Leek and Bacon Pasta Bake

This is a family favourite and I can't remember where it originated from but my sister can probably tell me! We normally cook this in France and have a few variations - chicken and broccoli, leek and bacon, pea and chicken, or any combination of those ingredients. I'm afraid this is one of my very vague recipes as I always forget to weigh the ingredients before I cook them. You just need to make enough cheese sauce to cover the pasta. Last time I made it I used half dried pasta and half fresh pasta and it tasted delicious.

Bacon and leeks

Leek and bacon pasta bake recipe

Serves 3 or so people

Preheat the oven to 180˚

Ingredients

2 leeks, thinly sliced

6 rashers of bacon, cut into pieces

Enough cooked pasta for 2 people

Knob of butter

Plain flour

Milk

Optional grating of nutmeg

Cheddar cheese or gruyère

Method

In a frying pan gently and slowly cook the leeks and bacon until the bacon is cooked and the leeks are soft and not squeaky.

Cook the pasta so that it's al dente.

Melt the butter in a heavy based pan and add the flour to make a roux (when it makes a sort of paste from the melted butter and flour).

Once the roux is made, slowly add milk, stirring/whisking all the time, until the mixture is smooth.

Bring to gently to the boil and keep stirring until the sauce thickens.

Take off the heat.

Grate a little nutmeg in (I don't know where to put in the nutmeg in a cheese sauce so I just add it near the end) and then pop the grated cheese in to taste. Stir until the cheese is melted in.

Put the leeks, bacon, pasta and sauce in an ovenproof dish and cook in the oven for 20 minutes or so until the cheese has melted and is beginning to brown on top.

Cheese sauce with nutmeg

Fajitas

I've been struck down by fresher's flu (despite no longer being freshers) so my cooking and blog writing has suffered a bit. I'm now well again and raring to cook some more. So far so good on that front: this week I've made scotch eggs, pasta, 4 batches of brownies, fajitas and tortilla española. In making all of that I have used up two dozen eggs! The meal I'm telling you about today is the only one that doesn't contain any eggs.

I'm not going to say that there's a recipe to make fajitas because there isn't, not really. Just choose the options on the list that you want, cook the chicken/quorn in the fajita seasoning mix and the relevant veg then place everything in bowls on the table. Voilà, one fun meal for everyone to enjoy. The photos were taken by Sarah, who stood on a chair, announcing she felt tall, in order to take some of the pictures.

Fajita "recipe"

Take your pick as which bits you want.

Put the tortillas in the microwave according to the instructions on the pack (normally about 30 seconds for 4).

I tend to serve two tortillas per person, heating the second ones as everyone finishes their last mouthfuls of the first.

Ingredients

Chicken (one small breast per person) or quorn (especially for Grace!) to the same amount as the chicken.

Fajita spice mix (mine's from Barts and I got it at Waitrose)

Shredded lettuce

Hot and/or cold sweetcorn (my sister will only eat it cold, ick!)

Salsa (Tracklemore do nice ones - I found it really difficult to find salsa in the small supermarkets near me and wound up buying mine in a cheese shop in Didsbury)

Chipotle sauce (Changos in Manchester does the best and they now sell it in store)

Grated cheddar cheese

Tortilla wraps

Mushrooms sliced and fried in butter

Melted red peppers and onions (2 of each plus butter)

the peppers and onions beginning to melt down

Method

Cook 2 red peppers and 2 onions, cut into long strips, in about 50-100g of butter over a low heat for 30 minutes, keep the lid on and stir occasionally, adding more butter if needed.

Cook the chicken/quorn in butter and add the seasoning to taste.

Heat/cut the rest of the ingredients as you wish and place in bowls.

Heat the tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Remind everyone that there's got to be enough for another round and tuck in!

What do you put in your fajitas?