Made at Home: The food I cook for the people I love. Giorgio Locatelli
enough to coat the aubergine, which goes in next, and not any thicker, or it will make the aubergine too wet).
4 Now put in your layer of aubergine slices, almost overlapping them to avoid any gaps.
5 Sprinkle with plenty of grated Parmesan and a few leaves of basil. If using mozzarella, dot some pieces over the top, and if using cooked ham, scatter in some pieces here, too.
6 Repeat the layers (ideally you should have around 7 layers of aubergine), finishing with plenty of Parmesan.
7 Put into the preheated oven for 30 minutes until golden on top.
Pickled
This will make enough to fill 2 small jars and is a great accompaniment for prosciutto and other antipasti.
1 Prepare 3 aubergines as here, but cut into slices of only around 5mm thick before salting.
2 Slice again into 5mm strips.
3 Bring 300ml of water, 300ml of white wine vinegar and 300ml of white wine to the boil with a teaspoon of sea salt.
4 Put in the aubergine with 2 whole cloves of garlic and cook for 3 minutes, then drain in a colander and pat dry. If you like, you can keep the liquid and store it in the fridge in a plastic container to use next time.
5 Sterilise 2 jars, pack them with the aubergine, garlic and add a sprig of rosemary and a few slices of chilli.
6 Cover with extra virgin olive oil. You can store the jars for a month as long as the aubergine is completely submerged.
Aubergine and sun-dried tomato salad with wild garlic
At one time I used to like to make a carpaccio of aubergines: slicing them very thinly, salting, draining them, rinsing and patting them dry, then grilling them and serving them with chimichurri (see here), and at some point that idea developed into this salad. We make it with thicker slices of aubergine, char-grilled and then combined with the sharp kick of spring onions and the sweetness of oven-roasted or sun-dried tomatoes. I like to keep a big bowlful of it in the fridge at home to pull out and have with grilled fish or meat, or just with some toasted bread and maybe some burrata.
Serves 6
aubergines 3 large
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
red onions 3
white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon
olive oil
sun-dried or oven-roasted tomatoes 18 (see here)
wild garlic leaves 6, when in season, finely chopped (or 1 garlic clove, crushed and then chopped with 1 tablespoon of fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves)
Giorgio’s dressing 3 tablespoons (see here)
1 With a peeler, take off four vertical strips of peel from each aubergine at equal intervals to create a stripy appearance, then slice crossways, 1cm thick. Sprinkle with sea salt and put into a colander to drain for 2 hours, to remove some of the bitterness, then rinse and pat dry.
2 Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.
3 Put the onions, still with their skins on, into a roasting tin, sprinkle with some more sea salt and roast for 2 hours – if you squeeze them gently they should be soft.
4 When cool enough to handle, take off the onion skins and cut the flesh into strips. Sprinkle with the white wine vinegar and a little more sea salt and set aside in a serving dish.
5 Season the slices of aubergine, drizzle with olive oil and cook on a hot griddle pan (or barbecue) until soft and marked on both sides (alternatively, pan-fry them in some olive oil until golden). Allow to cool, then cut into strips of a similar thickness to the onions and mix with the sun-dried or oven-roasted tomatoes in a serving dish.
6 Toss the wild garlic leaves, or parsley and garlic, through the aubergine and onions with the dressing, then taste and season if necessary.
Winter brassica and potato salad
This is the kind of chunky, sturdy winter salad that you can put into the fridge and it will be better the day after you make it. It is good on its own, or to put on the table to extend a family meal. You could use Savoy cabbage, but cavolo nero has a bitterness that really helps. Sometimes I like to add a spoonful of good sauerkraut from a jar on top – the vinegariness and slight spice works really well.
Serves 6
coarse sea salt 100g
red onions 4 medium
white wine vinegar 3 tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
potatoes 4 medium
romanesco 1 medium head, separated into florets
cauliflower 1 head, separated into florets
cavolo nero around 300g, spines removed and leaves cut into large pieces
red cabbage 1 small head, sliced
shallot dressing 6 tablespoons (see here)
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.
2 To roast the red onions, scatter the sea salt over a roasting tray and lay the whole onions on top, still in their skins. Cover with foil and put into the preheated oven for 2 hours. They are ready when they feel quite soft to the touch but still give a little resistance. Take out of the oven, and when just cool enough to handle remove the skin and cut each onion in half. Put into a bowl.
3 Mix together the vinegar, oil and a pinch of salt. Pour over the onions, toss through and leave until completely cool.
4 Cook the potatoes (skin on) in boiling salted water until tender, then cool, peel and slice.
5 Halve any large florets of romanesco and cauliflower: you want all the pieces to be of a similar size so that they cook consistently.
6 Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, put in the romanesco for about 3 minutes, depending on the size of the florets, until the pieces are just tender, but still have a little bite, then lift out with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl. Repeat with the cauliflower, again cooking for 3 minutes, then the cavolo nero, but cook this for just 1 minute. Finally put in the red cabbage for 4 minutes. When you lift out the red cabbage put it into a separate bowl, or it will stain the other leaves.
7 In a large bowl, crush the potatoes a little and toss with the romanesco, cauliflower, cavolo nero, red onions and 5 tablespoons of the shallot dressing, then season. Transfer to a serving dish. Season the red cabbage and toss with the remaining shallot dressing, then spoon on top of the salad.
Anchovy and chicory salad with lemon compote
This is one of my favourite salads: it is like a little winter garden of different varieties and colours of chicory all laid down in front of you: green puntarelle, which is the speciality of Rome, round, pink-and-cream-speckled Castelfranco when it comes into season in November, and crimson-and-white-veined radicchio. I like a mix of the long Treviso radicchio which comes from the Veneto, and, in the months between November and March, radicchio tardivo. This is the same variety of chicory, but it has a much more pronounced