Moroccan Veggie Parcels with Aubergine Sauce

I made these little parcels last Sunday; we had three people round for lunch and I didn’t want to do a nut roast or similar – I was after a lighter, more summery type of thing. For some reason I broke my golden rule, the one I’ve stuck to all my life, and cooked something that I had never cooked before! I always have a dry-run of a new recipe before I unleash it onto guests but, in this instance, I can only assume I had a rush of blood to the head or possibly a severe attack of over-confidence….whatever it was, I must be mad!

In the event it all turned out rather well; I chose a Simon Rimmer recipe, which used to be on the BBC website but which has now been deleted (grrr!), but luckily I have a crafty copy on Word. I served it with tomato, olive and almond couscous and a leafy salad.

Moroccan Veggie Parcels

For the filling

1kg/2lb 3oz cooked sweet potato, cut into cubes

100g/3½oz chickpeas

100g/3½oz spinach

2 onions, sliced, fried in a little oil until softened

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

pinch chilli flakes

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp runny honey

1 tbsp chopped dried apricots

1 tbsp flaked toasted almonds

300g/10½oz ready-rolled puff pastry, cut into 6 x 15cm/6in squares

2 free-range eggs, beaten

flour, for dusting

For the aubergines

2 aubergines, cut into 1.5cm/½in thick strips

100ml/4fl oz olive oil

1 tbsp tomato purée

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 garlic, crushed

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and dust a baking tray with flour.

2. Mix all of the filling ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Shape the mixture into six equally-sized balls. Place a ball into the middle of each square of pastry and wrap the pastry around the filling. Flatten slightly, brush with the egg wash and chill in the fridge for ten minutes.

3. Place the parcels onto the floured baking tray and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden-brown.

4. Meanwhile, heat 50ml/2oz of the olive oil in a frying pan and gently fry the aubergine pieces for five minutes.

5. Stir in the tomato purée, tomatoes, garlic and cumin and cook on a low heat for 25 minutes.

6. Add the rest of the olive oil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for a further five minutes, stir in the parsley and serve alongside the pastry parcels.

Now, far be it from me to criticise Simon, but I think when I make it next time I’ll give it a few refinements:

• Double the chilli flakes in the filling to give it a bit more zing
• Halve the amount of sweet potato, it made far too much filling for only six parcels
• Double the chopped apricots because they got a bit lost in amongst all the other flavours
• I should point out that I used a tin of chopped tomatoes because I thought the sauce would be a bit dry with just three fresh toms to provide the ‘sauciness’ and I also chopped the aubergines into chunks rather than strips

None of this is meant to suggest that they weren't fine as they are, it's just that I always mess around with recipes when I've made them once, to bring them into line with our particular taste. Our guests are omnivores, but they were very complimentary and I don’t think (?!) they were just being polite. On the whole I’d say it was very successful and definitely one to do again. The aubergine sauce was brilliant; I think it would make a good filling for lasagne...must give it a try.

Serves 6