Ilse's Kitchen - culinary adventures of a girl who loves to eat

Some days, like today, bread for lunch just won’t do. My body’s been working overtime and was craving some comfort food. Comfort like pizza, but no time to make it, and no wish to order and go into food coma when I still had mountains of work ahead. Instead of loading up on carbs, I took an aubergine and turned it into mini pizzas. Yum. :) Ingredients (serves 1 as substitute for a regular pizza, or 2 as a snack or starter: 1 aubergine (eggplant) 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1 clove garlic, minced 6-7 leaves basil, plus some small leaves to top. 1 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella or another mild cheese) 3 mushrooms, sliced Instructions: 1. Take the aubergine and slice it into 6-8 slices, about 1.5 cm thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and place on a plate covered with paper towels to allow the water to leak out of the aubergine. Leave for about 15 minutes, then refresh the paper towel and turn the slices over. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 2. In a small saucepan, heat the oil and ad...

As the world around me is locking down, I’m looking for ways to stay sane. There’s the books I haven’t read, and the movies I haven’t seen. And then there’s food, and this blog. A little for you and a bit for myself, I’ll be doing my best to provide you all with some comfort food in the weeks to come. Like this quiche. Recipe (serves 2): 225g puff pastry (I used a 275g pack of Backini fresh puff pastry) 2 cocottes, mini quiche tins, or mini pie pans (mine were about 12 cm in diameter) 3 medium-size potatoes 1/2 leek 1 large shallot 2 large eggs 60ml cream gouda cheese, grated (I used about 20g but seriously, you don't need measurements for this. Just do it to taste) parmesan, grated (enough to cover the top of both cocottes) fresh oregano 15g bacon (Serrano ham is nice too) salt pepper Instructions: 1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. 2. Peel the potatoes and cut into slices about 3mm thick. 3. Bring a big pot of hot salted water to...