serves 2-3

2 large eggplant
50-75 g firm Ricotta cheese
50 g Parmesan cheese
1-2 tsp olive oil

for the tomato sauce
1 tsp olive oil
400 ml passata or one can of chopped tomatoes (400g)
1/2 yellow onion
a small handful of basil leaves
a pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Roughly chop basil leaves, add them to the sauce and cook for another 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of sugar if it still tastes too sour.

Lightly brush the aubergine slices with olive oil and bake for 30-35 minutes. Once they are done, take them out of the oven and start assembling the Parmigiana.
In a small baking dish start layering tomato sauce, a single layer of aubergines, ricotta and parmesan cheese. Start with the tomato sauce to avoid the aubergines sticking to the bottom of the dish. Finish off the parmigiana with sauce and both cheeses on top.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is slightly browned and the cheese is melted.
Serve hot as main dish or with meat and potatoes. It is also fantastic cold on toasted ciabatta. 

makes 6 small or 4 large Arancini

for the saffron risotto 
225 g risotto rice (such as Arborio)
1/2 yellow onion
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
600-700 ml beef or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp saffron threads 
25 g grated parmesan cheese
125 ml dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp butter (optional)

for the ragout

150g minced beef 
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 yellow onion
200g chopped tomatoes from a can
1/2 cup frozen peas
a splash of balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp dried oregano or a spring fresh rosemary 
sugar, salt and pepper to taste


a few slices of Cacciocavallo or Mozzarella cheese cut into cubes

Prepare the risotto: Finely chop the onion. Put the saffron threads in a tablespoon of very hot water and leave to soak.
Heat a wide pan over low heat, add olive oil, butter and add the onion. Fry until soft and translucent, stirring constantly. Turn up the heat to medium. Add the rice and fry for about a minute until fragrant. Deglaze with the white wine. Boil stirring frequently until the wine has dissolved. Add a ladle of broth, season well and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low and boil really slowly stirring occasionally.  
Continue to add the broth, one ladle every time the risotto looks dry and stir well. It takes about 15-20 minutes to cook. Continue to try the rice as you go as it should be al dente and not too soft. 
Once the rice is almost cooked, stir in the the saffron and water and mix well. Continue to boil until the rice is cooked al dente. The risotto should be fairly dry and "sticky" so that it can easily be rolled into a ball and hold its shape.
Finally, take the risotto off the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese and butter. I usually leave out the butter to save calories. Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste. Leave the risotto to cool completely before using it.

Prepare the ragout: Finely chop the onion. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and fry until they just start to brown. Turn up the heat to high and add the mince. Break up any big chunks. Leave the meat to brown without stirring too much. Season with salt and pepper and add the chopped tomatoes. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for 15 minutes. 
Add the herbs and vinegar and stir well. Add the peas and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Make sure that the ragout is quite dry. 
Taste and season with salt, pepper and finish off with a little bit of sugar to bring out the tomato flavour. Leave to cool. 

Make the Arancini: Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C top/bottom heat). 
Mix the egg with the flour until it forms a smooth paste. It needs to be runny enough to coat the Arancini with. Add a splash of hot water to loosen it if necessary.
Divide the risotto into 6 even portions. 
Either on a plate or in the palm of your hand, flatten out a portion of the risotto. Put about 1-2 tablespoons of the ragout and a few cubes of cheese in the middle. Shape the risotto into a tight ball around the filling so that there is no filling leaking out. Repeat until you've used up the risotto. Don't worry if you have leftover ragout, it makes for a fantastic pasta sauce. 
Coat the rice balls first with the egg and flour mixture and then with the bread crumbs. Roll them in your hands to make the crumbs really stick to the Arancini.
Spray with olive oil. I don't have a spray bottle so I usually pour a little bit of olive oil in my hands and roll the Arancini again with my oiled hands.
Place them on an oiled baking tray. Space them out so that they can brown evenly. Bake until golden brown and the crust is crispy, about 25-30 minutes. 

Enjoy, for example with a glass of good Italian wine!



Variations

If you don't like saffron risotto, you can use risotto bianco. I encourage you to play around with the filling, for example vegetable ragout or fennel and salmon. 
For a sweet variation, use rice pudding and nougat and pistachio or hazelnut filling. Coat with breadcrumbs mixed with ground nuts.

makes one small pie (20cm diameter)

500g pumpkin (peeled)
1/2 cup bulgur wheat
1 small red onion
1 small garlic clove
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 large pinch of sumac (optional)
1 pinch of red chilli flakes (optional)
1 pinch of nutmeg 
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200°C (top/bottom heat). 

Peel and cut the pumpkin in small chunks. Cover generously with salt and let sit for 15 minutes. Put it in the steamer and steam (or boil) until very soft and tender. 
Meanwhile soak the bulgur in lukewarm water for 20 minutes. Drain and let sit for 10 minutes to let all the excess water drain away.  Slice half of the onion very thinly, coarsely grate the other half. Mince the garlic clove. Brush a 20cm pie dish generously with olive oil and arrange the sliced onion in a single layer at the bottom of the dish.
Once the pumpkin is done, mash it into a puree. In a large bowl, combine with the drained bulgur, garlic and grated onion. Start adding seasoning (start with 1/2 tsp salt) and spices and mix well. Taste and adjust spices and seasoning until you are satisfied with the taste. 
Sift 2 tablespoons all purpose flour over the top to avoid flour pockets and mix really well. Taste one last time to be sure the spice mix is alright :)

Spoon the pumpkin mix onto the onions in the pie dish and spread out evenly. Brush the top generously with olive oil and cut in diamond shapes (or whatever shapes you like).
Bake for about 50 minutes until golden. The onions in the bottom should be caramelised and taste wonderfully sweet.

Sprinkle with Za'atar and serve with minted yoghurt. It also makes for a delicious side accompanying lamb koftas.

makes 2 medium pizzas - takes about 5 hours

215 ml warm water (something like 30°C)
1/3 tsp active dry yeast*
195g whole spelt flour
50g white bread flour (high grade flour)
1/3 tbsp whole rye flour
1/2 tsp wheat bran
1/3 tsp runny honey
1/3 tsp salt
olive oil
semolina (or polenta) to keep the pizza from sticking to the pizza stone

1. Mix yeast and water: Mix 150 ml of the water with the yeast and let stand for a few minutes until the mixture is bubbly.

2. Add some of the flours and wheat bran: In a large bowl, mix 50g bread flour with 75g of whole spelt flour with the rye flour and wheat bran. Add the yeast mixture and stir until well combined. It will be quite a wet mixture. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature (ideally 20-22°C) for about 1.5 hours. (You can use cling film, but I prefer to use a plate.)

3. Add remaining flour, water and honey and knead: Add the remaining 120g whole spelt flour, 65 ml warm water and honey to the dough. Knead in a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook on low speed for about 2 minutes.

4. Add salt and knead: After 2 minutes of kneading, with the machine still running, add the salt. Turn up the kneading speed to medium and knead for further 8 minutes. The dough should become smooth and elastic and only slightly sticky. It should begin to pull away from the sides of the bowl at this stage. If it is overly sticky, add up to a tbsp of bread flour and knead for another minute. Grease another large bowl with olive oil and transfer the dough to the greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for about 45 minutes. 

5. Fold the dough: Grease your hands with olive oil so the dough doesn’t stick. Uncover the bowl and carefully pull the sides away from the bowl. Grab the underside of the dough and fold it over itself towards the centre. Turn the bowl 90° and fold the next side. Repeat until all four sides are folded over. Then turn the dough over in the bowl so that the the folded sides are facing down. Cover the bowl once again and let it rise for another 45 minutes.

6. Divide and proof: Carefully pour the dough out of the bowl onto a well floured surface. Divide it in two equal pieces with a sharp knife or metal scraper. Shape the pieces into tight balls by tucking under the edges and rolling it in a circular motion on the countertop or in your hands. Like so. Cover the dough balls with a kitchen towel and let them proof for about an hour. 

If you plan on baking your pizza in the oven, I recommend to start preheating the oven (and the pizza stone if using) for about an hour to 250°C. The pizza stone also works exceptionally well on the BBQ.

Baking time!: Dust your work surface with flour. Take one dough ball and carefully press it down and out with your palm and your fingers until you have reached the desired thickness for your pizza base. Use flour liberally to keep it from sticking on your hands or the work surface. 

If using a baking tray transfer the dough to a baking tray lined with baking paper and sprinkled with semolina. If using a pizza stone - which I highly recommend - sprinkle your pizza peel with flour and semolina and transfer the shaped pizza base onto it

Lightly brush the edges with olive oil and top it with whatever tickles your fancy... no pineapples please! Bake at 250°C for about 8-11 minutes until the cheese has melted and the edges are starting to brown. Buon appetito!

Notes

* Some time soon I will create a sourdough version of this recipe. That's the plan anyway.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium butternut squash
300g minced beef

110g quinoa (uncooked, I used tricolour quinoa)
a handful of snap peas
half a medium apple
a small, sliced stalk of leek
a handful of raisins
a handful of coarsely chopped roasted almonds 
2 tsp fresh lemon thyme (or normal thyme)
a dash of ground cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan).
Cut the squash in half, place the halves on a baking tray and score the flesh with a sharp knife. Drizzle with a little olive oil, season with salt, pepper and 1 tsp of the thyme and bake for about 45-50mins.
In the meantime prepare the quinoa according to the instructions on the packet. Cut the leek in about 0.5 cm thick slices. Cut the snap peas into smaller pieces e.g. half them or so. Dice the apple.
Heat the olive oil in a non stick skillet over medium high heat. Add leek and snap peas and fry for about 5 minutes or until tender and slightly browned. Add apple and fry for another 5 minutes. Add the beef mince and cook until the beef is cooked through and has browned a little bit here and there. Season well with salt and pepper.
When the squash is baked, take it out of the oven and scoop out most of the meat. Add the squash meat to the beef and vegetable mixture. Add raisins, almonds, the remaining thyme, nutmeg and cinnamon.
In a big bowl combine the meat mixture with the cooked quinoa and season to taste.
Spoon the filling onto the butternut squash. Place the tray back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
Serve with cottage cheese or sour cream.

serves 2

2 medium sized chicken breasts
green parts of 2 leeks
2 knobs of butter (optional)
2 tblsp of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 170°C.
Chop leeks in rounds, about half a centimetre thick. Heat half the butter and olive oil in a heavy pan over medium high heat. Add leek and cook for about three minutes or until soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste and let cool.
Butterfly chicken breasts (see here for example). Distribute leek evenly on both chicken breasts. Wrap and roll chicken over the stuffing and secure with toothpicks.
Heat the rest of the butter in the same pan. Brown chicken on all sides. Wrap in aluminium foil and place in the oven for about 13 minutes. Be careful not to leave it in the oven for to long so it won't go dry.
Serve with mashed cauliflower or sweet potato. Enjoy!