52 Recipe Challenge - Week 42.

I had hoped to pop this recipe up about this time last week but I got sidetracked... you know what they say about the best laid plans! For this week's recipe I decided to try a savoury recipe inspired by watching The Hairy Bikers Bakathon and seeing them make this recipe made me think that's a good idea why haven't I thought of that before?  The recipe in question is Stromboli and I had to laugh, as when I was looking at the blogs I follow and finding that another blogger I read also posted a Stromboli post the day after I made this...  it's obviously a popular dish!

To make this you will need

450g/1lb strong white flour

1 x 7g/¾oz sachet of fast-action dried yeast

2 tsp salt

4 tbsp olive oil

325ml/11fl oz warm water

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic

400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes

½ tsp dried oregano

1 tsp sugar

8 slices of prosciutto

125g/4½oz mozzarella cheese

A few Spinach leaves

I started by measuring out  the flour for dough and putting it into a bowl then adding the yeast, salt, olive oil and water.

Next I mixed the ingredients together before kneading them for five minutes then I covered the dough with some cling film and put it in a warm place to rise for an hour.

Whilst this was rising I started to sort out the sauce, the original recipe said to chop up the onion and fry it off in a pan and then add the other ingredients.  I decided that whilst this sounded like a good idea I realised that this take a bit longer than I planned so I chopped up the onion and put it in a bowl with the garlic, chopped tomatoes, oregano and sugar then put it in the microwave for a few minutes.

Once this was done the dough had also risen so I rolled the dough out and then put it on a baking sheet and covered it in tomato sauce.

I then put the mozzarella on top.

Before adding the prosciutto ham and a few leaves of spinach in place of the fresh basil in the original recipe because that's what was in my fridge...

then I rolled it all up tucking by tucking in the long edges and then rolling one short end towards the other. 

 After doing that I looked at the recipe again and realised that I should have put it in a tray with some baking paper on it so I transferred it to another baking tray.

Whilst transferring the Stromboli the dough started to weaken and rip and I think I may have rolled it out too thin... then again I probably didn't use enough flour either but needless to say holes appeared in it.  The original recipe said to let it rise again but the evening was getting on so I only let is rise a few minutes before putting it into the oven at 200c/gas mark 6 for 25 minutes.

It cooked well but alas it didn't look as nice as I wanted it to when I took it out of the oven and ended up tasting mainly like tomatoey bread.  My boyfriend didn't believe I put cheese in it, I guess that the dough absorbed his share whilst it was cooking!  This recipe also made a monstrous amount so I took some of it into to work for my lunch the next day.

This was a recipe really I wanted to taste good but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations, maybe I should have followed the original recipe more.  Then again maybe I should just try another Stromboli recipe in the future... still it was worth a try and definitely something to look back on for future reference.

52 Recipe Challenge – Week 27.

Since Christmas I have been flicking through my new cook books spoilt for choice wondering which recipe to make next. Should I try vegetable cobbler or rubarb custards? Cornbeef hash or naan bread? Before I knew it week 26 flew by, dominated mainly by leftover curries and pies.

In the end I turned to The Three Sisters Indian Cookbook, Gemma and Luke bought me for Christmas and found a dish called Tamatar Baigan or Aubergines in Tomato Sauce so I decided to make it.

To make this dish you need.

1 Large Aubergine

2 Tablespoons of oil

600g Chopped tomatoes (1 ½ aldi tins)

Salt

½ Teaspoon Cumin seeds

1 Teaspoon Chilli

½ Teaspoon Coriander

1 Teaspoon Ginger

1 Teaspoon Turmeric.

100ml Water (Possibly 200ml)

Fresh Coriander to Garnish (optional)

To start with I chopped the aubergine in half and then I cut those pieces in half again.

Once the aubergine was quartered I cut it into slices and tried to make them 1cm wide as the recipe directs. 

When they were all chopped up I got out my griddle, put a little oil on it and then started to cook my aubergine slices on it in batches, removing them when they started to go a more golden colour.

The recipe recommended using a slotted spoon to move the aubergines but I don’t have one of those so I improvised and fork...  When this was done I got my wok out and heated up some oil, then when it was hot I put the cumin seeds into the pan. 

 I fried the cumin seeds and when they started to sizzle I took the pan off the heat and added the chilli, ginger, coriander, turmeric, a tin of chopped tomatoes and salt in.

After I put spices and chopped tomatoes in the pan I returned it to the heat before looking at it and thinking that there didn’t look like there was a lot in the pan. So I double checked the recipe and saw my error I didn’t put all the chopped tomatoes in! I added the last of the tomatoes to the pan and stirred the lot until it seemed as if it had cooked.  When the tomato sauce seemed ready I started to place the aubergines on top of the sauce as the recipe suggested. 

 The creative side in me wanted to make a flower or rose type pattern on top with the aubergine slices as petals but there wasn’t really space to do that. Once all the aubergine slices were in place I poured the water in, then set the timer for 25 minutes.

After about 10 minutes passed, my boyfriend came along to investigate by trying to stir the mix! The recipe doesn’t say to stir the aubergines into the sauce. I felt like yelling, instead I pointed to the recipe and explained. We looked at the sauce and it looked quite thick, probably because the recipe says to cover the pan whilst cooking but I don’t have a lid for the wok so can’t cover it. To rectify it my boyfriend added more water and I cooked it for another 20 minutes occasionally turning the aubergines over or moving them slightly. (I’m not sure how much water he added I guess about 100ml.)

As it neared the end of the cooking time I put a few naan breads in the oven to heat up and once it was all done dished up.

The recipe says serves four, then again it also says to serve with tomato rice, paneer with peas and chicken tikka so I don’t think we were greedy eating it all between two of us. It turned out nice despite all my worries and I think it’s a dish we’ll make again!