Tag: healthyeating

Categories
Mains Recipes

Eggplant Parmigiana

After several weeks on the road around Australia, the time has come to travel back to the UK. We have had a brilliant time. Thanks to every one of you who has followed my posts along the way – I hope you’ve enjoyed the food, the photos and the fun, along with some great new sounds. As my tagline says: Good Food, Great Music.

One of the things I am looking forward to is getting back in the kitchen and working on some new dishes, fully armed with the ideas and inspiration I’ve taken from the food we’ve enjoyed on our travels. I have actually had a first attempt this week, from the kitchen at our temporary home in Melbourne, to prepare a meal for some guests.

Influenced by our stay in the Blue Mountains, I was keen to create my own version of the Eggplant Parmigiana dish I enjoyed there (and which you can see a photo of by following the above link).

Parmigiana is eaten widely in bars and cafes in Australia. There are various ways in which it is served, probably the most common being as a topping over a fried chicken breast, sometimes flattened as per a schnitzel. Based on an Italian pasta sauce recipe (brought here long ago by some of the many European settlers who have made Australia their home), it isn’t difficult to see why it’s so popular, being tasty and filling.

I’ve made a few changes in mine from the vegetarian version I ate in Leura: rather than serving crusty bread alongside, I have broken the bread down into croutons, mixing these with the parmesan and mozzarella to give it a crispy, toasted cheesy topping. I’ve also added black olives, which I always think go really well with a rich tomato sauce.

I’m respecting the Aussie lingo in this recipe, so stick with me as I talk about eggplant (a.k.a. aubergine) and capsicum (a.k.a. red pepper). No worries, mate.

Timings

20 mins to prepare, 30 mins in the oven at 180C.

Servings

4 adult servings.

You Will Need

  • 2 eggplants (aubergines)
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 capsicum (red pepper)
  • 2 tbsp oil, with more to drizzle
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 500g tomato passata
  • 16 – 18 pitted black olives
  • sprinkling of dried mixed herbs
  • a few twists of black pepper
  • about 1/3 of a crusty baguette
  • 50g grated parmesan cheese
  • 50g grated mozzarella cheese

Method

  1. Switch on the oven to warm up to 180C. Find a shallow casserole dish and set on one side for the moment.
  2. Cut the eggplants into diagonal slices, about 1cm thick. Fry for several minutes on each side in 1 tbsp of the oil, until softened.
  3. While the eggplants are cooking, warm the rest of the oil in another saucepan. Crush the garlic and chop the onion and capsicum, adding it all to the pan.
  4. After a few mins, pour in the passata and sprinkle in the mixed herbs and black pepper. Give it a good stir and let it simmer for about 5 – 10 mins.
  5. The eggplant slices should have softened by now. Scrape them into the tomato and veg sauce where they will continue to cook. Chuck in the olives.
  6. While you are making the sauce, you can also prepare the crouton topping. Cut the baguette into slices, and then cut each slice into roughly 1cm cubes. Put in a large bowl and sprinkle over the grated cheeses. Mix in with your hands so the cheese is nicely imtermingled with the bread.
  7. When the oven is up to temp, and the sauce is looking red and rich, it is time to assemble the parmigiana. Pour the sauce into the casserole dish, and sprinkle over the crouton topping. Drizzle a little oil over, and place in the heated oven for 30 mins.
  8. Remove from the oven. It should be looking something like mine in the photo below, and is ready to serve.

Customise it!

Serve with some boiled or steamed green veg of your choice. Add another cheese if you want – some grated blue cheese would give it another interesting taste. Keep the parmesan though, as that’s what gives the dish its name. As ever, some fresh herbs would go well – I only had dried mixed herbs to hand when I made this.

This is me signing off from Down Under. Thank you Australia, you’ve been great, and left us with lots of wonderful new memories, many of which I have shared through my recent posts. We now have an appointment with a Qantas Boeing jet to Heathrow that will last all of 24 hours! See you in a few days, with a new post from back in Good Old Blighty (jet lag permitting 🙂 ).

I’ve loved discovering many new Aussie bands and adding them to the ADK Spotify Playlist. I’ve been especially impressed with These New South Whales, so here is another from them: Cholesterol Heart (God Bless Ya).

Categories
Mains Recipes

Root Veg Curry

Continuing the recent theme of cooking with autumn vegetables, this dish brings together a variety of seasonal root veg in a subtle yet spicy curry that is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans. My meal, shown in the photo, used celeriac, mooli (or white radish), kohl rabi, carrot and parsnip, though other veg are available!

Servings

This will make enough to serve four.

Timings

10 mins to peel and chop the root veg, and 30 mins to roast. The rest of the prep can be done while the veg is roasting. Allow 10 mins more to combine and finalise.

You Will Need

  • a baking tray full of root vegetables, peeled and chopped into chunks. I used celeriac, mooli (white radish), kohl rabi, carrot and parsnip
  • oil to drizzle
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 fresh chilli, or 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp nigella seeds
  • 500g passata
  • bunch of fresh coriander
  • 400ml can of coconut milk
  • rice to serve

Method

  1. Drizzle oil over the tray of chunked root veg and roast in the oven at 180C for 30 mins.
  2. While the veg is roasting, heat some oil in a saucepan and toss in the garlic and spices until sizzling. Then add in the onion.
  3. After a few minutes, add in the passata, Hold the bunch of coriander over the pan and, with scissors, cut in a generous amount.
  4. Let the passata and coriander cook for a few minutes.
  5. Add in the coconut milk and stir to combine. Cook for a further 5 – 10 mins. It will reduce slightly to give a thick, spicy sauce.
  6. When the root veg is roasted, scrape it into the saucepan and stir in.
  7. Serve with boiled rice.

Customise it!

Lots of scope to vary the veg. Butternut and other squash will work well in the roasting tray, also some chestnut mushrooms or peppers. Adjust the strength of the chilli and spices to suit your taste.

For musical choice, I have gone for a favourite track of mine, which also serves as an homage to the good people at our local community farm who harvest these lovely root vegetables from the soil – Can You Dig It by The Mock Turtles.

Categories
Breakfast Desserts Recipes Snacks

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

A feature of autumn is having lots of weird coloured and wonderful shaped pumpkins and squashes on our vegetable stalls. This recipe uses one of these to bring sweetness and moist texture to a set of freshly baked muffins. I recently made these on Halloween (as my photo shows!), but they are just as enjoyable for an autumn-themed breakfast, dessert or a snack with tea or coffee.

Servings

This will make 12 muffins.

Timings

10 mins to chop the squash, and 30 mins to roast it. The rest of the prep can be done while the squash is roasting, and the muffins will then take 25 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need

  • Pumpkin, butternut or other squash, peeled with seeds and pith removed, and cut into chunks. You will need 250g of chunks.
  • 255g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • half tsp salt
  • 2tsp mixed spice
  • 140g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 150ml milk
  • 2 tablesp runny honey
  • 90 ml vegetable oil
  • 50 g dried fruit
  • 50g chopped mixed nuts
  • a few handfuls of pumpkin and sunflower seeds to garnish

Method

  1. Spread the chunks of squash out on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, and roast in an oven at 180C for 30 mins.
  2. While the squash is roasting, prepare a muffin tin or mould.
  3. In a bowl, sift together flour, bicarb, salt, spices and sugar. Add the nuts and dried fruit and stir well.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, milk, oil and honey.
  5. When the squash has finished roasting, remove from the oven. The chunks should be charred and caramelised at the edges. Lift them on to a plate and set aside to cool for 10 mins.
  6. Whirl the squash chunks in a food processor with blade fitted, till you have a puree. This process should also help the squash to cool further.
  7. Scrape the squash puree into the egg mixture and stir. Then add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine.
  8. Spoon the combined mixture into the muffin tin or mould. Sprinkle a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds on top of each muffin. Bake in the oven, still at 180C, for 25 mins until golden.

Customise it!

Cut down on time to bake the muffins by roasting the squash earlier, perhaps when you already have the oven on cooking something else. Puree it and set aside to cool, then use as stated. Feel free to substitute other types of nuts and seeds as you prefer.

Musical choice for this post comes from Inspiral Carpets. I have just obtained tickets to see the band on tour in London next spring. I’m excited about this – I have grown to really like their music in the last few years but haven’t seen them before. I especially like the 60s sounding farfisa organ played by Clint Boon. They have lots of great tracks but this one seems particularly appropriate to the season – She Comes in the Fall.