Search Results

(or 2 large cubes of frozen spinach) 3/4 c tinned tomato 1 c black beans - cooked or tinned 1 large eggplant Spread beans and tomato mixture in a thin layer over the lasagna sheets and cover with eggplant slices

heavy on the cinnamon) 1 tsp cardammom 1/2 tsp cloves 1 tsp tandoori powder 2 zucchinis, chopped 1 eggplant

For our next Variations on a Theme collaboration with my sister and our friend Hibiscus Kook, the prompt was Tomato Pasta. Check out below where each of us went with that! Konjac Cherry tomato Pasta by Hibiscus Kook This recipe is gluten-free and vegan friendly Creamy Cauliflower Ravioli in a Vodka Tomato Sauce by my Sister Tomato and Whipped Feta Ravioli with a Tomato and Aubergine Sauce by Me This was another fun collaboration for our Variations on a Theme. Watch this space for the next one! In case you want to try making these but don't have a pasta machine, pasta tree or ravioli cutter, click on the links to get one of your own! As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Hubby used most of a chicken making pho this weekend, which naturally generated rather a lot of nice, rich chicken stock. What else to do with beautiful rich stock than risotto? (I do feel that I am mildly predictable on that score at times). We also had giant mushrooms in the fridge, which are quite a rare find in the grocery store. Maybe it is having read Babar Learns to Cook a few too many times recently to Little One, but the large mushrooms immediately told me to stuff them. Both seemed like good ideas, so I decided to couple them up and serve the mushrooms on the risotto. Unsure what to stuff the mushrooms with, Hubby pointed out that we had a very lovely, if somewhat lonely, aubergine in the fridge, so that became the stuffing. The rest, as they say, is history (well, half of it is anyway. the other half is waiting to become a very tasty leftover dinner sometime in the next couple of days, at which point it too will become history.) Ingredients: For the Risotto: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped 4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 300 g arborio rice 2 1/2 c chicken stock a pinch of saffron 1 tsp (ish) dried orange peel 1 - 1/2 c parmesan 2 tbsp butter Salt and pepper to taste For the Mushrooms: 5 large stuffable mushrooms 1 tbsp olive oil 1 red onion, chopped 1/2 head garlic, sliced 1/2 aubergine, cubed 200g chopped tinned tomatoes 1 c red wine 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 4 cloves 1 tsp rosemary 1/4 c millet Salt and pepper to taste 1) Start the risotto. Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Sauté onions and garlic for about 3 minutes, then add the rice. Stir occasionally, allowing the rice to become translucent in the oil. 2) Add the saffron and orange peel and about half of the chicken stock. Stir regularly, and keep it on medium heat. When the liquid is most of the way absorbed, add the rest of the stock and continue stirring. 3) Meanwhile, heat the oil for the mushroom filling in a small frying pan. Sauté the onions and garlic. While they are starting to sweat, cut up the aubergine and the mushroom stalks. After a couple of minutes, add these and the rosemary to the pan. Stir, cooking over medium heat. 4) Cook the mushroom filling for about 5 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes, about half the wine, and the spices. 5) When the tomato mix has reduced a bit. add the millet and the rest of the wine. Cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes until the liquid is most of the way absorbed. When this has happened, fill the mushroom cups with the tomato mix. Set aside. 6) Use 1 tbsp of the butter to grease an ovenproof dish. Stir most of the parmesan, finely grated, into the risotto, and test a grain of rice. If it is almost cooked, make sure there is still a little liquid, adding a little stock or water if necessary, and pour into the prepared dish. Place the mushroom cups on top and spoon remaining filling around the cups on top of the risotto. Dot with the remaining tbsp of butter and the remaining cheese, either thinly sliced or grated. 7) Bake at 180°C for about 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and golden, and the rice and mushrooms are fully cooked through. Serve piping hot. I wasn't sure how all the flavours would play together, but I needn't have worried. It was a big hit with all of us and I look forward to the leftovers. The mushrooms had a lovely nutty depth of flavour, while the warm spice notes of the sauce, contrasted with the acidity of the tomatoes created a nice balance. A minor problem though, that hubby assures me isn't an issue, is that the risotto was perhaps a little bland. I specifically didn't want to over flavour it and have it compete with the mushrooms, but it could have had a little more going for it. It was nice and creamy though. This could easily be made with vegetable stock, making this vegetarian, and for a fancier look, it could be cooked in individual ramequins. All in all, though, I am very happy with this one.

In the new cookbook I got for Christmas, Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat, there is a double page of 10 vegetable soup recommendations with topping suggestions, but no recipes (or I'm simply blind and missed them). One of the suggestions was Aubergine Soup with Harissa. As Aubergines were on sale and we seemed to have an endless supply of them, and because it sounded good, I decided to try it. Somewhere along the way I wasn't sure I would be able to get what I needed for the Harissa though and noticed that I had a jar of frozen nettles, so I thought of trying to make a spicy nettle sauce to top the soup. I did end up finding what I needed for the Harissa in the end, but still added the nettles. And then I remembered that I had Queso Blanco left over from my cheese making efforts. I decided I would top the soup with some of this too, and at the last minute added some of this to the harissa too - although at this point I don't think it can any longer be called harissa, but I don't know what else to call it. The soup came out beautifully with a deep, rich flavour, offset but a dash of lemon and the not-too-spicy Nettle Harissa. I found that the queso blanco certainly added something to the soup, but it would have worked well without for anyone wanting to make it vegan or keto friendly. Ingredients: For the soup: 4 aubergines 1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped 1/2 head garlic, minced 2 - 3 c vegetable stock 1 tsp sumac Juice of 1 lemon Salt and pepper to taste Queso Blanco (or other fresh cheese) to serve For the Harissa: 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped 3 dried chilis, chopped 3 - 4 sundried tomatoes 2 tsp cumin seeds 2 tsp coriander seeds 3 - 4 tbsp olive oil 3 - 4 tbsp nettles (mine were briefly steamed then frozen) 1 tbsp queso blanco juice of 1 lemon 1) Roast the aubergines in the oven under the broil setting at 200°C, turning regularly, until they are soft on the inside and browning on the outside (you could even let them get some char marks) - about 45 minutes to an hour. Cool and then chop. 2) Heat oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot. Sauté onions and garlic until soft and translucent. 3) Add the aubergine and the remaining soup ingredients except the cheese and cook for about 10 minutes. Blitz until smooth and set aside. 4) In a small frying pan, dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds until the first few begin to pop. Stir the pan around a few times to ensure even roasting. Remove from the heat. 5) In a blender, combine all the ingredients except the nettles and the queso blanco. Taste test, then add the nettles and blend again. Taste test, then add the cheese. 6) To serve, ladle soup into bowls. place dollops of the queso blanco around the perimeter of the soup then place briefly in a warm oven (100°C roughly) for a few minutes to encourage the cheese to melt a little. Remove and place a dollop of the harissa in the centre of the bowl. I loved this and will certainly be coming back to it! Hubby and Little Bit liked it too. Little Bit is getting better at using a spoon, but after a few spoonfuls he gave up and started stuffing soup into his mouth by the fistful. Not a bad endorsement! On a different note, I noticed recently that all of my cooking happens either while wrangling Little Bit, or while listening to and Audiobook. When linking the Broccoli and Cheese Scone recipe to the post about making mascarpone to pair with sweet scones, I suddenly had a vivid image in my head of a sedan chair being carried through rice paddies. It took me a second to place it, but then I realised that it was from WS Maugham's The Painted Veil which I had been listening to when I made the scones. After realising this, I scrolled back through older posts and for a fair number of the recipes I could effortlessly conjure up which part of which book I was listening to while making that recipe. This being the case, I have decided to start including a note on what I was listening to at the time on some posts. While making this soup, I was listening to an early part of The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer. It is a gritty muder/spy mystery taking place in the late '40s in Eastern Europe. While playing around with my nettles and aubergines, our young beleaguered inspector is following clues in a prominent murder case which he realises he has been given to fail... It's been a while since my last crime book and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This is another Hubby recipe, and it came out beautifully, so I figured he could guest star on this post. I am also very grateful as he made it just after I finished a night shift when I had zero desire, energy or brain power to cook. I would have thrown something from the freezer in the oven, and instead, for the small price of occupying Little Bit for a while before dinner (a delight rather than a chore), he dished up a beautiful, original meal. So here it is. I hope you enjoy and appreciate it as much as I did! Ingredients: 3 c tomato passata 3 tbsp olive oil 2 medium onions, chopped 1/2 head garlic, chopped 1/2 celeriac head, chopped 4-5 carrots, chopped 1 aubergine sliced thin 1 courgette sliced thin 1 tsp pul biber 1/2 tbsp oregano 15-20 shrimp juice and zest of 1 lemon 1 tbsp chives 500 g spaghetti salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat 1 1/2 tbsp of the oil in a skillet and add the onion, carrot and celeriac and cook over medium low heat until it becomes sweet and tender. Brown a little at the end, caramelising the sugars that have been released. 2) Place remaining oil and the garlic in a second skillet and slowly bring up to medium heat, allowing the garlic to infuse the oil without browning. Add the strips of aubergine and cook until the aubergine is tender, about 5 minutes, then remove and place on paper towel to drain. Set aside. 3) Add the mix from the first skillet the the second and fry briefly in the garlic oil. Add the passata and zucchini. Simmer. Add a little water at this stage if the sauce is plopping and too thick. 4) Cook your spaghetti in salted water. Drain when slightly under done, reserving 1 - 11 1/2 c pasta water. 5) Once the zucchini is tender, add the oregano and pul biber. Add the aubergine back into the pan, add the juice and zest of one lemon and the shrimp. Cook for a further 5 minutes until the shrimp is white and firm but not over done. 6) Place cooked spaghetti and pasta water in the skillet and mix well with the sauce. Serve, sprinkling chives over the top. This hit a good balance of flavours here, not too hot for Little Bit, a bit zesty, rich and moist. All around very satisfying! Little Bit loved it too, so what better endorsement could you ask? Although he does smoosh yogurt into main courses and then knead banana through it all, so perhaps take my word over his after all...

I made this on a whim to change up our lunch menu from soups for a day. I had a vague idea of what I was heading for, but layered as I went and am delighted with the result. The crust was a little experimental, using cottage cheese instead of milk to bind the flour-butter crumbs together. I wasn't sure how the texture or taste would hold up, but they did, really well as it turns out. The filling had a vaguely Mediterranean leaning to it, with some garlic, olive oil and lemon. Ingredients: 1 c flour 1/3 cold butter, diced 1/3-1/2 c cottage cheese pepper 1 aubergine, chopped 1 courgette, chopped 1 tomato, sliced 1 onion, sliced 4 cloves of garlic roughly crushed 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp thyme A squeeze of lemon juice 200g feta, crumbled 1) Place flour in a bowl and add diced butter. Rub the flour into the butter until it is all mixed together, forming a crumb like mix. Add pepper to taste. 2)Add cottage cheese and stir in, bringing all the crumbs together to form a dough. Wrap up and chill for at least 30 minutes. 3) Place aubergine and courgette in a bowl and salt generously. Leave for 10 minutes. 4) Roll out the pastry and line a tart dish with it. 5) Place aubergine and courgette in a colander and rinse thoroughly. Place in a clean bowl and toss with feta, garlic, olive oil, thyme, lemon juice and then spread evenly over the bottom of the pastry. Place tomato and onion slices over the top and bake at 180°C for 20-30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the veg is tender. This came out how I had hoped it would and made an excellent lunch for the three of us. Salting the aubergine and courgette ahead of time drew out some of the liquid, making the tart less wet, and also added a nice aspect of seasoning. The cottage cheese crust, surprisingly baked with flecks of red in it, and was very tasty. I will be making this variant again! Overall this came out well! I hope you enjoy it too!