Aubergine with buttermilk sauce

Aubergine with buttermilk sauce

A perfect starter for a light supper. Yogurt sauce, as you may have noticed by now, is a regular presence in my recipes - that's because it has the ability to round up so many flavours and textures like no other component does. Here, I replace some of the yogurt with buttermilk, which adds an acidity that works wonders with the slightly greasy nature of the aubergine and the sweet pomegranate seeds. Za'atar is a Middle Eastern spice blend of sumac, sesame seeds and herbs. Serves four as a starter.

2 large and long aubergines

75ml olive oil

Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pomegranate

1 tsp za'atar

A few sprigs fresh lemon thyme

For the sauce

140ml buttermilk

100g Greek yogurt

1½ tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle to finish off

1 small garlic clove, crushed

Pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Wash the aubergines and cut them in two lengthways through the green stalk (it looks better like this, even though you don't eat the stalk). Make three or four deep parallel incisions in the cut side of the aubergine, taking care not to cut as far as the skin. Then, at a 45-degree angle to these cuts, make four more, to create a diamond pattern.

Put the aubergines, cut side up, on an oven tray lined with baking parchment and brush with the oil. Keep on brushing until all the oil has soaked into the flesh. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 35-40 minutes, at which point the flesh should be soft, flavoursome and well browned. Remove and leave to cool.

While the aubergines are in the oven, cut the pomegranate in two horizontally. Hold one half over a bowl, the cut side facing your palm, and with the back of a wooden spoon gently knock on the skin. Continue beating with increasing power until the seeds start falling into the bowl. Once all are out, sift through the seeds to remove any white skin bits. For the sauce, simply whisk together all the ingredients, taste for seasoning and keep cold until needed.


To serve, put an aubergine half on a plate, flesh side up. Spoon over lots of sauce without covering the stalk, sprinkle on lots of pomegranate seeds and some za'atar, garnish with lemon thyme and finish with a drizzle of oil.

· Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi in London.

Carrot Cake by OTTOLENGHI

1 Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 3. Grease a 20cm springform
cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.

2 Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and spices.
Lightly whisk the whole egg with the egg yolk.

3 Put the sunflower oil and caster sugar in the bowl of an electric
mixer fitted with the beater attachment and beat for about a minute
on a medium speed. On a low speed, slowly add the beaten egg.
Mix in the walnuts, coconut and carrot and then the sifted dry
ingredients. Don’t over mix.

4 Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Wash and dry the mixer bowl,
making sure it is totally clean, then put the egg whites and salt in
it and whisk on a high speed until firm peaks form. Gently fold the
egg whites into the carrot mixture in 3 additions, being careful not
to over mix. Streaks of white in the mixture are okay.

5 Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approximately
1 hour; it could take longer. A skewer inserted in the centre should
come out dry. If the cake starts getting dark before the centre is
cooked through, cover it with foil. Let the cake cool completely and
then remove from the tin.

6 To make the icing, beat the cream cheese in a mixer until light and
smooth. Remove from the mixer. Beat the butter, icing sugar and
honey in the mixer until light and airy. Fold together the cheese and
butter mixes. Spread waves of icing on top of the cake and sprinkle
with the nuts.

Serves 6-8

• 160g plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves

• 1 large free-range egg
• 1 free-range egg yolk

• 200g sunflower oil
• 270g caster sugar
• 50g walnuts, chopped
• 50g desiccated coconut
• 135g carrot, roughly grated

• 2 free-range egg whites
• a pinch of salt

• Icing
• 175g cream cheese,
• at room temperature
• 70g unsalted butter
• 35g icing sugar
• 25g honey
• a dash of lemon juice
  
• 30g walnuts, chopped
• and lightly toasted

Creme Brulee (Crème Brûlée) by Michael Chu

This is one "fancy" dessert that you can make ahead of time with a minimum of effort and still have all your guests excited about your culinary skills.

Creme brulee should start with a custard base that is richer, creamier, and silkier than other cremes (creme anglaise, creme caramel, flan, etc.).

On top of that custard should be a layer of caramelized sugar. This sugar can be thick or thin. Thin layers (some as thin as paper) are produced by directly heating a sugar layer using a broiler or torch. I make my creme brulee with a torch and turbinado sugar (muscovado sugar).

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar.

Prosidure:

First pour the sugar into the egg yolks.

Beat the yolks until smooth.

Heat the heavy cream until almost simmering (you can bring to a simmer and let it cool a minute). Add heavy cream to the egg yolks one tablespoon at a time while stirring vigorously. This will temper the eggs so as to not curdle them (or make scrambled eggs) when exposed to the heat of the heavy cream.

When about 1/4 cup of heavy cream has been integrated into the yolks, pour the yolks into the heavy cream and mix until smooth.

Now, using a fine mesh sieve, strain the custard mixture to remove any small clumps that may remain in the mixture. This step will help ensure a silky texture to the custard. Blend in the vanilla extract after the mixture has been strained.

Pour the mixture into six to eight ramekins depending on size. (Makes a little more than eight four-ounce creme brulees.) In the picture below, I filled six four-ounce ramekins and two six ounce ramekins (the six-ouncers were not full).

Place the ramekins in a baking pan. Pour boiling water into the pan (be careful not to get water into the ramekins), so that the water level is halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cooking the custards in a water bath will provide a low even temperature for the custards to cook evenly and set properly. Place in an oven preheated to 250°F for about one hour.

After an hour, check to see if the custards are done. We want them to be set on the outside edge, but jiggly (like jello) at the center. The easiest way to do this is to take a pair of tongs with food grade rubber bands wrapped around the ends to help grip the ramekins. Pick up a ramekin and shake to see if the centers jiggle. If only the center jiggles a little, it's done. If the whole thing is set, remove immediately - it'll be a little over done, but still delicious. If it's not done, just put it back in the water bath and check again in ten minutes. Once the custards are done, let them cool on a cooling rack to room temperature. This will let the custards finish cooking the centers on their own.

Wrap the custards in their ramekins in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least eight hours before serving.

About an hour before serving, remove the plastic wrap from each ramekin and use a paper towel to gently soak up any moisture that may have extruded from the custard tops.

Pour about a teaspoon of turbinado ("sugar in the raw") sugar in the middle of each custard.

Tilt the ramekin and gently shake to let gravity move the sugar around until the top surface of the custard is covered evenly with turbinado sugar.

Using a kitchen butane torch, propane blow torch, or welding torch (whatever strong open flame you've got lying around), heat the sugar until it bubbles and changes color.

With a small butane torch, I take my time and don't move from one side of the creme brulee to the other until the spot I've been working on has achieved the brown color that I want. This takes a little over a minute for each creme brulee. (The process is faster with a larger torch.)

Don't worry about heating up the custard underneath, we'll refrigerate the creme brulee for a bit before serving. Do worry about lighting your kitchen counter on fire. I usually place the ramekin on a piece of aluminum foil placed over a cooling rack.

Once you're done scorching your cream, place the ramekins back in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes. The caramel will still be hard, but if you wait too much longer, the sugar will start to soften and dissolve into the custard.

Créme brûlée for 8 people

Preheat the oven to 250°F or 120°C

Mix 8 large (135 gr) egg yolks and 1/2 cup (100 gr) sugar

Heat until almost simmering: 2 cups heavy cream (475 ml)

Temper and mix

Strain

Blend in 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) vanilla extract after the mixture has been strained.

Pour the mixture into six to eight ramekins.

Bake for one hour at 250°F or 120°C in a water bath

Refrigerate for eight hours

Caramelize each portion with 1 tsp. (4 gr) turbinato sugar

Source