• RECIPES

Aubergine Parmigiana

This iconic Italian dish is perfect for a simple yet hearty mid-week meal.

VIEW METHOD

Serves 4

You will need:

  • 4 aubergines
  • Plain flour to dust
  • 300gr of grated Parmesan
  • 1lt vegetable oil

For the tomato sauce:

  • 2kg plum tomatoes in tin
  • Garlic cloves
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 100ml olive oil
  • 1 bunch of basil
  • Salt

Method:

1.Trim the aubergine and slice length-ways about 1 cm in thickness. Arrange the layers in a colander and season with salt, then leave them for an hour to draw out the water.

2. Meanwhile prepare the tomato sauce. In a large pan heat the olive oil, add the chopped onion and garlic and fry slowly until soft; add the plum tomatoes and cook gently for about 45 minutes. Towards the end of cooking, season with salt and set aside.

3. Pat the aubergines dry with a towel. Heat the oil in a frying pan and dust each of the aubergine slices lightly with flour.  When the oil is hot, fry the slices for 30 seconds each side or until golden.

4. In the bottom of a baking dish, place a little bit of the tomato sauce, and then layer over the aubergines. Continue doing so in layers – a bit of tomato sauce, a few basil leaves, more aubergines, then a sprinkle with Parmesan. Repeat this 4 times so you will have a nice thick parmigiana. Press down lightly with a spatula to make it compact.

5. Preheat your oven at 160˚Celsius and bake for 25 minutes.

 

Baileys Tiramisu

Head Chef’s version of the famous tiramisu. Instead of using the commonly used type of alcohol for this traditional dish, he uses Baileys, which makes it even more soft and light.

VIEW METHOD

Serves 15

 

You will need:

  • 400g whole pasteurised eggs
  • 1100g mascarpone
  • 280g sugar
  • 3 double expresso
  • 10g sugar
  • 30ml whiskey cream
  • 50g water
  • 45 ladyfingers
  • 1/2 glass Baileys

 

Method:

  1. Make the coffee and mix it in a pan with whiskey cream and 10g of sugar. Let it boil
  2. Add the mascarpone
  3. Heat the remaining sugar with 50g of water and bring to 121 degree celcius
  4. Add the pasteurised eggs in the planetary mixer and begin to turn the whisk at low speed
  5. Pour the sugar syrup over the eggs slowly and increase the speed of the planetary mixer
    Continue to mix till cold. It needs to be foamy and almost white
  6. Meanwhile lightly dip the ladyfingers in the coffee and be careful not to wet them too much
  7. Add a little bit of egg to the mascarpone and mix carefully from bottom to top
  8. Start with a layer of cream on the bottom of the oven dish, add then three layers of biscuits alternated with more cream
  9. Leave in the fridge for approximately 4 hours before serving

Enjoy!