Vegetable "Lasagna"

This very simple dish manifested on the evening of my mother's birthday: I made another more elaborate "lasagna" for the rest of us, but since my mother is intollerant to almost everything I had to think of something "mummy-friendly".

Ingredients:

- aubergine (eggplant)

- potatoes

- rocket

- salt (I used herb salt)

- paprika

- origano

- olive oil

Quantities obviously depend on how many people you are preparing it for. I have made this dish twice, the first time was very thin, the second I added an extra layer of potatoes, and I must say it's better in the thinner version (more delicate). If you do want to add extra layers, I would suggest using the aubergine....or cutting the potato very very finely!

Preparation:

Prepare the aubergine and potatoes into thin slices, and chop up the rocket leaves (if you don't have rocket, red lettuce will do the trick wonderfully! I can't think of the name now...in italian it's "radicchio"). Turn the oven on: 180C.

Before starting the layering, grease the oven dish with some olive oil. Place the layer of potatoes, then sprinkle some herbal salt, paprika, and origano leaves (dried or fresh), and another drizzle of olive oil. Place the rocket leaves (put loads on! Don't worry, even if they look a lot, they will lose all their water and shrivel down to almost nothing!), and then the layer of aubergine (you can overlap the aubergines as they cook quickly...I put a couple of layers as the last layer), and sprinkle some olive oil, paprika and salt.

Place in the oven until cooked....mmm....30 minutes? 40 minutes? You can tell.....check that the potatoes are cooked.

The photo I put is of the second time I prepared it, when it was a bit thicker. The first time round I actually turned the whole dish over, so that the potatoes were on top....looked good.

It's a really simple dish to prepare and the good thing is that you don't need to cook the vegetables before-hand. An extra note: I used the light colored aubergine in this dish, the round type. They're much better as they seem to remain more intact and more delicate than the darker longer type. You could also try adding zucchini (courgettes) to the dish....they would go really well! They'd be extra delicious if you grilled them first, which would make the whole preparation a bit longer....but if you have the time and heart to do it, then why not!

I will put the recipe for the other more elaborate version shortly....it's delicious!!!

Teeth and No Tears

I was sitting in a park yesterday elegantly enjoying my ice-cream, when I bit upon an especially crunchy piece of....piece of what? Was it a cone? Was it a hazelnut? NO! It was my tooth! Shiver quiver....I get chills down my spine at the mere thought of it! It wasn't my real tooth, but that famous piece of resin that acted as a replacement tooth after my fall in Ecuador (see the Teeth and Tears post for the full story).
This time I didn't shed a tear, nor did I experience any sort of emotion. I was actually on my way to the cinema and just thought I'd go to the movies and think about my half-tooth later on. I even took a photo of myself, mainly for the thrill I will get in seing my sister's look of horror when I show it to her.
My aunt had the good sense to tell me to call the dentist, who only had a free appointment next week OR within 15 minutes....so we jump into a taxi and rush off to the dentist! (missed out on the movie). One hour later I walked out with a "new" tooth, much better than the last job he'd done at sticking on my Ecuadorian piece of tooth (because I threw that one in the bin...I hope! I have a slight doubt I may have swallowed it). Point is I didn't bother looking for it...it's time was most definitely up.

Anyway, various things happened at the dentist, mainly regarding realisations about today's society: the main conclusion is that we have to become "everything-ologists". Let me explain: it's as though people do the bear minimum, minimum effort for (let's be truthful) extremely mediocre results. If, for example, you happen to break a tooth (and this is just an example), and your dentists works away at it for an hour and then asks you to look at it, do not think you're wrong in seing that he has done a very mediocre job, and DO direct him in his craft.
If, for example, you happen to break a tooth (and this is just an example), and you notice a little porosity where he (or she) has just been working, don't hesitate to ask him what (on earth!) it is....he may just fix it!...and in the end feel really happy about the job he's done. Well, good for him.

I hope you've managed to read between the lines.

As my philosophy teacher in India used to say, modern-day society produces INSTRUMENTS: a million knives, a million forks, a million torches, a million lawyers, etcetera, etcetera....A lawyer is no grander in scope than a knife is at doing its job. So if and when we choose to put ourselves in the hands of instruments, I wouldn't do it with the blind faith and surrender that our grandparents may have had. An instrument must be put to good use. We must somehow become "everything-ologists", and develop at least a questioning power - not to become doubtful and overquestioning cynical meanies, but to have the awareness that instruments will, if allowed, do the bear minimum.