted and the tortillas have started to go crisp around the edges. Remove from the oven and cut into quarters, serve with guacamole and side salad.

Enjoy, and feel free to leave feedback or let me know your thoughts should you try any recipes out!

JAB