I think this might be a sign that we are well and truly adults now. We have also started a Brunch Club. Once a month one of us will choose somewhere delicious to have brunch - I now need to find somewhere in South West London that has interesting vegetarian brunch options to wow my friends with. It's not a competition, and yet it would be horrible if you chose somewhere that no-one liked! I do LOVE the fact that the majority of our meet-ups are now focused around food rather than Jaegerbombs. Goodbye evil hangovers, hello satisfied food belly.
No matter how hard we tried, we simply could not eat all the cheese. My host said he was going to throw the left-over cheese in the bin as he wouldn't eat it. This is an OUTRAGEOUS waste and basically money down the drain, so the cheap-skate opportunist in me begged for a plastic seal-able bag to take some of the left-overs home.
There are all sorts of things you can do with some ends of cheese. Even the rinds can be used to add flavour to things - dropping a cheese rind into a tomato-ey vegetable soup sounds weird, but actually works to add a lovely cheesy depth of flavour. I decided to make an unctuous cheesy pasta bake. This is not an exact recipe, as I was simply using what I had, so adjust for how many people you have as well as what you have left-over. If you need an exact white sauce recipe then there are plenty to chose from on the BBC food website - I tend to wing it a little bit. **Warning, this is NOT a healthy recipe!**
I always buy tortelloni when doing my monthly shop, as it is always on offer, keeps well in the freezer and makes for a slightly more interesting pasta bake. This is one of my favourites...
Start by making a basic white sauce. Melt butter in a non-stick pan, then add the same weight of flour-to-butter and cook for a couple of minutes until the flour is cooked out. Start adding in milk, stirring continuously. I use a whisk for this as I find it helps stop lumps in the sauce. Bring to the boil - keep stirring! Then heat gently until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper (white is best, but black pepper is fine too).
In the mean time boil water for the pasta. Add salt to the water.
Grate your cheese - I used about 100g. The selection I had was Cheddar, Lancashire, and smoked Cheddar. I wish it had been my brilliant lightbulb-type-idea to add smoked Cheddar, rather than just what I had, as it worked really well and I would like to be able to take credit for it.
Pop the tortelloni in the boiled salted water - it only takes three minutes to cook.
Take the white sauce off the heat and add in most of the cheese. Leave some aside to sprinkle on top.
Once the pasta is drained combine with the sauce and mix well. Put in an oven-proof dish and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Pop in a pre-heated oven (about 180) until brown and bubbly on top. I served with peas as a nod to healthiness, and they break through the rich cheesiness too. Also good would be sliced tomatoes, or a green salad.
A brilliant use of unwanted cheese and tortelloni from the freezer!
There are all sorts of things you can do with some ends of cheese. Even the rinds can be used to add flavour to things - dropping a cheese rind into a tomato-ey vegetable soup sounds weird, but actually works to add a lovely cheesy depth of flavour. I decided to make an unctuous cheesy pasta bake. This is not an exact recipe, as I was simply using what I had, so adjust for how many people you have as well as what you have left-over. If you need an exact white sauce recipe then there are plenty to chose from on the BBC food website - I tend to wing it a little bit. **Warning, this is NOT a healthy recipe!**
I always buy tortelloni when doing my monthly shop, as it is always on offer, keeps well in the freezer and makes for a slightly more interesting pasta bake. This is one of my favourites...
Start by making a basic white sauce. Melt butter in a non-stick pan, then add the same weight of flour-to-butter and cook for a couple of minutes until the flour is cooked out. Start adding in milk, stirring continuously. I use a whisk for this as I find it helps stop lumps in the sauce. Bring to the boil - keep stirring! Then heat gently until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper (white is best, but black pepper is fine too).
In the mean time boil water for the pasta. Add salt to the water.
Grate your cheese - I used about 100g. The selection I had was Cheddar, Lancashire, and smoked Cheddar. I wish it had been my brilliant lightbulb-type-idea to add smoked Cheddar, rather than just what I had, as it worked really well and I would like to be able to take credit for it.
Pop the tortelloni in the boiled salted water - it only takes three minutes to cook.
Take the white sauce off the heat and add in most of the cheese. Leave some aside to sprinkle on top.
Once the pasta is drained combine with the sauce and mix well. Put in an oven-proof dish and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Pop in a pre-heated oven (about 180) until brown and bubbly on top. I served with peas as a nod to healthiness, and they break through the rich cheesiness too. Also good would be sliced tomatoes, or a green salad.
A brilliant use of unwanted cheese and tortelloni from the freezer!
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