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...

Because I have been going out and getting ingredients I never use, I had some halloumi in the house. It's a cheese from Cyprus that is traditionally made from a mix of sheep and goat cheese. In terms of texture it falls somewhere between feta and mozzarella. It's great for grilling because its texture holds up really well when heated. I decided to try it in a simple, straightforward Cypriot recipe - halloumi with cucumber.  Ingredients (serves 2 as a starter): 250g halloumi, rinsed with fresh water and cut into slices  300g crispy cucumber, cubed handful fresh basil leaves handful fresh mint leaves 3 tablespoons olive oil  1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional) freshly ground black pepper Instructions: 1. Slice the halloumi. Heat a grill pan. Rub the halloumi with some olive oil on each side and place on the grill. Turn when browned and do the other side. (This should take a couple of minutes per side). 2. Place the cucumber on a plate, top with...

This one was a bit of an experiment for me (ok to be honest, when aren’t they though). I’d been looking up rainbow trout recipes for over two days waiting to find something that appealed, and somehow nothing was exactly doing it for me. Until I found this recipe from Passion Spoon. It was just quirky enough, just unusual enough, to be really really tempting. Surf and turf, in the lightest, most refreshing way possible. Ingredients (serves 2): For the trout: 2 rainbow trout 120g bacon cubes 1 1/2 orange, sliced (you’ll need 6-7 slices for each trout, 3-4 to lie it on top of, and 3 to top). For the orange salsa: handful fresh basil handful fresh parsley bit of mint 1 clove garlic, chopped (optional - leave it out if you don’t like garlic) 2 oranges, juice and zest 1/3 red onion, chopped 2-3 tbsp olive oil  salt and pepper (*I actually didn’t have any basil, so I used a bit more mint and then added a tablespoon of basil pesto, which I did have. That inadverte...

Beautiful summer days call for food that is fresh, simple, and as little hassle as possible. After all, who wants to slave away in the kitchen when it’s gorgeous outside. And I like tasting the sun in my mouth. This recipe meets all those criteria - it’s quick, light, easy, but with fragrant summer flavours. At first sight, this recipe might look a little counter-intuitive. Tomatoes and strawberries? Strawberries and balsamic vinegar? But if you set your scepticism aside for a minute you’ll find that the tartness of the balsamic vinegar, the sweetness of the strawberries, that hint of basil - it all just works. Balsamic vinegar really brings out the flavor (and colour!) in strawberries - they get ever so slightly less sweet, but gain in 'umph'. Ingredients (serves 2): 200g small roma or cherry tomatoes 200g strawberries 10 leaves basil (basilicum) 2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar Instructions: 1. Slice the tomatoes and strawberries in half lengthwise and put them in a bow...