Caponata

Caponata is essentially a tomato based cooked salad. You can prepare copious amounts of this dish and store it in the fridge. Caponata is usually served as a side-dish but you can also use it as a pizza topping.

Very low in calories, this dish is great as part of a calorie controlled diet.

Here is what you need to make enough for a 2 litre bowl
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 medium onions
1 medium aubergine, peeled and diced
1 thick celery stick
2 tablespoons tomato paste (kunserva)
2 tins x 400g chopped tomatoes (polpa)
100g green pitted olives
50g capers
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
Salt & Pepper
1 heaped teaspoon dried Oregano or some fresh leaves chopped
1 teaspoon sugar

Start off by placing about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pot. Now add the onions and sizzle until they start letting off their aroma. Next add the aubergines and the celery sticks which needs to be cut roughly the same size as the aubergines that is in small cubes about 1cm.

Once the aubergines start softening, add the tomato paste and the tinned tomatoes. Now fill 1 of the tins of the tomatoes that you have just added with water and add it to the pot.

Add the olives and capers. You could chop these roughly if you prefer. Now, bring the tomato sauce to the boil and add the balsamic vinegar, oregano and the sugar. Season with salt and pepper according to your taste.

Let the Caponata simmer for about 45 minutes until it is thick and the vegetables can be seen through the sauce. This dish can be served warm or straight out of the fridge. Caponata can be stored refrigerated, in a sealed container for a couple of days.

Low fat loaded potato

When watching my food intake, I sometimes feel fed up of tuna salads for lunch! With summer over, we now start gearing up for Christmas and even though we won’t be in our bikinis, most of us will still want to look our best on this occasion.

This week I shall be giving you the recipe for a delicious and healthy loaded potato. One of those you see in shops full of cream and dripping from the sides…but without all that saturated fat!

So here is what you need to make 2 potatoes

2 medium sized potatoes, washed
1 pot of plain yoghurt
4 rashers of bacon

Start off by draining the plain yoghurt. Place a piece on muslin over a bowl, hold it down with some pegs and pour the yoghurt in. Allow it to drip for at least 1 hour. Alternatively, you can buy some greek yoghurt.

Now, once you are ready to serve your plate, place potato in the microwave and cook it for about 7 minutes or until your potato is done. You can check this by inserting a knife, if it is soft on the inside, then your potato is done.

Now, if you have a grill option on your microwave, change the setting to grill and cook it for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Make diagonal cuts against each other on the top of the potato to form a V and remove part of the top. Once removed this will look like a triangle, set it aside and keep.

Now grill your bacon and cut it into small cubes and mix it with the yoghurt. Place the mixture on top of the potato and cover it with the triangle you have removed and serve.

Moroccan Style Couscous

Couscous is North Africa’s answer to pasta. A staple food in these countries that requires very little preparation and not a lot of utensils to have it cooked. In view of this, couscous had become the ideal food for the nomadic people but was also prepared by other tribes.

With in increase in different grains being introduced in our diets, couscous found it’s way in our European dishes along side others like quinoa, barley and various kinds of rice. But unlike many of these, couscous is very easy to prepare and is now available in most supermarkets and on various restaurant menus.

Couscous can be used as a substitute to potatoes, as a side-dish or as a plate on it’s own.

Couscous is very versatile as it can be eaten plain or mixed with various spices, meats and sauces.

In morocco, where couscous is a daily staple, this is never served cold but it is served with stews and other hot dishes. Also, there are number of households that still prepare their couscous from scratch this takes hours of preparation. We are used to the instant couscous that is ready in 5 minutes or less and this is one of the main reasons why couscous has become so popular in meals today.

Here is what you need to make this morrocan style couscous which can be eaten as a meal or served as part of a buffet.
250g Couscous
2 teaspoons Coriander paste
200ml Chicken stock – warmed
1 tin Chickpeas
2 small marrows – diced
Walnut oil
Walnut Pieces

Start off by placing the couscous in a large bowl. Now add the hot stock and cover the bowl with a plate. Let the couscous rest until the stock has been absorbed.

Now using a fork and NOT a spoon, stir the couscous until it fluffs up. Next add the coriander and again mix it in using a fork. Now stir in the marrows which are raw and the chickpeas.
Should you be serving the couscous in a different bowl, change your bowl at this stage. Now drizzle a generous helping of walnut oil and top with walnut pieces. Walnut oil can be found in Marks & Spencer food section.

This dish can be served warm or cold as part of a summer buffet.

Warm Mixed Grilled salad

This salad is very easy to prepare and is a welcome change to the standard lettuce and tomato salad! Warm vegetables are ideal to prepare when you are entertaining since they can be prepared in advance and served hot or cold.

You can also serve a small plated quantity of this salad as a vegetarian starter. The vegetables chosen will give you a summer Mediterranean feel and this is what we are longing for during this time of year!

Here is what you will need to serve 4 as a side dish.
2 long aubergines sliced lengthwise
4 long zucchini sliced lengthwise
2 green peppers sliced lengthwise
4 or 5 mushrooms sliced
4 garlic cloves – slit in half
Olive Oil
Salt & pepper
some basil leaves – torn NOT chopped

Start off by slicing the aubergines and sprinkling them with salt. This will get rid of the excess water within the vegetables. They should be left to stand for at least 2 hrs.

Next heat a griddle pan until smoking hot and place the vegetables for a couple of seconds until the slices have been charred on both sides.

Now place the vegetables together in a bowl and stir them together with a very generous helping of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and allow the salad to rest for a couple of minutes before serving. You can also chop some fresh red chili if you wish to make this dish a little spicier!

This recipe has been previously published in the Best Buy Magazine, out monthly with The Times.

Should you like to contact me, please do so on concita@demicoli.com