Courgette and Aubergine Lasagne

There is something utterly delicious about lasagnes, meat or vegetable. This is a delicate and light alternative to the usual rich and creamy recipes. It has been inspired by my love of melanzane parmigiana and is refreshingly stress free to make. I have used a fresh tomato and garlic sauce, which lifts it from the heavy depths of traditionally cooked ones, and without the need for bechamel there are no lengthly cooking processes. This skinny gem is just layers of grilled vegetables, fresh sauce, grated mozzarella and lasagne sheets. Use good quality egg lasagne sheets, that are as thin as possible, I don't precook them but rather allow the sauce to do the job. Cool for five to ten minutes before serving and enjoy with a salad. 

Recipe

1-2 large aubergines

2-3 large courgettes

6 medium tomatoes

1 large garlic clove

olive oil

lasagne sheets

mozzarella, grated

sea salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 200C. Slice aubergines and courgettes into about 5mm slices. Place aubergine slices into a colander with some salt and allow to stand for 10-15 minutes. Brush off salt before using. Heat a heavy pan medium to high, grill courgettes and aubergines until golden and slightly charred. There is no need to use any oil, the heat from the pan will help steam the vegetables and after a couple of minutes the slices should come away easily from the surface. Grill in batches and set aside until needed.  In a food processor, blitz together tomatoes and garlic. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, half a cup of water and some salt and pepper. Blitz again.

Drizzle a baking dish with some olive oil and begin to assemble the lasagne. Start with a layer of tomato sauce, layer with a few slices of aubergine and courgette, sprinkle with mozzarella and add another thin layer of tomato sauce. Then layer with lasagne sheets and repeat process another three times. The top layer should have cheese as the final topping, you can add some extra mozzarella and grated parmesan. Finally grind some pepper over the top. Bake for 20-30 minutes until cooked through, golden and puffy.

Spinach Tart

This tart is my childhood in a dish, it is also the ultimate show stopping spinach and cheese pie. My mum used to make this on most special occasions and she is still well known for it. The other day I was reminded of this stunner when speaking to her, so I made it as a tribute to some of my most precious memories. Nestling inside a crisp puff pastry shell, the filling is a pillowy mixture of spinach and three cheeses in a bechamel sauce enriched with eggs. The key is to bake it in a hot oven so the base is well cooked and crisp too. You can adjust the amounts of feta and cheddar if you prefer something richer, but the quantities below produce a pretty perfect pie. It is best served hot and goes beautifully with a selection of salads.

Recipe (adapted from Myrna Rosen) 

500g puff pastry

500g frozen spinach

100g feta cheese, crumbled

250g cottage cheese

100g strong cheddar, grated

250ml double cream

250ml milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

half and onion, grated

salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 225C. Roll out puff pastry to about 5mm thick and use about 300g to line a 25cm deep fluted tin or pie dish. Return to the fridge until needed. Keep the rest of the rolled pastry aside under a damp cloth to stop it from drying out. Defrost spinach by heating it on the stove and cool down rapidly in ice cold water. Remove excess water by squeezing spinach out well and set aside until needed. To make the filling: saute onion in butter until soft in a medium saucepan, add flour and allow to cook until the mixture resembles beach sand. Add milk and cream gradually to make a bechamel sauce, keep whisking to avoid lumps forming. Take off the heat and add eggs very slowly, mixing constantly to avoid scrambling. Return to the heat and allow to thicken. Turn off heat, add all the cheeses and the spinach, mix together well and then season to taste. Check the salt carefully as the cheese will also provide much of the salt. Spoon into the pastry shell and spread evenly. Cut the remaining pastry into strips about an inch wide. Create a lattice over the filling using the pastry strips. Brush with egg yolk. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden and puffy. Serve hot. 

Welsh Cakes

A friend of mine once told me that a baker who doesn't do currants makes for quite a contradiction. I have always had a difficult time with these tiny dried up grapes and it has indeed taken me a while to accept them and their fatter cousins into my baking bowl. Currants and raisins have long been picked out of every dish and delight since I can remember but no more! I am finally a fan and love their sweet bursts of chewy flavour. 

Welsh cakes are delicious drop scones cooked on a griddle until blisteringly golden. They are simple, made with cupboard staples and are truly scrummy. I found it very hard not to eat them all just hot off the stove. Traditionally they are made on cast iron griddles but if you don't have one of these, any heavy pan with a flat base will do. Make sure the heat is low to medium so they cook through without burning, they do catch quite easily so keep an eye on them. Serve them warm with lots of butter, honey or jam... they are also fab without adornment. We had them for breakfast and for tea, divine!

Recipe 

225g self raising flour

110g butter

75g castor sugar

75g currants or sultanas

zest of half a lemon

1 medium egg

splash of milk

half a teaspoon mixed spice

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and rub in butter until crumbly. Add fruit and zest, mix through. Beat the egg and add it to the mixture, bring into a dough and if it seems too dry add a splash of milk. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm thick. Cut into rounds with a medium sized cookie cutter or using a glass. Keep re-rolling the excess dough until it has all been used up. Grease the pan with butter and place on a low to medium heat. Cook the cakes in batches for about 3 minutes a side until slightly risen, crisp and golden. If they are browning too quickly turn the heat down.

Ful Mudammas

Whoop! Whoop! I have wanted to make this simple dish for some time now and finally managed to find dried fava beans otherwise known as broad beans or 'ful'. They are the oldest domesticated legumes and have been eaten throughout the middle east and ancient world for hundreds if not thousands of years. This dish is traditionally eaten for breakfast with boiled eggs and is also often combined with chickpeas. There are many ways of preparing it and the beans can be mashed or left whole but the main additions are always garlic, lemon and olive oil. I made mine to go with a vegetable curry and decided to mash half the beans and leave the rest whole. I also added chilli and used fresh coriander as a topping instead of the more traditional flat leaf parsley. Soaking and boiling the beans (which I did) is a seemingly endless process and getting the beans just tender is quite difficult so if you can find tinned beans I would probably suggest using them instead. Oh how I love a bean!

Recipe

1 cup dried fava beans or 400g tinned beans

1 tomato, finely chopped

small handful coriander, roughly chopped

1 lemon

2-5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

half a teaspoon dried chilli flakes 

Salt and black pepper

If using dried beans, soak in plenty of water overnight. Drain and bring them to boil in a large pot of water, turn down the heat and simmer for about two hours until tender. Keep a quarter of a cup of the cooking liquid aside then drain the beans and allow to cool. Remove the tough skins from the beans by cutting them gently along the edge and popping the flesh out. If using tinned beans, keep a little of the liquid back, drain and rinse. No need to remove the skins. 

Place beans and the liquid in a pan and simmer for 5-10 minutes. The mixture should be slightly creamy. Remove from the heat and put half the beans into a bowl. Mash with a fork or pestle until semi smooth. Add the rest of the whole beans, juice of the lemon, crushed garlic, chilli flakes and mix together. Add olive oil and salt and pepper to taste, mix again. Spread onto a plate and top with chopped tomatoes and coriander. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Serve with warm pita or flatbreads.

Genoese Sponge

January's grey skies were just asking for something vibrant to lift our spirits. I found a recipe for a Genoese sponge with fresh fruit. I had never made one of these cakes before, it is quite stunning experience. The eggs and sugar are beaten for 10 minutes over a pot of boiling water (bain-marie) until thick and tripled in volume. Beautiful, airy and light.  A Genoese is a firm sponge, it relies completely on the air provided through mixing to give the cake rise as there are no other raising agents used. Slightly drier than a regular sponge it is traditionally used in tiramisu and can be soaked with syrups or alcohol. It can be topped with fruit and whipped cream, sandwiched together with buttercream or baked in a swiss roll tin to make sponge fingers for a trifle. Easy, extremely satisfying to make and it gives a pop of colour and delight to the coldest days of winter.

Recipe (by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall)

60g unsalted butter

125g plain flour

4 medium eggs

125g castor sugar

Pinch of sea salt

200ml whipping cream

250-300g strawberries or raspberries

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease two 18cm or one 22cm cake tins with butter and dust generously with flour. Line the bases with baking paper. Melt the butter and set aside to cool. Sift flour and salt together and set aside. Put eggs and sugar in a large heatproof bowl that will sit snugly over a saucepan of boiling water. The water must not touch the bowl, the steam will warm and help thicken the mixture. Beat the eggs and sugar for about 10 minutes until very pale and at least tripled in volume. The mixture should form thick ribbons on the surface. Sift half the flour and salt into the egg mixture and fold in very gently with a metal spoon, repeat with the remaining flour. Carefully pour in the butter and fold in until just incorporated. Pour the mixture into the tin or divide between the two tins and bake in the middle of the oven for about 20-25 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin until the cake pulls away from the sides, you may need to run a knife around the edges to help it along. Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Top with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Melanzane Parmigiana

It's a new year to be filled with many mouthwatering tastes and flavours. Woohoo!! Top of the ultimates is aubergine. I have a serious love affair with them, a vegetable that sadly never made it onto the table in our family due to its apparently awful texture. The only acceptable form allowed were rather deliciously pickled with chilli and garlic. One of my absolutely favourite and scrummy dishes of heaven is melanzane parmigiana. The name is slightly deceptive and there is no definitive answer as too whether it's derived from being made in Parma or made with parmesan cheese. It did originate in Sicily but is cooked all over Italy. There are many different recipes and you can substitute the aubergine with courgettes if you prefer. My version contains no parmesan, is slightly less calorific and has clean distinctive flavours. Layers of char grilled aubergine with roast tomato sauce and melted mozzarella, baked to golden perfection and eaten with crusty bread. We eat this as a main course on its own but is also delicious eaten with meat or fish.

There is much debate about whether it is necessary to salt aubergine once it has been sliced. I generally don't salt it when roasting or frying, but I do salt them for this recipe to remove some of their excess moisture. Aubergines are like sponges and will absorb as much oil as you give them. The trick is to grill them in a dry pan over a medium to high heat and just add a drop of oil to the pan when they begin to colour. This method ensures they cook quickly, lose most of their water and become wonderfully smokey in flavour.

Recipe (serves 2 as a main, 4 as a starter or side)

2-3 large aubergines

Variety of ripe tomatoes (I used a handful of cherry and 4/5 vine tomatoes)

2 or 3 shallots

4 or 5 cloves of garlic

Few sprigs fresh oregano

Mozzarella for cooking, coarsely grated

2 tbsp double cream (optional)

Half a cup of water

Olive oil

Salt and black pepper

To begin with, remove tops and slice the aubergines length ways about half an inch in thickness. Discard the first and last slices of peel. Layer the slices in a colander with a little bit of salt between each layer and leave for about 15 minutes. In the meantime preheat the oven to 200C. Cut vine tomatoes in half and keep cherries whole, place in a roasting dish with peeled and quartered shallots, 3 or 4 garlic cloves with skin still on and a few sprigs or oregano. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes until soft, caramelized and the garlic is soft. While the veg is roasting, heat a large pan over a medium to high heat, the pan should not be smoking. Remove aubergine slices from the colander, brush off salt or squeeze them gently to remove some of the water and salt. Char grill the slices in batches by placing three or four in the pan at a time. Allow them to develop lots of colour turning them a couple of times to ensure evenness. Add a tsp of oil to the pan just before removing the aubergine to encourage more colour. Remove and set aside. Repeat. 

When the tomatoes are ready, place them in a small saucepan along with the shallots and garlic flesh. Add some fresh oregano leaves and half a cup of water. Bring to the boil and simmer until soft and falling apart. Blitz into a rough sauce. Add cream and a freshly crushed clove of garlic. Season to taste.

To construct the dish: Lightly oil a 20cm casserole dish. Begin by putting 2 or 3 tablespoons of sauce in the bottom of the dish, then arrange a layer of aubergine, placing them as close together as possible. Cover with another layer of sauce and then sprinkle with mozzarella. Repeat until you have used all the ingredients. Lightly drizzle olive oil over the top and add a few oregano leaves along with some freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden and bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Rich Vegetable Cassoulet

Oh we do love beans in our house! Baked, blitzed, fried, refried, cold, marinated, stewed.... any and every possible way will do. I found this fantastic premixed bag of ten different bean varieties, including some of my favourites like kidney, sugar, mung, butter and haricots. Mixed in with these are some others I'm not that familiar with like black eyed, lima, pinto, alubia and black turtle beans. This mix is really fabulous and versatile, great for salads or as a side with vegetables, it also makes a great cassoulet. Cassoulet is a traditional slow cooked casserole containing meat and white haricot beans originating in the south of france. I took my inspiration from the cooking method and the use of beans but little else of the classic version remains in my recipe. This is a rich deeply flavoured slow cooked pot of vegetable heaven. If you want to add some meat, use spicy smoked chorizo or lardons. Any hard root vegetable can stand a long cook and some hardy winter greens to go with chopped tomatoes, beans of your choice and some lemon juice. This is a one pot wonder left to cook slowly in a low oven for a few hours, developing over time and much improved reheated for a day or two on the stove. Eat with crusty bread, any grain or soft polenta.

Recipe 

1 turnip

2 carrots

1 large shallot or onion

2/3 cloves of garlic, crushed

150g cavolo nero, kale or winter greens

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 cup mixed beans or beans of your choice

Juice of half a lemon

1 bay leaf

1 Lt vegetable or chicken stock

1 tbsp tomato paste

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 150C. Heat a heavy casserole dish on the stove. Slice the shallot and saute in olive oil with two cloves of crushed garlic until soft. Peel and chop the carrots and turnip into chunks, add to the pot and heat. Roughly chop cavolo nero, mix through and allow to begin to wilt. Add bay leaf, tomatoes, stock and tomato paste and bring to the boil. The fluid should be just covering all the vegetables. Season with salt and black pepper. Before putting it in the oven, stir in the third clove of crushed garlic and juice of half a lemon. Place in the middle of the oven with the lid on and leave to cook slowly for about 2 hours until vegetables are soft and the liquid has reduced and is deep dark red in colour.