Indulgent Macaroni Cauliflower Cheese with Truffle Oil

I love Macaroni Cheese and Cauliflower Cheese and so combining the two makes an even more sense.  Adding the truffle oil to this dish makes it even richer and I think it works a treat. Serve as an extravagant side dish with a roast. Or, as a main course suggestion,  serve it with some baked tomatoes and fresh rocket. 

Ingredients, which serves 6 people:

1 Cauliflower, broken into fleurettes (I think that's what they're called)

300g Macaroni

100g Mature Cheddar, Grated to go on the top

150g cream cheese. I used Quark on this occasion

1 table spoon of horseradish

3 teaspoons Truffle Oil

Seasoning: Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg

For the cheese sauce:

75g butter

3 tablespoons of plain flour

2 pints of milk

200g Mature Cheddar, Grated

Method:

First make your cheese sauce and let it cool on the side.

Cheese Sauce:

1. Melt your butter in a non stick pan. 

2. Whilst still on a low heat, stir in the flour so that you have a smooth paste. 

3. Gradually add your milk

4. Then add your grated cheese and season well with Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg.

5. Stirring regularly, bring the sauce to the boil until it thickens.

6. Once it's done, cover with cling-film (so that it doesn't form a crust on the top) and let it cool, ready to pour over your macaroni and cauliflower.

Then cook the Macaroni and Cauliflower. Cook the pasta for 3 minutes less than it says on the packet. The cauliflower only needs about 4 minutes cooking, so add your cauliflower pieces to the pasta water 4 minutes before the pasta should finish cooking (probably about half way through).

Drain in a colander and pour over cold water so that the pasta and cauliflower do not continue cooking. Once cold, place the pasta and cauliflower in a large baking dish.

To the dish, add your horseradish, truffle oil, cream cheese and seasoning of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir everything together.

Then pour over your cold cheese sauce mix and make sure it's stirred in evenly and top with your 100g of grated cheddar. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes on 180 degrees centigrade until golden brown on top. Once cooked, let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Amazing(ly Simple) Artichokes

Artichokes are one of my favourite comfort foods and let's face it, we need as much of it as we can get at this time of year. They also look so majestic and impressive without really having to make much effort.  Ideal for a starter, you can basically just boil them and serve. 

Billy and I recently went to Brighton where my highlight of the weekend, as well as our tour of the Royal Pavilion, was dining at the Hotel du Vin. We shared this artichoke starter which was simply presented and served with two dipping sauces- one was a hollandaise sauce and the other a garlic butter.

 I liked the no fuss presentation with the mini copper pans. You could easily do something like this at home for a dinner party. However, my recipe is even easier:

Ingredients:

• 1 Globe Artichoke per person 
• Garlic to put in the boiling water (about half to one clove per artichoke)
• Juice of 1 lemon- about a quarter of a lemon per artichoke, depending on your tastes
• Salt and pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• White or Red wine vinegar
• Butter

Method:

• Cut of the stalks of each artichoke and any damaged outer leaves
• Boil them for 20 minutes (unless they're the small ones in which case 15 minutes will be fine) with 2 whole garlic cloves in the water. Depending on how many artichokes you're boiling, I'd allow half a clove of garlic more for every additional artichoke you do.
• Drain and place in a bowl, putting a clove at the bottom of each bowl to add flavour to your dipping juices. This is optional.
• Season with plenty of salt and pepper
• Squeeze over some lemon juice (about a quarter of lemon per artichoke).
• Then pour over a generous glug of Extra Virgin Olive oil and a dash of White Wine Vinegar.
• Finish with a knob of butter which will melt into the artichoke.
• Then get stuck in, using the juices in your bowl to dip your leaves. Place a bowl in the middle of the table to discard your leaves and choke.

I like the theatre of eating an artichoke this way: peeling off each leaf and dipping it in the sauce to eat off the fragrant flesh. Then, taking your time and eventually getting to the heart (you need to remove the spiky choke with a spoon) with which you can mop up the remaining juices in your bowl. By the end of the dish you end up with a mountain of discarded leaves and messy fingers as there's no sophisticated way to do it. For me it's the perfect interactive starter and it's so easy to do. 

Not one to do though if you're absolutely starving and in a rush as it lends itself to eating slowly and/ or sharing.