Aubergine and pesto pasta

 

Gluten free with appropriate pasta

  

This recipe is very freely adapted from one of Jamie Oliver’s. Firstly I tweaked it so that it just made one serving, then I altered it again for this blog, to serve two, and then I adapted it for a voyaging locker, which probably doesn’t include fresh basil, but might and should, include a jar of pesto.  

 

Before going any further, not all jars of pesto are created equal. Some contain a ghastly green purée, while others look like something you’d be quite proud to make yourself and have a delightful texture, just like the Real Thing. When I first came across jars of pesto, I was inclined to believe what it said on the label about having to be kept refrigerated. However, my local supermarket sells small jars at a very reasonable price and as I wanted to try out different recipes for calzone, I thought I’d probably get through the jar quite quickly, anyway. I used most of it and then out of curiosity, left the near-empty jar in my locker. It kept for weeks.

 

I was also surprised how good it tasted: the one that looked the best value, “Pam’s” is not an expensive brand, so therefore there wasn’t much chance of it being made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Pine nuts or Pecorino cheese - all of which would be found in a traditional pesto. In fact the ingredients were: canola oil, 35% basil, sunflower seeds, cheese (unspecified), garlic, sugar :-(, salt and natural flavours, so it’s rather surprising that it does taste so good and implies that the best part of the pesto is the basil. My “Pam’s” Pesto also included three e-numbers in the ingredient list: E202 - potassium sorbate, E270 - lactic acid and E300 - ascorbic acid, and I thought that before suggesting that others put it in their lockers, I should see what these were. I try to avoid ultra-processed foods, and this certainly looked a bit like one. I had a look online and even the most hysterical of ‘health-food’ sites seemed pretty chilled about lactic and ascorbic acid (which is just another name for vitamin C). There was a bit more tooth sucking about potassium sorbate, although it is derived from sorbic acid, which occurs naturally in rowan berries. It is very commonly used in all sorts of food production and the worst that anyone had to say about it was that if it is consumed in high doses during pregnancy, it might effect the DNA. Personally, I feel quite happy about my jar of pesto: my only genuine reservation is that it contains cheese, and I prefer to eat a vegan diet. The reason I’m rabbiting on about this is because fresh basil doesn’t keep well at all - even if you have a fridge - and for something like this recipe, you wouldn’t want more than a quarter of a cup, which wouldn’t use up a whole bunch. However, by all means make your own pesto if you prefer!

 

The recipe calls for cherry tomatoes, but I find those miniature plum tomatoes are even better, if you can lay hands on them. If they are tiny, double the quantity.

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1 large or 2 small aubergine

olive oil OR olive oil and butter

salt

penne, pasta spirals or similar 

2 tbsp pesto

Pecorino cheese or "Parmegan"

6 cherry tomatoes

 

Method:

• Cut the aubergine in half. Rub it – particularly the flesh, with oil and put it on a well-oiled baking sheet. Roast it at 180° for 35 min. Or cook it in the pressure cooker until it’s tender, cut it in half, scoop out the flesh and briefly fry it in a little oil so that the flesh is lightly browned.
• While it’s cooking, cut the tomatoes in half. The original recipe says to remove the seeds, because of their bitterness, but I don’t bother. I generally find cherry tomatoes are quite sweet and the seeds not very intrusive. Then cut them into fine dice.
• When the aubergine is thoroughly soft, let it cool and scoop out the flesh. Chop it all up, put it into a bowl and keep warm.
• Boil a pan of hot salted water and add the pasta. 
• Pour the pesto over the aubergine and mix it all up. Add olive oil and/or butter for taste and texture.
• Now add a little bit of cheese.
• As soon as the pasta is ready, add some of the water to the aubergine mix, so that you have a saucy consistency.
• Mix in the tomatoes.
• Tip in the pasta and serve.

 

Pass round extra cheese, and maybe pine nuts, chopped almonds, or sunflower seeds at the table.

 

Notes:

• If you have fresh basil, some leaves would be a lovely addition when the pasta is served.
• Another way to cook the aubergine, would be to ‘roast it’ in the frying pan.
• I like aubergine skin, so I generally just dice the aubergine, fry it in olive oil, and mix it with the pesto.

Variation:

• This isn’t particularly filling, so you might want to increase the pasta from what you normally would cook, or serve it with bread, or maybe even add some cooked white beans or chickpeas to the aubergine sauce.

You will find many more recipes for pasta dishes here

Black-eyed peas curry

Black Eyed Peas Curry

 

 

Blender alert *

Black-eyed peas are popular in India and they have the great advantage of not needing to be soaked, if you are going to cook them in a pressure cooker. This means you can make a curry with more substance than a dal, or even whole lentils (including Indian ones such as mung). They also cook in about the same time as whole lentils, so are ideal for when you’ve been out (or sailing) all day and want to get a meal underway as soon as you’re back on board, or have the anchor down. Their earthy taste is quite unlike any other legume I can think of and goes very well with curry spices.

This is also a quick and easy curry to put together. Although there is a blender alert, it isn’t really necessary to use one: you’ll just end up with a slightly different texture. In this black-eyed pea curry, no tempering is required after the initial cooking, so the whole thing goes together quickly. The beans are cooked in a sauce flavoured with onion, tomatoes, and coconut, along with seven other spices which, apart from asafoetida, you’ll probably have on board. It’s well worth adding to your standard repertoire and makes a change from chickpeas, which tend to be the obvious ‘go to’.

 

Because this recipe doesn't have that many ingredients, you don't have to be a dedicated curry cook to make it.  The only thing you are unlikely to have on board is asafoetida and possibly garam masala.  You can leave them both out and perhaps add a pinch of ground cinnamon, cloves and/or nutmeg and a tad more cumin. 

Servings: 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup dry black eyed peas

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1.5 tbsp shredded coconut unsweetened

1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 medium ripe tomato quartered

1/2 tsp ginger paste

4 garlic cloves

1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

pinch asafoetida (omit if GF)

1/8 tsp ground turmeric

1½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp salt divided

1 ½ cups water

Instructions

• *Blend cumin seeds, coconut, onion, tomato, ginger and garlic to make a smooth paste.
• Put the pressure cooker on the cooker and add oil.    When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and allow them to crackle. Add asafoetida and turmeric. Add the onion and tomato paste and cook for a minute stirring frequently.
• Add red chilli powder, cumin and coriander powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well.    Cook on a low heat for 3-4 minutes.
• Mix everything once more, ensuring that there are no spices stuck to the bottom of the pot.
• Add black eyed peas and water. Give a quick stir.
• Put the lid on the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 10 minutes.    Allow pressure to reduce naturally.

Serve with rice or roti.

Notes:

• If you don’t have a fresh tomato, use a tbsp of purée.
• Any dried coconut will work in this recipe.

Variations:

• * If you don’t have a blender, use ground cumin, dice the onion and tomato and use ginger and garlic paste. Mix everything together in a cup or jug and use in the same way as the blended mixture. The curry will taste just as good.
• Add some chopped vegetables such as carrots or sweet potatoes, which will survive cooking with the peas, without turning into a mush.

 

  

You will find many more recipes similar to this here and here.