Aubergine Parmigiana

Tasty aubergine bake!

1hr30

Ingredients:

• 4 large aubergines
• olive oil
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• dried oregano

For the tomato sauce:

• 2 tins (400g) of tomatoes
• 1 good-quality chicken stock cube (or vegetable)
• 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

For the bechamel (white) sauce:

• 50g butter
• 40g flour
• 1 pint of milk
• ground nutmeg

For the breadcrumbs:

• 50g breadcrumbs (processed old bread or breadsticks)
• 50g grated parmesan

Instructions:

 Preheat oven to 180ºC. Slice aubergines lenthways (1cm thick), brush with olive oil and place on 2 big baking trays for 20-30 min until brown and soft.

 While the aubergine is cooking, make the sauces. First the tomato sauce – fry the garlic and small pinch of oregano in a little olive oil for 2mins, then add the tinned tomatoes and stock cube. Simmer for 15-20mins (until the aubergines are ready!).

 Now the bechamel sauce: Melt the butter on a medium heat. Then add the flour and whisk until combined. Add the milk gradually, whisking continuously to avoid lumps. Add pinch of nutmeg, big pinch of salt and some pepper, and bring to the boil until thickened (about 5-10mins), stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

 Mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan, a big pinch of oregano, a big pinch of salt and olive oil together until small clumps form.

 Time to make the parmigiana!! Layer up alternating aubergines and tomato sauce and then finish with aubergines, bechamel sauce then breadcrumbs.

Bake for 15-20mins until golden. Leave for 5min to cool slightly, then serve.

TIP: Make sure the sauces and breadcrumbs are well-seasoned with salt as the aubergines counteract a lot of this during cooking.

Gratin Dauphinoise

Dedicated to our good friend Maria José…

1hr20

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of waxy potatoes (desiree/charlotte/king edward)
• 300 ml double cream
• 300 ml milk
• 1 clove of garlic
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 100g grated gruyere
• salt & pepper

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 150°C.

Peel and slice the potatoes thinly, rinse in bowl of water to remove excess starch, then drain well.

Heat cream, milk, garlic, nutmeg and some salt and pepper in a pan until boiling. Add potatoes and boil for 12mins.

Grease an oven dish with butter and then spoon in the potato slices (not the sauce) layering with half the gruyere cheese.

 Season the remaining sauce to your taste and then pour over the potatoes.

Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top and bake for 30-40mins until golden.

TIP: Serve with red meat or just a green salad and some bread to soak up the remaining sauce. Mmm…

Meatballs with Almond Sauce

Seriously good meatballs…

1hr30

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

• 450g lamb mince
• 1 large onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 55g bread (no crusts)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh leaf parsley (more for serving)
• 1 egg
• salt & pepper
• plain flour
• freshly squeezed lemon

For the sauce:

• 25g bread
• 115 blanched almonds (whole/flaked)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 150ml dry white wine
• 425ml vegetable stock
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Instructions:

Place bread in a bowl with a few tbsp of water to soak for a few minutes. Then squeeze water out of bread and combine with the lamb mince, onion, garlic, parsley & egg, and lightly season.

With floured hands form 2-3cm meatballs and coat in flour.

 Fry the meatballs in batchs until browned on all sides and remove to a plate. Retain the juices in the pan.

Break the bread into pieces and add to the pan with the almonds and 2 tbsp of olive oil, and fry for a few mins until golden.

Add the garlic and fry for a further 30 seconds, then pour in the wine and boil for 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and leave to cool slightly.

Transfer the almond mixture to a blender and process until smooth adding the vegetable stock.

Return sauce to the frying pan with the meatballs and simmer for 25 minutes.

Taste the sauce and season as desired. Then serve with a generous squeeze of lemon and parsley, crusty bread and salad.

TIP: Lamb mince can be replaced with pork or beef, but isn’t as tasty in my opinion!

Adapted from “A passion for Tapas”

Rocky Road Cake

A chocolate feast!

 15min + 2hrs in fridge

Ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 300g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 3x 15ml tbsp golden syrup
• 200g rich tea biscuits , broken into small pieces
• 100g mini marshmallows
• 150g glacé cherries, chopped
• icing sugar for dusting

Instructions:

 Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a pan or microwave slowly, stirring regularly to prevent burning the chocolate.

Mix the biscuit pieces, mini marshmallows and cherries in a dish (roughly 9×9 inches or 23×23 cm) with half the chocolate mix, and spread evenly across the dish.

Pour the rest of the chocolate mix over the top and press all the mixture down so it’s nice and densely packed.

Leave in the fridge for at least 2hrs or overnight, then cut into small squares and dust with icing sugar to serve. No-one can resist…

Tomato & Goat’s Cheese Tart

Tasty, quick & easy. Perfect for a week night dinner!

 40min

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry (block/sheet, 375-500g)
• Tomato purée (1/3 of a tube, ~2 tbsp)
• 4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 125g soft goat’s cheese
• A handful of fresh basil leaves
• Salt, pepper & olive oil

Instructions:

 First preheat the oven to 200°C. Then, start by rolling out the block of pastry on a floured surface to fit your standard oven tray (or use ready-rolled pastry). Place on greaseproof paper in your chosen tray.

Spread liberally with tomato purée leaving about an inch round the edge for the pastry to rise. Add the sliced tomatoes on top overlapping slightly. 

Interleave the tomatoes with the fresh basil leaves and add the goats cheese on top in little dollops. Season and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake in the oven for 20mins until the pastry is golden brown and the tart looks ready to eat!

TIP: It can be equally tasty with different cheeses and other little things like olives or anchovies.

Baked Artichokes

Delicate roasted artichoke with golden potatoes.

 1hr 15 min

Ingredients:

• Artichokes
• Small to medium sized potatoes
• Olive oil
• Rock salt

Instructions:

Wash the potatoes and put them in the oven whole in a big baking dish (200°C/gas mark 6).

After 15 minutes, cut the root off the artichokes and place them in the oven with the potatoes, drizzling with the olive oil and salt.

Move the potatoes around every 15 minutes so they go golden on all sides.

When the potatoes are soft all the way through and the base of the artichokes are dark green (after about an hour), dinner is ready!

TIP: Amazing served with homemade mayonnaise, a recipe you can find in this blog.

Mackerel Pâté

Rich pâté full of the goodness of oily fish.

 10 min

Ingredients:

• 2 smoked mackerel fillets (without skin)
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 50 g unsalted butter (or margarine)

Instructions:

Throw it all in a blender and blend until smooth.

Eat with crusty bread.

TIP: Use margarine for a softer result.

Mayonnaise

My mum’s recipe for mayonnaise: Much better than the stuff you get in a bottle.

5 min

Ingredients:

• 1 egg (for 2 people)
• 4 drops of lemon juice
• Olive oil and salt

Instructions:

Add the egg, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil into a tall container.

Blend it and keep adding olive oil until it has got a creamy consistency. The more oil you add, the thicker it will get. Add salt as desired.

TIP: Try serving it over asparragus, baked potatoes or artichokes.

Banana Curry

An unusual sweet non-spicy curry

30 min

Ingredients:

• 5 bananas (underripe to just ripe)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 heaped tsp of curry paste (Korma or similar)
• 400 ml can of coconut milk
• vegetable oil
• a handful of chopped coriander

Instructions:

Slice bananas thickly (~2 cm) and fry in vegetable oil until golden. Remove to a plate with kitchen towel.

In the same pan, fry the onions until soft, and then add the curry paste, half the can of coconut milk and mix well.

Add the bananas back to the pan and simmer for 10-15 min. Then, add the remaining coconut milk and allow the sauce to thicken for another 5 min.

Serve sprinkled with coriander leaves and rice or indian bread (peshwari naan is our favourite!).

TIP: Underripe bananas hold together better during cooking, but just ripe have more flavour, so choose as to your preference.

Guacamole

Fresh-tasting Mexican dip with all the goodness of avocados.

10 min

Ingredients:

• 3 avocados
• 1 big tomato, peeled
• 1 medium onion
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cloves of garlic
• ½ tsp cumin
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Prepare and blend all the ingredients together.

Add more cumin, salt and pepper to taste.

TIP: Serve with tortilla chips or fajitas.

…Thanks for the recipe Mar!