Labor of Love

Labor Day 2010. I worked. It sucked. Boyfriend spent the day at school. I was planning an afternoon of complete self-pity but instead opted to spring clean.

It's hard. How does one approach tidying up a house full of weeks and weeks of neglected items? I decided to tackle it room by room starting with the bedroom and finishing up in the bathroom. Wowsa if I didn't meet my daily exercise requirement... well I don't know what cos I'm pretty sure I did.

I spent like five hours pragmatically attacking the mess and strategically rearranging the place. Was very cleansing. Was glad I opted for cleaning over moping.

Anyway, you'd think after that hella clean I woulda sat down. I did sit down, but only for 5 minutes before deciding to top my personal labor day off with a lovingly prepared dinner for the boyfriend (i am taking my housewife responsibilities VERY seriously).

In the clean up I found one of Boyfriend's vegetarian cookbooks and decided on the "Ricotta and Olive-filled Aubergine Rolls With Roasted Bunched Cherry Tomatoes and Yogurt Tahini Sauce" from Nadine Abensur's beautiful book 'Enjoy: New Veg'.

The recipe, under the date-night section, was a lot more fiddly than I thought, lots of fine chopping and stuff, but it was worth it and very delicious!

Here is the recipe reproduced from the cookbook, which can be purchased here.

Serves 6.
at least 450ml light olive oil
2 aubergines (eggplants), each cut into 12 slices about 1cm thick
juice of 1 lemon
a dash of Tabasco sauce
5 tablespoons olive oil
6 bunches of small, vine-ripened tomatoes or cherry tomates (about 9 per bunch)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
chopped parsley or coriander, to garnish

For the yogurt tahini sauce:
180g Greek yogurt
4 tablespoons pale tahini paste
6 tablespoons cold water
a small handful of parsley, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
4 roasted cherry tomatoes, squeezed out of their skins



For the filling:
340g very fresh ricotta cheese, drained of any excess liquid and patted dry on kitchen paper
1/4 small red onion, very finely chopped
a good handful of parsley (about 40g), finely chopped
a small handful of basil leaves, rolled up and sliced into fine ribbons
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
100g green olives (rinsed under cold water uf very salty), finely chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
30g pistacchio nuts, roasted in a warm oven for 8 minutes, then skins rubbed off in a tea towel
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped

Heat the light olive oil in a large frying pan and, when it is very hot, drop in as many aubergine (eggplant) slices as will fit. Fry both sides until very well browned - atleast 1 minute per side. There is nothing worse than insufficiently fried aubergine (eggplant), and no genuine Middle Easterner or Mediterranean will stand for it. Remove and drain on kitchen paper, immediately dousing with the lemon juice and seasoning with sea salt and the Tabasco.

For the yogurt tahini sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well until smooth. You may need to add a little water to obtain a pouring consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180C. You can place all the ingredients for the filling in a food processor and pulse a few times until combined or, if that seems like too much of a bother, place them in a bowl and mash with a fork. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Take a small amount of the filling in the palm of your hand and roll it tightly to make a chipolata-sized roll that holds its shape. I always make one perfectly sized and place it in front of me to act a guide - I do this for everything that entails this sort of mini-production-line effort, as I've seen what happens when you don't. You start off with a sweet-looking little thing and before you know it...

Place the filling in each slice of aubergine (eggplant) and roll up. If you are preparing these in advance, put them in the oven with the roasting tomatoes for atleast 15 minutes, just to warm through.

Slice the top off each head of garlic tp expose the cloves. Place a piece of aluminium foil and drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over. Wrap tightly and roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until very soft. Place the bunched cherry tomatoes on a baking tray, douse with the rest of the olive oil, season with sea salt and black pepper and roast for 20-25 minutes, until they sre softened and the skins have split and gently charred,

Seperate the garlic gloves. To sere, place 3-4 aubergine (eggplant) rolls on each plate (on top of the cous cous, if you are serving this with it), then add a bunch of roasted tomatoes and a few cloves of roasted garlic You don't have to peel the garlic before serving but you can if you prefer. Then drizzle the yogurt tahini sauce over and serve, with a little chopped parsley or coriander.

page 146-147
Published 2005, Penguin.