Eggplant and Ricotta Rolls

This isn't the quickest thing to make but it's delicious so it's totally worth it. The trick is seasoning the ricotta so that it's full of flavour.

You also need a grill pan or a bbq so that you don't have to fry the eggplant, although you can if you like.

 

For 4 as a main or 8 as an accompaniment

2 small eggplants (6in each)

1 cup of ricotta (equivalent of about one tub)

1/2 cup of grated parmesean

3 tbsp feta cheese

1 small onion

1 bunch of basil

1 tsp oregano

1 egg

a few grates of lemon rind

salt to taste

pepper to taste

cooked tomato

3 sheets lasagna

Instructions

Set your oven to 350. Ready an 8x13" pan by placing a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom.

Cut your eggplant lengthwise into 5mm slices and grill them until they are cooked, place these on the side. 

Dice the onions and sautee them until they are translucent, let them cool a tad. 

Mix the cheeses together in a bowl and add the egg, rind, salt, pepper, basil and oregano. As the cheeses are quite salty, taste the mixture before it gets over salted. Adjust the seasonings to your liking adding or subtracting what you enjoy. I think sundried tomatoes or porcini could work quite well in addition to what is in the recipe. When all has been mixed, add in the onions and do one last thorough scoop around.

Begin boiling your water for the lasagna pieces, when they are cooked place them at the bottom of your prepared pan and spread some more sauce on top. The pasta will make a nice bottom for the rolls and also make it easier to pull them out!

Now we can start rolling our eggplants. One at a time, smear a generous amount of ricotta mixture on the eggplant slices and roll them up placing them directly in the pan. When all your rolls are finished pour a generous amount of sauce on top, spread it around and top with some fresh basil leaves. Cook this for about 45 minutes until it smells good and is slightly dry on top. The ricotta will puff a bit but the rolls should stay nicely wrapped for service.

When cutting it, slice right through the pasta so you get a nice piece of it along with the rolls.

Enjoy!

Martina

Dark Chocolate, Raisin & Honey Cake

I've wanted to make a chocolate loaf cake for some time now. Usually chocolate cake is reserved for desserts or more elaborate evenings but being an addict I tried to find something which could be snacked on during the day. The result is this super dark chocolate cake, sweetened only with honey and raisins and made solely with cocoa powder, so its not actually that bad for you ;) If you like sweet chocolate things, this is definitely not a good option though.

The cake ends up being quite cocoaey (bitter sweet) so if you would like to make it sweeter, add an extra 1/3 cup of sugar. 

Recipe for an 8" loaf pan:

2 eggs

3/4 cups honey

2tsp vanilla

(1/3 cup sugar if you want it sweeter)

1/2 cup veg oil

1/2 milk

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups flower

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt 

1/2 raisins or more to taste

Butter and flour a 9" loaf pan or equivalent baking form and turn your stove to 325. Take all your wet ingredients and mix them in one bowl until they are combined. Slowly combine your cocoa into the wet ingredients until you get a yummy sticky chocolate syrup consistency and all the cocoa is absorbed. Take all your dry ingredients excluding the raisins and put them in a bowl. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients. If the mixture seems too thick add a splash of milk at the end, it should have a heavy yet smooth consistency which is slightly denser than a white cake. Add your raisins in and stir them evenly. Place into your baking tin and bake for 45 minutes, testing at 30m. with a wooden stick too see doneness. 

Let the cake cool a bit as the cocoa flavour develops as it sits. Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or a drizzle of honey and whipped cream.

Enjoy, 

Martina

Back! Spring Soup.

Yes, we've been very bad not updating our blog for so long. Since September a lot has happened and it's been quite an eventful year. The blog sort of stopped when I started looking for a house and was busy with all the arrangements and never picked it back up. We moved in together in February and have been having a great time decorating and occupying ourselves otherwise, that all the lovely things we've made have gone un-photographed. 

I've been meaning to upload something exciting lately and since I've been home sick today with a bit of a chill and some extra time to make lunch, a VERY quick pea and mint soup materialised from the stove! I was surprised at how delicious it was considering it took less than 15 minutes and uses only a handful of ingredients.

Pea & Mint Soup

for 2 large portions

· 1 cup frozen peas (ssshhhhh)

· 1 small onion

· 1 1/2 - 2 cups water

· white pepper to taste

· salt to taste

· 1/2 cup liquid whipping cream or milk 

· 10 mint leaves or more!

Quarter and roughly chop the onion and sautée it in 1tbsp of olive oil until it is soft and translucent. Pour in your peas and sautée them another 2 minutes to get them coated in oil. Salt and pepper the peas and onions to your liking and pour in the water, let this cook for 5 - 10 minutes which you stir it around. After said time, take a hand blender to the soup and purée it until there are no chunks left, when the soup is completely green and radioactive looking (!) place your mint leaves in and slowly pour the cream or milk while you attempt to blend the mint leaves to little green bits. You don't want to cook the mint leaves as it will be too strong a flavour and what you want is fresh and light. Your soup is now done and enormously delicious! I would totally serve it to guests too.

Bon appetite!

Martina