Chicken & Bacon Pasta Bake

Inspired by Baking Heaven Magazine and a recipe from Waitrose that appeared in their magazine this month, tonight i made…

Chicken & Bacon Pasta Bake

• 1 Bag Penne pasta
• 1 Cooked Chicken
• 3 Waitrose Cheese Sauces for Pasta
• 1 Pack Streaky Smoked Bacon
• 1 Bag grated Mozarella

1. Cook pasta in boiling water until tender. While its cooking chop the streaky bacon and fry until crispy.
2. Drain pasta and put back in the saucepan. Add cheese sauces, bacon and meat from the chicken, mix and season.
3. Place in an ovenproof dish and scatter cheese over.
4. Bake in the oven until golden on top.

If i was making this for me and The Hubster i would go for Mackerel, or at least add onions…but what can you do? Kids eh 😉

I served it with a bread from the machine. I thought i’d experiment with bread mixes, and this one sounded interesting…

Unfortunately, what sounded so promising ended up stinking the house out…too much garlic in my opinion 😦

For dessert we had Paul Hollywoods Heather Honey Sponge which teetered very closely to being a complete disaster lol. I steamed it for nearly 2 hours in the end (the recipe says 1 and 1/4 hours) and even then it wasn’t done…i ended up whacking it in the oven for 20 minutes lol. Which, come to think of it, wasn’t a bad idea because it gave the edges a slight crunch lol

Had it with Waitrose Madagascan Custard…what? Did you really think i’d make my own custard after cooking all that lot today? 😉

So why should i make my own custard when there are so many great pre-made ones available?

Chicken in A Crust

When the kids saw their dinner this evening they were convinced it was a pie (again), but no, it was Jamie’s Chicken in a Crust. Ok, so mine didn’t look as pretty as Jamie’s, and i cheated by buying a chicken crown rather than a whole bird. But the meat did seem really tender. Would i go to all that effort again? Probably not. I think you’d get the same effect if you roast it in one of those bags.

I served it with Nigel Slaters Cheese smothered potatoes and a 3 Cheese bread from the machine.

 

Which contained Pecorino, Dolcelatte and Mozzarella.

For dessert i made Tosset Cakes. Ive been watching Jamie & Jimmy’s Friday Night feast, and i love that they have been highlighting English classics that are in danger of extinction. I ended up with 32 cakes/biscuits (but the recipe will make more if you roll them out thinner).

 

Im not really sure what i was expecting, but after eating a couple i was a bit bored…so gawd knows how long its going to take to get through this lot lol

 

Spag Bol with Home Made Ciabatta

How many different recipes do you think there are for Spaghetti Bolognese? Over the years I’ve tried loads, including one that had chicken livers in it lol.

But tonight I stuck to my regular version.

I usually serve my Spag Bol with warm Ciabatta and balsamic drizzled into a good quality olive oil. Today we had the Ciabatta from the bread maker. The texture wasn’t the same as we’re used to, but, bloody hell, it was so light and fluffy! 🙂

Delish!

Cheat!

Yesterday I baked my first loaf in the bread maker…A Cheese & Bacon loaf.

It came out really well and was much nicer than I remember it being with my old machine.

I can’t wait to try another one!

I know it’s kind of cheating, using a bread maker, but I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with having a helping hand in the kitchen, after all, I did make short crust pastry while the loaf was cooking *pokes tongue out*

Which brings me nicely round to Nigel’s Sausage & Potato Pie. I have a really bad habit. I don’t seem to be able to follow a recipe lol. I have to tinker, fiddle with it. I blame my kids. When they were younger it was a case of trying to hide veg in their food. The greatest challenge was onions. I still have to grate them into most dishes I serve even now 😉

So I tinkered with the recipe and came up with my own version. This is for one pie.

Sausage and Potato Pie Alla Nige

10 of your favourite sausages (but depends on the size of your pie plate/dish)
2 large potatoes
1 pack Shortcrust Pastry (I made my own yesterday, but next time I’ll use a packet, that way I won’t forget the salt lol)
1 onion
Herbs, Seasoning & Eggwash

Peel and quarter the potatoes. Blanch, dice, then wash (to remove the sticky starch) and set aside. Take the skin off the sausages and mash together with your hands. Dice the onion and sauté until translucent. Drain on kitchen paper to get rid of the oil and add to the sausage mixture when cool. Add potatoes to the sausage, season and add any herbs you fancy (one of my sons doesn’t like herbs, but he does like chilli, so I’m thinking i could add some next time) and give a final mix. Place the mixture in a pie dish/plate.

Roll out the pastry and lay it over the sausage. Trim, seal and wash with egg. Cut a slit to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the oven until the pastry turns golden. I put mine in at 180 degree’s for about 50 minutes and served it with roasted vegetables (butternut squash, quartered onions, whole tomatoes, peppers & chunks of courgette).

Enjoy! I did 🙂