Recipes handed down in families or shared by friends, are the most precious, writes DOMINI KEMP

THESE ARE TWO tasty dishes and both were adapted from recipes from two great women cooks: the writer Claudia Roden and my neighbour, Cathy Addis, who is a caterer. Claudia Roden’s latest book, The Food of Spain is a delightful read and although some of the recipes look a bit spooky (the tuna pie on page 195 being a big culprit) there are plenty of dishes to try out. The apple cream sounds evil, and the goat’s cheese fritters with honey is the other dish I intend to try, along with the raisin and sweet wine ice cream.

Like many of the dishes in the book, the aubergine dish included here looked a little dull, mainly because it’s a book that’s full of recipes that taste great and are simple, rather than exotic or fancy.

I wasn’t entirely happy with the idea of steaming the aubergines before stuffing them, so I ended up roasting them and it worked out well. The filling is delightful, with the addition of cinnamon, cumin and garlic and this dish is perfect as a starter or main course.

The only real problem with it is that it is hard to eat just one half of an aubergine. But two is nearly too much, although my husband polished off three halves – and then complained he had eaten too much. So the portioning is a little vague.

Most of the time, I cook too much food in the hope that it can do at least one more dinner, and these do very well the next day; they re-heated well, didn’t go too soggy and everyone liked them. An all-round family hit.

The second recipe is one that was promised to me for ages by my neighbour, Cathy. She prised it from a Swiss pastry chef and promised to write it down and drop it in to me. But months went by and still this elusive recipe for the fantastic apple tart did not materialise.

Cathy’s house sits on a nearby corner and every time I pass by, there are lovely cooking smells wafting out. This seemed to taunt me all the more so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

To ensure I got the recipe, I dropped her in one for my favourite and mega-quick toffee sauce, hoping it would be enough of a hinting guilt-trip to spur her into action. It did. Within days a lovely typed-up recipe was put through my letter box and the result is a really unusual and delicious apple tart made with Golden Delicious apples.

Claudia Roden’s book is full of recipes from Spanish people who share their knowledge and their family recipes passed down through the ages. There is something wonderful about this kind of passing of information, especially in a world of constant clicking. Getting Cathy’s recipe through the letterbox was as nostalgic as having someone make a tape – or I’ll relent, burning a CD – of favourite hits. Personal and thoughtful and very useful.

Aubergines stuffed with spiced pork

Serves 3-4

2-3 aubergines, each weighing 220g approximately

150ml olive oil

Salt and pepper

100g breadcrumbs

80ml milk

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

250g minced pork

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¾ tsp ground cumin

1 large tomato, roughly chopped

1 dessertspoon red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

50g Parmesan

1 egg

120g grated Cheddar

Chopped parsley, to serve

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees/gas 4. Cut the aubergines in half and place them on a baking tray or two. Score the flesh, drizzle them generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Let them cool down and when they are easily handled, spoon out the flesh and leave it aside in a bowl. Mix the breadcrumbs and milk together. Sweat the onion in a good two tablespoons of olive oil. Add the aubergine pulp – chop this up a bit if it’s not mushy enough – and the minced pork. Add the garlic and spices and cook for a few minutes. Season well, and then add the vinegar and tomato.

Stir and continue to cook out till the mixture gets quite dry and the juice from the tomato and vinegar disappears. The meat will cook out fully, so don’t worry about this. You are stuffing the aubergines with a fully cooked mixture.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for five minutes. Add the Parmesan and beaten egg. Mix well, then spoon the filling into the hollow boats of aubergine. Sprinkle with the cheddar cheese another glug of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling.

Let them cool down for about 10-15 minutes before serving. They are also good cold and they re-heated well the next day at about 180 degrees/gas 4 for 15 minutes. You may want to cover them loosely with foil so the cheese doesn’t brown too much.

A good sprinkle of parsley, some bread, and a mixed green salad make this a wonderful supper dish.

Cathy’s French toffee apple tart

Pastry

125g butter

100g icing sugar

250g flour

2 egg yolks

2 dessertspoons cream

Whizz the butter, icing sugar and flour together till it resembles breadcrumbs then chuck in the egg yolks and it will nearly come together. Add a little cream to get it to form one ball. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for an hour. Then roll it out between sheets of cling film so as to fit as 27cm tart tin with removable base. Ideally, you could throw it into the freezer for 10 minutes at this stage. Prick the base with a fork. Line with parchment paper and beans and then bake for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees/gas 4. Remove the beans carefully and bake for another 10 minutes to dry the pastry out completely. This is important as the filling is quite wet so it needs to be dried out well. Once you’ve removed the pastry from the oven, trim away excess pastry that’s been hanging over the sides and allow it to cool fully.

Filling

400ml cream

6 egg yolks

200g golden caster sugar

Zest of 2 lemons

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla essence

6 Golden Delicious apples, peeled and grated

Mix together the cream, egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and vanilla essence. You can do this with a whisk or using a beater. Place the tart case onto a baking tray which will make it much easier to transfer it to and from the oven. Put the grated apple in the tart case and smooth it around so it is an even layer. Don’t worry if it goes brown. Carefully pour in the liquid filling. You might need to use a fork to rearrange the apple so that it is evenly dispersed.

Bake at 170 degrees/gas 3 for nearly an hour. The top will go a lovely golden brown. It is quite a wet filling, but you do want the egg and cream mixture to cook out. The original recipe said 45 minutes, but mine took closer to an hour. Check on it after 45 minutes and have a little peek inside by inserting a knife into the middle and seeing if it’s still runny. If so, then just keep on cooking. This was gorgeous even a couple of days later and is best served at room temperature with some whipped cream and a spoonful of the toffee sauce below.

Really rich toffee sauce

This is the recipe I gave to Cathy

250ml cream

100g caster sugar

50g soft brown sugar

75g butter

200ml crème fraiche

Heat all of the ingredients except the crème fraiche in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Take it off the heat, allow it to cool down, and then whisk in the crème fraiche. This is great on anything sweet, and is particularly good with the French apple tart.

Domini recommends: Brasserie Le Pont restaurant (below) just at the top of Fitzwilliam Street, is a great spot for dinner if you’re keen for a bit of al fresco dining. Very handy for the NCH too

Food cooked and styled by Domini and Peaches Kemp