Side Dishes and other Stuff...

Side Dishes and other stuff....

Stuffed Aubergines

This is, I believe an old Italian family recipe which has been handed down and was given to me by some lovely Italian friends.

Serves 4 or less dependant on how much you eat!!!

5 medium aubergines

Filling

2 eggs
A handful of breadcrumbs
herbs and spices as per your preference eg: oregano, basil etc
salt
2 cloves garlic crushed
parmesan cheese

1. Cut off the aubergine stalks and cut the aubergines on half. Put into a pan of boiling salty water and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and leave to cool.
2. Once cool, scoop out the flesh from the aubergines and chop the flesh into fairly small pieces, leaving the shells intact.
3. Add some oil to a pan and gently fry the garlic for a couple of minutes and then add the chopped aubergine flesh and cook over a low heat, adding herbs to taste. This will probably take about 20 minutes.
4. Once cooked, allow to cool and then add the breadcrumbs. Beat the eggs into the mixture and add the parmesan. If the mixture looks too liquid then add more breadcrumbs and cheese, it wants to be a reasonably thick sauce.
5. You can add in some chopped ham at this stage if you want or mozzarella.
6. Take one shell at a time and fill with the stuffing/sauce. Place into a baking dish and cover with any remaining sauce - not too much as they don't want to be swimming in it!
7. Cover with some more cheese and cover with tinfoil and place in the oven gas mark 5 and bake for 30-40 minutes. take off the foil and allow to brown or finish off under the grill.

If you want to add some additional meat, you can add minced meat when cooking the aubergines at stage 3.

Enjoy!!!

Authentic Limoncello Recipe

After sampling some of this fabulous liquor - I had to ask my Italian friend to write down the recipe as I was in no state to remember!

This is the authentic version using 95% alcohol, which is not available in all countries. You can use Vodka as an alternative but may want to reduce the sugar in this case.

Ingredients

3 or 4 lemons well washed and dried
300 grams 95% alcohol
500 grams of water
400 grams of sugar

Peel the lemons, making sure that you do not include the white pith as this can be bitter.
Put the peel in a resealable jar - such as a kilner jar. Cover it with the alcohol and leave to infuse for a week in a cool and dark place.
After 1 week, boil the sugar and water for 5 minutes and then leave to cool. Filter the lemon and alcohol liquid through a sieve or piece of muslin and discard the peel.
Mix the 2 liquids together and transfer to a couple of sealed glass bottles.
Leave for at least 10-20 days before drinking.
Serve cold.

I keep it in the freezer and it's delicious!