Weekly Food Challenge

The cookbook I hadn't used yet was one I got for Christmas: Jack Monroe's A Year in 120 Recipes. I like Jack Monroe's recipes because they use easy to source ingredients and are often quite simple to make but tasty. For whatever reason, I just hadn't got round to cooking any recipes from it yet.

I ended up making quite a few changes, partly to do with availability of ingredients (e.g., the fresh tomatoes I bought annoyingly had started to go mouldy even though I only got them at the weekend) and partly because it was after work and I was tired (e.g., the recipe says to roast the aubergine in the oven then add the flesh to the sauce at the end, but I just chopped it up and did it all in the same pot).

So, this is based on Smoky aubergine, tomato and red lentil pasta sauce from the above book, but with my changes included. It was filling and pretty tasty.

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 small green pepper, deseed and diced
1 small aubergine, diced into 2cm cubes
2 large garlic cloves, chopped or crushed
a couple of pinches of dried chilli flakes
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
75g dried red lentils
400g tin chopped tomatoes
zest and juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper

Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook gently for 5 - 10 minutes until starting to soften. Add the green pepper and aubergine and cook for a few minutes. Then add the garlic, chilli flakes and mixed herbs and cook for another minute or two.
2. Wash the lentils and then add to the pan. Stir, then add the chopped tomatoes, the lemon and about 200ml water.
3. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 25-30 minutes until the lentils are soft and the liquid has reduced into a thick sauce (add more water if it starts to dry out).
4. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the pasta of your choice.

Some grated cheese would be lovely on this too, but I didn't have any cheese in the fridge. Booooo.

This isn't anything fancy and you could argue how Italian it actually is. In fact, the recipe I based this on is passed down from the Maltese side of my family. A lot of Maltese cuisine is heavily influenced by Italian food, however, and this is definitely Italian-influenced.

It's also very easy, tasty and doesn't require a lot of ingredients. I have tried to put measurements as best I can, but I have to admit this is one of those dishes where I never measure anything.

Serves 2

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
150g mushrooms, sliced
250g minced beef
1 400g can tinned tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
salt and pepper
a handful chopped herbs such as basil or parsley
2 tsp capers (optional)
2 tsp sliced green olives (optional)
sun-dried tomatoes - about 5 or 6 (optional)
some sort of grated cheese (optional)

Method
Heat the oil in a medium pan, then saute the onions for a few minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and saute until mushrooms have reduced and are soft.

Turn the heat up a bit and fry the mince until completely brown.

Pour in the tinned tomato and add the tomato puree and stir. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.

Then add the herbs, capers or olives or sun-dried tomatoes, and simmer for about 10 minutes more. Season to taste.

Serve with some pasta. I don't have a preference and generally use whatever's in the cupboard. If you like cheese, sprinkle some grated cheese over the top. I am weird and like cheddar or red leicester on my pasta sauce.

You should end up with something that looks vaguely like this: