In this new cookery book, Sophie Wright has developed a
selection of recipes that show you don’t have to spend a fortune on tons of
ingredients to make delicious, mouth-watering dinners.
Sophie encourages readers to multiply meals from simply roasting a chicken and using the leftovers
to make a number of different dishes eg. Shredded Chicken Quesadillas.
On first look at the book, the stunning food photography
really stands out . The food looks very
tasty and certainly makes me want to try out some recipes.
All the recipes look fab, but the ones that initially appeal
to me include the Pork Parmigiana, Mum’s Midweek Honey & Lemon Chicken,
Tray-baked Ginger-glazed Salmon, Patatas Bravas (I’m a big tapas fan) plus
Singapore Noodles.
The book can be found on amazon.co.uk for between £10-£12 and
over the next few weeks, I am going to test out some of the recipes from the
book, include photos of my efforts plus post feedback both from me on ease of
cooking plus from the family/friends I am cooking for.
The first dish we tried was the Pork Parmigiana:
This dish appealed to me as I am keen to introduce carb-free
meals to my diet.
Preparation time: 20 minsCooking time: 45 mins
Serves 4
Ingredients:2-3 large aubergines, cut into thin strips lengthways
2 tbsps olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g pork mince (Sophie recommends you could use turkey if
you prefer)
2 garlic cloves, grated2 tsps dried oregano
Pinch of nutmeg
Zest of 1 lemon
1 bunch (15 leaves) fresh basil
1 x 125g-150g mozzarella ball, torn into strips
25g grated Parmesan
For the tomato sauce:
2 tbsps olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
500ml passata or 2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
½ tsp chilli flakes.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Heat a frying pan or griddle on the highest setting. Put the aubergine slices into a bowl and add the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Lay the aubergine slices in the pan (don’t overcrowd it – you can do this in batches). Cook until looking lovely and golden brown underneath, about 3-4 minutes, turn then over and cook the other sides. Remove from the pan, and leave to cool.
- Next, put the pork mince
into a bowl and add the garlic, oregano, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt and
pepper. Mix well.
- To make the sauce, combine
all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes. If you are using canned tomatoes you may
want to blend the sauce to make it smooth, but it’s up to you.
- Now lay out the fried
aubergine slices. Put a spoonful of
the pork mince at one end of each slice, lay basil leaf on top along with
a piece of mozzarella and roll the aubergine up tightly. Spoon some of the hot tomato sauce into
the base of a baking dish. Arrange
the aubergine rolls in the dish and cover with the remaining sauce. Add any remaining mozzarella or basil
leaves. Sprinkle generously with
grated Parmesan and bake in the hot oven for 35-40 minutes.
- Remove from the oven once
golden brown and serve.
The dish was delicious, really enjoyable with a nice spicy kick. Loved the idea it was a carb-free dish. Our 23 month old twins loved it and kept asking for more. Definitely a winning dish and will be cooking it again in the future. Also apart from the aubergines and pork mince, we had all the ingredients at home so didn't have to spend lots of money on the dish
