Bacon, Mushroom and Potato Salad

This is a gorgeous salad which I always used to have when I worked at the Picturedrome in Northampton. Making it is not an exact science, it's more of a bit of this and a bit of that and lots of tasting in-between.

Salad Ingredients:

Potatoes

Mushrooms (preferably chestnut )

Bacon

Salad Leaves 

Vinaigrette Ingredients:

Method:


1. Cut your potatoes to the size you want them in the salad
2. Par-boil them for 10-15 minutes

3. Rinse in cold water

4. Assemble vinaigrette (taste testing till you get your combination right)

5. Fry off your bacon, garlic, mushrooms, and potatoes until they are all nicely golden

6. Assemble salad
7. Pour over vinaigrette 
8. Serve and enjoy

 

*Philly Carbonara* (adapted from the Philadephia website)

 Ingredients

• 600 g spaghetti
• 6 rashers bacon cut into stripes
• 180g/ 1 tub Philadelphia Light or the supermarket equivalent
• 2 eggs
• 3 stalks flat parsley leaves picked and chopped, or whatever fresh or dry herbs of choice
• 300 ml vegetable stock
• Shavings of parmesan to garnish
• 1 onion
• 1clove of garlic

Instructions

Cook the pasta according to the pack instructions. While it’s cooking fry off the onion and garlic in olive oil, then add bacon pieces in a large pan, add the veg stock and simmer for a few minutes till the liquid is reduced by half.
Beat together the Philly and the egg  in a separate bowl. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and return it to the hot pan, add the bacon and stir through, add the philly and egg mixture and stir through well to combine everything.
Divide between 6 bowls scatter with the parsley and a few shavings of Parmesan. YUM! Original recipe link

Cat's Smoked Bacon, Courgette and Sweet Pepper Risotto

This was sent to me by my lovely friend Cat, who is currently taking a year of being a governess for a rich Russian family and jet setting round the world as a result - lucky lady!

This is my first time of cooking this recipe, so I hope it goes to plan and does the original justice. I will upload the details and photos when I'm done...Here's the ingredients and method which I'm going to follow:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
175g (6oz) button mushrooms, sliced
250g (9oz) arborio or other risotto rice
900ml (30fl oz) chicken stock, home-made if possible, hot
salt and freshly ground black pepper
225g (8oz) smoked streaky bacon, cut into strips
275g (10oz) small courgettes, diced
25g (1oz) butter
50g (2oz) parmesan, grated, and a few shaved slices
chopped fresh parsley

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan on the Boiling Plate (I used my cast iron Le Creuset wok here), add the onion, garlic and red (green or yellow) pepper, and saute for a few minutes. Toss in the mushrooms and cook for a further minute.
2. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes. Pour 750ml (25fl oz) of boiling stock and season.
3. Cover with the lid and transfer to the Simmering Oven for 25 minutes (here I left the mixture in the wok but got it to a simmer and put the lid on, I kept it simmering on the hob and that worked fine). Check and stir once during this time, bringing back to the boil on the Boiling Plate, and adding more stock if necessary.
4. Fry and brown bacon on the Boiling Plate in a large non-stick frying pan. Remove and put on to a plate.

Add the courgettes to the fat in the pan and fry until just tender. Put to one side with the bacon.
5. Test the rice: it should be soft on the outside but still have a little bite in the centre. Return to the Boiling Plate to reduce if there is excess liquid. Add the butter, grated parmesan, the bacon and courgettes.

Check the seasoning and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley (or any other fresh herb of choice) and shavings of fresh parmesan if liked. 

Conclusion - Yummy! - Thank you Cat! xx