Beetroot, olive & broccoli bolognaise‏

Ingredients 1 small onion, half a stick of celery, a handful of fresh or oil marinated olives - never the rubbery brined ones! 1/2 a head of broccoli, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1 small beetroot, spaghetti, red wine, 100ml passata, 1 clove garlic.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 20 minutes

I have always been rather excited by raw foodism. Partly due to OCD (the idea that I am not getting EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE nutrient from my food ALL THE TIME can be somewhat crippling during my wiggier moments) and partly because HEY SO DELICIOUS. Baby Led Weaning meant that my son had a good grounding in the individual flavours of different ingredients before he experienced more complex meals and I learned to appreciate how gorgeous simple food could be. This isn't actually a raw recipe, but it's inspired by no-fuss, simple flavours working so very well together.

1) Blitz the celery, onion and garlic in your food processor and tip into a pan. Add a little olive oil and sizzle until soft) 

2) Add the broccoli and olives to the food processor and blitz until reduced to the size of breadcrumbs. Grate the beetroot (I just pull out the blade spindle and add the grater blade to my food processor so it's all contained in one bowl.) and then add to the pan of softened onions and celery.

3) I like to add a little red wine along with the passata tomatoes and herbs, but this is entirely according to taste. Cook for just as long as it takes for your spaghetti to boil (8-12 minutes depending on the type of spaghetti) and drain.

4) Add the pasta to the pan and stir through. Serve hot (with a sprinkle of parmesan if you aren't vegetarian)

Linguine with wild garlic pesto & plum tomatoes

Ingredients 100g wild garlic, 100g fresh basil, 50ml olive oil, parmigiano, 1/2 lemon, 50g pine nuts, linguine, tomatoes.

Preparation: 5-10 minutes

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me recently posting about foraging for wild garlic pesto but I have finally got around to actually updating here! I love wild garlic. It's so vibrantly green and though every bit as pungent as garlic bulbs, when eaten raw it does not have that same sting of heat. When I was pregnant with The Starchild I swapped garlic bulbs for wild garlic on many an occasion to avoid getting heartburn. This dish is so fresh and glorious and ridiculously quick and simple to make.

1) Put the pasta on to boil and slice the tomatoes into quarters.

2) Add the basil and wild garlic to a mortar bowl and grind to a fine pulp. You can use a blender if you wish of course.

3) Add the pine nuts, olive oil and grated parmeggian and grind thoroughly, adding lemon juice to taste, and if you wish a pinch of salt though personally I find the parmigiano and wild garlic take care of the savoury notes.

4) Drain the pasta and stir in a few spoons of pesto, then toss with the tomatoes and serve.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

Ingredients 1/2 can pumpkin puree, 1 clove garlic, 1/4 leek, 250g macaroni, 1 pint vegetable stock, 1 tsp truffle oil, 100g cheese, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp sage, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 sweet potato.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

I absolutely adore mac and cheese. So much so that despite it's obvious perfection, I am constantly re-inventing it in order to have it more often, without being bored. This version is about as far as the traditional roux-based cheese sauce as you can get, but it's healthy, can be made lactose intolerant or vegan-friendly by using a wheat-free pasta or substituting the layer of cheese with a dairy-free alternative respectively. As Autumn rolls in, I go pumpkin crazy and this truly is an out-of-this world dish.
Check out some of my other favourite versions: avocado mac and cheese using my roast garlic and avocado puree, cauliflower mac and cheese, broccoli mac and cheese and of course mac and peas.

1) Use 3/4 of the vegetable stock to put the macaroni on to boil, reserving the remaining 1/4 for the sauce.

2) Slice and dice the leek finely (discarding the root and leafy ends) and add to a pan with the truffle oil. Sautee gently, adding the garlic (crushed) once it begins to soften.

3) By the time the garlic begins to sizzle the macaroni should be ready - drain and set aside, reserving a ladle of the vegetable stock to add to the leek and garlic. Reduce this by about 50% and add the pumpkin puree, herbs and spices.

4) If the sauce is too thick, add a little more vegetable stock to thin it out (or cream if you want to be REALLY decadent), then stir in the drained macaroni.

5) Transfer to an oven-proof dish and grate the sweet potato and cheese onto the top. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes (until the cheese is gooey and golden and the sweet potato is just beginning to crisp) and serve hot.    

I very rarely add salt as standard to a dish, advising only to season to taste, but in this case I found a tiny bit of salt and black pepper to be a nice touch once I'd removed a portion for my toddler.

Spatzle

Ingredients 2 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk or water.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 45 minutes

As part of the World Cup Food Challenge 2014, this recipe represents a traditional meal of Germany. Spatzle are a sort of cross between a noodle and a dumpling - thicker and fluffier than pasta - and are served tossed with butter and sausage, sometimes lentils and vegetables. I served mine with spinach and cheese because SCREW YOU IT'S MY BLOG! I should also warn you that should you have had the impression I did, that pushing something through a potato ricer or colander would make actual noodles, well you'd be wrong. Spatzle translates to "little sparrow" which (aside from being highly disrespectful to Edith Piaf in my humble opinion) apparently explains why this is supposed to look like little gobbets of chewed up bubblegum, scraped off the bottom of your Docs. Looks aren't everything though, and this tastes delicious!

1) Sift the flour and salt into a bowl if using a hand mixer, or into your stand mixer if you have a Kitchen Aid (bastard.)

2) Whisk the eggs together, make a well in the flour and add the eggs and milk/water. Get your dough hook out and let it going for about 20 minutes, until you see holes in the dough as it pulls away from the sides.

3) If you're mixing this by hand... I have no advice for you except that you're probably mad and or have terrific arm muscles.

4) Squidge the dough through a colander or potato ricer and into a pot of boiling water. Once the noodles float to the top they're done! Strain them and transfer into a bowl of ice water to cool down, then dry off and either put them in the fridge to use later or toss them in a little butter before serving with meat or cooked in the sauce of your choice!

Spinach, feta & beetroot cannelloni

Ingredients 1 beetroot, 200ml passata, 1 leek, 1 small white onion, 1 carrot, 400g spinach, 150g feta, 50g cheddar, 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg, 12 cannelloni tubes, olive oil, 1/2 tsp rosemary, 1/2tsp basil, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 glass red wine.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes (plus overnight)

Words fail me to describe just how luscious this dish was. Spinach, as you know, is my absolute favourite and I would genuinely eat it three times a day without ever getting remotely bored of it. Mmmm spinach. But even those without my passion for it, will love the combination of tangy feta and fresh juicy spinach, smothered in a rich tomato and beetroot sauce. For best results, prepare a day in advance. By allowing the pasta to rest overnight, the juices from the spinach will begin to soften it, meaning it can cook for less time in the oven and avoid that horrible "leathery" texture that can happen when the sauce isn't sufficient enough to "boil" it, as dried pasta really does require this.

1) Combine the fresh spinach, nutmeg and feta in a food processor until a thick puree has formed. Fill the cannelloni tubes using a teaspoon and a little patience and transfer to an ovenproof dish. 

2) Use the grate option on your food processor to blitz the onion, leek, carrot and beetroot together, then transfer the soffrito/mirepoix to a pan with a glug of olive oil and allow to sizzle for 5 minutes until soft and juicy. I like to add a glass of red wine for extra flavour and cook it off at this stage, but this is entirely optional.

3) Add the herbs and passata, then simmer for a further 10 minutes and set aside to cool down to room temperature before pouring over the cannelloni. Allow to rest in the fridge overnight.

4) Top with the cheddar cheese, cover with foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes, then serve hot.

Cauliflower mac & cheese

Ingredients 1 cauliflower, 100ml double cream or almond milk, 1 leek, 200g cheddar and gruyere, 2 cups macaroni, 1 tsp mustard, 1 leek, 1 tbsp butter.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

Mac and cheese and cauliflower cheese are both, individually, comfort foods of glory. In typical fashion for this greedy, cheese-obsessed foodie, I like to have my cake and eat it too, but this dish is surprisingly light and needn't be too cheese heavy, for those who may wish to cut down on their fat intake and it's a genius way of getting vegetables into children or adults who may be fussy about vegetables for reasons best known to themselves.
Cauliflower and almond are perfect partners, the nutty flavour of the almonds goes so beautifully with the cheese and by ramping up the savoury notes with leek and mustard, less cheese is necessary to achieve the desired results. Oh if you wish you can use double cream, but seriously - the almond milk gets a massive thumbs up from me here!

1) Prepare the cauliflower by removing the leaves and slicing the stem to the base. Slice around the stem to release the florets and add to a pan of boiling water. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the cauliflower is soft and yielding, but do take care not to overcook it or the taste will be impaired and let's face it - you're killing off the nutrients!

2) Slice the leek, add to a pan along with the butter and sizzle until soft. Transfer to a blender and pulse thoroughly, adding the almond milk, mustard and drained cauliflower bit by bit until a smooth puree is formed.

3) Simmer the macaroni for 6-8 minutes in boiling, salted water, then drain and return to the pan.

4) Pass the cauliflower, leek and almond mixture through a sieve and into the pan, adding half of the cheese (grated) to stir through the mixture.

5) Transfer to and ovenproof dish and top with the remaining grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes at 200 degrees and then serve hot. I personally prefer a gooey cheese topping to a crispy golden one, and besides you don't want the gorgeous, unctuous macaroni to dry out, but this is of course a matter of taste. Should you be the sort of person who prefers a solid slab of pasta, then by all means cook it for longer! (I'm afraid I must judge you just a little though, especially if you also like mac and cheese pies... *rolls eyes*)

Pancetta pangrattato

Ingredients Pasta, parsley, lemon, butter, egg yolks, old bread, garlic, pancetta, parmigiano.

Preparation: 15 minutes (5 if using fresh pasta)

Bread is the stuff of life in this house. Rarely a meal goes by that does not include bread, whether by design or because my husband habitually makes everything into a sandwich (even soup!) and I delight in slathering my leftovers on toast. Bowie forbid either one of us ever develops a random gluten intolerancy. It would be intolerable.
Our leftover bread is torn up for panzanella, strata or blitzed into crumbs to coat everything from croquettes to goujons. This week, however, breadcrumbs have been thickening sauces. Once upon a time, when the Italians were poor they would substitute breadcrumbs for parmigiano in pasta, but my pangrattato (translation: grated bread) features parmigiano and bread and parsley and pancetta so it's more of a prosperous man's pasta and packs a real punch of flavour - it's also super quick to prepare.

1) In one pan, bring the pasta to the boil in hot, salted water and leave to simmer for 8-10 minutes. If using fresh pasta, prepare the other ingredients first as the pasta will only take 2-3 minutes to cook.

2) In a second pan, melt a tablespoon of butter and fry off the pancetta, stirring to allow the fat and butter to combine. Take off the heat and crack in an egg yolk per person and whisk briskly for around 30 seconds.

3) Stir in the breadcrumbs, parmigiano, and freshly chopped parsley and add a squeeze of lemon.

4) Drain the pasta and stir into the sauce until coated. Serve hot.

Gnocchi with cashew & avocado sauce

Ingredients Gnocchi: Potato, pasta flour, egg, plain flour. Sauce: 4 tbs cashew cream, 100ml water, 1 avocado

Serves: 2 Preparation: 10 minutes (plus 1 hour for gnocchi, overnight for cashew cream preparation)

This is a combination of two of my recipes: gnocchi and cashew cream as a serving suggestion, but it's also a great way to use up a ripe avocado. If like me you eat them pretty much daily, there will always be one in your fruit bowl (ahem... bucket might be a more apt description in my case...) and this is a great, healthy supper with a protein-rich sauce.

1) My recipe for gnocchi here. If you would like to make this vegan, just omit the egg.

2) My recipe for cashew nut cream here.

3) Bring the gnocchi to the boil in a large pan of salted water. Once the little dumplings float to the surface, they're done.

4) Slice the avocado in half and use a tablespoon to scoop it from the shell. If the avocado is ripe enough the stone will pop out with a spoon but another good method is to prick it with a knife and pull it out. Pop into your food processor, squish through a potato ricer or mash with a fork/masher and add to the cashew cream. I like to flavour this up with a little mustard and salt sometimes but the delicate creamy flavour is lovely just as it is. Drain the gnocchi and stir into the sauce.

Gnocchi with kale & artichoke pesto

Ingredients 200g kale, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 artichoke, olive oil, gruyere, 1 potato, 3oz pasta flour.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 1 hour

This serving suggestion for my kale and artichoke pesto is one of the lightest gnocchis that I have ever made, as I usually associate gnocchi with heavy cream sauces. I concocted this recently for a vegan friend (minus the gruyere for her of course!) and it turned out beautifully. Give it a try!

1) To make kale & artichoke pesto.

2) To make gnocchi: Bake a small potato and allow it to cool. Remove the skin and add to the blender along with the pasta flour. Blitz through and roll the mixture into balls.

3) Roll the balls in flour, score with a fork, then drop in boiling, salted water. Once the dumplings float to the surface (about 2 minutes) they're ready.

4) Drain the pan of gnocchi and stir in the pesto and grated gruyere. Serve hot

Linguine with artichoke cream

Ingredients Artichoke, olive oil, linguine.

Preparation: 40 minutes

This ridiculously simple pasta dish is nothing short of fabulous! Silky, luxurious artichoke cream stirred into linguine - what could be easier? If you can't be bothered cooking your own artichoke, you could probably even use a jar of antipasti!

1) Break the stem of the artichoke as close to the base as you can, then put the artichoke head first into a pan of hot, salted water and keep it submerged with an upturned pan lid (or plate). It will take 20-30 minutes to cook until tender - test the base with a knife - if it goes in smoothly it's ready!

2) Simmer the linguine in hot, salted water for 8-10 minutes then drain.
3) Slice the artichoke leaves and add to the blender along with a generous glug of olive oil. Blitz until a soft puree has formed and stir in the linguine.

Cucumber, lime & mint linguine

Ingredients Linguine, cucumber, mint, lime, passata.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Lime and mint are a magical combination. Mix it with ginger and vodka and you have a fabulous cocktail, mix it with tomato and you've got the base for a fabulous dinner. This evening, after putting my son to bed and cleaning the house I was too hot and bothered to face dinner, yet knew that I'd need some fuel if I didn't want to pass out in the middle of breastfeeding! This fresh, cool pasta was an inviting solution.

1) Drop the linguine into hot, salted water and cook for 8 minutes.

2) Finely chop the mint leaves and add to a pan along with the lime juice and passata. Slice the cucumber into centimetre thick discs and quarter each slice. Stir into the sauce and season with salt and black pepper.

3) Strain the pasta and add to the sauce, stir through and serve.

Almond, spinach & poached egg yolk pasta

Ingredients 200g spinach, 1 cup pasta, 1 egg, 1 tbsp almond butter, nutmeg.

Serves: 1 Preparation: 15 minutes

Spinach and nutmeg go together like ramalamalamagadingagadingadong but I bet you've never considered adding almond butter into the mix...
Well friend, you've got a whole world of woody scrumptiousness coming to you! This is an unusual pasta in that there's no real sauce to speak of, it's pure flavour and texture with a lick of egg yolk to lubricate the way, and it's absolutely lovely. I like to use spinach pasta to double up the spinach goodness, but I do realise that I am a spinach junkie...

1) Add the pasta to a pan of hot salted water and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

2) Stir the spinach into the almond butter and continue stirring on a low heat until the spinach has begun to wilt. Grate a little nutmeg into the pan, then stir in the pasta.

3) Drop an egg yolk into a pan of boiling water for 45 seconds, then spoon carefully onto the pasta. Serve immediately, breaking the yolk onto the pasta to coat it in the silky, creamy sauce.

Roast pepper, tomato & mozzarella linguine

Ingredients Linguine, mozzarella pearls, basil, parsley, olive oil, plum tomatoes, red bell peppers, 1 garlic clove.

Preparation: 25 minutes, plus marinating time

I can understand the concept of convenience food - opening up a jar of something and tossing it with some pasta, but shop-bought sauces make my soul and tastebuds wither away to nothing. I quite often make pesto or pasta sauces ahead of time to keep in the fridge, ready for a quick meal - and this luscious concoction of marinated peppers and tomatoes makes a wonderful quick supper.

1) Slice the top from the bell peppers, remove the core and seeds and slice between the membranes. Cut each pepper quarter in half.

2) Slice the tomatoes into quarters and remove the seeds. Roast the tomatoes and peppers in the top of the oven for 20 minutes until the skin begins to blacken. 

3) Add to a bowl with the olive oil, mozarella pearls, crushed garlic, parsley and herbs and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour but ideally overnight.

4) Toss with cooked liguine and serve

Sausage & smoked cheese lasagne

Ingredients Layer 1) 10 cherry tomatoes, 1 tsp butter. Layer 2) 4 Quorn sausages, 50g smoked cheese, 50ml buttermilk. Layer 3) 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp flour, 50ml milk, 1 egg.

Lasagne sheets/8 oz pasta flour, 4 eggs, 1 tsp olive oil, 10g cheddar.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 1 hour (plus 2-5 for chilling the pasta dough)

Smoked cheese is something that I rarely cook with. The heady flavour can easily overpower the other ingredients, but if you get it right it's a fabulous addition to meat dishes or in my case, being a vegetarian - Quorn!
This twist on lasagne (for my classic lasagne recipe, click here) uses the sharp freshness of cherry tomatoes to cut through the smoked cheese.

1) To make the lasagne sheets: Pour the flour, olive oil, a good pinch of salt, 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk into a bowl and kneed with your hands until you have a firm dough. Wrap this in cling film and chill in the fridge for 2-5 hours. 

2) Slice the Quorn sausages in half lengthways and roast in the top of the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Set aside.

3) Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and then into quarters and shuck the seeds with your thumb. Discard the seeds and add the tomato flesh to a pan along with a teaspoon of butter and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Spoon into your lasagne dish.

4) Dust a worktop with pasta flour and roll out the dough into a sheet 1/3 of a centimetre thick. Cut out rectangles of pasta and roll these through a pasta machine (or continue using a rolling pin if you don't have one). Add your first layer to the top of the tomatoes and press down to ensure that each part of the pasta is in contact with the tomatoes. Add the Quorn sausages, cut side down on top of the pasta.

5) Grate the smoked cheese and add to a pan with the buttermilk. Stir through until a smooth sauce has formed and pour over the Quorn sausages. Top with a layer of pasta, pressing down to ensure that each part is on contact with the sauce.

6) Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan and stir a tablespoon of plain flour into it to form a roux. Take off the heat and whisk the egg into the roux along with the milk. Whisk through for about 5 minutes and pour over the lasagne. Top with grated cheddar and bake the lasagne in the oven for 10 -15 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Pumpkin ravioli with ginger butter

Ingredients 8 oz pasta flour, 4 eggs, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 pumpkin, 10 cherry tomatoes, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tsp ground ginger

Serves: 2 Preparation: 2-5 hours

Making pasta is a labour of love. There are recipes for which dried pasta is perfectly acceptable, and then there are those recipes which require getting your hands dirty... this recipe is positively filthy. The sweetness of the pumpkin, the tart, tangy combination of ginger and tomato... this is pasta perfection.

1) Pour the flour, olive oil, a good pinch of salt, 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk into a bowl and kneed with your hands until you have a firm dough. Wrap this in cling film and chill in the fridge for 2-5 hours.

2) You can buy pumpkin puree in a can if it's out of season, but to prepare from scratch: Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and pith with a spoon. Make sure all the stringiness has been removed. Peel away the skin with a chef's knife and cut the flesh into cubes. Roast in the oven for 50 minutes and blend until smooth.

3) Dust a worktop with pasta flour and roll out the dough into a sheet 1/3 of a centimetre thick. Cut out rectangles of pasta and roll these through a pasta machine (or continue using a rolling pin if you don't have one). Add a teaspoon of the pumpkin mixture to one side of the rectangle, fold in half and pinch the edges together, taking care not to leave any air trapped inside.

4) Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan along with a teaspoon of ground ginger. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and place them cut side down in the pan.

5) Drop the pasta into a large pan of hot, salted water. The pasta will sink to the bottom initially but when it is ready (2-3 minutes maximum unless your pasta is too thick) it will float to the top. Remove the ravioli from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to the pan of butter. Stir through and serve.

Broccoli & pepper pasta

Ingredients 1 broccoli, 2 bell peppers, pasta, gruyere

Serves: 4 Preparation: 20 minutes

This recipe is achingly simple, and very satisfying. Sweet, meltingly perfect peppers, gooey nutty gruyere and the freshness of the broccoli are a lovely combination.

1) Slice the top from the pepper and scoop out the core and seeds. Slice between the membranes and roast in the top of the oven for 15 minutes at a high heat.

2) Cut the florets from the broccoli stem and add to a pan of boiling water along with the pasta. Simmer for 8 minutes, then strain and set aside.

3) Grate the cheese and stir into the pasta, broccoli and bell peppers and serve.

Courgette & goats cheese linguine

Ingredients 1 courgette, 30g basil, 30g goats cheese, 1 tbsp butter, linguine.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 15 minutes

I adore courgettes. They're so versatile and are at once a juicy addition to a dish, and a perfect vehicle to soak up other flavours.

1) Bring the pasta to the boil in a pan of salted water and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

2) Cut the courgette into centimetre thick slices, then quarter. Add to a pan with the butter and freshly chopped basil and sautee for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

3) Strain the linguine in a colander and pour in with the courgette. Stir in the goats cheese until it has coated the pasta and courgette, then serve.

Courgette & avocado linguine

Ingredients 1 courgette, 1 avocado, 1 lemon, coriander, parmigiano, linguine.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 15 minutes

I was just plating up this meal when my waters broke, leading to the premature birth of my Starchild, but please don't blame the food! This dish is full of spring freshness - juicy courgette, creamy avocado and citrus notes of lemon and coriander make wonderful company for pasta.

1) Bring the pasta to the boil in a pan of salted water and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

2) Cut the courgette into centimetre thick slices, then quarter. Toss in freshly squeezed lemon juice and coriander, then roast in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes.

3) Halve the avocados and scoop the fruit from the shell, discarding the stone. Pulse in the blender until smooth and creamy, then stir in the courgette and linguine. Serve with shavings of parmigiano.

Pasta with spinach & ale sauce

Ingredients 1/4 cup Hobgoblin ale, 300g spinach, 1/2 tsp grainy mustard, 1 tbsp buttermilk, 150g gruyere, pasta.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 20 minutes

I am a spinach junkie. I cannot get enough of it and it's such a great ingredient - so quick and satisfying and gloriously healthy. This dish is a little more indulgent given the cheese and beer content but it's magnificent nonetheless.

1) Bring the pasta to the boil in a pan of salted water and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

2) Reduce the ale in a milk pan and stir in the spinach, mustard and the buttermilk, then remove from the heat once the spinach has wilted.

3) Grate the gruyere into the pan and stir through until a completely smooth, elastic sort of fondue has formed. Strain the pasta and stir into the spinach sauce.

Macaroni Peas

Ingredients 1 1/2 cups macaroni, 2 cups garden peas, 150ml milk, cheddar cheese

Serves: 4 preparation: 30 minutes

I can't believe that after almost 500 recipes, I have never shared this with you. Macaroni Cheese is one of those comforting childhood dishes that almost everyone loves (unless of course you've only ever had it out of a packet. Poor thing). Rather than the traditional roux-based sauce (flour + flour? Nonsense poopypants!) I prefer to make mine out of just milk and cheese so that there's less butter involved, though you could use cream if you're feeling super indulgent. The addition of wonderful, sweet, fresh garden peas to this pasta makes it feel far less naughty.

1) Cook the macaroni for 10 - 12 minutes in hot salted water, adding the peas during the last minute (frozen) or the last 4 minutes (freshly podded).

2) As the pasta is cooking, add the milk in a milk pan along with at least 150g grated cheddar (if you prefer your sauce thicker or stronger flavoured, add more) and stir through as the milk warms. Do not allow the milk to boil, but keep it at an even temperature.

3) Strain the pasta and peas, then stir into the cheese sauce. Decant into a casserole dish and top with another layer of grated cheese (I like to add a little parmigiana to).

4) Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 5 minutes, until the cheese is golden bubbly.