Asheh Hooboobaat

I tried this Persian legume soup using a mix of white beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, pinto beans, Puy lentils and brown lentils.

Indian meal

This week I made kothimira pachadi (tomato), beetroot palya, cabbage and yellow pepper stirfry, and rajma sundal.

Vegan Lasagne

This week I tried No Recipe’s vegan lasagne which I modified by adding noodles.  It was quite tasty!  I used purple carrots, courgette/zucchini, Hokkaido pumpkin, and green and red sweet peppers.

Pan-fried Apples with Pudding

When I find a recipe that looks interesting, I make a copy of it and add the URL or other source, and then file it away.  I distinguish between recipes I’ve tried and recipes I haven’t tried because sometimes I’m in the mood to cook something new and other times I feel like browsing familiar recipes.

This weekend I tried a recipe which has been waiting a long, long time for me to try it.  How long?  Well, it was posted by someone with an AOL address.  I’m not sure why it took me so long to try these spiced apples, which I served with a bit of vanilla vla (Dutch pudding).

Eggfree Blueberry Rye Pancakes with Oat Flakes

Open-faced toasted aubergine/eggplant sandwich

Origin

I started with a recipe for aubergine parmigiana, which is no longer available online.

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 medium carrot
• 500 grams passata
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1 baguette
• 125 grams mozzarella
• 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan
• 1 aubergine
• salt
• pepper
• oil

Process

Preheat the oven to 450° Fahrenheit/230° Celsius.

Chop the onion and garlic roughly and pan-fry them on medium in a bit of oil until soft.  Put the garlic, onions, passata, marjoram, oregano, basil in a blender and set it aside.

While the onion and garlic is cooking, peel a carrot and chop it.  Steam it until it is easily pierced with a fork.  Add the carrot to the passata mixture and purée until smooth.  Salt to taste and then set this sauce aside.

Slice the aubergine into rounds about 1 1/2 centimeters thick.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put them on a greased baking tray.  Bake until the aubergine starts to brown, about 15 minutes.  Remove the aubergine and set it aside.

While the aubergine is cooking, grate the Parmesan and set it aside.  Drain the mozzarella and slice it, then set it aside.

When the aubergine is done cooking, slice the baguette in half two ways, so that you end up with open-faced pieces half the length of the baguette.  Toast the baguette under the broiler until it is light brown.

Assemble the sandwiches on a baking sheet.  First add the toasted baguette, then spoon on generous portions of the tomato-based sauce.  Add rounds of eggplant and then rounds of mozzarella.  Top with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

If everything is still warm, simply broil it until the cheese melts and slightly browns, then serve immediately.  If you have made it in stages, heat it in a hot oven (450° Fahrenheit/230° Celsius) for 10 minutes, then broil it briefly to brown the cheese.

Serve immediately.

Note

It’s possible to make the sauce in advance.  It keeps for about a week in the fridge, but should be at room temperature when you use it.

The above picture has nothing to do with the recipe but it’s the mixed vegetables (carrots, sweet pepper, green beans, corn and courgette/zucchini) that I served with the aubergine sandwiches.

Poppyseed Butternut Squash cake

The butternut squash I got this week might have been a bit large.  I made curry, pasta sauce, a cake, and still had enough left for another cake.

Kale and Ricotta Stuffed Canneloni with Butternut Squash Sauce

This recipe was pretty good.

Butternut Squash Cake

Indian meal of the week

This week I made cabbage bhaji with carrots, green beans do pyaza, panchratan dal and butternut squash curry with tamarind and sambar.