Mama Mango

Later this week, my mother and one of my nephews will be coming up to stay with us for a week. Although it is a bit of a squash in my small flat, I so love it when my mother and nephew(s) come up as it permits me to be a bit more creative with my cooking, they will eat whatever I give them and relish in my experimental vegetarian cooking, as much as I love doing it for them. There will be none of this 'take away' or 'sandwich' nonsense. This pleases me so much as I feel they appreciate what I put on the table for them. This is not to say, they love everything I put on the table, far from it and they will critique it with honesty, yet they will eat it without too much fuss.
The only thing my mother has not enjoyed was polenta, and last year she got fed up with having (our harvest of) potatoes with every meal, and my youngest nephew has such a dislike fresh tomatoes. Oh well, you can't please everyone all the time.

It could be much worse in that they didn’t eat vegetables, but they do. Thank goodness.

Quorn be good, quorn be bad

Early this week, I was making space in our small freezer for the podded green peas and I came across a packet of Quorn mince nearing its sell by date. I also had an aubergine sitting in the bottom of the fridge which I had picked up earlier in the week knowing it was now in season. Looking at it today, I realised it had to be used as it was starting to lose its glossy shine.

So the question was how to combine them both. When I first became aware of vegetarian meat substitutes like TVP and Quorn, I quickly learned how to vegify meat recipes like shepherds pie, cottage pie and 'not pork pies' into vegetarian friendly ones. This recipe for Aubergine bundles happens to be one of those early recipes that I managed to vegify from some cookbook.
I am not a person who fusses with different cooking techniques, the food I put on the table tends to be rustic, homely food, but there are days when I want to take my time in the kitchen and be a bit more experimental. Today happens to be one of those days.

In my younger days, I never liked aubergine, I would frown at the thought of the spongy texture and bland taste. But over the years, I have come to appreciate them more. I wont say I am totally into aubergines, I'm not and will only eat them now and again, but they must be cooked well, because there is nothing worse than a raw aubergine. This is one way I enjoy eating aubergines.

Aubergine Bundles
Serves 4 – 6
Ingredients
1 large aubergine
Olive oil for brushing
Filling
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ teaspoon of ground cumin
½ teaspoon of ground coriander
½ teaspoon of cayenne
350g packet of Quorn mince (for vegans use TVP reconstituted according to packet instructions)
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 x 400g can of tomatoes
2 tablespoons of fresh mint, minced
Sauce
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 x 400g can of tomatoes
½ teaspoon of crushed dried chilli flakes
1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar (optional)
Method
Make the filling for the aubergines first. Heat the oil in a large wide pan. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes until tender, but not coloured. Add the garlic, cumin, and cayenne. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the tomato puree, tomatoes and seasoning and cover for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time to ensure the tomatoes have broken down, when this has happened add the Quorn mince (or TVP if using) and mint, stir and then leave to simmer for 10 – 20 minutes until the Quorn mince is cooked through and the flavours infused.

Then make the sauce. Heat oil in a saucepan, add the onions and cook for about 8 minutes until tender, then add garlic, chilli flakes and cook for a further minute. Add the tomatoes and vinegar and season well. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 – 20 minutes, until thickened slightly.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare the aubergines. Remove the stalk and cut into 6 – 8 long, thin slices. Preheat a ridged griddle pan. Brush the aubergine slices with a little olive oil and grill on both sides until tender and nicely marked with criss cross patterns.

Preheat the oven gas mark 5.

Lay the aubergine slices on a work surface and spread generously with a layer of the filling. Roll up the slices, encasing the mince and arrange the aubergine bundles, seam side down, then pour the sauce over. Cover with foil and bake on the middle shelf in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes, until hot through.

Paisley Teardrops

Sounds like a wafer light biscuit, doesn't it?

We decided to take a break from the plot today and have a bit of a lazy day instead. For a change, we decided to go to Paisley town centre.

For an updated blog post on Paisley Town Centre follow this link.

Paisley town centre is famous for the teardrop or tadpole shape known as the Paisley pattern. The paisley leaf has been used on everything from haute couture to a whole range of everyday domestic goods and gift items. I even have a small wooden spice box with the pattern The pattern did not actually originate in the town. It only became associated with Paisley in Scotland after a long journey through time.

The motif, similar to the above image was first used on shawls in Kashmir, India and examples of this work were brought back to Britain by the East India Company in the mid eighteenth century. Shawls quickly became the vogue, but they were in short supply and really expensive! As a result, they were imitated by British textile manufacturers who sold them for a tenth of the price.

Anyway, that's enough of a history lesson for today.
For more up-dated posts see this link to Streets of Paisley.