Vibrant veg!

I've been messing about with vegetarian recipes this week. Don't get me wrong, I love a good steak or sausage casserole, but sometimes I just want something light.
Late last week I picked up some aubergines while on my shopping travels, with no real idea about how I was going to use them. My first thought was ratatouille but that seemed a little obvious. I wanted something different!
 Searching through my cook books I came across a copy of Barbara Cousins Cooking Without.


I'd be lost without this book. When I've began changing my diet this was my go to book. It's full of simple recipes that you can make and adapt to suit your own requirements and tastes.
One of these recipes made good use of my aubergines!
Here it is:

Stuffed Aubergines
Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 2 large aubergines
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 5ml/1 tsp olive oil
• 4 medium tomatoes
• 12 black olives ( you can use green if you prefer)
• 5ml/ 1 tsp tomato puree
• 3ml/1/2 tsp dried majoram
• 3ml/1/2 dried oregano
• 10ml/1 dsp fresh chopped parsley
• 10 ml/1 dsp fresh chopped coriander
• black pepper
• 55 g/2/oz cup of cooked rice
• 55g/2 oz ground almonds ( you can omit these and just add a little more rice if you are allergic to nuts)
• olive oil for drizzling on the surface
• optional: goats cheese or feta if you can tolerate dairy.

1. Cut the aubergines in half and scoop out the flesh leaving 2cm/1/2 inch around the edge next to the skin. Dice the flesh finely and place in a large bowl.

2. Finely dice the onion and press the garlic clove. Sweat the onion and garlic in 5ml/1 tsp of olive oil until they soften and brown. Add these to the diced aubergine flesh in the bowl.

3. Skin the tomatoes and dice the flesh. Quarter the olives. Add to the bowl along with the remaining ingredients (and cheese if using) and mix.

4. Place the aubergine shells on a baking tray or gratin dish.

5. Pile the stuffing into the shells, pressing down firmly.

6. Drizzle the surface with olive oil, cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees F/ 200 degrees C/ Gas Mark 6 for 1 hour or until the aubergines are quite soft.

These freeze quite well and make an excellent starter or light lunch.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I served mine with new potatoes and salad and I also took some to work for lunch. Yummy!

Next week my adventure will take me on a dairy free ice cream journey, wish me luck!