Cheesy pasta with broccoli, peas and pig product

So, last December my brother Charles came to visit. Charles is 25, lives in Cape Town with his girlfriend and two cats and is a junior actuary or something to do with maths, statistics and numbers and requires lots of studying for mega exams. Anyway, he came to visit. Now it was lovely to see him but...... Charles is a pain in the ass to feed. The chili didn't make it into a single dish in two weeks and even pepper in the cheese sauce was deemed 'too spicy'. I am not sure who fears the visits more - me for not knowing what to cook or Charles for fear I might make him eat something 'foreign'. Like cabbage. Which he ate (under orders!).

So, the idea for spending some time putting together recipes for Charles to cook came when we were discussing what he in fact does eat at home. The conversation started because I offered to make him some cheese sauce for his pasta (enthusiastic yes!) and set about putting some creme fraiche in a pot, grating in a significant amount of cheddar and adding the dreaded SEASONING. Charles wasn't sure about this so I asked 'how do you make cheese sauce'? To which he replied.......'it comes from a packet'. Oh good grief! I think it would take me longer to open the packet than to mix up a fresh batch of my cheesy goodness. Once recovered from this hideous revelation that I am in fact related to someone who EATS SAUCE FROM A PACKET, I tried to get to root cause. I asked why cooking from scratch didn't happen (turns out a lot of food comes from packets or the frozen fish aisle......)? This is when things got substantially worse for Charles. He said the thing that only a full-time working mother of three or more is allowed to say to me, He said 'I don't have the time'!

So, there I was having started my day at 6.20am, done double drop off at nursery and school, spent 40 mins on the train, done a full days work in the office (and I hardly doss at my desk!), 40 minutes home, done bed, bath, stories etc and was standing cooking up a cheesy goodness storm when my (very brave) brother uttered those words. All I can say is that he is lucky to be alive! It did get me thinking though that despite His Godliness JO promising we can cook amazing meals in under 30 or even 15 minutes, some people still don't believe him or perhaps don't have the equipment. So, this year is about sharing what I cook when I get home from a long day that doesn't take long, doesn't require anything manufactured by Mr Kenwood or Mr Magimix and that even fussy Charles will eat!

Happy cooking brother x

Cheesy pasta with broccoli, peas and pig product

Ingredients:

• Pasta - any kind, enough for 2 people
• Broccoli, a handful chopped into small florets
• Handful of peas
• Pig product - I chose ham but bacon would work equally well (just cook the bacon first!)
• 2-3T Creme fraiche
• Handful of grated cheddar
• Seasoning
• Parmesan to serve

Method

Put your pasta on to boil (this takes about 10 mins but be guided by the packet). After about 4 minutes, add your broccoli florets to the pasta and a minute or so later, chuck in the peas. 

While this is happening, get a small pot on the stove and put 2-3T creme fraiche into the pot and put over a gentle heat (do not let this boil vigorously - bad things happen to dairy products when they boil vigorously), add your cheddar and season with both salt and pepper (Charles - this is crucial and it doesn't have to be a lot. Pepper is your friend). Stir well and allow the cheese to melt and get the sauce nice and hot. 

Chop your ham / bacon.

You may find the sauce gets a bit thick. Quick pasta sauce trick - add a little of the starchy pasta cooking water - it will thin the sauce but also add a nice shine......

Drain the pasta and veg and then mix through the sauce and the ham / bacon. Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan and a side of leafy greens (salad) if you like that sort of thing. 

There you have it, took the sum total of about 14 mins to prepare and cook and that included boiling the water for the pasta in the kettle! No exciting equipment required and a delicious meal suitable for the whole family - even my kids love this!

In other news:

• I dislike intensely any woman who says things like 'I had such an easy pregnancy' or 'why wouldn't I still be wearing 6 inch heals, I really don't feel any different?'. The reason for my growing despise is that despite growing seemingly cute and well behaved children, while in utero, they inflict such terror on my poor body that I have no idea how I am to function over the next 25 weeks! A brief chat about the backache, the varicose veins, the constipation (sorry TMI) and the absurdly sore and huge boobs, would be enough to warn any teen off shagging for life! 
• I made my first ever lasagne recently. I mish-mashed a whole heap of recipes together but two things stood out - 1. I added cheese to the bechemal so in fact not a bechemal sauce at all but a cheese sauce and 2. I added tinned sweetcorn to the mince (I usually add sweetcorn to bolognaise....). Leigh declared it was 'better than the school lasagne'. Could I ask for higher praise?

• Yesterday when I suggested making the same lasagne, Leigh said 'I hate lasagne'. There really is no pleasing some people
• I have no other news. I wrote it all down in the last post. Nothing has changed.