Cauliflower Cheese & Bacon Pie

I've been wanting to make a pie for a while, but never really got around to it. I fancied a pie that wasn't your usual beef/chicken pie and came across a cauliflower cheese pie on the GFM website. To make it non-veggie for hubby I altered the recipe slightly and added some bacon. I was really tasty, creamy but light at the same time and we'll be certainly be having it again. I did use my alphabet cutters to put our names on top of the pies, but it hasn't shown up well on the photo. I served it with carrot and roast potatoes.

Cauliflower cheese and bacon pie
Serves 2

1/2 small cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 rashers of smoked back bacon, cut into small strips
3 spring onions, chopped
200ml creme fraiche
100g mature cheddar (I used Quickes cheddar)

seasoning

ready-made puff pastry

egg, lightly beaten

1) Preheat oven to 200oc. Fry bacon and spring onions until bacon is cooked. In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients together (apart from pastry) then spoon into pie dishes.

2) Roll out puff pastry to size of dishes then place on top. Pinch around the edges and use a knife to put 2 slits into each piece of pastry to stop it getting soggy underneath. Brush with a small amount of egg. Cook for 25-30 min.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Yesterday was a bit of a failed cookery day. Initially I was meant to make treacle scones, but was over enthusiastic with the black treacle and instead of a dough ended up with a cake-style mix so made some odd looking cup cakes. Then for tea I made saffron rice with chicken and peppers, Hubbie really liked it, but I thought it was tasteless and boring. I've promised hubbie that tonights tea will be tried and tested homemade beef burgers!

Today it's quite cold and surprise, surprise it's raining. This calls for good old soup with huge wedges of bread & butter.

Cauliflower cheese soup

Serves 6

knob of butter

1 onion finely chopped

1 cauliflower

1 potato, cut into chunks

500ml vegetable stock

400ml milk

100g mature cheese

1) Heat butter in large saucepan and cook onoin until softened. Add cauliflower, potato, stock milk and seasoning. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 min until cauliflower & potato is beginning to fall apart.

2) Mash with potato masher (or blitz if you don't like bits) stir in cheese and serve.

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