aubergine parmigiana

Inspired by my friend Anna, who makes an amazing aubergine parm, I thought I’d have a go at making my own version. I’ve stayed traditional in that I haven’t messed about it a classic (if it ain’t broke..?!) : there are layers of creamy aubergine, my go-to tomato sauce and LOTS of cheese.

This would be another great dish to make for friends if you’re eating outside over Easter. Aubergine parmigiana makes a lovely side with a BBQ (chicken or white fish would work really well), or you could stay veggie and serve with baked rice or a salad and some greens.

A note on the tomato sauce - my recipe is for a large batch, so you’ll have plenty to keep in the fridge (for up to a week) - I have lots of serving suggestions on the recipe page, so you can turn it into different meals. Or freeze the rest of the sauce in small tubs for quick dinners or to use on homemade pizzas.

If you don’t want to make extra, I would probably halve the recipe especially if you’re adding the celery an carrots as suggested below in the Tips.

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a main or 6 as a side

• 700ml tomato sauce (recipe here)

• 3 aubergines, 1cm slices

• 50g breadcrumbs

• 50g parmesan cheese, grated

• 150g mozzarella, halved and sliced (double if you like it really cheesy!)

Method

• Make the tomato sauce.

• While the sauce is cooking, preheat the oven to 180ºc. Brush a couple of large baking trays with olive oil and spread out the aubergine slices. Brush the top side of the slices lightly with oil .and place in the oven for about 20 minutes until softened and browned on one side.

• Mix 20g parmesan with the breadcrumbs.

• Assemble by layering the tomato sauce, a generous sprinkle of parmesan, a few pieces of mozzarella and then the aubergine in an oven proof dish (I used 21x27cm)

• Repeat 2-3 times, finishing with a layer of tomato sauce topped with the breadcrumbs and a few pieces of mozzarella if you have any left.

• Place in the oven for 25 minutes.

• Serve with baked rice, orzo salad (no feta), mini roasties, grilled fish or roasted chicken and a green salad.

tip

• You can add finely chopped celery (3 -4 sticks) and carrots (4 chopped in small cubes) to the tomato sauce to add extra flavour if you want to, just put them in with the onions right at the beginning of the recipe.

• Use 2 balls of mozzarella to dial up the cheesiness!

• If I can, I make the tomato sauce a day or two ahead, so I can quickly assemble the dish in 20 minutes.

5 ingredient tomato & mascarpone sauce

Here’s a quick mid-week recipe that always goes down well in our house. It’s made from 5 ingredients (excluding the salt and pasta!) and is a lovely creamy tomato sauce that works with any pasta. You can also easily adapt the recipe for meat-eaters by changing the sausage or switching for crispy bacon pieces.

Personally I think the sauce is really nice used on it’s own with just a little parmesan, if you want to leave out the sausages completely, or stir in a couple of handfuls of spinach to change things up.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 6 veggie sausages, 1 cm slices

• 1 large onion, chopped finely

• 1 large garlic clove, grated

• 2 x 400g tinned tomato

• 100g mascarpone cheese

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 400g rigatoni

Method

• Heat ½ tbsp rapeseed or olive oil in a large shallow pan and cook on a medium heat for around 8-10 minutes until browned.

• Remove from the pan and set aside in a covered bowl.

• Heat a little more oil in the pan and then add the onions. Cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes until softened.

• Next add the garlic and stir in well. Allow to cook for about 1 minute.

• Pour in the tinned tomatoes and ½ a tin of water (swill out the remaining tomato juice) then simmer for 20 minutes.

• Cook the pasta after the sauce has been bubbling for 10 minutes, so they’re ready at the same time.

• At this point you can either break the tomatoes up with a wooden spoon or blitz the sauce with a hand blender. I prefer to do the latter, then add the mascarpone, salt and sausages. Stir well and make sure the cheese has completely melted and the sausages have warmed through.

• Serve with plenty of grated parmesan and a green salad.

Family favourite veggie lasagne

I’ve been working on this veggie lasagne on and off for a while now as I wanted to get exactly the right balance of tomato and cheese sauce to pasta. I think I went through five different versions, each with slight tweaks to the sauce and a streamlining of the ingredients to keep things as simple as possible, without compromising on taste obviously! Finally, I think I’ve cracked it, so here’s the recipe for you guys to try, let me know what you think.

As there are two main elements to making a lasagne, the way I do it is to cook the tomato sauce the day before (or even two), so all I need to make is the cheesy béchamel and then assemble. This cuts the work time to 20-30 minutes on the day as lasagne can sometimes seem too time-consuming. A bonus is that this recipe serves 6-8, so you should have dinner sorted for a couple of days too.

When we are finally allowed to socialise, lasagne is a great dish to make for friends (roll on June!!) as you can do all the prep ahead, pop it in the oven when your guests arrive and serve with a big green salad. I’d be pretty surprised if you got any complaints from meat-eaters as this lasagne is full of flavour, from the umami of the tomato sauce to the lovely rich cheesy béchamel. It’s certainly a favourite in our multi-diet house!

Ingredients

Serves 6-8

• 1 aubergine, ½ cm slices

• 2 large onions, finely chopped

• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped

• 2 large cloves of garlic, grated

• 2 red peppers, small dice

• 1 courgette, sliced

• 1 vegetable stock cube

• 800g tinned tomatoes

• 2 tbsp tomato purée

• ½ tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 1 handful of basil, stalks chopped, leaves torn

• 500g fresh lasagne sheets

Cheese sauce

• 90g butter

• 90g flour

• 1L milk

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 150g Gruyère or Comte cheese

• 150g gouda, grated or sliced

• 50g parmesan, grated finely

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Brush a large tray with oil and spread out the aubergine, turning to make sure both sides are coated in oil. Sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 20 minutes turn and cook for 5-8 minutes more. Cut the slices in half and set aside.

• While the aubergine is roasting, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large pan and cook the onion and celery for 10 minutes.

• Next add the peppers for 5 minutes and then repeat adding the garlic and courgettes.

• Pour in the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, basil stalks and ½ a tin of water (swilling out to get the last bits of tomato juice). Simmer for 20 minutes.

• Then add the aubergine, red wine vinegar and sea salt for another 5 minutes. Finish by stirring in the basil leaves.

• Cheesy béchamel sauce: while the tomato sauce is bubbling away, melt the butter in a large non-stick saucepan and then tip in the flour, use a silicon whisk to mix thoroughly and allow to warm through for a minute.

• Start pouring the milk in slowly, 50ml at a time, so you don’t get lots of splashing as you whisk it in.

• Quickly add the next 50ml, whisk rapidly and repeat until you’ve used about 300ml, then you can start adding 100ml each time. Once you’ve poured in all the milk leave on a low heat for a further 10-12 minutes to thicken, but whisk or stir regularly so you don’t get lumps.

• Add 100g of Gruyère or Comté, 25g parmesan, sea salt and a good grind of pepper; stir well and allow to melt for a couple of minutes.

• Now assemble the lasagne in a large oven proof dish (I used 24 x 33cm) by first adding a big spoon or two of the tomato base, a ladle of cheese sauce (drizzle over the tomato generously), gouda and then 2 lasagne sheets. Repeat until the last layer of pasta and then cover with cheese sauce and the rest of the Gruyère/Comte and parmesan.

• Bake in the oven at 180ºc for 35-40 mins. If the top still needs a little browning then place under a hot grill for a minute or so, but watch like a hawk so it doesn’t burn!

tip

• There’s no need to pre-cook fresh lasagne sheets, although the packet will tell you to do so.

• Cut any leftover lasagne into thick strips and use like pappardelle.

• Stir a couple of handfuls of spinach into the tomato sauce to add some greenery.

Gnocchi with fresh tomato & spinach sauce

Yesterday’s alternative Sunday dinner. Now there are more vegetarians in the house than meat-eaters I tend to plan a home-comfort type of dish to end the week rather than a roast. This recipe is not only comfort food, but it barely takes any time to make - which is a double win in my book. I’ll definitely make this one again as it got an all round thumbs up from the fam, even from my daughter, who has been unconvinced about gnocchi until now.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 large garlic clove

• 4 large vine tomatoes, small dice

• 4 stalks of basil, stems chopped finely/leaves ripped

• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

• 100ml crème fraîche

• 40g parmesan

• ½ tsp sea salt

• 120g spinach

• 1kg gnocchi

Method

• Preheat the oven to 50ºc.

• Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and let it fry for 30 seconds until it has started to turn slightly brown.

• Next add the tomatoes and basil stalks, simmer for 10 minutes.

• Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan and start cooking the gnocchi in batches on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, so they’re browned on both sides. I cooked about a portion at a time and kept in a warm bowl in the oven while I fried the rest.

• Add the balsamic to the tomatoes and cook for 1 minute before adding the crème fraîche. Turn the heat to the lowest setting so the sauce doesn’t split. Allow to warm through and then add 20g parmesan, basil leaves and spinach.

• Just before serving, stir the gnocchi into the sauce and serve with the rest of the parmesan and a green salad or roasted broccoli.

Fresh tomato & basil sauce

In our house we eat a lot of pasta, so I’m always trying to make different kinds of sauces to change things up a bit. I often make a big batch of tomato sauce using tinned as it’s is good solid classic that is great vfm, but I like to use fresh sometimes as you get quite a different result. Roasting fresh cherry tomatoes with onion and then blitzing gives a creamier and sweeter taste to the sauce, which in my opinion is the posh sister of the tinned version! It’s a bit more expensive as you’re using fresh tomatoes, but the total cost for 4 portions should be around £2, depending on where you shop, so it’s still pretty good value.

Serve with any kind of pasta, fried or roasted gnocchi, grilled/breaded chicken or fish, veggie/meat balls, courgetti, mix with rice and cheese for stuffed peppers or courgettes, mini roast potatoes, or as a French bread pizza (tomato base topped with cheese). Lots of choices!!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 large onion, sliced in thin half moons

• 500g baby plum tomatoes

• 1 garlic clove

• 3 stems of basil, stalks chopped finely, leaves ripped

• ½ tsp sea salt

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200ºc.

• Put the onions, whole tomatoes and unpeeled garlic cloves on a large baking tray, drizzle with oil and then space out so they’re not too crowded

• Place in the oven for 20 minutes.

• Check and turn with a spatula and put back in for a further 10 minutes.

• Squeeze out the cooked garlic on to the tray and then scrape all the tomato mix into a large saucepan.

• Pour about 100ml of water onto the tray and deglaze to get all the lovely flavour from roasting the vegetables of it and add to the pan along with approx 100ml of water, salt, the basil stalks and cook gently for 5 minutes.

• Next add the basil leaves and salt, blitz the sauce with a hand blender until it has a smooth consistency but leaving some texture.

• You might need to add another 50ml of water to get the right consistency though - the same as a normal tomato sauce for pasta.

Tomato & red onion chutney

As we’re all spending a lot more time at home right now, I thought it would be useful to share a recipe that will help you liven up your lunches. I don’t know about you, but I feel like the kitchen has turned into a revolving door canteen providing endless meals for everyone, so at the moment I want to keep things as simple (and tasty) as possible. Simple - to cut back on time spent meal prepping and tasty - well obvs, but especially at the moment because food is the highlight of everyone’s day right now!

I’m hoping this chutney might bring a spark of joy to your life, by injecting flavour into your lunch or dinner! We’ve added it to our burgers and halloumi wraps this week (see below), but it also works really well with cheese (and ham?) toasties, hot dogs, quiche, sausages or any kind of cheese. Alternatively you could mix a little chutney with mayonnaise and add to a sandwich or try mixing a spoon into a salad dressing.

This recipe takes about 10 minutes to prep and the rest is cooking time, so it’s pretty simple to throw together.

Ingredients

• 1 large red onion, halved and sliced thinly

• 8 vine tomatoes, chopped into small cubes

• 60g soft brown sugar

• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

• ½ tsp sea salt

Method

• Heat ½ tbsp olive oil in a medium sized pan and add the onions. Fry for 15 minutes and then add the tomatoes, sugar and red wine vinegar.

• Heat until bubbling and then reduce to a simmer for 40 minutes until you have a jammy texture.

• Add the salt and stir well. Mash any larger pieces of tomato with a fork.

• Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

Easy sausage & tomato pasta

This is a very simple pasta dish that won’t take you long to prepare. It’s one of those dinners that is just an easy crowd pleaser on any night of the week and is super flexible as it can be vegetarian, vegan or meaty!

I’ve kept the ingredient list short and the method straightforward, so it can become one of your back pocket recipes that you can just throw together without referring back here.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 6 vegetarian or pork sausages

• 1 large onion, chopped finely

• 1 garlic clove, grated or chopped finely

• 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes

• 1 tsp balsamic or red wine vinegar

• ½ tsp sea salt

• A good grind of black pepper

• A small handful of basil leaves, torn

• A handful grated parmesan

• Your choice of pasta

Method

• First cut the sausages into 2cm thick slices. Defrost thoroughly first if you’re using frozen, if you’re using pork I would squeeze the meat out of the casing and roughly roll into small balls.

• Whatever kind of sausage you’re using, preheat ½ tbsp of olive oil in a large pan and fry the pieces until browned on all sides. This will take about 5-6 minutes for vegetarian sausages and a little longer for meat (check the inside middle temperature is at least 63ºc with a meat thermometer).

• Remove the sausage pieces from the pan and put in a covered bowl. Set aside.

• Add ½ tbsp olive oil to the pan, heat and then put in the onions. Fry on low for about 15 minutes until softened and beginning to brown.

• Then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring well.

• Next pour in the tomatoes and simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes.

• Break up the tomatoes if they not already chopped, add 1 tsp balsamic vinegar and the sausage pieces. Allow the sauce to bubble for a further 5 minutes (making sure the sausage has heated through properly) and then add the basil leaves, salt and pepper.

• Serve with any kind of pasta you like!

Tip

• I actually didn’t have any basil in when I made this, so don’t worry if it’s missing, the sauce still tastes great!

• Add a blob of mascarpone cheese or crème fraîche to make it creamy, chilli flakes for heat, slices of jarred (so no extra cook time) red pepper for sweetness, spinach leaves for greenery! All these additions would go in for the final 5 minutes with the sausage.

• Make the sauce vegan by leaving out the parmesan and use plant based sausages.

• Meat-eaters could switch sausage for small pieces of crispy bacon.

Tomato & basil sauce

This is my everyday tomato sauce that I make regularly to go with pasta or use on homemade pizzas. Tt’s is good solid classic that is great vfm costing approx £3.40 for 8-10 portions. I usually make a big pan of it so I can freeze half and use the rest in various ways throughout the week. It’s a great way to get ahead in the kitchen and reduce the time you spend cooking after a busy day at work.

Tomato sauce is simple to make and super versatile as you can add lots of different ingredients to switch it up to make a whole new meal. These are a few of my favourite ways to serve it:

• go classic with grated parmesan or crumbled feta

• stir in some spinach at the last minute and top with feta

• roast aubergine slices with olive oil and sea salt (approx 35 minutes on 180ºc, turn half way) add to the sauce and cook for 5 mins, feta works really well here.

• blacken a red pepper under the grill, peel, chop, add to the sauce and cook for 5 mins, serve with parmesan

• add a pinch of chilli for arrabbiata

• Fry some chopped (veggie or meat - but take out of the casing) sausage or meatballs and load with any kind of cheese (cheddar for kids obviously)

• stir in a dollop of mascarpone cheese

• And for the meat eaters - crispy bacon is always a winner (especially with mascarpone) or my kids also absolutely love chicken parmigiana on top.

  Ingredients

  Serves 8-10

• 3 onions, chopped

• 1 red pepper, chopped

• 4 large garlic cloves, grated

• 4 x 400g tinned tomatoes

• 1 handful fresh basil, stalks chopped, leaves torn and set aside

• 1/2 tbsp balsamic

• 1 tsp sea salt

Method

• Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large deep pan and then add the onions. Fry gently for about 10 minutes until softened and then add the red pepper and cook for a further 15 minutes on low.

• Next add the garlic, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes before pouring in the chopped tomatoes and adding the basil stalks. Heat through and then reduce to a gentle simmer for 30 minutes.

• Add the balsamic vinegar simmer for a further 5 minutes and then add the basil leaves.

• Use a hand blender to blitz the sauce.

Tip

Ideally you need a hand blender for this particular recipe, but if you don’t have one or would prefer a chunky sauce then chop the onions and basil stalks finely and the pepper whatever size you prefer. Use a fork or potato masher to break up the tomatoes at the end.