ROASTED AUBERGINE GOATS CHEESE PASTA

My daughter Arabella isnt a fussy eater but she detests aubergines - I just dont get it as I absolutely love them! Anyway as she was at her fathers for the weekend, I decided it would be the perfect time to cook this pasta recipe. I had cooked it previously about 5 years ago so it was definitely time to give it another go. It took about 35 minutes and was really easy.

Ingredients for 2 people:

1 medium aubergine, cut into wedges
1 red onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 leaves of fresh basil shredded, plus a few whole leaves for garnishing
150g pasta such as penne or fusilli
100g goats cheese
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 220 C / gas mark 7.

Chop the aubergine, onion and garlic and shred the basil. Arrange the aubergine and onion in a small roasting tin. Scatter over the garlic, basil and olive oil and season. Roast for 20 - 25 minutes, stirring once or twice until tender and charred.

While the vegetables are cooking, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the packets instructions - mine took 8 minutes.

Drain and mix together with the roasted vegetables, goats cheese and toasted pine nuts. I actually forgot to toast the pine nuts but it didnt matter. Normally I would dry fry them for 3-4 minutes.

Serve immediately with some basil leaves and more seasoning if you desire.

I cant believe that I havent cooked this recipe for 5 years! It is so delicious and so simple to make plus to you dont need to many ingredients. A perfect midweek supper idea….I just need to now convince Arabella she likes aubergines too, luckily she is already sold on the goats cheese! I bet the goats cheese, pine nuts, onion, aubergine and basil would make a great pizza topping as well!

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PEPPER AUBERGINE PASTA

Sorry for the lack of blog posts but I havent cooked or been anywhere new in ages. I was so busy with the end of term and then Pascal and I escaped to the sun for a week, we ate, swam, sunbathed and read - it was blissful. But it is back to reality now!!

As Arabella is with her father we decided to cook a pasta dish which she wouldnt like - something with aubergines. This is a recipe from Gennaro Contaldos cook book - he is Jamie Olivers mentor, friend and first ever boss. It took about 30 minutes to cook in total.

Ingredients for 2 people:

1 aubergine, trimmed and chopped
1 yellow or red pepper, deseeded and sliced
Extra virgin olive oil
200g pasta (we used dried)
1/2 a fresh red chilli, sliced (we didnt include this as we dont like spice)
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
8 black olives, chopped in half
4 tbsp of baby capers, rinsed
8 ripe cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 a bunch of fresh basil leaves, torn
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese, to serve

First things first, prepare the ingredients. Chop the aubergines into around 1cm cubes - you dont need to be too accurate! Slice the pepper length ways into strips and then cut in the middle. Finely slice the chilli, chop the olives and tomatoes into halves and quarters respectively and crush the garlic.

Boil the water in the kettle for the pasta.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the aubergine and fry for about 8 minutes, or until soft, stirring occasionally.

Place on a double layer of kitchen paper to drain.

Return the frying pan to the heat, add another 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the peppers, chilli (if using) and garlic for 3 minutes.

Next add the olives, capers and a good splash of water and cook for a further 4 minutes.

At this point I started our pasta in boiling salted water which took 8 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and tear in half the basil leaves and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Then add the aubergines and season well, mixing all together for a final 2 minutes.

Drain the pasta and stir the sauce.

Serve with some Parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil and fresh basil leaves.

This tasted very Mediterranean with the combination of the vegetables and capers. I used to hate capers as a child but they really made this dish and gave it flavour. Pascal adored the pasta - it is something he would order in a restaurant. I liked it and I would do it again however I would add some mozzarella at the end - I think it would be the perfect addition melted into the dish. Bellissimo!!  

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GRILLED AUBERGINE AND GOATS CHEESE SALAD

I often rip out recipes of magazines for lovely salads but never cook them. However after the success of the puy lentil, spinach and blue cheese salad last week, I decided to try another new one. Arabella hates aubergines and so as she is at her fathers house this weekend, I thought it was the perfect time to cook an aubergine based dish. 

This is a "healthy-ish" salad as chick peas are rich in folate, vitamin B6, thiamin, zinc and iron and it includes 2 of your 5 a day. Plus I read in the Sunday Times today that goats cheese is a "healthier" cheese as is feta, manchego, Roquefort and buffalo mozzarella….any excuse to eat more cheese.

I made the recipe for just 2 people as a side dish but here it is 4.

Ingredients for 4 people:

2 aubergines (about 300g each)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or use the oil from the tomatoes)

150g goats cheese, chopped

1 lemon, zest and juice

1 tsp dried oregano or marjoram

190g sun drenched / sun dried tomatoes, drained

1 garlic clove, crushed

400g can chick peas, drained and rinsed

20g mint, leaves torn

Heat the grill to high.

Cut the aubergines into diagonal slices, about 2cm thick and score deeply on both sides. Brush with oil (I used the oil from the tomatoes), season generously and grill on a non stick baking tray for ten minutes.

Turn halfway and once again, brush with oil, season and cook for a further 10 minutes. I would advise checking on them as they can burn quickly (as you can see)!

While these are cooking, spread the chickpeas over a large serving plate and mash roughly with the back of a fork.

Chop the tomatoes and mix with the lemon juice, zest and garlic to create a dressing.

When the aubergines are cooked, add the goats cheese and oregano and grill for a further two minutes.

Spoon two thirds of the dressing over the chickpeas.

Top with the aubergines, mint and then the remainder of the tomato dressing and enjoy.

This turned out a great deal better than I was expecting! Firstly it is really pretty and colourful to look at and secondly, it tasted absolutely delicious. An amazing combination of flavours especially with the lemon, mint and oregano and so simple to make. As I said we had it as a side but this would serve two as a main and I will definitely be serving it again with some flat breads and hummus. A perfect lunch idea for a spring / summer day.

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AUBERGINE PIZZA

As I have mentioned in a couple of previous posts Pascal has a very good but very limited recipe repertoire - he can cook some great pastas such as Pasta Carbonara or Pasta with Tomato and Basil however the other dish in his collection is aubergine pizza. We used to have it loads but Arabella hates aubergines and so it has kind of slipped off our radar.

However Arabella is away with her father this week and so we decided this is the perfect time to cook it again. We are in France so obviously used a French pizza base - it might be sightly different to what you can buy in the supermarket at home so just improvise!

Ingredients for 2-4 people depending on how hungry you are:

4 tbsp of olive oil
1 aubergine, sliced 
3 tomatoes, chopped into small pieces (not 4 as in the picture)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
A pizza base
250g mozzarella cheese
1 tsp oregano
A few black olives
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven according to the pizza base instructions. Ours was at 190 C.

Chop the tomatoes and crush the garlic and heat over a medium heat in a frying pan with 2 tbsp of olive  oil.

Stir regularly, add the garlic and season well after about 10 minutes and then cook for a further 10 minutes.

While the tomatoes are cooking, chop the aubergine and start cooking them until they are soft in another frying pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil over a medium heat.

I didnt realise how powerful Pascals cooker was and managed to burn quite a few - whoops! Its important to keep your eye on them as they can cook very quickly (it took about 7 minutes in total to cook all of ours).

Put the aubergines on one side when cooked. By this time the tomato sauce should also be just about finished.

If necessary put your pizza base in a baking tray and prick (this will depend on your packet instructions).

Add the tomato sauce. Its ok to have leftovers - we had quite a bit which we will use for a pasta sauce. You dont want to overdo it and have the pizza too soggy.

Add the aubergine.

Then the mozzarella.

Then the oregano and olives - you can be as generous as you like here!

Finally bake in the oven according to the packet instructions - ours took 25 minutes.

Rest on the side for 5 minutes and then tuck in and serve.

We always have it with a nice crisp green salad and find the pizza can feed 4 people although there are other times when we devour the lot between the two of us! The pizza tastes so good and healthy with just the aubergine topping - it makes a change from my usual choice of 4 cheese with pepperoni or salami. A perfect quick and easy meal.

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