This Morning

This morning, I was busy cooking 'winter warmers' on This Morning. I made a pasta bake and a fluffy fish pie in 7.5 minutes.


CHEESE AND BACON STUFFED PASTA SHELLS
200g conchiglioni rigati (large pasta shells)
1 tbsp olive oil
4 rashers of rashers of smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
1 small onion, chopped
50g crusty white bread, whizzed in a food processor to make crumbs
240g soft cheese
4 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
700g jar of tomato passata (sieved tomatoes), or sugocasa
150g ball of buffalo mozzarella cheese, drained

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Cook the pasta shells in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water for 8 minutes – until al dente (just tender, but with some bite). Drain in a colander and cool. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a saucepan over a moderate heat, and fry the bacon, onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, or until golden.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, soft cheese, parsley, and the bacon mixture. Season with black pepper.
Pour the tomato sauce into a heatproof casserole dish, and stir in the rosemary. Using a teaspoon, divide the bacon and breadcrumb mixture between the pasta shells, and sit each one tightly together on top of the sauce.
Tear the mozzarella cheese into rough pieces and scatter over the pasta shells. Bake for 30 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is crisp.

FLUFFY SMOKED HADDOCK AND POTATO PIE
1.5kg floury potatoes, such as King Edwards or Maris Piper, peeled and diced
600g smoked haddock fillet, un-dyed
300ml milk
1 bunch Spring onions, finely chopped
200g crème fraiche
100g Emmental, or Leerdammer cheese, finely grated
1 pinch salt and fresh ground black pepper


Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7. Cook the potatoes in a large pan of boiling water for 15 minutes or so until tender. Meanwhile, place the smoked haddock in a pan, pour over the milk and sprinkle over the spring onions. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 5-8 minutes until the fish is cooked and flakes easily.

Lift out the poached haddock and discard the skin and any bones. Pour the warm milk and spring onion into a jug; you’ll need 200 ml and there should easily be enough.

Drain the potatoes well and mash – ideally with a ricer – until smooth. Beat in the warm milk and spring onion, followed by the crème fraiche.

Gently fold in the flaked fish and half the cheese then check the seasoning; you’re unlikely to need much, if any, salt, but grind in plenty of pepper.

Spoon the mixture into a large, shallow heatproof dish and scatter over the remaining cheese. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden and crunchy on the surface.