Ribbon Cake
Ingredients
- for the omelettes
- 6 eggs beaten
- bunch parsley, finely chopped
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp cold water
- for the mushroom filling
- 150g mushrooms
- 25g butter
- 120ml Dão Grão Vasco or other red wine
- 25g beurre manié, equal quantities flour and butter kneaded together
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
- for the spinach filling
- 350g spinach
- 25g butter
- 25g flour
- 150ml milk
- 100g Stilton cheese
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
- butter for frying
- for the aubergine filling
- 1 medium aubergine
- salt
- olive oil for frying
- 2 shallots finely chopped
- 225g tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
- freshly ground black pepper
- to garnish
- 1 tbsp parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp breadcrumbs
Method
The fillings and omelettes can be made in any order, but the aubergines take the longest, especially if they are sprinkled with salt and allowed to sweat out some juices.
- make the omelettes
- Beat the eggs and other omelette ingredients (except butter) together. Make 4 thin omelettes and set aside
- make the mushroom filling
- slice the mushrooms and sweat in butter. After minute, pour in the wine and season briefly. Remove mushrooms with a slotted spoon before thickening the sauce with the beurre manié. Return mushrooms to sauce, remove from heat and set aside.
- make the spinach filling
- wash the spinach and remove stems if necessary. Cook in just the water that clings to them for a minutes or two till wilted. Drain well, and squeeze out excess water. Chop roughly. Heat butter in a pan, use flour to make a roux, then make a sauce with the milk. Add the cheese. Stir in spinach and season
- make the aubergine filling
- slice the aubergine and sprinkle with salt and allow juices to drain out, then wash and drain - this probably doesn't need to be done with a standard supermarket aubergine. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and saute the aubergine slices for 5 minutes. The add the shallots and tomatoes. Simmer for at least 15 minutes stirring frequently. Season.
- assemble the dish
- Build up layers of omelettes and sauces, e.g. mushroom on bottom, then spinach and then aubergine. Top final omelette with parmesan and breadcrumbs. Place in oven at 170℃ for 15 minutes to warm through - more like 30+ minutes if heating from cold.
Green Cuisine Jill Robinson, ed Colin Spencer