Baked smoked cheese sticks

I absolutely love smoked Cheddar cheese, and any melted cheese for that matter. So today's dish nicely combines my two passions, as I made breaded smoked cheese sticks and baked them in the oven. I really could eat these all the time, but maybe it wouldn't be too healthy. These would also be wonderful on the side of a luscious veggie burger.

Follow these simple instructions to make this dish. Once again, no extra fats or deep-frying needed for making this.

You'll need:

370 g Applewood smoked Cheddar (2 packets)

1 egg

100 g breadcrumbs

50 g wheat flour

Do this:

Cut the cheese into small sticks, about 1 cm wide and 5 cm long, and beat the egg.

Roll the cheese sticks first in wheat flour, followed by the beaten egg and finally in the breadcrumbs. Take care that the coating covers the cheese everywhere, as that stops the cheese from running out of its crust.

Place the sticks in an oven dish and bake them at 200C for about 5-10 minutes until they have a crispy crust and the cheese has melted nicely.

Serve with rhubarb chutney, or any other nice spicy chutney or fruits, and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Leek potatotto

What an earth is a leek potatotto?? Well, it is nothing but a leek and potato stew made in style of a risotto, the potato cubes substituting the rice. I just wanted to be a little bit whimsical with the naming of the dish, hopefully I haven't repelled any readers because of it. This is a lovely basic dish that renews the traditional and functional leek and potato pairing, and it's easy to make as well. From my description you will notice that the method is very much the same as making a risotto.

Only quite basic ingredients are needed, and this is how it goes:

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

2 leeks

4 spring onions

1tbsp olive oil

750g new potatoes

25g butter

1dl dry cider

1l vegetable stock

Fresh parsley

1½tsp salt

1tsp black pepper

½tsp paprika

125g smoky cheddar

Chop the shallots, garlic cloves, leeks and spring onions finely. Start cooking them at medium heat in olive oil. Prepare one litre of warm vegetable stock, some of the parsley can already be added to the stock.

Dice the new potatoes into very small cubes (about 6-8mm per side), peel them only, if the skin is thick. Add the butter to the pan once the other components are cooked soft. Once the butter has melted, add the potato cubes. Keep cooking for a further five minutes and then add the cider. Let it evaporate and add a few ladles of the warm vegetable stock. Keep simmering slowly under the lid and make vegetable stock additions whenever the contents threaten to get too dry, also stir often.

Cook until the potatoes are fully cooked and the flavour has developed nicely. Season with some more fresh parsley, salt, black pepper and paprika, also add the smoky cheddar towards the end.

Serve warm and enjoy! This is real comfort food for me!

Your VegHog