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Posts Tagged ‘aubergine’

Aubergine Tortino

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 30, 2013| 18 Comments »

The aubergine–eggplant–melanzane–enigmatic gentle giant of a vegetable.

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Lovely conceit from Mark Bitman in The New York Times demonstrating its versatility.

Not included in the diagram but a useful addition to the repetoire, this tortino recipe is adapted from Paola Gavin’s Italian Vegetarian Cookery.

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A tortino is a sort of soufflé crossed with a no-pastry pie–handy for those who need to watch their intake of refined carbohydrates.

It’s a little labour intensive but pays off.

600/700 gms aubergine [eggplant]–peeled and sliced thin

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olive oil for brushing

2 1/2 oz tomato sauce–see below

2 oz grated parmesan

5 eggs

salt and pepper

Lightly salt the aubergine slices and leave them to drain for at least an hour.

Set the oven to 190C

Dry the slices in between sheets of kitchen paper.

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Oil a couple of shallow oven trays.

Lightly brush the slices with olive oil and lay them out on the trays.

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Bake for 5 minutes each side on the top shelf of the oven–one tray at a time.

Heat a cast iron grill pad to hot.

Transfer the slices onto the grill pad and char them for a couple of minutes each side.

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(The grilling adds a smokey taste; you could fry the slices or just leave the slices in the oven longer but they must cook to tender.)

Oil a shallow oven dish and layer the cooked slices in the bottom.

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Whisk the cheese and the tomato sauce together and season with salt and pepper.

Whisk the eggs and stir them well into the mixture.

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Pour this over the aubergines.

Make sure the mix covers the aubergine slices.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

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Quick Tomato sauce

A handy standby sauce.

I made this in a jiffy this morning and used 2 1/2 oz of it for the tortino leaving easily enough for our pasta tonight–giving me time to follow some of today’s stage in the Tour de France!

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large tin of tomatoes–drained of their juice and roughly chopped.

2 garlic cloves–peeled and thinly sliced.

salt and pepper.

2 sprigs of rosemary–chopped.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic and the rosemary.

Soften the garlic, being careful not to let it burn–a few seconds.

Add the tomatoes

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and cook over a high heat–stirring often–until the loose liquid has evaporated and little pockmarks appear on the surface.

If you can part the Red Sea—running a spoon through it–it’s done.

Season with salt and pepper.

Voila!

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Aubergine/eggplant rounds with cheesy tomato topping

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , , on August 22, 2012| 20 Comments »

Aubergines/eggplants–are piled high on the market stalls at the moment and I’m ever on the lookout for new ways to cook them.

Beautiful shiny black, purple and even white torpedoes, these enigmatic vegetables have always felt a bit daunting to me–where does one start!

Well yesterday I started with Nigel Slater’s heavy tome Tender (weighs in at 4 lbs).

He’s an English cookery writer with an air of the solitary about him and a touch of genius, who wrote  about his childhood in a book called Toast.

Tender is the story of his urban London vegetable garden:

As the church bells chimed New Year’s Eve and fireworks lit up the night sky, I vowed to dig up my lawn and grow at least some of my own vegetables.

So far I’ve not dug deeply into it. Time to look again.

The section on aubergines is extensive–and this simple recipe leapt out at me.

We had these last night as a light supper with green beans (their ubiquity is beginning to cause comment!).

for two

1 large aubergine/eggplant–sliced carefully into rounds about a 1.5 cm/.75″ thick

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves of garlic–thinly sliced

1lb/450gms tomatoes–cut up with their juice

1 dried red chili–chopped roughly

salt and pepper

more olive oil as you need it

4 tablespoons grated parmesan

  • salt the aubergines and leave them to drain for an hour or so.

set the oven at 220C/425F

  • Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and soften the garlic–about 30 seconds.
  • Put in the tomatoes and the chili, season and cook over a medium high heat until you have a sauce–stirring often.
  • Line a shallow oven tray with foil and brush it lightly with oil.
  • Brush the aubergine rounds with olive oil.
  • Arrange them on the tray and bake in the upper part of the oven until soft (undercooked aubs are un-eatable!)–-15-20 minutes–turning them over after 10 minutes.
  • Pile some sauce on each round–be generous–and top with some parmesan.
  • Put the tray back in the oven for 15 minutes.
  • the rounds should come out–as Nigel puts it—sizzling!

This is how much we liked them..!

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A Simple Salad for the Summer Solstice

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , , , , on June 21, 2011| 5 Comments »

Here’s a recipe to celebrate the first day of summer.


SOL–sun    STICE--still

The day the sun is so high it appears to stand still; the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere.

And a song to hum while preparing the vegetable salad–(watch out for the end of the seventh line though, if you’re singing the words with company!)

Inspired by and adapted from a book with an unusual title and many wonderful recipes:

Crazy Water Pickled Lemons  by Diana Henry

Roasted Aubergine [eggplant] slices with Feta and a mint vinaigrette.

for 4

2 large aubergines [eggplant]

I used the purple speckledy ones this time.

–cut crosswise or lengthwise into thickish slices (2cm/3/4″), lightly salted and left for an hour or so to drain through a sieve or collander

olive oil for brushing the foil and the aubergines

salt and pepper

a small slab of feta cheese to crumble on the top of the salad (optional)

The Vinaigrette

1 teaspoon white wine or cider vinegar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves pulped with a little salt

2 fl oz olive oil

a large handful of mint leaves–roughly chopped

  • Heat the oven to hot–240C/450F.
  • Lightly brush the aubergines slices with olive oil.
  • Cover shallow oven trays (you may need two or to repeat the process) with foil.
  • Brush the foil with oil to prevent the slices sticking.
  • Spread the slices on the trays.
  • Place the trays in the upper part of the oven for 10 minutes–
  • then take the tray(s) out of the oven and turn the slices over–
  • return them to the oven for a further 10 minutes.*
  • Make sure the aubergine is done by piercing the thickest part with the tip of a knife–
  • Underdone aubergine is uneatable.
  • Take them out of the oven and spread them on a serving plate.
  • Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together and pour it over the slices while they are still warm.
  • Flake the feta–if you are using it– over the top.
  • Serve at room temperature–leaving a little time for the flavours to meld.

* alternatively, you could griddle the slices–which gives them a slightly smoky taste.

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