Until fairly recently, I wasn’t a huge fan of aubergine (or eggplant, if you prefer). But we had a delicious meal on honeymoon that changed my idea about it – one day I’m going to try to recreate it! Helen came to stay with us last weekend and I wanted to try out a new veggie recipe for her, and I chose this one from ‘The Food of the Mediterranean’ by Murdoch Books. It does involve frying the aubergine in batches, so I’m going to give a little warning: if, like us, you don’t have an extractor fan in your kitchen, this will probably stink out your house! It is, however, a really delicious recipe so it was worth it! The original recipe given here serves 8 people – I made it with 3 aubergines and the same amounts for the rest of the ingredients for 3 people, and that seemed to work well. The photo here doesn’t do it justice – sorry for the blurryness, I was hungry when I took it!

Ingredients

1.5kg (3lb 5oz) aubergines (eggplants)
Plain flour
330ml (1 and 1/3 cups) olive oil
500ml (2 cups) passata
2 tablespoons roughly torn fresh basil leaves
250g (1 and 2/3 cups) grated mozzarella cheese
100g (1 cup) grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Thinly slice the aubergines lengthways. Layer the slices in a large colander, sprinkling salt between each layer, and then leave for 1 hour to extract the bitter juices. (I wasn’t sure if this was worth the effort, but it really was!)

2. Rinse and pat the slices dry on both sides with kitchen paper. Coat the aubergine slices lightly with flour.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4, and grease a suitable sized dish (for the amount that you are making). Then heat some of the oil in a large frying pan, and fry the aubergine in small batches until golden on both sides (the original recipe says to add all of the oil, but I found it easier to add a little at a time). Drain well on kitchen paper as you remove each batch from the pan.

4. Make a slightly overlapping layer of aubergine slices over the base of the dish, and season with pepper. Spoon 4 tablespoons of passata over the aubergine, and then scatter a few pieces of basil on top. Sprinkle with some mozzarella and then some parmesan. Repeat this layering until you have used up all of your ingredients.

5. Bake for 30 minutes and serve with some crusty bread. The original recipe actually says to let it cool for 30 minutes before serving, but we like food super hot in our house!

The post Aubergine Parmigiana appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

If you follow me on Instagram then you’ll already know that I’ve been busy making my own pasta today! It’s one of those things that I’ve wanted to do for ages and we got a pasta machine with some vouchers that we were given for our wedding. So today I used it for the first time and ticked making pasta off my recipe bucket list! I have to admit that at various points I wondered if it would ever come together, but it’s probably one of those things (a bit like bread) that’s worth spending bit of time to perfect.

The recipe I used is from Gino D’Acampo’s ‘Gino’s Pasta‘ – this is for the pasta and the ravioli filling. I served it with some homemade tomato sauce and it worked really well – you can find the original recipe for the sauce here.

Ingredients

For the pasta (makes about 400g)

300g white flour type ’00’, plus extra for dusting
3 medium eggs
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

For the ravioli filling

5 tablespoons olive oil
300g chorizo, finely chopped
3 medium hot red chillies, halved, deseeded and finely chopped
750g ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley (I actually used basil instead – not a parsley fan!)
Salt and pepper to taste
One egg, beaten

Method

1.Sift the flour onto your work surface. Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs, before adding in the salt and oil.

2. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, mix the flour into the eggs, working from the centre outwards. Once you have a crumbly texture, gather the mixture together with your hands and start to knead until you have a soft dough.

3. Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for about 8 minutes, exactly as though you were kneading bread.

4. Roll the dough into a ball, cover in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.

5. As the pasta dough chills, make the filling. Heat some of the olive oil in a pan and fry the chorizo and chilli over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

6. Place the cooled chorizo and chilli in a large bowl with the ricotta and parsley (or basil) mix everything together with a fork and season. Cover and leave to chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.

7. After 20 minutes, remove the dough from the fridge and flatten it with your fingers so that it fits through the pasta machine. Flour the pasta lightly on both sides and work it though the machine from the thickest to the thinnest setting – keep the pasta floured so that it doesn’t stick.

8. Lay the sheets on a well-floured surface. Put teaspoons of filling at 4cm intervals, and then brush beaten egg between the gaps. Cover with the other half of the pasta and press down between the filling.

9. Use a pastry wheel or sharp knife to cut the pasta into squares between the fillings. Cook the ravioli in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Drain and serve with a little salt, olive oil and ground black pepper, or with sauce of your choice.

You could use a ravioli tray to shape your pasta – I tried with my starry ravioli tray first but they were a little bit small for the size of the filling. They look quite pretty though! I’ll definitely be having another go at making pasta soon!

The post Spicy Chorizo and Ricotta Stuffed Ravioli appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I’ve been meaning to get around to making my own pesto for ages, and the basil plant on our kitchen windowsill was looking a bit overgrown so I decided to give it a go. This recipe is from Gino D’Acampo’s book ‘Gino’s Pasta‘, and you could make it without the yoghurt if you don’t want creamy pesto. I actually used creme fraiche so it was super creamy but really tasty! The original recipe uses homemade pasta, but we haven’t got a pasta machine (yet!) so I used dried.

Ingredients

60g fresh basil leaves
50g pine nuts
1 garlic clove, peeled
130ml olive oil
Zest of an unwaxed lemon
100g greek style yoghurt (I used one and a half heaped tablespoons of creme fraiche)
Salt and pepper to taste
500g spaghetti

Method

1. Place the basil, pine nuts and garlic in a food processor. Add the olive oil and blitz until smooth.

2. Mix together the yoghurt and lemon zest in a bowl. Add the basil and mix well. Season to taste.

3. Cook the spaghetti until al dente (according to packet instructions if using dried pasta). Drain when cooked and then toss in the yoghurt pesto. Leave for 30 seconds to allow the pesto to coat the pasta, and then serve immediately. Enjoy!

The post Super simple creamy basil pesto and spaghetti appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I was surprised to discover that I have not blogged about what is one of our staple meals – this yummy spaghetti bolognese. It probably isn’t the most authentic recipe but we love it! It doesn’t include carrots or celery (I really don’t like celery) so kids seem to like it a lot! Great for a weekday or a weekend, you can make a huge batch and freeze the rest.

Ingredients

Olive oil
2 medium brown onions, finely chopped
800g-1kg lean beef mince
Black pepper
Mixed herbs
Henderson’s relish (optional – you could add a dash of tobasco)
Bouillon (or veg stock cube)
1 tbsp Bisto gravy granules (or a crumbled beef OXO cube)
Red wine
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 red peppers, chopped
250g chopped field mushrooms

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions, cooking until softened. Add the beef mince and cook until browned.

2. Season with black pepper, and add the herbs, Henderson’s relish, bouillon, gravy granules and as much red wine as you like!

3. Add the garlic, chopped tomatoes and tomato puree and leave to simmer for around 10 minutes.

4. Add the peppers and leave to simmer again before adding the mushrooms. Stir well and leave to simmer again until the veg is cooked.

5. You could serve with pasta, a jacket potato or make a lasagne. Freeze the rest in portions and you can enjoy it again and again!

The post Simple Spaghetti Bolognese appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.