Ready steady cook stylie!

Currently listening to: "Somewhere - Westside Story" - Leonard Bernstien

I was invited for dinner round to a mates house last night on the condition I cooked from ingredients that they had in their cupboards. As ever I was in a pasta mood and made chicken, bacon and leek in four-cheese sauce.

I used this recipe that my Mum taught me, it's so easy and works better then more complicated recipes.

Easy Cheese Sauce

I table spoon of Corn Flour
½ pint Milk
Any cheese, and as much cheese as you want!
Crack pepper (to taste)


Add corn flour to milk, and bring to boil stirring continually
Add cheese, pepper and turn heat right down, keep stirring.
Stir ‘till all the lumps have gone and serve

I just butterflied the chicken and chopped it into strips to fry off. Then finely chopped the bacon, leek and garlic to add to the pan at the last minute.
Take off the heat and stir in the cheese sauce.

After the meal, one of my mates commented on how if he had that meal at a good Italian restaurant he would be sure to go back again!

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me so I couldn't take a pic :( so instead I've uploaded one of my random travel photos from Australia!

Mike

Getting better

Currently listening to: "Fratres- for Violin & Piano" (this clip is only the opening section of the piece)- Arvo Pärt



I'm finally getting better - YEAY! I've been to the doctor and I know it's nothing serious...



Also my appitite returned today - the last time I lost my appitite was when I was about 2 years old when on holiday in Gran Canaria, but thats another story. When I got home from the doctors I made myself a sort of carbonara. I used the cabonara bit of the resipie from a this BBC food page, however I used ham instead of pancetta and I also added garlic and sweetcorn.


Anyway, not really got much else to talk about after yesterday's rather lengthy blog!


Mike

Yachting...

Currently Listening too: "Hamish" - Screaming Citizens (check 'em out click on the name!)

Well I'm back from yachting and still alive, although I came close to running us aground over a pretty famous sandbank! On-board we had a mother watch system which means one crew member is "mother" for 24hrs, duties include making sure the crew are all well fed.

For my main meal I cooked a variation on a dish I used to do in a bar I used to work in:

Chorizo, Spinach and Tomato Pasta

Sorry the pic is a bit dark!

This dish is really simple, just fry off slices of Chorizo Sausage, chopped onion, crush garlic (to taste). Once these are cooked, cover with a tin of chopped tomatoes and add fresh chopped coriander and a bit of black pepper.

Heat through then add a huge helping of spinach, stir in for 30 seconds, take off heat and serve. As you can probably see from the photo I forgot to add the spinach before serving the sauce so I parched it in a pan with water and served as a garnish!

As I do with everything, add a little gratted cheese...

I'm back home again for Easter weekend, but I return to my student digs on Tuesday so expect some more blogging towards the end of the week! HAPPY EASTER...

Easy Mushroom Pasta

Currently listening to: "At the River" - Groove Armada

It's Sunday, my cupboards are nearly empty and the corner shop is shut. So I routed around the kitchen to she what I could put together to make a decent lunch.

This dish is really easy and pretty quick to make as it needs nearly no preparation.

Ingredients

100g Pasta
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
A handful of chopped mushroom
A small bit of garlic (any form is ok, paste, roasted flake or fresh cloves)
Two splashes of white wine
Mixed herbs
As much or as little cheese as you want

How to make it

1. Start cooking your pasta which ever way you prefer; I usual cook on the hob with (obviously) boiling water, a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

2. Fry the mushrooms and add garlic once they start to brown.

3. Once all the mushrooms are brown lower the heat and stir in the condensed soup. DON’T NOT FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE TIN TELLING YOU TO ADD WATER!

4. Add your white wine and herb and continue stirring until the sauce looses all the lumps.

5. Drain pasta, and top with sauce, cheese and another sprinkle of herbs.

6. If you’re lucky enough to have ham or bacon in your fridge you can always add it to give your meal some more flavour.