Haggis with a camembert sauce

I know, I know. It sounds completely bizarre and potentially disgusting but this is the best way to have haggis. With a bit of distance between now and Burns' Night (25.01), there's even the possibility that the haggis will be on offer in the supermarket!

This is the one and only way that I actually like haggis - the sauce is creamy and cheesy and mild enough to take the spicy bite out of the meat.

I was trying to think of what else to add to this but, actually, my cold-riddled brain is struggling to string two words together. I didn't even manage to follow the soppy romance that I attempted to watch earlier, so with that show of complete and utter incompetence: over and out!

Ingredients:

• enough couscous for however many people you're feeding
• 1 round camembert
• 500ml single cream
• 1 haggis (should probably be enough for 4ish)

First, pop the haggis in the microwave (sophisticated, I know) - it took about three and a half minutes in ours - cooking it until it's warmed right through. Cook the couscous (plain, with none of that vegetable nonsense) and leave to sit. Scrape the rind stuff off the camembert, chop up into chunks and melt in a pan along with the cream. When the sauce is ready, it should be hot and mainly melted down, but there may be some little lumps of cheese left - really, it's up to you how long you can bear to wait! 

Simple but effective, that's what this is! 

Meaty cheesy pasta bake

Due to the time-constraining effects of prelim revision, this quick and easy dish was feasted on by us last week but is only now finding its rightful place on the blog. According to the official Delia recipe it is technically supposed to have bacon and leeks but as it was a last minute decision, there was a serious lack of wintery vegetation in the fridge. As a result, this two meat pasta was created. Yes, that’s right – two types of meat!

On another note, napkin folding may soon become a new hobby...

Originally from one of the many Delia books in the house.

Serves 8 (or 4 for 2 nights – handy!)

500g pasta (personally I like using penne, but other pastas like macaroni or fusili would would just as well)

6 or 8 slices of bacon

1 smoked sausage (cabanossi from Lidl works really well)

50g butter (either unsalted or salted will do, but I used unsalted due to the saltiness added by the sausage)

50g plain flour

200g cheddar cheese with extra for topping

850ml milk

3 tbsp double cream

some nutmeg (which I didn’t bother with)

roughly 50g ready salted crisps

Melt the butter in a pan, and mix in the flour. Add the milk to this mixture gradually until the sauce thickens. Then add the cheese, grated, to the sauce until it’s melted through.

While the sauce is thickening, cut up the bacon and chop the sausage and fry them together.

Boil the pasta for 10 minutes and then put it straight in the dish.

Mix the meat through and pour the sauce over.

Lastly, add the smashed-up crisps and sprinkle cheese over the top and pop it in the oven at approximately 180.C – it should take about half an hour to forty-five minutes until the cheese is crispy on top (should really be a bit darker than in the photo, but we were running to a deadline...)