as i mentioned in my post about ricotta gnocchi, i decided to make my own ricotta.

there are lots of different methods online and i chose the simplest version i could find. it’s also the healthiest as it only uses milk not cream. although having said that i did use full-fat (organic) milk as i wanted the ricotta to have as much flavour as possible and it’s the fat in milk which is the tasty stuff.

once the ricotta is made it’s very easy to add flavourings so this is definitely worth experimenting with, especially given no special equipment is needed, just a bit of time.

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aubergines are one of my favourite vegetables but this wasn’t always the case. when i was growing up we often used to have them sliced, dipped in batter and fried but i never really enjoyed them until many years later.

i don’t know if this is a result of the varieties we eat being less bitter (they rarely need salting now) or because i’ve learned to cook them long and slow until the flesh softens and the flavour sweetens. or maybe it’s a mix of the two.

a recent favourite has been aubergine involtini (involtini is an italian word used to describe "small bundles" of food stuffed into a rolled food wrap). the first time i made this dish i used a nigella lawson recipe which saw the aubergine stuffed with a variety of cheeses, pinenuts, raisins, breadcrumbs, garlic, lemon zest, mint and parsley. friends had raved about this but i was disappointed so i decided to try my own version, using spinach cannelloni as the inspiration.

the result was a much lighter and fresher dish which i enjoyed so much i made it three times in less than a fortnight!

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