Vegetarian lasagne

We needed to use up some stuff in the fridge, so I made this. It was nice.

150-200g lasagne sheets (I needed 6 large-ish fresh sheets)
2 400g tins whole tomatoes (you could also use diced)
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
2 courgettes
250g mushrooms
1/2 cup red wine (can also use red wine vinegar)
200-300g grated cheese (I guess you should use mozzarella or Parmesan, but we had some regular grated Edam which worked quite well too)
250ml bechamel sauce
Mixed herbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Start with the tomato sauce. Fry the onions and garlic for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, wine, herbs and seasoning and cook for around 30-45 minutes. If you want more sauce in your lasagne, double the quantities here.

While the sauce is cooking, thinly slice the courgettes lengthwise if possible (you can use a mandolin for this!) or otherwise just use discs. Slice up the mushrooms into thin slices too. Also preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

When the tomato sauce is ready, start assembling your dish. Grease the bottom of your oven dish, then layer as so (not too important, this is how I did it): pasta sheets, courgettes, mushrooms, tomato sauce, bechamel sauce, cheese, pasta, courgettes, mushrooms, tomato sauce, bechamel, cheese, pasta, bechamel, cheese. Season as you go.

Pop it in the oven and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on your oven. It'll come out lovely. 

Braised lamb shank

We wanted to try some wild boar this weekend, as it is the season, but our regular butcher at the market, M. Stoltz, was not there. Fortunately, we have a very good butcher just around the corner from us, and we walked in there to get our marcassin. Unfortunately, they did not have any, but they did have souris d'agneau, which seems to translate as lamb shank or knuckle. I called a shank, found a recipe, and made what I think is a very good meal of braised lamb shank. You can serve it with mash. The quantities here are for 2 shanks or people, depending on how hungry you are, but it's all scalable:

2 lamb shanks (about 700g), room temperature
2 onions, diced
3–4 medium carrots or 2 big ones, chopped up into chunks
4 cloves of garlic or to taste, minced
250 ml dry red wine
200 ml chicken stock
200 ml beef stock (I made mine using Bovril, but you do you)
400 g tin diced tomatoes
Rosemary, sage, bay leaf to taste (I used a bouquet of herbs that my wife had bought earlier. You can mix and match to your taste, though)
Lemon peel/zest to taste (about half a lemon's worth should do the trick)

Season the shanks on all sides. In a big Dutch oven or large pot, heat some oil and brown the shanks on all sides, which should take about 6-10 minutes. Once that's done, put the shanks to one side and add the onion, carrots, and garlic, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. When ready, add in the rest of the ingredients (be careful with the liquid ingredients: don't pour it in all at once. Keep some to one side just in case. You don't want to overdo it) and then return the shanks to the liquid. Make sure the liquid covers the shanks, bring to the boil, cover, then simmer over a low heat for 1.5–2 hours. When the meat is tender, uncover and leave to simmer for another 15–30 minutes. Once done, remove the shanks, wrap them in foil and put them in the oven. Turn the heat up and boil the sauce for another 15 minutes or so to reduce.

Serve the meat and sauce over mash, and don't ditch the bones until someone's gnawed on them.

South African monkey gland sauce

Don't mind the name—this stuff rocks. It's one of South Africa's unknown masterpieces, and it's quite sad, as we've got plenty of monkeys that could donate their glands for this... It's dead easy too, and a good way to use up errant bits of veg and monkey parts in your fridge. Smother meat in it, either as a sauce or as a marinade. Remember to pick out the pituitary gland before you eat—the texture goes to pot when you boil it.

1 onion
3-4 garlic cloves
Thumb-sized piece of ginger
1 pepper (optional)
3-4 tomatoes, diced
1 small tin double concentrated tomato purée
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
1/2 cup chutney
big dollop of red wine (optional)
AND/OR
dash of balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
150 ml vegetable (or chicken) stock
tabasco, to taste
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to season

Fry the onion, garlic, and ginger (and pepper, if you're using it) until the onion is translucent. Add the other ingredients, bring to the boil and cook on a high flame for about 8 minutes, then simmer for another 30–40 minutes. Taste and season if necessary.

Use for marinade and sauce. It should keep for about 2 weeks.

Bacon, cheese, and monkey gland burger

Aubergine/melanzana parmagiana

A vegetarian sort-of-lasagne Italian dish which worked out quite nicely. Very happy with the results. It did not take as long as I thought it would, either, so there's that, although it does take a bit of time. Make sure you have plenty of crusty bread, like a baguette or something similar, with you, so that you can mop up the sauce.

I adapted this from the Guardian's version of this recipe, with some changes. NB: I used quite a large baking tray which explains the quantities. I also layered the aubergine quite thinly, so if you increase the density of the aubergine, you can cut down on the tomato sauce. Still, tomato is nice, so it's up to you.

1.5 kg aubergine/brinjal/"egg"plant, cut lengthwise into 1 cm-thick slices
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 red onions, thinly diced
4 x 400 g tins tomatoes
1-2 glasses of red wine, or 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oregano or Provencal spice
250 g grated parmesan cheese (or grana padano - meaning that the name is somewhat badly chosen. Oh well...)
250-500 g mozzarella (depending on your cheesy preferences)
50 g breadcrumbs
handful of basil leaves

Cut up the aubergine, salt it (I laid it in layers in a colander, sprinkled some salt over it, and then repeated until I'd done the whole batch), and leave for about half an hour. While you're waiting, fry the onions and garlic for a couple of minutes, add in the wine/wine vinegar, and then tip in the tomatoes and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Crush any big bits that might cause trouble later on.

Rinse the aubergines very well and then fry at least half, but preferably all, of the aubergine slices on a griddle pan for a couple of minutes on either side. I cooked half the slices and left the other half raw when assembling the dish, which seemed to work quite well, but I'd recommend cooking all the aubergine before assembling the dish.

When you've cooked everything, heat your oven to 180 degrees, and then start putting together the dish. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce in your oven dish, then a layer of aubergine (packed tightly), then mozzarella, parmesan, and seasoning. Repeat in this order until you have used up all the aubergine. Top with a final layer of tomato sauce, then sprinkle breadcrumbs and a little bit of parmesan on the top.

Shove in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or so, then take out when ready and leave for a couple of minutes before serving. Top with some of the basil, and serve bread on the side. 

Artichoke and Sundried Tomato Pasta

New pasta sauce. Similar to sex chicken, except without the pesto, it's quite light and rather full of flavour.

You need:

butter for sautéing
an onion
4 or 5 cloves garlic
250g mushrooms, sliced
about 300g artichoke hearts
150g sundried tomatoes
100g sliced olives
200g chicken breast
2tbsp lemon juice
250ml dry white wine
pepper to taste
1 tomato, diced
parmesan or white cheese (like feta)
pasta of choice, preferably fettuccine

 Prepare the pasta as per instructions. Pour some oil over the chicken breast, rub in some salt and pepper, and grill for about 20-30 minutes, flipping halfway through. In the meantime, sauté the onions, garlic, and mushrooms until soft in a pot, then add in the artichokes, sundried tomatoes, olives, lemon juice and wine, and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes or so. About halfway through, add in the chicken, sliced up. When the liquid has been reduced a bit, take off the heat, add in the tomato (raw), then serve over the pasta with cheese. I also recommend having a baguette. And some wine.

Enjoy.

Ratatouille

On a bit of a French kick at the moment. Ah well.

Yes, this is the ratatouille from the film. Again, easy, fun to make, and you get to say the word ratatouille. I mean, how cool is that?

This should serve 3-4 people, depending on quantities.

Ratatouille

2 large aubergines, cubed
3-4 large courgettes, cubed
2 peppers, bite-sized chunks
3 or 4 tomatoes (you can put more in, but it's quite good with less of a tomato-ey taste). Pierce the skin, submerge in boiling water for about 20 seconds, then take them out and skin and de-seed them. Or don't. Either way, cut them into quarters.
Thyme (or Provencal spice)
1 or 2 onions, sliced (but not diced)
Garlic to taste (3 or 4 should generally do the trick)
About 2 tablespoons of red wine (or wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon sugar

For those of you with a bit of adventure in your souls, add some olives, a chilli or two, and some anchovies (but don't overdo the anchovies). A big cast-iron pot is also quite useful.

Cook the aubergines for about 5 minutes until soft, then remove from the heat. Don't overcook just yet. Repeat with the courgettes (until brown) and peppers (browning and then taking them out). Then cook the onions until soft and stuff. Add the garlic, fry for a bit, then add the wine/vinegar and sugar. Stir in, add the tomatoes and the thyme or Provencal spice, stir in again, and add the courgettes, aubergines, and peppers (and olives and anchovies if you're using them). Add salt and pepper to taste, then cook for about 5-10 more minutes.

I'd recommend serving this with couscous. And wine. It'll make you think of your childhood. And then overlook gross violations of public health and sanitation.

Coq au vin

I've been wanting to try coq au vin for a while now. I finally got round to making it tonight. It was lovely. It's remarkably easy too, for something so tasty.


Coq au vin - serves about 3-4 people

750g chicken legs and thighs
150g bacon, sliced
4-5 medium-sized onions in quarters, or 10-15 shallots, peeled and sliced in half
4 cloves of garlic (mine were minced, but you can also just peel the cloves)
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup red wine (the drier the better)
Bay leaves
Thyme (fresh is better, but dry will do)
Salt and pepper to taste
250g mushrooms

Brown the bacon in a big pot. Remove, but leave the fat behind. Add the onions and chicken, and brown well over a medium heat for about 10 min or so. Halfway through, add the garlic. Add the stock, wine and herbs, and put the bacon back in. Cover and simmer for about 20-30 min, until the chicken is cooked through. It will probably look pink or crimson. THIS IS NORMAL. When done, remove the chicken and onions from the liquid, and add the mushrooms to the sauce. Reduce the sauce over a high temperature by about 75 percent. When done, put the chicken and onions back in the pot, heat up, and mix in. Serve over something - we had mashed potatoes, but some pasta would probably work too. I also recommend some bread on the side.

Enjoy.