So you want a recipe, huh?

So you want a recipe, Pete?

This evening I tried a recipe I recently read about on a great blog A Girl Called Jack

Budget meals. Very good, you should check it out.

ANYWAY, I'm jobless at the moment and thought instead of spending so much money on food and wasting so much of it, I'd grab some tips from her recipes.

The recipe I based it on was Leek, Savoy and Smoked Cheese Pasta 

The only change I made was add some smoked ham, some water and black pepper. Not fancy ham, just the bog standard thin sliced stuff you get for sandwiches. I used about four or five slices of that and shred it. I used some water to soften the veg because south beach and dukan diet tips die hard.

Ingredients:

100g leek, finely sliced (should be one leek)

Savoy cabbage leaves, shredded (I used four for two of us)

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 onion, finely chopped

Tablespoon of flour

Tablespoon of oil

100ml milk

30-50g smoked cheese 

Wholewheat Spaghetti

Black pepper

Pop oil in the pan, add onions and leek. Low heat and soften them. I added a few tablespoons of water too to aid softening (and not add more oil/fat). I added garlic after quite a bit of softening had gone on (5-10 minutes). Add cabbage and soften for another few minutes. Pop some black pepper in that and mix well. This can be kept on a low heat while you cook the pasta or set aside.

Put pasta on to cook.

Put oil and flour into a small saucepan and mix until it is a smooth paste. Mix milk in a bit at a time, mixing in well. Once this is done, low heat, add the cheese (and ham if using) and warm through, stirring almost constantly so the cheese melts and doesn't stick.

Hopefully the pasta is done by now. I drained it (so it was still a bit wet) then put the cheese sauce in and tossed it well. THEN I added the vegetables, tossed again then popped it on to plates.

How was it?

Very nice, very smoky. I may have added too much black pepper and next time I would omit the onions. Leeks AND onions is a bit too much for me.