Comfort food

After a pretty busy and stressful week all I wanted was a homely warm meal. You know the type of food I mean, the type that reminds you of mum.

So I decided to cook a bacon joint, mash potato, veg and a cheese and parsley sauce. No cook book required :-)

I always buy a cooked bacon joint, then to warm it up I place it in a pan of boiling water and I turn the heat right down. It is left to simmer while I cook everything else, I just turn it every now and then.

I cheated and used frozen peas and sweet corn, as I just love these with mash and bacon. Finally peel and chop the potatoes and put them on until soft (cooked). I recently brought a potato ricer and I use ths instead of a masher, I find it makes a lovely smooth mash, I just add salt, pepper, dash of milk and knob of butter and stir until all mixed together. I then put cover on to keep warm

The last thing is to then make the sauce. Melt butter in a pan, approx 50g,

Then stir in 50g plain flour, and stir until a smooth paste. Keep it on low heat while you do this as it helps to ensure you don't get a floury taste to the sauce. Then slowly add milk, add drop at a time and stir well each time until smooth, keep doing this until sauce is the correct consistency. I don't know how much milk to recommend as everyone likes the sauce a different thickness but allow about 1 pint.

As you keep on the heat the sauce will thicken so don't leave it alone or it can go lumpy, this is why I ensure everything else is cooked and I do this last, as I can just concentrate on it. Once the basic white sauce is cooked add your flavours, I added 2 tsp parsley and 2 hand fulls of grated cheese, I never weigh as I just taste and add to taste. Quick tip is you can buy pre-grated cheese :-)

Then all done just stir this in, keep on heat 2 mins and stir! It takes about 30-40 minutes to prepare and cook.

So yummy and feels like home.