The Recipe Wheel

There are few things more satisfying or exciting as seeing a book come together. It never occurred to me how well a small, buzzy idea could evolve into a tangible object. My brain, there, in a book. After two years of brainstorming, drawing, painting, writing, cooking and reading over and over, The Recipe Wheel has taken on full, beautiful, book form.

It's moved from scribbling.

To stamping.

To testing, tasting and tweaking.

simple roast chicken

cavolo nero and pearl barley

rhubarb creme brulee

White loaf, molasses bread and soft white roll

To reading, and reading.

And, with the creative input of genius designer Will Webb, to crafting.

an early draft of the risotto wheel

the cover

It's finally here!

With any luck you'll enjoy reading and making the recipes, and you'll love, as much as I did, coming up with your own wheels. Post your ideas for wheel tangents, images of your recipes you've cooked, and illustrations with your own wheels on twitter, using #TheRecipeWheel.

Order The Recipe Wheel here, find a copy in Books for Cooks, pick one up in your local bookshop, or read more about it and buy from Waterstones.

MELANZANE PARMIGIANA

I'm drawn to vegetables of unusual colour and size. Bulbosities stare at me from shop shelves and I can't help but stretch out for them. They make great paintings - you can get away with wild imperfections on the canvas too - and become beautiful ornaments for the middle of the table. 

The best thing is, once you've had enough of painting, you can cook them.

Umbria has buckets of choice with local farms and Agriturismi pushing forward the overripe uglies - long pointy radicchio, tiny green figs and bunches of scarlet onions stalks still on. My baskets are breaking at the straps. 

These fat and round aubergines - pale pink, mauve, deep purple and deadly nightshade - are my favourite and make for a wonderful Melanzane Parmigiana, dished up for lunch with salad and ham. 

MELANZANE PARMIGIANA

Baked aubergines

serves 6-8

ingredients

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tins good quality chopped tomatoes

dried herbs, chopped (oregano, rosemary, thyme)

salt and pepper

5 tsps olive oil

2-3 large round aubergines, sliced

large handful basil leaves, torn

200g block Parmesan, grated

100g breadcrumbs

200g mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 180C. 

Add a little drizzle of olive oil to a saucepan and add the onion. Fry over a medium heat until soft. Add the garlic and dried herbs and tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes until the sauce has reduced and tastes sweet. 

Add the olive oil to a large frying pan or griddle and whack up the heat. Lay on the aubergine - cooking in batches if necessary - and fry evenly on both sides. You want to char slightly. Once you've done the lot, set aside. 

Once you have cooked down the tomatoes, ladle a layer of the sauce into the bottom of an oven-proof dish (I used a 30 x 30cm dish). Follow with a layer of aubergine and a layer of grated Parmesan. Continue this process until you use up the remaining sauce and aubergines, finishing with a generous layer of Parmesan. Evenly scatter over the breadcrumbs. Tear up the mozzarella over the crumbs as a final layer. 

Place the dish in the oven and bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden and bubbling. 

SALT THE AUBERGINE

A late post, mid-August, back in London. Books for Cooks has shut up shop for the month so freedom has swiftly drifted in.

Last week was spent in southern France where evenings were fed with hazy cooking, whirling up fresh finds from the heaving markets of Agde, Grau D'Agde, and Clermont L'Herault. Crisp bread, fresh mackerel, calamari, best tomato salads, and cheese, oh cheese. Pale, chilled rose was decanted into a plastic tub from a nozzle in the wall, and drunk with devotion and constancy. (Smug).

We had one nasty bouillabaisse - an ancient, bitty, muddy stock - which came as a stiff reminder of why using vibrant, in-season ingredients can transform a dish from dismal to delightful. Picking out the good'ns makes cooking an effortless success.

Back in the cittaaay with time on my hands and August ingredients to play with its the aubergine that I've got it in for. Melanzane parmigiana, marinated aubergine, deep-fried eggplant. That unmistakeable rubber skin, a deep purple, an earthy musk, a friend to any late summer salad...

LAMB CUTLETS WITH BAKED AUBERGINE, TOMATO AND THYME


SERVES 2

ingredients:
4-6 British lamb cutlets
1 large aubergine, sliced length ways
2 tbsps salt
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp salted butter
2 shallots, finely sliced
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 beef tomato, roughly chopped
50g creme fraiche
handful fresh thyme, torn
150g Parmesan cheese, grated
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 380 F/ Gas 3.

Prepare the cutlets, covering then in olive oil, and a good helping of salt and pepper. Cover with clingfilm and set aside.

Place the aubergine slices in a colander and scatter with salt. Leave to sit for 30 mins so that the excess moisture is drawn out. Dab the aubergine dry with kitchen towel, wiping it free of any white droplets that appear. Heat up 2 tbsps olive oil on a medium to high heat and add the aubergine slices. Fry on each side until golden brown. Remove from the pan and drain on another piece of kitchen towel.

Melt the butter in the same pan and add the shallots. Cook until soft. Add the garlic and tomatoes and fry for 3 minutes.

Place the aubergine and the tomato mix into a small oven dish.

Pour the creme fraiche into a clean saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add half the Parmesan,the thyme and a seasoning of black pepper. Stir until the cheese has melted. Drizzle the sauce over the aubergine and tomato with the rest of the Parmesan. Place the dish in the oven and bake for approx. 20 mins or until golden on top. Take the aubergines from the oven and leave to cool slightly.

Put a large frying pan on a high heat. Drop a splash of oil in the pan; if it hisses, it is hot enough for the cutlets. Cook for 3 mins on each side until the meat has browned and the fat is crisp.

Spoon the aubergines into a shallow bowl or pasta dish. Place the lamb on top with a few springs of fresh thyme.

The aubergines create the most delicious sauce so, when you've finished, either mop it up with a hunk of good bread or sip it straight from the bowl! Very good with orzo for some starchy love.