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…

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.

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.

Homemade Pizza

Yes! Homemade pizzas are far better than frozen ones… No doubt about it!!

base+10min prep+15min cooking

Ingredients:

Pizza base – 3 options:

• Quick + Easy: Buy a ready-made pizza base
• Still quite easy: Buy a pizza base mix (+water only).
• Hardest-but-tastiest:Make base with live yeast.
  • 2½ tsp active dry yeast
  • 280ml warm water
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 30ml olive oil
  • 390g bread flour (+extra for rolling)
  • ½ tsp salt

Pizza toppings:

• ½ jar of passata or tinned tomatoes (~400 g)
• salt & pepper to season
• 100 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• black olives, halved
• capers
• 125 g mozzarella, cubed/grated
• 50 g cheddar cheese
• mixed herbs (oregano, basil etc.)
• olive oil

Instructions:

Prepare Pizza Base

• Easy Option: Base ready
• Medium Option: Make as per instructions on packet – Mix pizza base mixture with warm water and knead* for 8-10 min. Roll out dough into a round base and leave to rise in a warm place for 10min (airing cupboard or warm oven on lowest setting and turn off).
• Hardest-but-tastiest Option: Dissolve yeast in the warm water and let stand for 5min. Add the sugar, oil, flour and salt, mix together with wooden spoon, then knead*, adding more flour if required until dough is no longer sticky, for 8-10min. Form dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly-oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Let the dough rise in a warm place (airing cupboard or warm oven on lowest setting and turn off) for 1½-2hrs. Punch air out of dough and roll out into a round base on a floured surface.

* Either knead by hand on a floured surface by folding dough in half and pressing layers together strongly with the heel of the hand, turning 90º and repeating, OR, use dough hook attachments on an electric mixer. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic… It can be quite therapeutic!!

Prepare Pizza Toppings

Transfer pizza base to baking tray (or pizza stone if you have one) and spread evenly with passata or tinned tomatoes, leaving only 1cm free around edge of base. Season with salt and pepper.

Layer the mushrooms, peppers, olives and capers evenly across the base, then top with the mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

Sprinkle with the herb mix and drizzle generously with olive oil before baking at 200°C for 15-20 minutes (or as stated on the ready-made base instructions) until golden brown. Mmmmm……

OTHER TOPPINGS (v): Roasted vegetables, artichokes, blue cheese, pesto, spinach, red onion, goat’s cheese, rocket, sundried tomatoes, pineapple, jalapenos.

 

Cheese & Mushroom Croquettes

Tasty little spanish-style croquettes filled with a mouth-watering soft cheese sauce… Mmm…

30+20+20 min (about 3 hr with breaks)

Ingredients:

• 800ml milk
• ½ onion (not chopped)
• 5 cloves
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 50g mushrooms, finely chopped
• 150g cheese (gruyere or something similar)
• 100g butter
• 150g plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 250g fine breadcrumbs (blend breadsticks if you cannot find this)
• olive oil for shallow frying

Instructions:

Boil the milk, onion, cloves, peppercorns and bay leaves in a saucepan for 15 minutes.

Strain to remove all bits (onion, cloves etc.) and return only liquid to pan. Add mushrooms and boil for further 5 minutes.

In a separate saucepan melt the butter over a low heat. Stir in the flour and cook briefly for 30 seconds.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the milk and mushrooms bit by bit, stirring continuously to avoid clumping.

Add the cheese and return to the heat until the sauce thickens (if it hasn’t already) and boils. Taste and season with salt as desired (usually around ½ tsp).

Turn off heat, and pour or scoop onto a baking tray/dish to cool completely.

To make the croquettes, shape 1 teaspoon of cold mix into an oval, scooping from one to another until well-shaped. Then gently dip into the egg and then the breadcrumbs. (You can keep half the mixture in fridge till the next day if you run out of time!). Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Heat about 1cm of oil in a frying pan and fry croquettes in batches of 5/6. Keep rolling over until golden brown on all sides and take out onto a plate with kitchen towel, keeping warm in a low oven if necessary.

Serve cold or warm as a main meal (serves 4) or tapas dish.

TIP: They are also tasty when mushrooms are replaced with ham.

Adapted from “Moro” by Sam & Sam Clark.