Aubergine, with pesto and pasta

Gluten free with the 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 tweaked 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, I now believe should, include a jar of pesto.

Before going any further, not all jars of pesto are created equal. Some contain a ghastly green puree, 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 months.

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, which 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 had a look online and even the most hysterical of ‘health-food’ sites seemed pretty chilled about lactic and ascorbic acid. 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!

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 large or 2 small aubergine

olive oil

salt

4 tbsp pesto

Pecorino cheese or "Parmegan"

pasta spirals or similar

6 cherry tomatoes

black pepper

• 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 mins. Or cook it in the pressure cooker until it’s tender, cut it in half 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, but I don’t bother. 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.
• Pour the pesto over the aubergine and mix it all up. Add olive oil 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 aubergines so that you have a saucy consistency.
• Mix in the tomatoes.  Grind plenty of black pepper over it.
  
• Tip in the drained 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.
• I like aubergine skin, so I generally just dice the aubergine and mix it with the pesto.
• 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.

Courgette curry

I find it hard to get excited about courgettes. Baby ones, fried in good olive oil and garlic are delicious, but that’s largely because of the olive oil and the garlic. They sop up the flavours well.    They are also good in ratatouille, especially with cannellini beans, for the same reason and indeed, can be used in all sorts of soups and stews; however when there’s a glut of them, it isn’t usually the time of year that you want to eat soup and stew.  Now I realise, that to many people, curry is not only similar to a stew, but because of the chilli and warming spices, might seem even less appealing in hot weather, but I adore curry and can eat it any time and in any weather. so to me it is a perfect way of using a bounty of courgettes.  I already have a recipe for courgette with chana dal, however this recipe is is quite different and more of a side dish than a main one, althoughI have some suggestions for using it as a main course.  However, you can add as many courgettes as you want (maybe up the spices a litle) to make it into a full main course, without any extra additions, if you want to use them up. This is a pretty straightforward recipe and I think most people would be happy to tackle it, but because it uses non-standard ingredients, I'll call it a Curry for Cooks.

This recipe is based on one of Swasthi's recipes and I think it’s a great way to cook courgettes.    The coconut milk makes it rich and substantial and all it needs is some rice to go with it, but of course a pan of dal would turn it into a generous meal. Alternatively, you can serve it with quinoa, whose protein will turn this into a fully-nutritious meal. I confess to finding quinoa worthy, but dull, particularly compared to brown basmati rice. However, if you're concerned about your protein intake, it's a good choice.

Even though this is made with Kashmiri chilli powder, rather than chilli flakes or cayenne, it packs quite a zing. If you don’t like too much heat in your curry, reduce the amount of chilli powder.

Serves 2 for a main course, 4 as a side dish

Ingredients 

1 tbsp coconut oil 

1/8 tsp mustard seeds 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds 

1 green chilli pepper, minced 

1 tsp ginger paste 

1 tsp salted lime or lemon, finely diced

1 medium onion, finely diced 

3/4 tsp garam masala 

3/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder 

1/2 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp turmeric 

1 large courgette or equivalent, chopped into chunky pieces 

2 tomatoes, finely diced 

1/4 cup freeze-dried peas*

1/2 cup coconut milk 

1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves 

 

Method:

• Heat the oil in a saucepan and when it’s hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds
• When the mustard starts to sputter, add the green chilli and cook for 30 seconds.
• Add the chopped onions and ginger and cook for several minutes until the onions start to turn gold.    If you are using salted lime, (or lemon) add this now.
• Lower the heat and add the garam masala, chilli powder, salt and turmeric.
• Now add the tomato and courgette and fry for a few minutes, stirring from time to time.
• Add the peas and the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Mix well and turn the heat low.
•  Cook the courgette until its soft enough to suit your taste. 
• Just before the curry is ready, add the fenugreek leaves and mix them in.
• Taste and add more salt or garam masala if required.

Serve with rice, quinoa or flatbread.

Notes: 

• *Freeze-dried ‟Surprise” peas are very useful to have on a boat.    Substitute with fresh or frozen if you have such a thing.  Or perhaps 1/2 cup cooked dried, green peas, which would make this recipe much more substantial.  Or maybe some diced carrot.
• If you don’t have a green chilli leave it out (try to buy pickled ones, if you think you'll be making a lot of curry). 
• Substitute 1/4 tsp cayenne or chilli flakes for the Kashmiri chilli powder.
• Substitute 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds if you don’t have the leaves; add them with the other spices.
• Use less coconut milk, or leave it out for a drier curry.
• Add cooked chick peas or other beans to turn this into a main course meal, if you feel it doesn't look very filling.
  

Chana dal with courgettes

 

Edit   I made this the other night and found it rather bland, so decided to alter the recipe.  However, I then thought that this is actually a very good introductory curry for people who don't like their food too 'hot' or are a bit cautious about the whole concept of curry.  Therefore, I've decided to insert the additional ingredients in italics, so that you can decide whether or not to add them yourself.  The only really 'hot' addition would be chilli powder.

 

Chana dal are split white chickpeas and look very similar to yellow split peas. I've seen various ways of cooking this curry, some of which appear to have the chana dal served very firm. This one cooks them to a tender state; because it uses a pressure cooker, it also requires less time and fuel. This is a good curry for someone who wants to start out with ‛authentic’ curries, because there aren’t many spices and the only one that you're unlikely already to have in your lockers is asafoetida; on the other hand, you're not likely to find the recipe in most Western food blogs.

 

Courgettes/zucchini can sometimes present a problem for voyagers. In places where they’re grown, you are likely to be offered them frequently. When they're very fresh, they'll keep for days or even a fortnight without refrigeration, which is just as well, because a generous gift of courgettes will take up a lot of room in any fridge. I have on occasion, been swamped with them and I like this recipe, because you can use up your surplus of courgettes without requiring other vegetables for the recipe. If you are really swamped with them, you can make a courgette curry, without the dal and just use as many courgettes as you think will suffice for a full, main course!  Chana dal goes very well with the courgette: the different textures complement one another. If you're trying to use up your courgettes, you can add more than is recommended in the recipe, but remember that they produce a lot of moisture, so use the minimum with your dal when you cook it (ie 2:1 water to dal by volume). The end result is an attractively colourful dal, with the green courgette and the red tomatoes a pretty contrast to the yellow dal.  However, if you don’t want to use fresh tomatoes, or part of a tin, you can add purée to get the flavour.

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup chana dal

1 cup water

1/8 tsp ground turmeric

1 medium courgette, cut into half moons

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder or 1/8 tsp cayenne

1 tbsp oil/ghee/coconut oil

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

pinch asafoetida (omit if GF)

1/2 tsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp ginger paste

1 green chilli, minced

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped (or I whole canned)

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves

Method:

• Put the chana dal in the pressure cooker, together with the water and turmeric, bring up to pressure and cook for 7 minutes. Reduce pressure naturally.
• Once you can take the lid off, add the courgette and salt. If the dal is very dry, add a couple of tablespoons of water.
  
• Cover the cooker and put it over a low flame and gently simmer the dal and courgette until the latter starts to soften, at which stage you can remove the lid, because by then the courgettes will have exuded their juices. Now add the chilli powder. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t overcook – you still want a bit of texture in it. Add more water, if you think it needs it, but usually the courgettes let out a lot of moisture.  (If you want the courgette to be a bit softer, just replace the lid and bring the cooker back up to pressure.  Immediately remove it from the heat and let it lose pressure naturally.)
  
• Make the tempering. Put a small frying pan over a medium heat and add a glug of oil or a scoop of ghee or coconut oil.
  
• When the oil is hot, add the cumin and mustard seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds. (If you’re not sure the oil is sufficiently hot, just put a few in the pan first.)
• Now add the asafoetida and the onion - don’t let the asafoetida burn.
• Cook for about a minute and then add the ginger, garlic and green chilli. Cook until the onion becomes translucent.
• Now add the chopped tomato and coriander and cook for a further couple of minutes.
• By now the courgette should have softened. Check the texture, taste to see there is sufficient salt and then pour in the tempering. Add the dried fenugreek leaves.
  
• Carefully, mix everything, ensuring you neither mash the chana nor break up the courgette,  and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Traditionally, this curry is served with roti or naan, but you can serve it with rice if you’d rather.

Notes:

• If you don't have chana dal, then yellow split peas will work fine. They may cook a little more quickly, so it’s probably worth letting the pressure off after 5 minutes and checking them.
• Use 1 clove garlic, finely chopped instead of the paste
• Use 1/2 tsp ginger, grated instead of paste.
• Use a few cherry tomatoes, halved, instead of the chopped tomato, or, as suggested in the intro, 1 tbsp tomato purée.
  

Leek and potato soup

 

This is a really good, hearty soup and completely different from its cousin Vichyssoise, which is served chilled. See in Variations. I think it needs plenty of potato to give it body. Some people like it puréed to a velouté, some people prefer it hearty and chunky. I prefer it half way between the two, but unless you go for totally puréed, you really to have to be sure that the potatoes are of a floury variety. Chunks of potato really don’t complement the smoothness of the leeks. I don’t peel the potatoes, but again that’s a personal choice. You can add milk of any type. Some people like to swirl in cream, at the end, but I would only want to do tat when having the soup as a starter. Sour cream is better – otherwise the result can be a bit cloying.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Serves 4 for a starter, 2 for a main course

Ingredients

1 large or 3 small leeks

2 large tbsp butter or olive oil

salt

2 large, floury potatoes

4 cups mushroom stock, or water

1 cup milk

coarsely ground black pepper

Method:

• Trim the discoloured top off the leek(s). If the leeks are very dirty, slit them in half or quarters from the top down towards to root end, and swirl around in plenty of water until clean. Otherwise, you will probably find the dirt is only in the lower part of the green leaves and the upper part of the white, in which case you can just slice that part out and wash it separately.
• If you want to garnish the soup with crispy, fried leek tops (see Variations) cut off about 30 mm/1 inch of the green top, slice very thinly and set aside.
• Now, take your clean leek and chop it.
• Heat the butter/oil in your pressure cooker and add the leek. Sprinkle with about 1/4 tsp salt to help it soften and fry until the pieces are soft and silky in texture. If you wish, you can remove a couple of spoonfuls and set aside, to add at the end for additional texture.
• Cut the potato into cubes, skin and all. Add to the pan and sauté for another couple of minutes, then add the stock or water. Bring up to pressure and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Let the pressure reduce at room temperature.
• Allow to cool slightly and then add the milk.  Mash, or purée to the required consistency. Season to taste: the saltiness will depend on whether you have used seawater and/or stock, and then grind over lots of black pepper and stir in the reserved leeks, if you’re using them.  Reheat until piping hot and serve.
  

For a full meal, serve with fresh bread.

Variations:

• garnish with 4 tbsp sour cream
• garnish with 4 tbsp chopped chives
• garnish with crisp green leek tops, heat a frying pan, with a good glug of oil over a medium-high heat. Drop in a piece of leek, and when it bubbles and floats to the surface, add the rest and fry for a couple of minutes, until they go crisp but still maintain some of their colour. Remove with a slotted spoon
• For Vichyssoise, which really needs to be served chilled, use half the potatoes and equal amounts of milk and water. When the soup is cooked, mash it or blend it smoothly – it’s supposed to be a velvety purée – and then chill it on ice or in a fridge, if you have such a thing. Serve with cream. This looks particularly attractive if it’s swirled on top of the soup.

Pav Bhaji spice blend

 

Blender Alert

Pav Bhaji is a popular Indian street food and is usually made in huge pans. Pav means “a small bun,” while bhaji means “vegetable.” The spice blend used to make the vegetable stew is different from the usual garam masala (or curry powder!) and has sour and sweet notes. The black peppercorns add a background heat, and the other spices add glorious scent and flavours to the blend. It can be used on any vegetable side dish or you could experiment with adding it to vegetable curry.

Makes about 1/4 cup 

Ingredients

4 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

4 whole black cardamoms or use whole green cardamoms

4 cloves

1/2 to 3/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp ground cinnamon (not cassia)

3 tsp dry mango powder/amchar

Method: 

• Heat a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Add coriander, cumin, fennel, cardamoms, cloves, chill flakes and peppercorns and dry roast for a couple of minutes, until the coriander and fennel seeds start to change colour.  Cool slightly and transfer to a spice grinder.
• Add the cinnamon and mango powder and grind the ingredients to a powder.  Transfer to an airtight container and store in the proverbial cool, dark space.  A glass jar is better for blended spices.

 

Chilli sin carne

 

This is one of the first recipes I ever cooked and it was pretty exotic for an English girl in the mid 70s!  The photo above, shows it served with kumara/sweet potatoes: I'd never heard of either back then!  Nowadays, in one form or another, it’s a standard for both omnivores and vegetarians. People make all sort of punning and witty names for the vegetarian version, but surely chilli sin carne is the obvious version - chilli without meat!  I have tweaked the recipe over the years and now have something that everyone seems to really enjoy. Full of flavour, with a nice lift of chilli, warming and filling, it is wonderfully welcome on a cold, damp evening. Moreover this recipe is one that can be cooked in just about any conditions at sea – and I have done so. You can eat it with bread, rice, pasta, polenta, potatoes sweet or otherwise and no doubt many other things.  

With fried yams

If you aren’t used to ‛spicy’ foods, ie, chilli, you might want to go easy on the chilli flakes. If you like more spice, swop out the flakes for cayenne pepper.

Everyone, I’m sure, has their own version of this dish and mine is less authentic than most. The bulgur wheat makes a fine substitute for mince, while keeping the dish looking similar. I add some cocoa, which darkens the sauce and adds what I fondly believe to be ‘that South American touch’. In defence of my creation, I will say that everyone seems to enjoy it.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup red kidney beans, soaked in 1½ cups water

1/4 cup bulgur wheat

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp cocoa

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, diced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 green pepper

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp oregano

400 g/14 oz can chopped tomatoes, OR 3 fresh tomatoes OR 4 tbsp tomato purée

salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Put the soaked kidney beans and their water in a pressure cooker, together with the bulgur wheat, soya sauce and cocoa. 
• Bring to pressure and cook as usual.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in another saucepan, add the onion and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes until they’re softened.
• Chop and add the green pepper, lower the heat and cook for a few more minutes. Add the chilli flakes, cumin, smoked paprika and oregano and stir until they are well mixed in.
• Stir in the tomatoes and lower the heat. If you're using tomato purée add and extra ¼ cup of water.  Bring to the boil and then simmer over a low heat.
  
• When the beans are cooked, add them to the saucepan. Stir gently to combine and season carefully with salt and a generous grind of pepper.
• Simmer until the sauce has thickened to the consistency you want and the flavours have have combined – at least ten minutes.

Serve hot.  I like chilli best, served over ‛baked’ (ie, cooked whole in the pressure cooker) and split kumara (sweet potatoes). But it also goes well with bread, rice, pasta, polenta and quinoa. I have never tried it with potatoes, but am sure it would go well with them in just about any form.

Note:

• Chilli is one of those meals that improves with keeping, so you can make it earlier in the day if you feel like it, or if you’re making it for company. Re-heat it very gently to prevent it burning and add a little more water if necessary.

With polenta

 Variations: 

• In rough conditions, fry the vegetables in the pressure cooker, add the kidney beans, the water, bulgur wheat, soya sauce, cocoa, oregano and spices, cover and bring up to pressure. Let the pressure reduce gradually while cooking pasta in another pan. Add the tomatoes and seasoning after the pressure has reduced.
• In really rough conditions, Just dump everything into the pressure cooker, along with a further cup of water and 1/2 cup rice. Bring up to pressure and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce pressure naturally.
• As an alternative to using rice, dump all the chilli ingredients into the pressure cooker, stir well to mix them all together and then put some kumara (sweet potatoes) on top. If they are small ones, you will need to handle them with care because they will be very soft after all that cooking, but still delicious.
• You can substitute TVP for the bulgur wheat. If you do, fry it with the onions and garlic and add some extra water when you tip in the beans./Substitute 1/4 cup whole lentils for the bulgur wheat.
• If you're making 4 servings, the one can of tomatoes will suffice. You may need to add more water to stop the sauce getting too thick.
• Use red pepper if you don’t have green.
• This also works well with black beans.
• Leftovers can be used to fill empanadas.