1 can chopped tomatoes in their sauce
1/4 onion, minced
A bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
Jalapenos or other pickled chilli as much as you like, chopped
Lemon juice as you like
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and taste for salt. Best eaten if made in advance and refridgerated until needed.

INGREDIENTS

250 gms fresh button mushrooms

1 whole garlic

5 – 6 guindilla (dried little Spanish peppers)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 capful sherry vinegar

Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Wash the mushrooms and cut into quarters. If they are larger, cut into 6 pieces each.  Peel the garlic cloves and chop coarsely.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy non-stick pan and sauté the chopped garlic. Crush the guindilla and add to the garlic. Fry for a short while on medium heat until fragrant.

Add the mushrooms and salt to taste and fry slowly, turning it regularly, until the mushrooms have shrunk and lost part of its liquid. Add the sherry vinegar and continue cooking until all the water has dried.

Serve hot.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2

2 eggplants (240 gms)

If you like zucchini, you can substitute 1 eggplant for 120 gms zucchini

1 1/2 medium-sized green peppers or a mixture of different coloured peppers (200 gms)

1 large tomato (180 gms)

1/4 large onion (85 gms)

2-3 cloves garlic

2 tsp tomato puree or tomato paste

Olive oil (minimum of 1 tbsp, use up to 3 tbsp if you like)

1 tsp herbes de Provence (If not available, substitute with 3/4 tsp McCormick’s “Mixed Herbs” + 1 large dried bay leaf crushed)

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Cut the eggplant into cubes, throw them in a bowl with some salt to get rid of the bitter taste.

Heat a heavy wok or frying pan – add the olive oil. Peel and cube the onion, put it into the pot and let it cook slowly on medium heat. Mince the garlic and add it to the onions.

Wash the bell peppers, rib and de-seed. Cut into cubes and stir it in.

Wash the salt off the eggplant, rinse well and drain all the water. Throw them in the pot. If using zucchini, wash and cut into big chunks and throw them in.

Wash the tomato, cut it up into big chunks, and throw them in. Add the tomato paste, herbes de Provence or its substitute as above, and salt and pepper to taste.

Mix well and cover.

Let it cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Its done when you see that the oil has separated.

Serve hot. Goes well with couscous and Moroccan baked fish and keeps well in the fridge for up to a week. Also nice eaten on its own or with bread.

On a good day, you might find them bottled or canned in a supermarket. However, its easy to roast your own and freeze them ready to use when you need them.

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.

Keep the peppers whole – cut away the long stalk if any, that’s all. Wash the peppers, dry and wrap them all together loosely in aluminium foil. Place on baking tray and roast for 30-40 minutes until the peppers collapse. When cooked, place them in a glass container with an airtight cover and leave for 10 mins – this makes the skin easy to peel off.

When they have cooled down enough to touch, peel the skin off. Remove stem and seeds and reserve the juice.

To store, pack in individual containers or Ziploc bags with the juice. When required, defrost and use.

Genovese (green) Pesto is a paste made from garlic cloves, fresh basil and grated Parmesan cheese, pounded together and diluted with fine olive oil that is not too strong in flavor. It is said that olive-oil-based pesto is known as the oldest oily sauce in gastronomic history. Genovese pesto was traditionally enjoyed as an accompaniment to pasta.

The traditional way or the modern way?

Many cooks who want a fresh pesto save time by making pesto with a food processor or blender, but the traditional method is to use a mortar and pestle.

Pounding in a mortar releases more of the essential oils without cutting through the cell walls of the ingredients, yielding a silky, chunky texture with a refined flavor. Pesto made with a mortar and pestle also will yield a brighter color from the crushed herbs. While the texture is more uniform, the flavor is not balanced and may be too sharp. Using the food processor creates a pesto where the oils are not as intensely released because the cell walls are cut through.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 1 cup

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts

3 medium sized garlic cloves

Salt

DIRECTIONS

To prepare the basil, remove the stems and lightly pack the leaves in a measuring cup until the desired amount is reached. Immerse the leaves in cold water and use your fingers to wipe away residue. Shake off the water and roll the leaves in a paper towel to dry or spin in a salad spinner. Be sure the herbs are well dried, because water makes it difficult to pound or puree the leaves.

The adage, “the fresher the garlic, the fresher the flavor,” is the key to making proper pesto. Peel the garlic and smash with the back of a knife if you like.

Pine nuts, or pignolia, are the traditional nuts used in pesto. While they can be added raw, toasting nuts in a dry pan and seeds in an oiled pan until golden, releases essential oils for a more intense flavor. While nuts can be toasted in the oven, they can be easily controlled from burning by using a stovetop. Make sure the nuts have cooled to room temperature before using them because warm nuts make pesto soggy. Walnuts are often used in stronger pestos and milder nuts such as pine nuts, unsalted pistachios or almonds are used in delicate pestos. For those with nut allergies, olives and capers, in addition to other ingredients, are good substitutes for nuts.

Begin by sprinkling coarse sea salt into a mortar and pound the garlic, salt and pepper together with the pestle.

Add a portion of the nuts and basil leaves along with a tablespoon of the olive oil and continue pounding, occasionally stirring everything together. Turn the pestle gently so that the basil leaves are torn rather than cut. Add more leaves and nuts and a little bit of oil. Continue crushing and stirring, adding more nuts and herbs while taking care not to add too much oil so it won’t be difficult to combine the ingredients.

When a thick and fairly smooth paste is reached, slowly add the grated cheese and remaining oil, until it is incorporated into the pesto.

Pestos will keep in the refrigerator for three or four weeks. Pack the pesto into a small container, cover with a thin layer of olive oil and cap tightly to seal in the flavor and to avoid oxidation. Exclude as much air as possible to prevent loss of color, moisture and spoilage.