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.

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.

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!

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.

 

Hummus

A popular Middle Eastern dip made from crushed chickpeas and tahini.

15 min

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas (400g)
• 4 tsp of tahini
• 4 tsp of natural yougurt
• 8 mint leaves
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed with ½ a tsp of salt
• paprika
• extra virgin olive oil
• parsley (optional)

Instructions:

Blend all the ingredients together in a suitable container.

Taste and add more of any ingredient if required (generally tahini/mint/salt).

Serve spread on a plate sprinkled with paprika, olive oil and parsley (as shown in picture).

TIP: Good for dipping toasted bread or pitta and raw vegetables, such as carrot or cucumber.