Chilli and Vodka pasta

We've had a couple of days of really blustery gusts in Manchester this week, and poor Mr P has had to cycle to work in - not very nice at all. So I decided the best way to mitigate this would be by making him a nice bone-warming dinner to sort him out after his latest 14 hour day.

 

This dish has a little bit of everything you need in this situation - the pasta helps you to carb back up after a tough bike ride, the protein in the kidney beans helps to keep you full, the chilli peps you up when you're dog tired, and although the cooking process destroys the alcohol content of the vodka, it leaves behind a little bit of fiery 'je ne sais quoi' that leaves a satisfied smile on your face.

 

Plus, the whole meal can be easily prepared in under half an hour - bonus!

 

I'm entering this recipe into the monthly Pasta Please, run by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes. This month the theme is chilli, and it's hosted by hosted by Shaheen at A2K.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chilli and Vodka Pasta

serves 2-3

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 red chilli (with seeds), chopped

1 tablespoon tomato puree

2 measures (50ml) vodka

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin kidney beans, drained

 

enough pasta to feed 2/3 people

 

 

 

Method:

 

1. Start to cook the pasta on the hob, whilst you prepare your sauce.

 

2. Gently fry the onion in your oil in a saucepan until it starts to soften. Then add the chilli, garlic and tomato puree, and cook for a minute or so more. Adding the tomato puree at this early stage helps to take away any bitterness and give a slightly sweeter flavour.

 

3. At this point, add the kidney beans, vodka and chopped tomatoes and stir well. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for a further 15-20 minutes or so until the sauce has thickened somewhat.

 

4. Meanwhile, when the pasta is cooked al dente, drain well. Serve either with the sauce on top, or stir the pasta into the sauce at the last minute for full coverage.

Winter Vegetable Terrine

"What an odd choice of post for August!" I can almost hear you cry as you read that I'm about to launch into a very unseasonal recipe. Except, if you're surprised by the wintry tone of this post, then it means you're one of my overseas readers. If you're in the UK, I'm sure it won't surprise you at all, and you may well be in just as much need of some comforting grub as me. So, let's leave aside the horrible Manchester showers that got me wet through on my latest run (yes, dear reader, *run* - I'm sure it won't last!) and move seamlessly into the warmth and comfort of the kitchen, where the magic happens.

This recipe is adapted from one by the marvellous Mary Berry, as set out in her Complete Cookbook. If you don't have it, buy it - it's definitely the most well-consulted of the hundreds of cookbooks that I own. The amendments that I have made to her recipe are as follows:

1. I used turnip instead of celeriac, which Mr P turns his nose up at. It transpired that he wasn't too keen on the idea of turnip either, which is why a not inconsiderable amount of garlic and ginger were added to the middle layer - more of which later...

2. I was a bit too lazy to actually measure out the ingredients, so I guesstimated by vegetable size (I know, I know). I've listed both lazy measurements and precise Mezzah Bezzah measurements in the ingredients list below.

This is a super healthy veg injection, best served chilled. I found that it survived well in lunchboxes (see below), and was delicious with new potatoes. I also found that for those who find something so wholesome a little bit too goody-goody, this terrine is epic with a filthy dirty stilton sauce. Oops... I think I just dribbled on my keyboard a little bit there...

Winter Vegetable Terrine

serves 6

You will need a 1kg (2lb) loaf tin or terrine, oiled and lined with greaseproof paper on the bottom
Mary Berry's official ingredients come first [mine come afterwards]

Ingredients:
375g/12oz [3 large] carrots, coarsely chopped
2.5cm/1in piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
salt and black pepper
375g/12oz celeriac [2 large turnips], peeled and coarsely chopped
375g/12oz [2 medium-sized heads] broccoli
sunflower oil for greasing
3 eggs



Method:
1. Cook the carrots for 10-15 minutes in boiling salted water until they are just tender. Mary Berry cooks them with the ginger, but I put the ginger with the turnip, to disguise it for Mr P.

2. Cook the celeriac/turnip in boiling water for 8-10 minutes until just tender.

3. Cut the stalks off the broccoli and cook for 8-10 minutes until almost tender, then add the florets and cook for another minute.

4. Drain all of the vegetables separately and rinse in cold water, then drain again, very well.

5. Blitz the broccoli well in a food processor with one egg, and some salt and pepper to taste. When the mixture is smooth, pour into the loaf tin and smooth the surface.

6. Blitz the celeriac or turnip with another egg and salt and pepper to taste. When a smooth puree has been achieved, layer on top of the broccoli and smooth.

7. Repeat this process with the carrots and the final egg. Smooth this final layer on top of the other two.

8. Tightly cover the tin with oiled foil and put into a roasting tin. Pour boiling water in to the roasting tin, to come half way up the sides of the loaf tin. Cook in a preheated oven for about an hour at 180 degrees celcius. When done, the terrine should be firm.

9. Remove the terrine from the oven and allow to cool in the loaf tin. Then chill thoroughly in the fridge before turning out to serve.

Macaroni 1: Meltdown 0!

Ladies and Gents, I have to warn you that this post may take on the form of a bit of a rant. It's been a funny few days; an emotional rollercoaster, some may say. And not due to anything specific, either. Just the culmination of a hundred little niggling issues which combined to induce a melodramatic meltdown of epic proportions, which it turned out that only food could cure.

I'm very aware that committing any of these minor catastrophes to writing will decrease their significance to the extent that my reaction will make me feel psychologically unhinged. However, suffice it to say that after hearing (after 3 weeks of to-and-fro phonecalls; actually, mostly to- and not much fro) that the passport office have lost my marriage certificate (apparently due to posting it back normal delivery, even though I paid for courier service), then rushing to source a last-minute van after finding out that my Dad wanted his house move to take place this weekend, only to be informed by Mr P that we've got guests coming ("I told you weeks ago!"/"I'm pretty sure you didn't!"), organising the time off to do the move early next week instead, then finding that Dad had already roped in extra 'volunteers' for Saturday, but managing to put them off as nicely as possible, then finding out that next week's conference paper, whch I thought was 90% done, was actually 18 pages of vapid nonsense, I was not in the best of spirits.

But hark! What is that I hear? Is it the sound of an email notification from Schuh alerting me to their 25% off sale? And lo! Do my eyes deceive me, or are the shiny red lovelies that I have been aspirationally referring to as my "Birthday shoes" included in said sale? Could it be that my day was suddenly taking a turn for the much, much, better?

Erm, no. Because they only had three sizes left, and mine wasn't one of them. Cue: meltdown!

In a situation like this, there is only one cure: comfort food, and lots of it.

Meltdown-busting Macaroni cheese

(serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 cups dried macaroni

1 des sp butter

2 tblsp sunflower oil

1 des spoon plain flour

2 cups milk (I used soya milk)

3 des spoon nutritional yeast

1/2 dessert spoon paprika

1/2 tsp mustard powder

good shake of black pepper

grated cheese (mature cheddar) a block about 2cm x 2cm x 8cm (you can't be expected to wigh such things when you are having a meltdown)

Method:

1. Cook the macaroni in boiling water as per the instructions on the packet - don't over cook it though, as it should be a little al dente.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a moderate heat, then add the oil. Stir in the flour and mustard powder to form a thick roux.

3. Add in the milk, stirring continously, then stir in the paprika, pepper, and nutritional yeast.

4. When they are all blended in well, stir in the grated cheese. If the meltdown is serious, you may wish to grate some more to sprinkle over the finished dish as a protest against class and decency (I did).

5. When the macaroni is cooked, remove both pans from the heat. Drain the macaroni thoroughly and add it to the pan of cheese sauce, and mix until all of the macaroni is completely covered.

6. Serve in a large bowl, and eat with a big spoon. You will feel immediately a lot better.

7. If you're not quite up to 100% mental fitness after the macaroni cheese, then fry up a big batch of popcorn with inordinate amounts of salt, and treat yourself to a teacup of Galliano vanilla liqueur on the side.

What?! Are you looking at me funny?

No, seriously, I'm better now.

Or am I?

Yeah, honestly I am.

Curry and comfort

Unfortunately, this weekend I've come down with some kind of horrible disease. Perhaps that's an exaggeration - but  anyway, I have a sore throat, headache, temperature and am generally feeling rather sorry for myself. But bear with me, as there's a reason for the 'pity me' tirade.

Namely... comfort food. For me, anything a little bit stew-y and spicy fits into the comfort food category, especially when it's loaded with healthy, nutritious ingredients. Which brings me right back to curry. We eat rather a lot of curry at home, but I suppose we've fallen into a bit of a rut with it, not experiementing as much as we should. But last weekend as a pre-birthday treat for my Dad, we went to the rather wonderful Coriander restaurant. No fuss, just great food, made from sensible ingredients. I felt like I was falling in love with curry all over again.

So, when I started feeling the onset of a nasty sore throat, and inspired by the outing, I decided to put together a delicious, comforting massala, using aubergine, cauliflower, and potato. Simple, healthy and delicious, and served with fragrant pilau rice.

Aubergine and Cauliflower Massala

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 aubergines

1 onion, finely chopped

1 large cauliflower, separated into florets

6-8 medium potatoes, diced

4 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp chilli flakes or one red chilli

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1/2 tsp fenugreek

1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1tsp coriander seeds

2 dessert spoons of tomato puree

2 tsp garam massala

1 tsp ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

4 cloves

1 green cardamom pod

2 cups of water

3 tblsp sunflower oil

Method:

1. Chop the aubergines in half and half again, lengthways. Dry fry them in a non-stick frying pan, until each cut edge takes on a charred appearance. When they are done, set aside.

2. Meanwhile, in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, fry off the fenugreek, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and coriander seeds over a medium heat until the seeds start to pop. At this point add in the chopped onion, stir for a couple of minutes, then add in the garlic and chilli, stirring periodically for another minute. Then add in the potato and the tomato puree, stirring periodically for about 5 minutes.

3. In the non-stick pan, dry fry the cloves and the cardamom pod for 30 seconds to a minute, moving continuously. Transfer to a pestle and mortar and finely crush, discarding the cardamom pod and retaining only the seeds. Add this powder, and the rest of the spices to the potato mixture and mix thoroughly.

4. Add a cup of water to the curry mixture, and allow to simmer gently for another 5 minutes. After this time, most of the water will have been absorbed. Add in the cauliflower, mix thoroughly, and after about 5 minutes add another cup of water, together with the tinned tomatoes. simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes and cauliflower are tender.

5. Chop each of the lengths of aubergine into 3-4 pieces, add into the curry mixture, and gently stir in. Allow to simmer for another 3-4 minutes. If the curry is too hot, add 1/4 cup of milk or soya milk. Serve with a good helping of pilau rice.

Fragrant Pilau Rice

Serves 2-6

Ingredients:

1 teacup of basmati rice per person

2 teacups of freshly boiled water per person

4-6 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

seeeds from 3-5 green cardamom pods

seeds from 1 black cardamom pod

1/2 tsp - 1tsp turmeric

1 bay leaf

Method:

1. Put all of the ingredients together in a saucepan and bring up to the boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes, then turn off the heat, put a lid on the pan, and leave it over the warm.

2. Wait for about 15 minutes, after which time the rice should be ready to serve.

Aubergine and cauliflower massala with pilau rice

As with most curries, this tastes even better on the second day, which is perfect if you're still feeling grotty!

Aubergine Caviar and Courgette Caviar

Traditionally, Good Friday is a meat-free day, aka 'Fish Friday'. And what better way to bring this to life here than with a bit of fish free 'caviar'?

For those who don't know, I'm particularly interested in all things Russian, though I'm not sure that my interest extends to the food. Whilst the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia have yielded some pretty delicious dishes, I'm afraid that traditional Russian cuisine dosn't speak to me quite so much. Perhaps this is because (aside from soups and pickles, which are in a league of their own) traditional Russian cooking only has a limited lot to offer to vegetarians, let alone vegans.

However, there are the odd couple of things that are worth mentioning, and they come into their own when the weather turns warmer, and we start craving simpler, lighter food. These two 'caviar' recipes are inspired by Sofka Skipwith's 'Eat Russian', a charming little food and cookbook from the Soviet era. They are partcularly good served with a nice wholesome bread (here served with Marathon Bread from Barbakan), and a simple salad of tomato and cucumber or gherkin.

Aubergine Caviar and Courgette Caviar

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 aubergines

3 courgettes

2 onions

2 tomatoes

3 tblsp sunflower oil

3 tblsp cider vinegar

salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

1. Cut the courgettes and aubergines in half lenthways and arrange, cut-side down, on baking trays with about a centimetre of hot water on the tray. Pop in the oven for about 15-20 mins at 180 degrees celcius to steam gently.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the vegetables. Firstly, you will need to skin the tomatoes. To do so, score a small cross in the top of each tomato, then submerge completely in boiled water. Leave for about 10 minutes, after which time, you can remove the tomatoes and the skin should peel off easily.Then finely chop the skinned tomatoes.

3. Whilst the tomatoes are sitting in the boiling water, very finely chop the onion.

4. When the aubergines and courgettes are steamed, remove them from the oven and allow to sit until cool enough to handle. Finely chop the flesh (keeping the courgette and the aubergine separate).

5. Set up two frying pans, and divide the oil, vinegar, onion and tomato equally between them. Add the aubergine to one pan and the courgette to the other. Gently simmeron a low heat to evaporate off any exess liquid. Allow to cool and refrigerate - serve very cold as part of a buffet dinner with bread and salad.

Kimchi or not Kimchi... that is the question!

Cabbage is a bit of a sore point in our household, since Mr P is practically phobic. I have just about managed to get him to eat the odd sprout, stirfried in a flash in a spicy sauce, but cabbage remains a major task. And since we get a fortnightly box of mystery seasonal veg delivered to our house, cabbage has featured rather heavily of late, and it's been my sole responsibility.

A colleague introduced me to Korean food recently, and I got very excited googling the various exotic options on the menu. Most intriguing was the idea of Kimchi - apparently a staple of Korean cuisine that often involves fermented cabbage, ginger and chilli. Fish sauce is normally a key ingredient in Kimchi, but I wasn't going to let this put me off  the possibility of a solution to the cabbage overload I've been having of late. If you're a meat-eater or a pescetarian, you could substitute fish sauce for half of the soy sauce in the recipe. However, for vegetarians/vegans, my recipe is probably so different from its namesake, that I'm not sure if it's fair to stick to the original name. But as I can't think of anything more suitable (and as it's provided me with a puntastic title for this post), I think we're good to go.

Kimchi (or not Kimchi)

Ingredients:

2 large cabbages

8 dessert spoons salt

1 red onion, finely minced

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

5 tblsp lazy chilli (the kind pre-chopped in a jar)

about 2cm fresh ginger, grated

10 des sp soy sauce

3 tsp sugar

 

Method:

1. Chop the cabbages in half, then chop into pieces about 2cm in size, then rinse.

2. Put the cabbage into a large container, dissolve the salt in a jug of water and pour over the cabbage. You will then have to top up with more water until your cabbage is totally covered (unless your jug was gargantuan). Weigh the cabbage down so that it is completely submerged. Leave for 4-5 hourse, then drain, rinse and dry.

3. For the sauce, mix together the onion, garlic, chilli, ginger, soy sauce and sugar.

4. Cover the cabbage completely in the sauce, and pack into sterlised jars. Invert a couple of times, then pop into a cupboard for a couple of days, after which it should be starting to ferment and ready to serve. In normal kimchi, this is indicated because it starts bubbling, though this never happens to mine. Transfer the kimchi to the fridge.  If you don't want to eat it straight away, you can leave it to mature for longer. It will get richer and more sour over time, and then is better used as the base for sauces and soups rather than eaten on its own.

5. The kimchi is lovely served with sesame seeds, either as a snack on its own, with noodles as a simple lunch, or as a side to many different kinds of dishes. But don't get carried away and eat a whole jar in a couple of days, as a certain friend of mine recently did - your belly won't thank you for it! It is fermented cabbage, after all.

Bird in a Bird in a Bird

I'm not really sure what the official name for the inspiration behind this dish is, and to be honest, the whole idea makes me feel a little queasy - the traditional Christmas practice of stuffing a small bird inside a bigger bird, inside another big bird. But I did think that it would be a good idea to try making something that spectacular, using vegan ingredients. In my opinion, this looks a lot more appealing than its namesake as when you cut it you get rainbow slices on your plate - delicious!

Bird in a Bird in a Bird

with potato wedges and hot tomato gravy

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash

2 red peppers

1 medium-sized aubergine

couple of handfuls of spinach, washed

1 large courgette

1 cup red camargue rice

tsp cumin

olive oil

sea salt

pepper

For the simple bechamel sauce:

1 tblsp spoon olive oil

3 tsp plain flour

3 tblsp soya milk

very scanty pinch nutmeg

For the hot tomato gravy:

1 tin tomatoes

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 Scotch bonnet chilli, very finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed or very finely chopped

10 olives

pinch pepper

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celcius. Chop the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and place the squash cut-side down on a baking tray, with about 1cm of hot water in it. Pop in the oven for 20-30 minues until the flesh is tender.

2. Meanwhile, cook the rice on the hob in the usual way. I use 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice, boil it rapidly for 3-5 minues, then turn off the heat and leave the pan there with the lid on for 20 minutes. Perfect results every time.

3. Slice the aubergine into thin slices and either grill, griddle or fry until soft and ever so slightly charred, then set aside. Whilst you are doing this, submerge your peppers in a jug of water for about 5 minutes, then remove them and pat dry. This makes the skin nice and tender.  

4. Your butternut squash and rice should now both be ready. Remove the squash from the oven, and turn the oven up to 220 degrees celcius. Use a spoon to scoop out most of the flesh from the middle, leaving about 1cm of flesh around it so that the skin doesn't fall apart. Mix the flesh into the rice, adding salt and pepper to taste. Stuff some of the rice mixture well into the prepared red peppers (you will probably need just over half of it), brush the outside of them with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Cut the courgette in half, brush the outside with oil and sprinkle with salt. Pop the peppers and the courgette in the oven for 10 mins for the peppers to brown off the outside andt the courgette to start to cook.

5. Whilst they are in the oven, make a very simple bechamel sauce, by heating the oil and flour over a gentle heat, stirring continuously. Then add the milk, stirring continuously. Add the nutmeg at the last minute and stirr well. There won't be much sauce, but it should be pretty thick.

6. Line the cavity of the butternut squash with the slices of aubergine so that there are no gaps, but the lining is quite flat and neat. Spoon half of the bechamel sauce into each half of the squash, and spread evenly so that all of the aubergine is covered.

7. Remove the peppers and courgettes from the oven, and reduce the temperature to 200 degrees celcius. Pop the stuffed peppers into on half of the butternut squash. You may have to manipulate them a little to make them fit, but this is fine. Put the squash back together, brush the outside with a little olive oil, some sea salt and pepper, and pop back on your baking tray.

8. Scoop the very centre from your courgette,discard any seeds, and mix the rest of the flesh in with the remainder of the rice mixture. Line the cavity of your courgette with the spinach.

9. Add the cumin to the rice and mix in well. Use this to stuff the two halves of the courgette. There will probably more than you need, but this can be frozen for a lunchbox at a later stage. Once the courgette is stuffed, put it back together, cover the outside in a thing brushing of olive oil, sea salt and black pepper then put back on the baking tray. Pop both of the stuffed 'birds' back in the oven for around 40mins.

10. Meanwhile, make the tomato gravy. Gently fry off the onion in a little olive oil until it starts to go soft, then add in the garlic, chilli and  tomatoes. Bring to the boil, then simmer very gently for about 40 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken and mature. You might want to open a window at this point, as the chilli fumes can be quite intoxicating!

11. You can now prepare the potato wedges to serve with the meal. Take three large potatoes and chop each in half length-ways, then cut each half lengthways into three or four equal segments. Put these on another baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and pop them in the oven when the 'birds' have been in for about 20 minutes, so that they are ready at the same time. You will need to give the wedges a good shake around about ten minutes into their cooking time.

12. When you put the wedges in the oven, you can add the olives to the tomato gravy. You can cut them in half if you like, or keep them whole for texture - whichever you prefer.

Slice the 'birds' at the table for best effect!

When everything is ready, dish up the wedges, but leave the 'birds' for carving at the table for some added excitement. Serve the sauce in a jug, so that guests can decide how brave they want to be! Although the sauce is pretty hot, it's actually shockingly more-ish...

Vegetable tempura with chilli dipping sauce

Last weekend, I went for a spot of lunch with my Dad at a little gastropub in the midlands. Now, I'm no food snob - in fact I'm firmly of the opinion that you can't beat a good chip supper (with battered pineapple ring and mushy peas, of course).

But I digress... the point is - I don't have anything against gastropubs persay. It's just that this one really didn't represent itself well.

I ordered vegetable wasabi tempura from the menu. So far, so imaginative. I was particularly excited, since a few days before, I'd been browsing the pictures in my River Cottage Veg book, where there is a mouthwatering tempura recipe.

I suppose I was setting myself up for a fall.

What actually arrived was this:

Thick, stodgy batter more appropriate for onion rings, the kind of half-hearted lettuce concoction that gives salad a bad name, and... wait for it... a sour cream and chive dip. Since when was tempura served with sour cream?! Horrific.

So here's how it should have been done, courtesy of River Cottage Veg Everyday.

Vegetable tempura with chilli dipping sauce
(serves 4-6, apparently... but three of us polished this off without too much bother)

Ingredients:

A selection of vegetables. I used:

Carrots sliced on the diagonal

Asparagus spears

Whole small mushrooms

Thinly sliced red and green peppers

Purple tenderstem broccoli

Sunflower oil for deep frying

I highly recommend the tenderstem broccoli, because the leaves crisped up beautifully, just like crunchy 'seaweed'.

For the tempura batter:
100g plain flour
40g cornflour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200-225ml ice cold sparkling mineral water

For the dipping sauce:
6 tablespoons redcurrant or crab apple jelly
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
2 red chillies, deseeded and very finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
a bit of black pepper

1. Make the dipping sauce by tipping all of the ingredients except the coriander into a small saucepan and stirring over a very low heat until the jelly has dissolved, leaving a silky syrup. Bring to a simmer and bubble gently for a few minutes to mellow the garlic. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

2. Have all the veg prepared and ready. Make the batter just before you need it. Sift the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Whisk in the cold water until the batter is the consistency of single cream.

3. Heat about 5cm of oil in a deep heavy-bottomed saucepan. You will need to fry the veg in batches, without over crowing the pan. Dunk the vegetables in the batter, piece by piece, and then transfer to the pan until they are crisp and a golden brown colour.

4. Remove with a slotted spoon, tongs, or cooking chopsticks. Set on kitchen towel to drain and serve immediately with the dipping sauce.

Aubergine Parmigiana

So, having recently found a vegetarian parmesan substitute, here, as promised, is a fancy-schmancy application, courtesy of River Cottage Veg Everyday. This is real comfort food, and super simple. It does take a fair while to prepare the aubergines, though, so maybe one for this weekend...

Aubergine Parmigiana

Ingredients:

4 medium aubergines

4-5 tblsp olive oil

2 balls mozzarella, torn into pieces

About 35g vegetarian parmesan

For the tomato sauce:

2 tblsp olive oil

2 onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 x 400g tins plum tomatoes, roughly chopped

(Hugh says 4 tins, but I was making it for my Mum who is quite sensitive to the acid in tomatoes, so I made less sauce, and the recipe still really worked well)

1 bay leaf

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Trim aubergines and slice lengthways into 3-5mm thick slices. Layer the slices in a colander and sprinkle each layer with a little salt. Leave to draw the juices for about an hour.

2. Meanwhile, fry off onions and garlic in olive oil for about 10minutes until soft. Add tomatoes and bay leaf, bring to a simmer and simmer briskly for about half an hour until the sauce is thick and rich.

3. Rinse the aubergine slices and dry thoroughly with a clean tea towel. Fry in olive oil in a hot frying pan for about 2 minutes each side until golden and tender. You will probably need to do this in more batches than you imagined (unless you have an industrial-sized frying pan).

4. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Layer a third of the aubergine slices over the bottom of an ovenproof dish, about 25cm x 20cm and around 5cm deep (or whichever dish you use for making lasagne, I suppose). Cover the aubergine with a third of the sauce, dot with a third of the mozzarella, and psrinkle with a third of the grated parmesan. Repeat this process to give you three layers.

5. Bake for 30-40minutes, until bubbling and golden on top and serve with a nice side salad, and some warm ciabatta. I served mine with a salad of equal parts rocket and coriander, a handful of cooked bulghar wheat, and some chopped tomato.

Hasselback potatoes

How's that for an incentive?

This week, I have mostly been working from home - wading through a giant stack of undergraduate exam papers. I feel that this kind of task is best met not in an office full of people, but in velour joggers* on a large sofa, with tea on tap and access to periodic 'incentives' (such as this morning's elevenses - a slice of my yummy Christmas cake).

Anyhoo, earlier this week as a little reward for getting through the first batch, I decided to act on a colleague's tip about Booth's supermarket. I'd never heard of it before, but when she painted it as a paradise of obscure and wonderful culinary delights, I knew I'd have to take the trip out there. It would have been nice to get out of the house anyway, but the whole trip took on the air of pilgrimage when I made what I consider to be one of my most significant foodie discoveries ever... Vegetarian Parmesan, by Bookhams. It comes in a lovely big hard wedge, unlike the 'free from' powdered version. They can't actually call it Parmesan due to European rules, so it's called Vegetarian Pasta Cheese instead - made with vegetarian rennet.

Now of course this discovery deserves a fancy-schmancy application, probably courtesy of Hugh F-W's River Cottage Veg cookbook. And that will come in a few days.

But in the meantime, let's go back to basics with a Mary Berry recipe that basically cooks itself, leaving you free to sit trundling though stacks of essays to your heart's content. This comes from Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook. I was introduced to the 2003 edition by my old friend the jazz trumpeter and have never looked back. It's a brilliant reference work of pretty much every well-known recipe you could want to make, from Cinnamon buns to Teriyaki and Nasi Goreng to Vegetable terrine. The new edition is currently available for pre-order on Amazon, so if you don't yet own a copy - go out and buy it at once!

*Yes, velour. I simply couldn't part with them after the ill-advised velour tracksuit phase of about ten years ago, so now they come out as a guilty pleasure at marking time. Judge if you want.

Hasselback potatoes

Allow one large potato per person as a side dish, or two as a main meal with a side salad.

Ingredients:

large potatoes (as many as necessary)

one knob of butter, melted per each two potatoes

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese, grated - enough to sprinkle over each potato

Method:

1. Cut a thin slice of the bottom of each potato so that it will sit flat on a baking tray. Push a skewer through the potato length-wise, a quarter of the way up the potato.

2. Make vertical cuts, three-quarters of the way through the potato, at roughly 5mm intervals. You can just cut all the way down to the skewer without worrying about not accidentally chopping all the way through. Remove the skewer and prepare the rest of the potatoes in a similar way.

3. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet, and brush with the melted butter, making sure that it goes down all the cracks. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Bake in a preheated oven at 220 degrees celcius for about 40 minutes, then sprinkle the parmesan on top and bake for another 10 minutes.

5. Serve at once!

Superfood Salad

I wonder whether I have mentioned before that I despise salad? I just think that in principle, anything with that much water content can't really be described as food.

But it turns out that a lot of my prejudice can be explained away by the pitiful quality and lack of imagination shown in most British salads nowadays. So this little beauty takes its inspiration from further afield. There probably won't be much more of the year left when we can seriously consider salad consumtion as a viable food choice, so this particular recipe is a good season-straddler. I got the recipe from a book owned by one of my friends, which I'll credit just as soon as I get her to remind me which book it came from...

Puy lentil salad with soy beans, sugar snaps and broccoli

Ingredients:

200g Puy lentils

1 litre hot vegetable stock

200g tenderstem broccoli

140g frozen soy beans, thawed

1 red chilli, seeded and finely sliced

For the dressing:

2 tblsp sesame oil

juice of 1 lemon

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 1/2 tblsp soy sauce

3cm knob ginger, finely grated

1 tblsp clear honey (replace this with 1/2 tsp sugar dissolved in a tblsp boiling water for a vegan variant)

Method:

1. Rinse the lentils very well to get rid of any gritty residue. Boil the lentils in the stock for about 15 minuted until just cooked. Drain, then tip into a large bowl.

2. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, throw in the broccoli for one minute, add the beans and sugar snap peas for one minute more. Drain, then cool under cold water. Pat dry, and add to the bowl with the lentils.

3. Mix together the dressing ingredients, with whatever seasoning required (if any). Pour over the salad, then mix in well with the sliced chilli.

4. Serve up, and revel in just how delicious salad can be!