Vegetarian Lasagne

I am all about the cheese. As in ALL about the cheese. If anything goes wrong in the kitchen, I am a firm believer that all you need to do to correct a culinary calamity is to add cheese on top to solve the problem. 

Now when it comes to lasagna, I have a passion for the corner piece (as I am sure most of you do!) 
You know what I am talking about right? The gooey, crunchy, bubbling corner piece that definitely hosts more cheese than the rest of those pitiful landlocked slices. 

I am prepared to fight to the death for it.

The amazing thing with this lasagna is, not only is it vegetarian (meat eaters fear not) but it is also (in my mind) guilt free. 
Layered with fresh vegetables and topped with the perfect cheese crust, this recipe will blow your mind. 
It is a labour of love. 

Dubbed by a close friend of mine as the Lasagn-YOH (who also generously shared the recipe with me), its name is as fitting as the casserole dish it’s baked in.
I say generously because this dish is a game changer. A blessing. 
For those of you who don’t know, YOH is South African slang, used when a person is rendered speechless, a word that summarizes the gravity of an overwhelming experience.

Practice saying it out aloud now. Yoh.
There is no use fighting it – it’s exactly what will happen.

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Serves: 6

Cook time: 2 hours 30 minutes 

Ingredients:

• Coconut oil (olive oil if you don’t have)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 sprigs of thyme (twigs removed)
• 700 grams of Rosa tomatoes, halved
• 700ml or 1 jar of tomato purée
• 50 grams of basil chopped
• 1 large butternut, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 400 grams potabellini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 sprigs of rosemary (twigs removed)
• 250ml cream
• 1 large aubergine
• 200 grams Swiss chard, roughly chopped
• 1 lemon, zested
• 300 grams fresh ricotta cheese
• 250 grams egg lasagne
• 450 grams of mozzarella
• Parmesan cheese to serve

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Instructions: 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a large pot over a medium heat, add a tablespoon of coconut oil, the onion and the garlic and fry until soft. Add the thyme leaves and the tomatoes and fry until soft. Add the tomato purée and basil, let simmer. The longer the tomato sauce simmers the more the acid reduces and the sweeter the sauce, so the longer the better. I let mine simmer on a low heat for almost two hours if I can. Season to taste.
 

Put the butternut on a roasting tray and lightly coat in a half a tablespoon of coconut oil. You don’t want too much oil. Just enough so that it is covered. Add salt and roast at 180 for 35-40 minutes or until soft when you poke it with a fork. When it is ready remove from the oven but keep the oven on to bake the dish at the end.
 

In a small frying pan over a medium to high heat add the butter and a dash of oil (this stops the butter from burning.) Do not add to much as you don't want to boil the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms and fry until they are golden brown. Once they start to brown add the rosemary. Once ready add half the cream to the pan. Let simmer for 1 minute, remove from heat and set aside.

Slice the aubergine into half a centimeter thick disks. In a large frying pan over a high heat add half a tablespoon of coconut oil. Once hot add your disks. Aubergine tends to suck up the oil. Don’t panic if they need add a little more oil (don’t over do it, they will fry up). Fry each side for about 3 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl add the Swiss chard and lemon zest. Using your hands crumble the ricotta into the bowl and toss with the Swiss chard.

Almost there! Now you just have to put all the layers together

You are going to assemble the lasagne in a large lasagne dish. 

Add your butternut to the dish. I squish my butternut down to make a compact flat layer. Top with four ladles of tomato sauce. Add the lasagne by lining them up next to each other. You are not wetting the lasagne before cooking. It will cook out when you bake the dish.

Add the mushrooms on top of the lasagne. Smooth out to all corners of the dish.

Add the spinach on top. Pack it down and get as much in as you can. It wilts when you bake it.

Add another layer of lasagne.

Add your fried aubergine on top of your lasagne. Assemble it so that it makes a full layer.

Cover with the rest of the tomato sauce. Pour over the rest of the cream.

Slice the mozzarella into disks, enough to cover the entire top of the lasagne. Don’t be shy and make sure you don’t miss a spot! Remember the cheese will spread as it melts! Grate some parmesan over the top. 

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 35-40 minutes. Keep an eye on your cheese as you don’t want it to burn but you do want it crunchy!

-Melissa 

The perfect night in with Country Road

If you follow the blog or know me personally you will know that I am all about the dinner party and a fabulous brunch. These are soul-filling events for me because I get to spend time with the people I love the most. Cooking up a storm and entertaining come naturally for me. That’s not to say that I don’t however enjoy the perfect night in taking time to recharge.
 
I thought I would give you a peek into what I cook for myself. I am a huge fan of a one-pot wonder when I am alone as it leaves me with less dishes and I can pop it in the fridge to nibble off.
 
Sometimes I just need to switch off and cuddle up with a great series or book and the country road knitted blankets are the softest cuddle buddies (insert cuddle puddle here). With winter having arrived with aplomb I couldn't wait to share my recent collaboration with Country Road and their beautiful cozy knits. I thought I would show you not only my #countryroadstyle but also a recipe which I love to make.
It is a butternut soup that freezes really well. You can portion it, then just pop it on the stove when you are ready.
It's hearty with a fiery little spice kick (depending on how warm you want to keep.)
 
All homeware and knits are available at Country Road. Cat not included.

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Ingredients:
 
3 tablespoons coconut oil.
1 large onion, chopped.
3 garlic gloves, chopped.
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and chopped.
1 red chilli, chopped (you can add less or more)
2 cups celery, chopped.
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped.
1 large sweet potato washed and chopped.
1 kg butternut, peeled and diced.
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
2 liters vegetable stock.
1 tin coconut milk.
1 bunch of coriander.
Salt and pepper to taste.

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Instructions:
 
Fill your kettle and boil.
Add your coconut oil and onions to a large pot over a medium heat and sweat them down.
Add your garlic, ginger and chilli. Keep stirring.
Add your celery and stir until it starts to soften.
Add your carrots, sweet potato and butternut.
Add a sprinkling of cayenne pepper if you want to turn up the heat!
Once all your vegetables are mixed fill your pot 90% of the way with your vegetable stock. Let boil over a medium to high heat for at least an hour. If you see the water level is running low, top it up with your stock.
I let my soup cook for as long as possible, sometimes up to two hours. It is however ready after an hour.
 
Once all your veggies are soft using a stick blender or a normal blender blend the soup until it reaches a thick consistency. Add it back to your pot and let simmer further.
Add your tin of coconut milk and stir through.
 
Serve hot with croutons and freshly chopped coriander!

After dinner I have become obsessed with peppermint tea. Its great for the digestive system and will keep you warm and cozy!

-Melissa

*This blog post is sponsored by country road which I would gladly have a cuddle puddle with.

Luck o' the Irish Leek and Pea Pie

Recently I have been all about going green and trying out flexitarian options. For those new to the blog, I am trying to mostly eat vegetarian. So for this st paddy's day I decided to do something a little different to the usual Guinness stew filled with meat. Its amazing how certain ingredients sing if you give them the space to do so. This pie is a prime example of simple flavours at their best. The combination of greens makes for a sweet tasting pie with the perfect saltiness from the stock. Lets not even go there about the beautiful buttery puff pastry that flakes off and reveals the gooey filling. This pie is surprisingly easy to make and don't feel guilty about the store bought puff pastry. I don't.

It might not sport Guinness, but in true Irish spirit, the green more than makes up for it.

As Irish poet Samuel Beckett so eloquently puts it (and in my mind, wise words that lay the foundation to great, venturesome cooking)
"Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter. Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better."

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Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

1 garlic glove, finely chopped

1 tablespoon thyme

6 leeks, chopped

1 cup of tender stem broccoli, chopped

50 grams asparagus, chopped

1 cup of peas

2 tablespoons spelt flour

2 cups of vegetable stock

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2 rolls of puff pastry

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Instructions:

Add the diced onion to a frying pan over a medium heat until softened.

Add the garlic and thyme.

Add the chopped leeks and let them cook down for 15 minutes until they are soft and sweet.

Add the chopped tender stems, peas and asparagus.

Add the spelt flour and stir the greens.

Add the vegetable stock and allow simmer down to a gravy.

Remove from heat and add the lemon zest.

Roll out your puff pastry on a floured surface. Make sure it is big enough to fill a 20cm pie dish. Once you have filled the pie dish trim the edges off the puff pastry. Allow a little excess as the pastry shrinks when baking. Place a sheet of grease paper on the pie dish and add your baking beans. I used rice to hold down the puff pastry during a blind bake. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Once your base has baked fill the pie with your filling. How you top the pie is up to you. I did lattice work on mine but you can also roll out a solid top. The lattice isn't perfect but it was my first time and it was a lot of fun making my pie so pretty!

Whisk an egg and egg brush the top of your pie before popping it into the oven to bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

-Melissa

A christmas feast!

2015 has been a year of growing pains for me. Although I am taller for it, it wasn’t a very easy year. There were times that I was pushed to grow and didn’t necessarily want to because change is hard. There were other times that I learnt, loved and laughed and had my friends by my side. Amongst the many things I have learnt this year is that thankfully, I have chosen my friends well. An army of woman that are fearless trail blazers. My friends constantly inspire me and remind me of how wonderful I am which is something I will never take for granted. Sometimes I am convinced that the only people who read my blog are my friends, my lover and my mother! 

I am so very grateful for each and every one of them. They have picked me up when I have fallen, pushed me when I needed it most and of course they have believed in my blog and me. They love my food and never say no to a dinner invite and they always show up with more than enough wine.

This year I decided to do a friendsmas dinner. A feast fit for queens because that is what they are to me. I believe that in life surrounding yourself with positive, loving people is as important food for the soul as the next few recipes are for Christmas.

So no matter how big or small, happy or hard, long or short 2015 was, I hope that you will have a garden full of roses that you can call friends!

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Christmas Gammon

Prep time 2 days or overnight

Ingredients:

• 1 Large on the bone Gammon (pre smoked) between 3-5kg is a good size, which should serve 8 – 10 people depending on size. On the bone is always better as the boneless ones tend to dry out.
• pinch of salt
• 30 grams of whole cloves
• 200 grams glacéd Cherries
• 1 – 2 tin pineapple rings depending on the size of gammon.
• 1 cup of Brandy
• 6 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 packet tooth picks

Instructions:

Place your gammon in a large pot and fill the pot with water.

Add 6 whole cloves to the water and a pinch of salt

Boil your gammon for 30 minutes on a high heat.

Do not lift the lid and release any heat. Next you are going to ‘put your gammon to bed’
Wrap your pot carefully with newspaper. Do not spill the water out. After you have wrapped the pot in newspaper, wrap it again with blankets. You are sealing in the heat for a slow over night cook. Let the pot stand until the next morning.

Once you have let the gammon sit over night open up the blankets and newspaper and remove the gammon from a pot to a roasting tray. Keep the brine that the gammon was in as you are going to use this to glaze the gammon.

Turn your oven onto 180 degrees Celsius.

Mix your cup of brandy and sugar together. This is going to be your glaze. Take half a cup of brine from your pot and add it to your roasting pan separate from your glaze.

Next you will need to remove the net your gammon came in. Score the fat in a diamond pattern. Do not cut into the meat.

Take your cloves and place them in between the fat where you have scored. Spread them out so that they evenly cover your gammon.

Using your toothpicks decorate your gammon with your pineapple rings and cherries. Again make sure that you spread them out over the gammon and completely cover it.

Pour your glaze over your gammon and pop it in the oven.

Every 5 – 10 minutes you are going to use a turkey baster to take some of the glaze and pour it over the gammon making sure you cover the cherries and pineapple. The sauce will start to thicken and get tacky. Your gammon is ready when your cherries and pineapple start to brown. You can put on your grill in your oven for the last 5 minutes if it isn’t too aggressive. You don’t want it to burn!

Slice thinly and serve with homemade mustard! 

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Home made mustard

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons of white sugar
• 12 teaspoons of English mustard powder
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups of vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Add your sugar, mustard, vinegar and salt to a saucepan. Bring it to a simmer stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to a low heat.

In a separate bowl whisk all your eggs together.

This is the part that takes practice. You are going to whisk your vinegar mixture very quickly while slowly adding your eggs. DO NOT stop whisking! If you do the eggs will scramble in the mixture! Keep whisking until all the eggs are added and then whisk for about three minutes afterwards until it has cooked through. If your eggs do scramble you can pass the mustard through a sieve. Although a pain it can save the day!

Allow cooling and thickening. You can jar the mustard and it will keep for up to a week in the fridge.

Serves 10 people.

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Potato salad

Ingredients:

Base how many potatoes you boil on how many people you are having over. I work on one potato per person. So for the sake of this recipe I used 10.

• 1 packed diced bacon
• 1 diced onion
• 2 teaspoons garlic
• 200 grams of mild dill gherkins or 1 jar
• 80 grams of butter

For the mayo:

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoon flour
• 1 ½ cups of milk
• 1 ½ tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• ½ tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup vinegar

Instructions:

Add your potatoes to a pot and bring to boil over a medium to high heat. Do not let them boil over a high heat as this can break the potatoes.

Let them boil for 25 minutes. Gently poke them with a knife. If the knife slides in easily then they are ready. If not give them a few more minutes.

Once ready remove the hot water and put cold water into the pot. This will shock them and make them easier to peel.

Once they have cooled use a fork to scratch the skins off. Be gentle, as you do not want to loose half your potatoes.

Once they are peeled, dice your potatoes into bite size pieces and add them to your serving bowl.

In a frying pan add your butter, onions and garlic over a medium heat. Fry your onions until they become translucent. Add your bacon and turn the heat up slightly. Once it is ready add your onion mixture over your bacon.

Dice your gherkins and add them to your potatoes.

Next you are going to make the mayonnaise for the salad.

Mix all well together, except vinegar and bring to boil. Keep whisking. Add the vinegar once the milk has boiled and you have reduced the heat. Let it cook further on the warm plate for about 5 minutes. Add the mayo over the potatoes. Mix your salad well but not too much as you don’t want it to break into small pieces. The potatoes tend to suck up the moisture. If you feel they are a bit dry you can add a little bit of milk and mix the salad before serving.

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Spanakopita (spinach and feta pie)

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion diced
• 2 whole garlic gloves diced
• 400 grams of chopped Swiss chard
• ¼ cup of dill
• ¼ cup Parmesan
• ½ a cup of feta crumbled
• 2 eggs
• a dash of cayanne pepper
• 100 grams of butter melted
• 1 roll of phyllo pastry

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Add your onions and garlic to a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add two teaspoons of butter. Sweat your onions until translucent and then add your dill. Cook for another minutes or so.

Add your spinach a little bit at a time. As it wilts it will reduce, then add more. Do not over cook your spinach until in wilts into nothing. You just want to soften the leaves slightly.  

Remove the spinach off the heat and add to a mixing bowl. Add your feta, eggs, Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste. Mix together well. Add your dash of cayenne pepper.

Using a 25 cm pie dish layer your phyllo pastry sheets over the dish. You need to work quickly as you don’t want it to dry out. Once you have placed all your sheets over the dish fill the center with your filling. Start to wrap your pastry inward. Make sure you brush each layer with the melted butter of it will not get that flaky effect. Do not be shy with the butter. As you close the pie from each side make sure you completely cover the filling. 

Add some course salt to the top of the pie.

Pop it into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

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White chocolate Macarons

Ingredients:

• 110 grams egg white
• 75 grams of castor sugar
• 125 grams almond flour
• 175 grams icing sugar
• Food colouring gel

Butter cream:

• 75 grams butter
• 150 grams icing sugar
• 50 grams of white chocolate (good quality)
• 1 teaspoon double cream

Instructions:

Place the almond flour and icing sugar in a food processor and leave it on. A blender will also work.

Whisk eggs whites until they form soft peaks, as this happens add the castor sugar 1/3 at a time

Pick a colour for your macarons – I did red for Christmas. Add the colouring – just a few drops and mix well.

Turn off the food processor and sift half the mixture into the egg white, fold in with a spatula. Make sure you do it gently as you do not want to knock the air out!

Sift the second half and continue folding gently for 1 – 2 minutes until the mixtures goes smooth and glossy. The mixture must run as a smooth ribbon.

Add your mixture to a piping bag and pipe 3cm disks into grease paper. Gently tap the tray to release big air bubbles.

Let the disks stand for 30 minutes to form a skin on top of the shells.

Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 13 minutes

Remove from the oven and allow cooling on the tray. Once cooled you can lift the shells.

For the icing mix together all the ingredients expect the chocolate. Melt chocolate over steam. Once melted add to your icing. Add the icing to the piping bag and pop it in the fridge to cool. Ice your macaroons generously and sandwich them together.

Serve with love, serve with kindness and have a joyous Christmas and New year!

-Melissa 

Homemade Gnocchi with Ragu or Sage Butter

Calling all gnocchi lovers!

I have always envied Italian blood or perhaps more specifically being able to cook with your Nona and learn the true Italian way. Italian food is possibly one of my all time favourites!

I am sure you can agree when Julia Roberts eats that bowl of spaghetti in Eat Pray Love that you were never the same again.

I completely lost myself in that moment of the fork swirling the spaghetti and the Neapolitan sauce oozing with rich tomato flavour and of course the slurping up of that perfectly al dente spaghetti. All that was needed was some fresh basil and I would have sold my Kenwood mixer for that moment (not really but pretty close)

Cooking for friends and sharing recipes with them is what inspired me to invite contributors to my blog. I wanted to create a space that wasn’t only a single voice (my recipes and my story)

Combining my love for EVERYTHING Italian (I even drive Italian) and the  approach of a collective experience; I found my first candidate! The beautiful and wildly talented fashion guru Miss Raya Rossi from The Visual Journal!

I can guarantee you that a day cooking with her was filled with laughter and of course a lot of snap chat! You should follow us @melissadelport and @RayaAFF 

We decided that gnocchi was going to be the order of the day. Reason being? It’s so damn hard to make a good homemade gnocchi. I decided to combine our recipes and the outcome? Sheer brilliance. The best part is that we did gnocchi two ways with a simple ragu and a butter sage sauce not to forget our vegetarians out there! You will not go wrong with this recipe!

I also thought I should share the following excerpt from Eat Pray Love because it is one of the truest sentiments I have ever heard.

Liz: I’m in love. I’m having a relationship with my pizza. You look like you’re breaking up with your pizza. What’s the matter?

Sofi: I can’t.

Liz: What do you mean you can’t? This is Pizza Margherita in Napoli, it is imperative to eat and enjoy that pizza.

Sofi: I want to, but I’ve gained like ten pounds. I mean, I’ve got this. . .right here in my tummy, you know this. . .what’s it called? What’s the word for it?

Liz: A muffin top. I have one too.

Sofi: I unbuttoned my jeans like five minutes ago just looking at this.

Liz: Lemme ask you a question, in all the years you’ve ever undressed for a gentleman–

Sofi: —it hasn’t been that many.

Liz: Alright. Has he ever asked you to leave? Has he ever walked out, left?

Sofi: No.

Liz: Because he doesn’t care. He’s in a room with a naked girl. He’s won the lottery. I’m so tired of saying no and waking up in the morning and recalling every single thing I ate the day before. Counting every calorie I consumed so I know exactly how much self-loathing to take into the shower. I’m going for it. I have no interest in being obese; I’m just through with the guilt. So this is what I’m going to do, I’m going to finish this pizza and then we’re going to go watch the soccer game and tomorrow we’re going to go on a little date and buy ourselves some bigger jeans.

P.s If you have not seen Eat Pray Love, you need to do 3 things immediately, rent it, make this gnocchi for dinner and open a good wine!

SALUT!

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serves 5

Ingredients:

• 500 grams mince meat (try get non lean meat as it softens better with the fat but lean will also do)
• a few good glugs of olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves finely chopped 
• 2 carrots grated 
• 1 teaspoon oregano 
• 1 teaspoon thyme 
• 1 bottle Passata (tomato pure in a bottle) 800grams 
• 1 onion grated 
• 1 cup parmesan grated 
• 1/2 a cup of milk 
• 200 grams butter 
• half a cup of sage leaves 
• 800 ml potato (should be about 8 large potatoes) 
• 4 egg yolks 
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg 
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind
• 150 ml parmesan grated
• 200-250 ml flour 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup course cooking salt

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Instructions:

Gnocchi:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius 

Boil the potatoes until soft. Do not over boil them. You should be able to pierce them with a fork but they should still be firm.  
Place the potatoes onto of the coarse cooking salt and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes. 
Allow to cool.
Once cool, cut in half and scoop out the insides and pass through a sieve. The other option is to put the potatoes through a potato ricer like Raya did. 
Form potatoes lightly together and make a well in the middle. 
Put in yolks, parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg and lemon rind and work together until combined.
Then add flour. Do not knead the mixture work gently with it. Add the flour in stages until you are able to roll the gnocchi into sausages and cut them into bit size pieces. 
Gently use a fork to make indentations for the sauce to stick. 
POACH the gnocchi in salted water until they float to the surface. Then remove them. This is the secret, do not boil the gnocchi as they will break. 

Ragu Sauce:

Add olive oil, garlic clove salt, pepper, 2 grated carrots, oregano, thyme in a pot on high heat. Add the bottle of passata (tomato puree in glass bottle). Put lid on. Turn to medium heat and leave for 15 mins. 
Grate an onion into a separate pan of hot olive oil and butter.
Cook the onion with salt, pepper and oregano until soft.
Braise the meat with the onion and add more olive oil.
Let the meat cook for 10 minutes.
Add 2 table spoons of passata into the meat for extra flavour.
Once the meat is lightly cooked add it to the passata pot. 
Add a cup full of finely grated parmesan.
This gives it more flavour (without adding more salt)
Let the ragu cook on low heat for another 15-20 minutes. This will allow the sauce to thicken. There should be more meat then sauce. 
Add half a cup of milk, and continue to let cook for another 5 minutes. 

Butter sage:

Fry the butter and sage over a medium to high heat. 
Add the gnocchi. Remove once the butter has browned.
 

Raya's Top Tips:
- Use a carrot to sweeten the passata if the tomato is slightly acidic. 
- Grate your carrots and onions they cook better
- Let your meat soak in the flavour of the tomato - leave it on low for longer. 

-Melissa