Bacon and Leek Creamy Pasta Bake

Sometimes there’s nothing for it but a generous dose of comfort food.  It could be the weather, it could be the day, it could be a person, a place, a million things, the result is usually the same – a form of comfort is required.  Seeing friends, family, people you love all helps, a glass of fizz, a walk on the beach, a much needed hug - they are all supports.  If you can manage all of the above plus a portion of this cosy, consoling Bacon and Leek Pasta Bake then I guarantee light at the end of the tunnel.  I would dare to call this recipe Macaroni Cheese, were it not for the fact that it contains crispy smoked bacon, softened leek, fusilli pasta and a noticeable lack of cheese.  What it does have is a delicious, creamy, savoury sauce just close enough to the real deal to give this dish a warmth and body belonging to the cheering food of childhood – soul food, or as some might put it, nursery food.  Whatever way you remember it, it’s a good thing when a wheat, dairy, egg, soy and yeast free dish gets as creamy as this.  The base of the sauce is a simple roux, followed by a rice milk and stock combination and elevated by the inclusion of toasted and ground pine nuts.  It’s a combination that I’ve explored in my book in order to create a familiar tasting Spaghetti Carbonara and an indulgent Lasagne.  Here, it’s simply combined with leeks and smoked bacon – though you could swap the bacon for roasted peppers if you wanted a vegetarian version.  I promise, this is comfort in a bowl and a lovely thing to share too.

BACON AND LEEK CREAMY PASTA BAKE

Serves 4

350g gluten free pasta

4 leeks

6 rashers smoked streaky bacon

2 tomatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce

150g pine nuts

300ml rice milk

300ml vegetable stock

50g dairy free margarine

50g Doves Farm gluten free plain flour

Preheat the oven to 200c.  Scatter the pine nuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven, shaking the tray regurlarly to ensure they don’t catch, until lightly golden.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool down, once cool, place in a food processor and blitz until finely ground.  Meanwhile, trim the ends from the leeks, slice in half lengthways and rinse thoroughly to remove any grime before slicing into thin half moons.  Finely slice the bacon and cut the tomatoes into rounds about 1cm thick.

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the bacon and fry over a medium heat until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Add the leeks to the frying pan and fry until softened.  Next make the sauce.  Pour the milk and the stock into a saucepan and heat gently until warm but not simmering.  Melt the margarine in another saucepan (the one you cooked the bacon and leeks in will do) over a low heat, add the flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to form a roux.  Cook for a further 30 seconds, stirring continuously and then stir in the ground pine nuts.  Begin to pour in the milk and stock in stages, stirring the liquid into the roux as you go, bit by bit, using all of the liquid until the sauce is smooth, thick and creamy.  Season to taste and set aside.

Heat a large pan of salted water until boiling.  Add in the pasta and cook until al dente – the time will vary depending on the brand so follow the packet or your own instincts.  Drain the pasta and then combine the pasta, leeks, bacon and sauce together in one saucepan and mix well.  Transfer to a baking dish, layer over the sliced tomatoes and then bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

Cornmeal Pizza

Many years ago, before I had any dietary restrictions whatsoever, I was a fairly big fan of pizza.  Having eaten some of the real thing in Italy, I was a little snobbish about my pizzas.  I wouldn’t touch the really thick, doughy crust that we seemed to like so much here – ‘dirty’ pizzas, as they were known in university, probably more to do with when you ate them rather than the quality.  Anyway, I would occasionally, in all my arrogance of youth, deign to visit a certain pizza restaurant (something about a pizza followed by some kind of express) and I always had the same thing, a Veneziana with extra spinach.  Who knew that the combination of spinach, onions, raisins, capers and pine nuts would work so well on a pizza, but they really do.  I had a craving for one recently and so thought I would experiment with a pizza crust made with polenta.  I was inspired by a recipe from the brilliant Terry Walter’s Clean Food.  She uses just baked polenta as the base for her pizza toppings.  I wanted a slightly less spongy dough and so I’ve used a combination of gluten free self raising flour, with a touch of xanthan gum to make a pliable base.  You can taste the cornmeal in it; it adds a slightly sweet and nutty flavour.  It also makes a slightly denser pizza base, less crisp but with more body.  It’s a lovely alternative and one I’ll be making again.  The combination of roasted butternut squash, spinach, raisins, capers and pine nuts is truly delicious so I recommend that you give it a go.  Alternatively, you can cover the base with whatever sauce and toppings you like – pesto would work well, perhaps with sundried tomatoes, rocket and some sliced smoked chicken.  In fact, I think I may try that next...

CORNMEAL PIZZA

Serves 2

For the pizza base

75g quick cook polenta

110g Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour

¼ tsp xanthan gum

1 tbsp olive oil

4 – 6 tbsp warm water

 A good pinch of sea salt

For the topping

2 portions of Tomato and Basil Sauce or your favourite Tomato Sauce

300g butternut squash

1 red onion

1 tbsp garlic oil

250g spinach

1 tbsp capers

A generous handful of raisins

A generous handful of pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 200c.  Peel the butternut squash and scoop out any seeds or pith.  Cut the squash into small bite size pieces (about 2cm big) and then peel and slice the onion in half before cutting into thin half moons.  Combine the squash and half of the garlic oil in a roasting tray and then roast in the oven for 35 minutes or until the squash is tender.

Meanwhile, pour the remaining garlic oil into a large saucepan and heat over a medium flame.  Add the onions and fry gently until soft but not coloured – about 10 minutes.  Add the spinach and wilt over a medium heat until the spinach is cooked through and combined with the onions.  Season well and set aside.

To make the pizza dough, pour 300ml of water into a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Pour in the polenta and stir vigorously.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir the polenta continuously for 3 – 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 – 10 minutes.  Once the polenta has cooled – you want it to be cool enough to handle but not so cool that it has set, so do keep an eye on it – combine the flour, xanthan gum, sea salt and olive oil in a large mixing bowl.  Add the polenta and the warm water and mix together until you have a flexible dough. 

Lay out two sheet of clingfilm and place the pizza dough in the centre.  Cover with the remaining sheet of clingfilm and then roll into a circle approximately 12 inches in diameter – you can trim the edges neatly with a knife to get a smooth rim.  Transfer the pizza base to a large square baking tray and bake in the oven, uncovered, for 35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and top with the tomato sauce, spinach mixture and roasted squash.  Sprinkle over the raisins, capers and pine nuts and bake in the oven for a further 15 minutes.