Ben's Beef Lasagne

Lasagne is one of my favourite meals but when it comes to cooking it, I have to admit I am pretty awful. My brother, however, is a dab hand so I thought I would take a few lessons from the man himself before we went back to uni. This meal is such perfect comfort food come summer or winter, and is a dish that is still delicious heated up the next day if you have any leftover... A perfect meal for my blog in my opinion!

Ingredients 

600g beef mince (for your own sake please buy fresh from a good butchers, anything else will leave your lasagne full of water and/or fat) | 1 pack of fresh lasagne sheets | 2 jars of tomato and basil pasta sauce | good handful of frozen sweetcorn (optional) | 1 garlic clove finely chopped | one pot of cheese sauce | cheddar to grate on top (try Andrew's Black Bomber or Mature Farmhouse Cheddar | 

Preheat the oven to 190C | Brown off the mince and chopped garlic in a large shallow frying pan on a high heat. 

If using add the sweetcorn and continue to cook at high heat, until any excess liquid is cooked off and mince is brown not grey. | Add your chosen tomato sauce, heat through and mix thoroughly.

Add a layer of mince to a large ovenproof dish. Cover with a thin layer of cheese sauce.  

Add enough sheets of lasagne to cover the mince and cheese sauce.

Repeat these last few steps... A layer of mince, layer of cheese sauce, pasta sheets... until you have used up all ingredients. On top of the final sheets of lasagne add the last bit of cheese sauce and grate cheddar over the top to cover.

Bake in the oven for 30- 35 minutes until golden brown on top. Serve with bread and oils and a salad.

Deli Favourites- Fun Tips and Ideas

From talking to customers in the shop over the last few weeks, it seems that everyone's appetite is disappearing with the hot weather, and I couldn't agree more. I myself have been snacking and lunching on different cheeses, olives and cold meats from our lovely delicatessen, so I thought this week I would show you how I've been putting them to use to eat more lightly in the hotter weather.

1. Parma Ham and Melon has long been a favourite on Spanish tapas menus and is deliciously refreshing in the hot weather. My mum made these gorgeous little bundles as nibbles for a BBQ we had the other weekend. Simply cut melon into small sections, and add a folded piece of Andrew's Parma Ham, sliced thinly on request, attaching to the melon with a cocktail stick.

2. As well as our excellent Italian Buffalo Di Mozzarella that we sell as a whole ball in a pot, we also sell the same cheese in little individual balls in a pot. This makes it really easy to tear into salads for lunches. Serve here as I did with a plate of tomato spaghetti for a quick yummy lunch on a hot day.

3. I absolutely adore this Finnochiona salami which has to be my favourite of all the salamis that we sell in the shop. Finnochio translates as fennel in Italian, and the small pieces of fennel running through the salami give it a delicate but very unique taste. What I love about the salamis we serve in the shop, apart from their taste, is that we slice on request so customers can have as much or as little as they like and as thick or thin as they like it. A friend made me a lunch of a couple of slices of the Finnochiona salami with a light salad the other day and it was simply delicious!

4. We have now started selling small pitted black olives, thankfully, as it means I no longer have to fiddle about taking the stone out each time I want to cook with them. For easy potatoes with a summer feel, I slice roasting potatoes and add them to a roasting dish with thyme, olive oil and sliced black olives. Roast for 45 mins in a hot oven until golden, stirring occasionally. The olives give the potatoes a delightful flavour even if you want to discard them afterwards. This potato dish is also lovely if you add our Bridge Farm lamb cutlets 10 mins before the end of cooking, as the meat juices enrich the flavour of the potatoes even more. 

Monte Enebro Goat's Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Tart

From the time to time Andrew's like to try new cheeses and offer our customer's something a little different. These last two week's we have started selling a new goat's milk cheese, Monte Enebro, which has been incredibly popular. Perhaps you'll understand how good it is when I tell you that I, who previously avoided all goat's cheese like the plague, am absolutely in love with it. So much so, I made this super easy, but delicious, goat's cheese and sun dried tomato tart. Monte Enebro is an artisanal  Spanish cheese with a unique black rind that is at the same time creamy in texture and complex in flavour. Only 7000 are made a year, so we're extremely lucky to be selling it in our shop!

You will need:
1 sheet of puff pastry, already rolled
100g Andrew's sun dried tomatoes
200g Monte Enebro Cheese
Some olive oil
Black pepper and salt
Thyme leaves, or other herbs.

 1  Preheat your oven to 200C.  2  Dust your pastry sheet with flour and place in a baking tray.  3  Chop sun dried tomatoes and arrange in the middle of the pastry so that there is enough room for the pastry to rise around it at the edges.  4  Slice and chop your Monte Enebro cheese into smaller pieces and arrange on top of the sun dried tomatoes.  5  Drizzle with some olive oil, some fresh herb leaves, and season with salt and pepper.  6  Place in the oven for 15 minutes, cooking until golden brown. Give a few more minutes if necessary.  7  Serve hot and enjoy!

The amount this tart serves is largely dependent on how you want to serve it. As a rectangle, you could slice it into bite size pieces suitable for a party or serve it in four slices, as I have done, to serve four for lunch or a starter.

Haloumi Heaven

Finally the sun is shining so I decided to make one of my favourite summer dishes. I may not have been able to grill it on the barbecue but this basic haloumi recipe is still delicious fried in a pan. Haloumi is also a great cheese to buy and have in the fridge ready for when the sun does come out as it has a long date on it until opened; this shouldn't be a problem, it is so yummy it soon gets eaten up!

Four simple ingredients for your basic haloumi: half a block of cypriot haloumi cheese from Andrew's, 2 crushed garlic cloves, extra virgin olive oil, dried mixed herbs. Haloumi can take a LOT of flavour so don't be shy on your garlic and use as many fresh herbs or spices as you think best. Slice into 4. Leave to marinate while you prepare a salad or accompaniment. (Andrew's sell a great Mediterranean couscous that would go well). Heat your pan on a high heat. Add the haloumi and cook browning it each side making sure you let the cheese soften, you will see it changing texture. Slice into pieces, serve and enjoy! 

Joyeuses Fêtes

I'm absolutely in love with the packaging on the Le Rustique Camembert this Christmas. We're selling this delicious Camembert in mini or large whole cheeses, or alternatively by the slice on demand. They would make for the perfect present in a Christmas hamper or look great brought out whole to slice at a dinner party with wine, crackers and grapes. Alternatively why not try out this festive whole baked camembert recipe, from Jamie Oliver one of my favourite chefs, it looks deliciously easy but would certainly impress at Christmas parties.