Ham and leek macaroni cheese

Ingredients
Olive oil
4 leeks, finely sliced
600 ml semi-skimmed milk
1 tsp English mustard
75g blue cheese
2 tsp cornflour
130g ham
300g rigatoni pasta
50g Vintage Farmhouse Cheddar



Put a splash of olive oil in a medium saucepan over a low heat, add the leeks and sweat until softened. Pour in the milk and bring to the boil, add the mustard and the blue cheese and simmer for 5 minutes.

Mix the cornflour and 2 tsp water in a bowl then whisk into the milk mix. Stir until thickened and season to taste. Chop the ham into pieces and stir through.

Cook the pasta according to the pack instructions (until firm to the bite) then drain off and run under cold water. Mix in with the sauce.

Pour the pasta into a large ovenproof dish and top with grated cheddar cheese. Grill under a medium grill until golden.

Chicken Pasta with Thyme-Mint Cream Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 pound pasta, such as linguine or fettucini
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
• 1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and more salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

1 Heat 4 quarts of salted* water in a large pot for the pasta. As the water heats, prepare the chicken. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high. Season the chicken pieces generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the chicken pieces, spreading them out initially and then not stirring them, so they have an opportunity to brown. Once lightly browned on one side, use tongs to flip the pieces over so they brown on the second side. When pieces are browned on both sides, and just cooked through, remove to a paper towel lined plate.
2 Deglaze the pan with white wine. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock and let liquids reduce by half (turn up the heat if necessary). Add the cream, mint, thyme, lemon zest, honey, salt, and vinegar. Reduce the sauce by half again.
3 Once the pasta water is boiling, add the pasta and cook following directions on pasta package. When pasta is ready, drain and add to cream sauce when cream sauce has been reduced by half and is thick enough to coat a spoon. Add chicken to the pasta and sauce. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
* Use a teaspoon of salt for every quart of water. Some people wait until the water is boiling to add the salt. Makes little difference to me. Just make sure you get the salt in the pasta water or your pasta will be tasteless.
Serve immediately. Garnish with a little chopped fresh mint and thyme. Serves 4-6.

Italian Sausage Spaghetti

 The beauty of this spaghetti recipe is that it is very easy to make and you don't have to add any seasoning to achieve wonderful flavor. The sauce gets all of its seasoning from two Italian sausages - one sweet, one spicy.

Ingredients

Italian sausages

• 1 large Italian sweet sausage
• 1 large Italian hot and spicy sausage
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3/4 large (28 oz) can of whole tomatoes
• Olive oil

• 1 lb (16 oz) spaghetti pasta
• Salt

• Grated Parmesan cheese

Method

The Sauce:
Take the Italian sausage meat out of the sausage casings. Break up into pieces and mix the sweet and spicy sausage meats together. Brown the sausage meat in a large skillet on medium high or high heat with a little olive oil. In a separate skillet sauté the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent. Purée the tomatoes in a blender, add to the skillet with the sausage meat. Add the cooked onions and garlic.
The Pasta
Fill an 8-quart or larger stock pot at least half full with water and bring to a boil. Add a tablespoon of salt. Slowly add the pasta, stirring to prevent clumping. Allow the water to come to a boil again. Cook, uncovered, with a fairly vigorous boil, for as long as the directions on the pasta package say, usually about 10-12 minutes. When pasta is al dente (cooked but still a little firm), remove the pot from the heat. Add a cup or two of cold water to the pasta to stop the cooking. Drain the water from the pasta through a colander. Place the pasta in a serving bowl.
Serve immediately. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese.
Serves 4-6.

Creamy spaghetti with crispy bacon

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 Minutes

Cooking time: 15 Minutes

Nutrition per serving: 779 cals, 39.2g fat, of which 20.9g saturated fat, 8.3g added sugar, 3.5g salt

You will need

• 300g  unsmoked back bacon
• 400g  mushrooms
• 200g  young leaf spinach
• 150ml pot of single cream
• 500g  spaghetti

• Onion
• garlic
• egg
• milk

Method

1. Cook 400g  spaghetti, following pack instructions.
2. Meanwhile, fry the unsmoked back bacon, cut into strips, over a medium heat for 5 minutes until browned and crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.
3. Fry the mushrooms, sliced, 1 onion and 1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced, for 3–4 minutes in the oil left in the pan from the bacon. Return the bacon to the pan and add the spinach leaves, 1 egg yolk, 75ml single cream and 75ml milk, and stir well until heated through.
4. Remove from the heat, add the cooked spaghetti and stir through to serve.