Italian Aubergine Bake

20th January 2015

Another one from the Good Food magazine. I'm back on my aubergine binge so this one looked good.

First, the aubergine was sliced and diced, covered in oil and salt and roasted for 15 minutes.

Next the chopped tomatoes, olives and basil was stirred in and everything was baked for a further 10 minutes.

Finally, I tore a small baguette into pieces and layered those and the grated mozzarella on top of the aubergine. This was baked for another 20 minutes until crispy. 

This was absolutely delicious and very easy to make. The baked cheese on the croutons were amazing and the Italian flavours were extremely warming on a cold winter night.

Chunky Vegetable and Rice Soup

17th January 2016

Two in two days! Today is a soup day because its absolutely freezing for the first time this winter. Snow everywhere..except south London. This recipe is also taken from the January Good Food magazine.

This was a very easy broth type soup to prepare. To start with the onion, carrot, parsnips, celery and herbs were lightly fried in a pot. I added a small amount of water so the veg wouldn't dry out or stick to the bottom. This was covered and left to cook gently for around 15 minutes.

Meanwhile I weighed out the rice (half brown, half white) and measured out a litre of water for the stock. These were added to the pot and left uncovered to simmer for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the rice didn't stick to the bottom.

Finally, the leeks were added with salt and pepper for seasoning and this was simmered for a few more minutes until the leeks were softened.

The recipe recommended to blitz half the soup in a blender and leave the remainder chunky, but I ate the first portion as it was. I slipped with the pepper so it was quite hot, but overall it was a thoroughly warming winter soup.

Sweet Potato Dhal with Curried Vegetables

16th January 2016

Ok, its the beginning of 2016 and I'm ready to get back on this thing. The end of 2015 was incredibly busy and I'm pretty sure I didn't cook a proper meal for the most of December. I will get around to posting Christmas dinner soon, promise.

So to start of the year I flicked through the January copy of the Good Food magazine. There's a few great looking veggie recipes so I think I'm going to draw on these for a little while.

The first recipe I went for was a sweet potato dhal after a freezing cold day out playing netball. To start an onion was fried in oil until golden brown. Garlic paste and curry powder was stirred in until the onion was coated. Next, the red split lentils, chopped sweet potato and a litre of water was added to the pan and simmered until the lentils were soft and most of the liquid was boiled off.

Meanwhile, I chopped the cauliflower, green beans and carrots into small pieces and these were boiled for a few minutes and drained.

Another onion was fried, and the drained veg were added into the pan with curry powder. Roughly chopped tomatoes were added next with a small amount of water to fry lightly.

I actually ended up with too much liquid in the dhal, so there was a bit of a straining job to get rid of the excess. It didn't need the whole 50 minutes recommended, and it looked mushy and dhal-like after about 30 minutes.

The dhal was split into four portions and the veg topped it off. Overall it was a success and a nice warming dinner to heat up after netball. It was a little bland though, and for the remaining portions I plan to add some more seasoning. But I'd definitely make this again.