- Proper Paleo Korma - 8 May, 2014
- Loaded Portobello Lamb Burgers - 9 April, 2014
- Drunken Pork & Spinach - 19 March, 2014
I am very pleased to be back, after an absence from Vada, and I am ready to put healthy, tasty, paleo recipes back on the menu.
So to start, here is some Paleo Party Food! This recipe first came about after eating some very badly cooked aubergine in a restaurant and thinking to myself, how could I make sure I never eat aubergine like this at home? A solution became apparent, puree the aubergine! One other method, which I’ve used in the past in my ratatouille recipe, is to salt the aubergine; this removes some of the liquid and allows them to fry with less oil, making them softer as a result. In the past I’ve found this helps however I have tried both salting and not salting and have found, for this recipe, that there is no difference in taste. If you are making this recipe with the anchovies I certainly wouldn’t recommend salting the aubergine as well; it ruins the taste and certainly isn’t good for you.
From there this recipe started to develop on its own and I was playing around with ingredients and flavours to add to it and eventually settled on this recipe which I’ve called Smokin’ Aubo Bites (another working title was “Cos You’re Smoking”). In my family, for as long as I can remember, we’ve always called aubergines aubo’s (oboes), here “smokin'” through the smoked paprika in the mixture.
The recipe is ideal for parties or as a starter to a meal for several people. It can be served in a number of ways and I’ve shown two below, one of which is suitable for vegetarians as well. I hope you enjoy this recipe and I look forward to producing some new healthy recipes for you this year. Enjoy.
Smokin’ Aubo Bites
Preparation to Plate: 14 Minutes
Serves 4-8 (Makes 30)
Consume within 2-3 days
Ingredients:
3 Aubergines
2-3 Mini Cos Lettuces, depends on how you’d like to serve it
Smoked Paprika
Anchovy Fillets, tins or jars are fine, buy according to quantity you’re making
Juice of Half a Lime
Olive Oil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pepper
Salt
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Whilst the oven is heating up, chop the aubergine into rough cubes and place on a baking tray or in a roasting tin. Pour over a generous amount of olive oil (not extra virgin) and roast in the oven for 10-12 mins.
2. While the aubergine is cooking, wash the cos lettuce and peel off the leaves, pre-arrange them on a plate if you wish. Drain the anchovies and have them ready for the end. Once the aubergine is cooked put it in a food processor, add the smoked paprika, generous amount of extra virgin olive oil and lime juice, add salt and pepper to taste. Blitz the mixture in the processor until it has a fairly smooth consistency (or until it reaches the consistency you want).
3. Use a teaspoon to spoon out a heap of the mixture onto a cos lettuce leaf, add an anchovy fillet (can display them however you like, I personally chose a curl) and serve.
4. If you don’t like anchovies or the people you’re making them for don’t like them, or if you just fancy going full vegetarian, then I’d recommend decanting the mixture into a bowl and surround it with cos lettuce leaves to allow your party guests to dunk and dip at their leisure.
