Recipe: Baked Leek and Cheese Pasta with Blue Bridge Gin

I’ve become a bit addicted to a podcast. Yes, another one. I already love Made of Human by Sofie Hagen, but now that has been firmly joined by Table Manners, with Jessie Ware and the star of the show obviously, her mum. It helps she’s a Manc, but also the whole thing is about food, family, and the food that people like. They’ve had loads of people on to talk about their backgrounds, food loves, and whether they have good table manners or not. I loved the episode with Zachary Quinto, Gregory Porter talking about his mum and food at home. Paul Smith and his love of simple food. I love how his accent reminds me of my dad. Of course, being the geeky type, I got most excited about Samin Nosrat (who I just want to go out and eat with all the time) and our home grown domestic goddess Nigella.

And this recipe is all Nigella’s fault. In the podcast she talked about cooking leeks, using vermouth, and then making them into a pasta bake. Now I admit there’s not much vermouth hanging around at home. It mostly ends up in a Negroni or a Martini, very rarely makes it to the kitchen. But I do, obviously, have a lot of gin. I also had a couple of leeks from my veg box, some beautiful pasta from Italy (a gift from a researcher), and some mature cheddar in the fridge.

This is great as a side dish (we had it with roast chicken and veggies) or as a Meat free Monday treat. You could even add a little bacon to the leeks and garlic, to add a little extra something something. We kept ours simple.  I just wanted to be able to pick out the herbal notes of the gin, the leeks, and garlic, backed up by cheese. And a good cheesy crust obviously. It’s the best bit.

So before I write the recipe, pointers. Keep the pasta just a little harder than you want the finished dish to be.  Even if it’s just in the oven for ten minutes, it absorbs moisture from the sauce.

Gin wise, don’t go for something sweet. You want something with herbal notes, or a savouryness. I used Blue Bridge Gin, as it has a lovely soft herbal green element that goes really well with the leeks. Thomas Dakin would work really well, so would Gin Mare with it’s olive, rosemary and thyme base. Oh and Black Tomato Gin would be awesome. You could even then add a few chopped sundried tomatoes in there too.

Finally bechamel sauce. Honestly, if you’ve never made it, don’t let it scare you. The important things to remember are: cook the roux out for a minute or two before you start adding the milk. Use warmed milk – doesn’t have to be hot, just not really cold. Cold milk reacts with the butter in the roux, making it will harden and that means lumps. If after the first couple of additions of milk it goes like wallpaper paste, you’re doing it right. It gets better, honest. And finally, lumps aren’t the end of the world, it’s mixed in with pasta, and no-one will really notice.

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Leek and cheese pasta bake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 300 grams Dried pasta
• 40 grams Butter
• 40 grams Plain flour
• 600 ml Milk (warmed)
• 500 grams Mature cheddar, grated
• 50 grams Parmesan, finely grated
• 2 Medium leeks, sliced
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• 50 ml Gin of choice

Instructions

1. Get the pasta cooking in a pan of salted boiling water. You want it cooked until it's still got some bite, as it will absorb moisture from the sauce. Once done, drain it, and tip it into an oven dish. 

2. Also, preheat the oven to Gas Mark 7, 200°C.

3. Meantime, in a large pan, add the butter, garlic and leeks. Cook the leeks gently until they are soft, and almost translucent. If you're adding bacon, or sundried tomatoes, they'd work well added here. 

4. Add the gin, let it bubble away, then add the flour, stirring until it blends with the butter, leeks and gin mixture. 

5. Let it bubble for a minute or so. This cooks out the flour flavour. When you're happy, add the milk a little at a time. Don't worry if it goes like wallpaper paste, it does that. When it hits that point, add more milk. Repeat until all the milk is in the pan. 

6. Slowly bring the sauce up to the boil, stirring. You'll feel it thicken as it hits the right temperature. Turn it off, and reach for the cheese! 

7. Add almost all the cheddar, reserving just a little bit for the topping. 

8. Once the whole thing is combined, pour over the pasta, stir it in, and top it with the parmesan and remaining cheddar. Then pop it in the oven for ten minutes, til the top is brown and crusty. 

9. Enjoy as a meal in itself, or as a side to your roast, steak or baked fish.