Soba Noodles Salad with Roasted Eggplant

What are your favourite eggplant recipes? I really like eggplants, however I've realised recently, I don't cook with them very often. I assume the reason is that majority of recipes using eggplant are very similar. The most common eggplant recipes are either ratatouille or stuffed and baked eggplant. I'm not saying those are not tasty, but I like experimenting with new recipes and exploring new possibilities of using my favourite ingredients.

Since I had recently bought many eggplants at a local market, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try a fresh new recipe. I was googling for a while and found several tempting recipes. I'm a pasta maniac, and so my first thought led me to a pasta with eggplant. But it looked too boring at that moment.

Then I suddenly got an idea! Eggplant is widely used in Asian cuisines. I love Asian cuisines! Especially Thai cuisine is on top of my favourite cuisine list at the moment. However, I have recently fell in love with soba noodles. Soba noodles and eggplant sounded like a harmonic and perfect combo.

I started new search for soba noodle and eggplant recipes. I found only a few recipes, but it was enough for me. I rarely follow a recipe exactly. I prefer to read several recipes and combine them into my own one. That's exactly what I did this time. I loved the result.

Soba noodles salad with roasted eggplant

Serves 1

1 medium eggplant, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 bundle of soba noodles

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp peanut oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

pinch of sea salt

1 tsp minced fresh ginger

2 tsp soya sauce

1 tsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp clear rice wine

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Place the diced eggplant in a bowl, toss with salt and leave to stand for 15-20 minutes to leach out water and bitterness before roasting. Rinse shortly under cold water, drain and pat dry with paper towel.

2. Preheat the oven to 170C. Put the eggplant on a baking sheet and toss with some sesame oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Take the baking sheet out of the oven after 15 minutes and push around the eggplant so that they bake evenly.

3. While the eggplant is baking, heat the sesame seeds in a wide frying pan over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally. Remove them when they darken and become fragrant, about 2-3 minutes, and let them cool.

4. Cook the soba noodles according to the package directions. Once the noodles are cooked, rinse them under cold water and drain well. Transfer to a medium bowl and toss with 1 tsp of oil to prevent noodles from sticking.

5. With a knife, mash the garlic and salt into a paste. In a small bowl, combine the garlic paste, ginger, soya sauce, sugar and rice wine and whisk until blended.

6. Add the roasted eggplant to the bowl with noodles, combine with the dressing and toasted sesame seeds. Toss well and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Apricot Galette

What is it about apricots what makes them real summer fruit for me? It might be their gorgeous yellow-orange colour making them shine like the summer sun, or their sweet smell that brings many lovely memories of hot summer days from my childhood, or all of that together. Maybe the fact that they are not easily available all year round, same as strawberries, raspberries and other summer fruit, makes them so special.

Anyway, when I see or smell apricots, my mind shouts - summer!

I remember that when I was a kid, my older brother and I used to go picking apricots every summer. They were the best and sweetest apricots, and our mum always made the best apricot dumplings served with quark, sugar and melted butter. Sight! I can almost taste it on my tongue when thinking about it. Or she would make a delicious apricot cake with crumble topping. All of those were, however possible only if we didn't eat all the apricots straight away! Yes, that happened quite often. :)

So when I finally got my hands on first apricots last week, I had to try hard not to eat them all. I was contemplating what should I cook or bake with them. First, I wanted to make apricot dumplings that my mum used to make, but then I changed my mind (honestly, it would make too much work) and chose galette. I only made galette once during this winter, filled with strawberries and apples, and I was planning to make it again. It's quite quick and easy to make and the taste is fantastic!

I love the combination of apricots and quark and I wanted to use that for my galette, but I was too lazy to go shopping. Well, next time! :)

Apricot galette

250 g plain flour

2 tbsp golden cane sugar

1/4 tsp salt

115 g cold unsalted butter, diced

3 tbsp cold milk

about 20 fresh apricots, halved and pitted

2 tbsp sliced almonds

30g golden cane sugar

1 egg for egg wash

3 tbsp apricot jam

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add butter and using your hands rub the butter in to the flour until you have pea sized crumbles. Add the cold milk and blend everything together with a fork. Do not knead the dough. Gather the clumps into a ball.

2. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and flatten it a bit. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

3. Preheat oven to 200C. Unwrap the dough and press the edges so that there are no cracks. Dust a sheet of parchment paper with flour and roll out the dough into a 25cm circle about 0,3-0.5cm thick. Transfer the dough on the parchment paper to a baking sheet.

4. Arrange the apricots on dough, leaving a 5cm border. Sprinkle with almonds and most of the sugar, reserving 1 tbsp of sugar to sprinkle over the edges. Fold the edges over the apricots. Brush the edges with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

5. Bake on the lower half of the oven for about 35-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Let it cool for 10 minutes and then brush the tart with melted apricot jam.

Buckwheat and Linwoods Flaxseed Berry Crepes

Summer is undoubtedly here, and I'm very happy! I enjoy our boiling hot summer. Yes, I love hot weather and long days. But, what I love most about this season of the year, is summer fruit. I know strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and all kind of berries are available all year round, but let's be honest, the flavour of freshly picked local strawberries is incomparable. And just imagine a smooth and flavoursome apricot or peach, that's the true taste of summer!

So when I got my package of Linwoods' Milled flaxseed, cocoa & berries, I knew instantly what I was going to make. I wanted to create a recipe that would complement a nice strong flavour of cocoa & berries in this Lindwoods' mix. We got some of Linwoods' products last year in our Food Blogger Connect 2009 goodie bags, and I mostly enjoyed them in my morning yogurt or fruit crumbles.

Crepes with fresh fruit sounded fairly good to me. I paired Milled flaxseed, cocoa & berries with buckwheat flour, which has a nice nutty flavour, to create very flavoursome and gluten-free crepes. Served with sour cream and fresh berries, these crepes make a wonderful summer treat!

Buckwheat and flaxseed berry crepes

Makes about 6 crepes

1/2 cup (65g) buckwheat flour

1/4 cup (30g) Linwoods flaxseed cocoa&berries

1/4 cup (45g) cane sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup (315ml) milk

2 eggs

2 tbsp (25g) melted butter

vegetable oil for frying

2 cups fresh strawberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup (250ml) sour cream

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the buckwheat flour, Linwoods flaxseed, sugar and salt. Whisk in milk and add the eggs. Add the melted butter and whisk until fully incorporated.

2. Heat a lightly greased frying pan over a medium heat. Ladle or pour a little batter (depending on your frying pan size, just enough so it will thinly coat your pan) into the pan and tilt and rotate the pan until the batter coats the bottom evenly. Cook over medium-high heat until the edges start to brown. Flip the crepe and cook the second side for a few more seconds.

3. Remove the cooked crepe from the pan and place it on a plate. Fold each crepe into quarters and fill with sour cream and fresh berries.