Lorraines Bacon Cheddar Straws Recipes

BACON AND CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Lightly grease a large baking tray with a little oil or line with greaseproof paper.
• Lay out the ready rolled pastry on a floured surface, sprinkle the cheese all over the pastry and fold in half.
• Roll out the pastry to roughly 25 x 40cm (10 x 16 inches). It should be wide enough to place 8 rashers of bacon side-by-side and just a little longer than 1 rasher of bacon in the other direction (see picture above).
• Spread the pastry with the mustard and then lay out the bacon so the bacon is just touching but not overlapping.
• Cut down between the bacon, so you have 8 strips, then twist each strip several times and place on the prepared baking tray.
• Chill the twists for a minimum of 20 minutes in the fridge.
• Just before you plan on cooking the cheese straws, heat your oven to 220C / 200C / gas mark 7 / 425F.
• Remove the cheese straws from the fridge and brush with the beaten egg.
• Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until golden on top and cooked all the way through.
• Eat as soon as they are cool enough to hold.
• Store any uneaten cheese straws in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat for 10 minutes at 220C / 200C / gas mark 7 / 425F or until piping hot all the way through.

CHEESY BACON STRAWS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and fit a baking sheet with a wire rack.
• In a small saucepot, mix the maple syrup, red pepper flakes, orange juice and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat.
• Line up the bacon slices on the wire rack and brush with the hot maple syrup mixture. Sprinkle some cheese on each piece of bacon. With a skewer in hand, fold the end of a piece of bacon in half lengthwise and press the skewer through the end. Do this to 4 pieces of bacon, spreading them out evenly across the skewer, and place the skewer on the baking sheet. Twist the bacon pieces into long spirals so as to create straws. Take another skewer and skewer the bottom of each piece of bacon to keep the bacon twisted. Do this to all the bacon.
• Bake until the bacon browns, about 35 minutes. Let cool slightly on the rack; the bacon will get crunchy as it sits. Serve immediately.

BACON AND CHEESE STRAWS

Steps:

• Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
• Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured work surface to a large rectangle of 0.5cm/¼in thickness.
• Turn the pastry so that the longest side is facing you, spread over the mustard, sprinkle with the cheese and season with freshly ground black pepper. Place the pieces of bacon onto the pastry, leaving a small gap between each piece.
• Cut the pastry between each slice of bacon. Carefully twist each piece of pastry 4-5 times so it looks like a curly straw, then place on the baking tray.
• Repeat the process until all of the bacon has been used up. Chill the pastry twists in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
• Remove the twists from the fridge and brush with the beaten egg.
• Reduce the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and bake the twists for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is well risen and golden-brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

GLAM MAC AND CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Cook the macaroni in a large pan of boiling salted water. It needs to be cooked to just under what you would normally do, as the pasta will be cooked again in the oven. Drain, then return to the pan and set aside.
• Fry the pancetta in a medium skillet over gentle heat until it just starts to brown and crisp up, then add the thyme leaves and scallions and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and add its contents to the pasta.
• For the sauce, put the butter, flour, nutmeg, and mustard in a small pan set over medium heat and cook until the butter has melted. Mix the milk and cream together in a pitcher and add a little to the flour and butter in the pan, stirring well. Keep adding the milk mixture, bit by bit, stirring well each time. This will prevent the sauce from going lumpy. The temptation is to put all the milk in at once only to find you are left with clumps of flour floating on the surface. Should this happen, take the pan off the heat and whisk it like crazy. This normally does the trick to eliminate all the lumps! Make sure you get the spoon into the "corners" of the pan, as stray mounds of flour often lurk there. Once the sauce has fully come together, turn up the heat and boil for a minute or two. The sauce will thicken considerably, then remove the pan from the heat. Add two-thirds of both of the cheeses to the sauce while it is still hot and combine well. It may be a bit lumpy, but that is fine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add to the pasta mix. Stir everything together and spoon into a shallow casserole dish or 4 individual large ramekins.
• Sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese and the bread crumbs and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese starts to bubble and the topping goes crumbly and brown. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve while hot.

SAVORY AND SWEET SHORT PASTRY

Steps:

• Put the flour and butter in a food processor and blitz to bread crumbs. If using your hands, rub the butter and flour together until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add the egg yolks (and if making sweet pastry, the sugar) and a pinch of salt and stir together with a knife. Squidge the mixture together into a ball. If the pastry feels very dry add the water (or if making sweet pastry, the cream or milk), but try and get by without for a more tender pastry.
• Once the pastry is all squidged together, pop it in the refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, remove it from the refrigerator and let it warm up a little (if you use it straight from the refrigerator and try to roll it out, the pastry will just be a hopeless crumbly mess). Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured board and use as required.

GLAM MAC AND CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water. It needs to be cooked to just less than al dente, as the pasta will be cooked again in the oven. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain the pasta, return it to the pan and set aside.
• Fry the pancetta in a medium skillet over medium heat until it just starts to brown and crisp up, then add the thyme and scallions and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Add the skillet's contents to the pasta.
• For the sauce, put the butter, flour, nutmeg and mustard powder in a small saucepan set over medium heat and cook, stirring, until the butter has melted. Mix the milk and cream together in a pitcher and add a little to the flour and butter in the saucepan, stirring well. Keep adding the milk mixture bit by bit, stirring well each time (be sure to get into the "corners" of the pan, as flour often lurks there). Once the sauce has fully come together, turn up the heat and boil for a minute or two. The sauce will thicken considerably. Remove the pan from the heat.
• Add two-thirds of both of the cheeses to the sauce while it is still hot and combine well. (It may be a bit lumpy, but that is fine.) Season to taste with salt and pepper and add to the pasta mix. If the cheese sauce thickens too much, add some of the pasta water. Stir everything together and spoon into 4 large ramekins or a shallow 3-quart casserole dish.
• Sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese and the breadcrumbs and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese starts to bubble and the topping goes brown. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.