The below recipes all feature in our brilliant autumn cookbook list – all available to order now.
CAPONATA FRITTATA
SERVES 4
30 mins
INGREDIENTS
1 red onion
2 aubergines (eggplants)
100 g (¾ cup) pine nuts
250 g (9 oz) cherry tomatoes
fresh parsley
pitted green olives
capers
red wine vinegar
8 eggs
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6).
Finely chop the red onion and chop the aubergines into small cubes.
Add your aubergines to a wide, ovenproof frying pan (skillet) and brown off the cubes.
Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a separate pan.
Once the aubergine is browned, add your onion and the cherry tomatoes. Throw in a large handful of chopped parsley stalks (keep the leaves separate).
When the tomatoes and onion are softened, add 2 tablespoons of sliced green olives and 1 tablespoon of capers. Pour in 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and cook over a high heat until the vinegar has evaporated.
Add the toasted pine nuts and a large handful of chopped parsley leaves (keep a few to serve) and mix them through the caponata.
In a bowl, whisk up the eggs. Season with pepper.
Pour the eggs into the caponata. Mix them around everything is evenly spread. Cook the frittata over a medium heat for 5 minutes, and then
place in the hot oven for a further 5 minutes until the eggs have set.
Serve the dish with the leftover parsley leaves, season to your taste and munch away! It will be the best breakfast mouthful you’ll ever have.
The above recipe is from MOB Kitchen: Feed 4 or more for under £10 by Ben Lebus.
GREEN SHAKSHUKA
Serves 2 for breakfast, lunch or dinner
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small leek, sliced into rings and washed
100g/3½ oz fresh spinach, washed (you can use any green leaf you have here: chard, kale, beets, radish tops, etc.)
1 small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
1 small bunch of mint, leaves picked and roughly chopped
1 small bunch of dill, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
4 eggs
a few dollops of yogurt (optional)
a sprinkling of sumac (optional)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan (I use a 22-cm/8¾-inch frying pan) on a medium-high heat. Add the leek and sauté to soften – it will take 3–4 minutes – then start adding the spinach, a large handful at a time. Stir between each addition to wilt it. It may seem as if it will never fit in the pan, but as it wilts there will be hardly any volume left.
Finally add the chopped herbs and mix them in to wilt too. The whole process will take about 6–8 minutes, depending on the leaves you are using; just make sure they are soft by the end of it.
Remove the frying pan from the stove and season with the crushed garlic and some salt and pepper. You can set this aside until you are ready to eat and the table is set; it will also keep in the fridge until later.
You only want to cook the eggs once everyone is at the table, as it is best to eat this while the yolks are still runny.
Heat the spinach mixture again and use a spoon to create four little wells in the cooked leaves, one in each quarter. Crack an egg into each well, season the eggs with a touch of salt and pepper and cover the pan.
Cook on a low heat until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny – about 3–4 minutes. Serve straight away. You can drizzle with some yogurt and sumac or serve it as is. It’s delicious either way.
The above recipe is from Honey & Co. At Home: Middle-Eastern recipes from our kitchen by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich.
EGGS IN TOMATO GRAVY
Serves 6
1 large bunch coriander (cilantro), with roots, stalks and leaves
1.5 kg/3 lb 5 oz passata (strained tomatoes) (if you have slightly more due to the size of the box or bottle, add it all and then adjust the seasoning)
4 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
40 fresh curry leaves
10 dried red chillis, broken in half
9 garlic cloves
1 piece fresh ginger, 5 cm/2 inches long
2 tbsp tomato purée (tomato paste)
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
4 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp nigella (black onion) seeds
5 medium eggs, hard-boiled, shelled and thickly sliced
Wash the coriander to remove any grit. If you cannot find a bunch with roots, then pick one with long stalks as this is where the flavour lies.
Pour the passata into a deep pan. During the cooking process, the tomato liquid will spit and splutter. Using a deeper pan will save having to wipe clean the hob (stove) and walls. Add the washed coriander stalks, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, 20 of the curry leaves and 4 of the dried red chillis to the passata in the pan. Chop 7 of the garlic cloves and all of the ginger into chunks, then add to the pan.
Place the pan over a medium–high heat and then, once the passata is boiling, lower the heat to maintain a steady low boil. Cook for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before straining the passata into a bowl. Discard the contents of the sieve, then return the passata to the pan. Add 1 tbsp of the tomato puree to the pan along with the sugar and salt, then stir.
In a small frying pan (skillet), heat the oil over a medium–high heat.
Slice the remaining garlic cloves into thin slivers. Working quickly so the tempering does not burn, add the garlic, nigella seeds, remaining curry leaves and dried chillis to the pan. Cook for a few seconds, then pour the tempering oil and spices over the tomato gravy.
Taste to check the seasoning and adjust as necessary. To serve, ladle the gravy into serving bowls and lay the egg slices on top.
The above recipe is from Asma’s India Kitchen: Home-cooked recipes brought to you by Darjeeling Express.
