Bacon fat roasted vegetables with melted cheese

Preparation time
less than 30 mins

Cooking time
30 mins to 1 hour

Serves
Serves 2

By Matt Tebbutt
From Saturday Kitchen

Ingredients

4 rashers streaky bacon, smoked or unsmoked
1 sprig rosemary
1 banana shallot, halved
1 small cauliflower, broken into florets, with leaves
4 Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
½ small squash, peeled, seeds removed and roughly chopped
¼ celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped

For the warm Comté cheese mixture

300g/10½ oz Comté, grated
2 tsp Dijon mustard
50ml/2fl oz lager
3 free-range egg yolks

To serve

100g/3½oz croûtons
bunch watercress

Method

Preheat the oven to 200/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Heat a medium frying pan over a medium heat and add the bacon to a pan along with the rosemary. Cook until the bacon crisps and then remove and set aside, reserving the fat from the pan.
Place the vegetables onto a baking tray. Pour the bacon fat over the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 20 minutes or so until soft.
To make the warm Comté cheese mixture, preheat a grill to medium. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, spoon into 2 small oven-proof dish and place under a medium grill until bubbling.
To serve, scatter some croûtons and the roasted vegetables over the cheese and top with the watercress and crisp bacon.