Sour Cream Aubergine Potato Bake with an Italian broccoli stir-fry (grazie a Gino D'Acampo!)

I made this for my family for just a casual evening dinner, it's taken from Gino D'Acampo's book Fantastico, which I seem to have had on long loan from my Dad (I think he is wanting it back now!) but it is such a brilliant book, so many easy innovative recipes that wouldn't become boring if you were to cook them quite a bit. I was drawn to this recipe as it was vegetarian (which automatically caters for my Mum), it involved aubergines - which if you haven't guessed are one of my favourite ingredients to cook with and it was a bake and I love anything that you can prepare quite simply and then pop in the oven to get all yummy and toasty. The broccoli stir fry was another recipe that I found in the book which seemed to give a real different twist to broccoli and I really wasn't expecting it to be as delicious as it was! It packed a punch with the chilli and made the broccoli incredibly juicy, if you're looking for a recipe to make blah broccoli more exciting then this is definitely it!

Sour Cream Aubergine Potato Bake

Serves 3

Ingredients

5 tablespoons olive oil

1 aubergine, cut into cubes

3 small (2 medium) red onions (Gino doesn't specify between red or white, but I think the red gives the dish a sweetness), finely sliced

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

950g Jersey royal potatoes, peeled

220g sour cream

1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme

Butter, for greasing

250g taleggio cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella instead)

300ml vegetable stock

Salt and white pepper

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the aubergines over a medium heat for about 15 minutes until brown and soft. When cooked, transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon.

Add the chopped red onion to the frying pan on a lower heat, add the sugar and fry for around 20 minutes until soft and caramelised.

While the onions are busy caramelising and sizzling away, put the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold salted water. Bring to the boil and cook for around 10 minutes, then drain. Preheat the oven to 220C and leave the potatoes to cool.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle (and you NEED to wait until they are cool so they are not messy and too soft to cut) cut into 1cm-thick slices. Place in a large bowl and gently mix with the sour cream and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.

Butter a shallow 2 litre ovenproof dish (see below) and cover the base with half of the potatoes. Scatter the onions over the top followed by the aubergines and two thirds of the chopped taleggio (or whatever cheese you're using)

Cover evenly with the remaining potatoes and pour over the vegetable stock. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top (this is where I used the mozzarella) and cook in the centre of the oven for about 40 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes then serve with either a salad, stir fried broccoli or perhaps some simple asparagus spears.

Italian style broccoli stir-fry

Serves 3 as a side dish

Ingredients

5 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons runny honey

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 garlic clove, finely sliced

1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

3 tablespoons, sliced fresh basil (or dried works perfectly fine in my opinion but you probably won't need as much as 3 tablespoons!)

60g pine nuts

700g broccoli, cut into florets

Salt and pepper

Mix together all of the liquidy ingredients (olive oil, honey, soy sauce, vinegar) with the sliced garlic clove, chilli, basil and pine nuts in a large bowl.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the broccoli for around 3-5 minutes. Drain and place in the bowl with the dressing. Toss gently to avoid breaking up the broccoli.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a wok and fry the broccoli with the dressing for 4 minutes until piping hot and stirring frequently.

Season and serve straightaway in a side dish to accompany a main meal.

Spaghetti and Aubergine Involtini (Gino D'Acampo)

I borrowed Gino D'Acampo's Fantastico cookbook from my dad as him and my step mum always make such delicious food from it. As I was flicking through, a good number of recipes caught my eye and the other night I was stuck for what to make for dinner, and this particular recipe came to mind. I thought it would be fairly easy (albeit a little bit faffy) and quite filling for something that is supposed to be a starter.

Serves 2-4 depending on how you use the recipe... I halved the ingredients below and ate half of it one night and half the next! There was more than enough!

Ingredients

2 whole aubergines

5 tablespoons olive oil

(1 garlic clove, chopped

500g tinned chopped tomatoes - I didn't have any tinned tomatoes in the house, oops! But luckily we had a pre-made sauce, not usually my preference but it was a tomato and basil sauce and I added a drop of garlic oil and lemon juice)

10 fresh basil leaves

350g spaghetti (I ended up using spaghettini - even thinner spaghetti! That actually worked really well, but any would do!)

2 mozzarella balls, sliced

100g parmesan, grated

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Start by slicing the aubergine(s), about 1cm thick. Place in a large sieve, sprinkle with salt and leave for around 30 minutes to let the excess water drain. I was naughty (well as naughty as you can be regarding aubergines and salt...) but only left it for around 5 minutes, I was hungry and short of time!

Heat a griddle/frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil and fry the aubergine slices on each side until slightly browned, then set aside and leave to cool.

Get a saucepan on and fill with slightly salted boiling water. Get the spaghetti cooking until al dente.

Meanwhile, get the heat on a frying pan and either -

Fry the chopped garlic until golden, then add chopped tinned tomatoes, season and leave to simmer. Add the basil leaves.

Or...(my lazy way!)

Empty half the contents of a pre made tomato sauce into a frying pan, add a drizzle of garlic oil, a splash of lemon juice, season and leave to simmer. Add the basil leaves.

When the sauce is cooked through, take off the heat, add the spaghetti and mix well so it is all coated in a lovely fragrant sauce.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Place an aubergine slice on an oven tray, spoon some of the tomato dressed spaghetti in the middle and add a slice of mozzarella to the top of it, then roll up and secure with a toothpick. (I actually found that the aubergines held well without a toothpick, they sort of just bound together in a way!) Prepare yourselves for the messy photos...

Repeat the process until all of the aubergines are rolled up, then grate over some parmesan cheese and pop in the oven for 10 minutes until the cheese is melty and bubbling. Serve with a simple spinach and tomato salad.

Enjoy!