The Mad Scientist's Italian Provincal Pasta Bake

This is a very quick and easy recipe open to many variations which will get you out of trouble when you need to feed the hordes in a hurry!

The ingredients needed are pasta, milk, shredded cheese, some cans of tuna, a little mustard, some tomato paste and some green vegetables (in this case peas were used).

Combine the dry pasta (here approximately 3 cups) with the tuna and peas. The milk (around three cups) was combined with the tomato paste and a teaspoon of mustard.

All of these ingredients were then mixed together, ensuring that the liquid was covering all the dry pasta.

A layer of shredded cheese was placed on top.

Into the oven at 180 degrees Celsius until the top is golden brown.

Serve in a bowl with freshly grated parmesan cheese. It also goes nicely with garlic bread if this is available. Enjoy!

The Mad Scientist's Healthy Version of "Jansson's Frestelse" (Temptation)

"Jansson's Frestelse" (Temptation) is a traditional Swedish favourite, largely composed of onions, potatoes and anchovies and made with lashings of butter and cream. This version is quick and easy to make and avoids the use of those yummy saturated fats!

The ingredients required are potatoes, onions, anchovies, fresh bread (or breadcrumbs), olive oil and milk.

First peel enough potatoes to fill a large baking dish.

Then acquire some anchovies. Unfortunately there was only one packet in the pantry, so that had to do!

Next puree some onions in the food processor.

Making your own healthy multigrain breadcrumbs is very easy using the food processor also!

Combine the breadcrumbs with enough olive oil to make them start to stick together loosely.

Slice the potatoes - gotta love the food processor!

The potatoes were layered into the dish.

The anchovies were mixed together with the onion (and some breadcrumbs) and then placed on top of the potatoes.

Some of the breadcrumbs were then spread over the potatoes to "fill in the cracks" and some low-fat milk (2%) was carefully poured over the contents of the tray until the potatoes were fairly well covered (to provide the necessary liquid to soften them during cooking)..

The remainder of the breadcrumbs were spread over the top to provide an even covering.

Pop the tray into the oven at 180 degrees Celsius and cook until a golden brown crust forms on top.

Serve by itself or as an accompaniment to other dishes.

The Mad Scientist's Luscious Römertopf Lamb

This is a wonderful German clay oven which cooks very juicy and tender food. It is advisable to soak the top and bottom in water overnight so that the dishes will retain some moisture when they are placed in a standard oven (the Mad Scientist generally uses 180 degrees Celsius for most things).

On this occasion a piece of pre-marinated and butterflied lamb (from the supermarket) was cooked together with some frozen vegetables, but freshly prepared vegetables also work perfectly well. Use whatever you like really!

It is best to check periodically how things are going and you can turn over pieces of meat and vegetables if you feel they are cooking unevenly.

The end result was a beautiful succulent piece of lamb and juicy vegetables which had soaked up the flavour of the lamb stock. The juices from the pan were used to make a light gravy.

The Mad Scientist's Pasta Cacciatore con Pollo e Pomodoro

This turned out to be both an innovative and inspired way to use up some 'leftovers'. The Mad Scientist had a large quantity of the luscious sauce from the Chicken Cacciatore together with two drumsticks of chicken and a small quantity of the now-famous pureed roasted Vegorama.

The chicken meat was stripped off the bone and shredded and combined with the leftover sauce, Vegorama, some extra pitted Kalamata olives sliced in half and some finely sliced sun-dried tomatoes. The sauce was mixed to an even consistency and warmed and then mixed through some cooked spirali pasta (three cups of dried pasta to be exact). The finished pasta was served with some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top.

The end result was amazingly good. There was a lovely rich underlying chicken stock flavour to the Cacciatore sauce and all the ingredients complemented each other very well.

The Mad Scientist's Casual Chicken Cacciatore

The Mad Scientist was given a packet of chicken drumsticks that was going to be used for a medical training session but was surplus to requirements in the end, so began to think about creative ways to use them. Like a flash of lightning the idea of a quick and easy 'Chicken Cacciatore' was born! This simply involved combining the chicken drumsticks with a jar of Italian-flavoured pasta sauce and some halved (pitted) Kalamata olives.

Being somewhat health-conscious, the Mad Scientist removed the skin from the chicken prior to cooking.

The chicken was combined with the pasta sauce and the olives in a Pyrex baking dish and then baked at 180 degrees Celcius in a pre-heated fan-forced oven until it was bubbling and the chicken appeared to be cooked through (approximately one hour).

The finished product was served on a bed of mashed potatoes which had been 'spiced up' with a dash of pepper and chilli sauce, and received very favourable reviews!

The Mad Scientist's Moroccan Fish Lasagna

This is the final instalment in the story of the pureed Roasted Vegorama! This was combined with some Basa fish fillets, sheets of lasagna and Moroccan-flavoured chopped and diced tomatoes. A packet of crumbled Haloumi cheese was used for the topping. A deep silicon baking tray was utilised.

A layer of Vegorama was placed in the bottom of the dish and then a layer of lasagna sheets was placed on top.

The (defrosted) fish fillets were placed on top of the lasagna.

A layer of the Moroccan tomatoes was then spread over the fish.

Another layer of lasagna sheets was added, followed by another layer of the Vegorama.

A small packet of Haloumi cheese was crumbled and spread over the top of the final layer.

The lasagna was cooked in a 180 degree Celcius pre-heated fan-forced oven until it was bubbling and golden brown on top (approximately an hour in this case).

The finished product tasted brilliant, and the slight sweetness of the vegetable mix was ably complemented by the salty tangyness of the Haloumi cheese. No leftovers here!

The Mad Scientist's Vivacious Veggie Slice

As the Mad Scientist's Roasted Vegorama is infinitely versatile, this is another variation on the theme. Slabs of the Vegorama were bundled up in half a sheet of puff pastry which was pinched together and then scored and lightly brushed with milk. In this instance some cumin seeds were sprinkled on top (but a variety of other seeds could be used instead).

The slices were baked in a 180 degree Celcius pre-heated fan-forced oven until golden brown on the outside. They proved to be simply delicious!