I'm just mad about saffron

We watched The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo on the weekend. Matt and I loved the books, and I was obsessed with the anti-heroine Lisbeth Salander. Someone described her as Lara Croft for grown-ups. Very true.

The actress that played her in the film, Noomi Rapace, was how I imagined Salander, tough but delicate, androgynous but sometimes disarmingly feminine. Salander in the novels is so superhuman, I wondered how an actress could play her and also make her likeable. Rapace also had a rocking body. She must have worked hard as there was no weight, and she looked a bit like a rock climber with her defined arm muscles. Apparently Rapace took up Thai boxing to get into shape. 

Anyway, she inspired me on my run today. I don't want to put myself on the diet that Rapace apparently went on... 

"I started the very next day on a diet. No bread, pasta, potatoes, no candy and no alcohol. All protein and vegetables. It was pretty hard."

... but I'd quite like to step up the training and get a more tough body. 

After the run, I made an Ottolenghi salad of roast aubergine with saffron yoghurt dressing, pine nuts and pomegranate.

I halved the recipe as we only had one aubergine in the house, but this is the original recipe. The ingredients:

2 medium-sized aubergines
olive oil for brushing
2 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted
a large handful of pomegranate seeds
a large handful of basil leaves
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Saffron yogurt:
a small pinch of saffron strands
3 Tbsp hot water
200 g thick Greek yogurt
1 garlic clove, finely crushed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt flake

Infuse the saffron in hot water for five minutes.

Preheat oven to 220 C. 

Start making the sauce. Place the saffron strands into glass, pour over the hot water and let infuse for 5 minutes. 

After about five minutes, the water is a nice dark yellow

Pour the infusion into a bowl containing the yoghurt, crushed garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and some salt. Whisk well to get a smooth, golden sauce. Taste for seasoning and chill until ready to use (This keeps for about 3 days).

Cut the aubergines into 2 cm slices. Brush both sides with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill on a very hot griddle pan until soft and golden brown, then flip over and fry the other side until golden brown as well. 

After this, I also roasted in this the oven for about 10 minutes. But you can skip the griddle pan and just roast these for 25-30 mins instead. The difference is that the griddle pan gives the aubergine some nice charcoal blackened spots so it looks like it's been barbecued.

Before it went in the oven

While the aubergine is cooking, I toasted about a tablespoon of pine nuts on the already hot griddle plan. You don't want it to be too hot. You won't need any oil, pine nuts have enough oil in them, but you will need to keep an eye on them to stop them from burning. Confession: I burnt the first lot!

If you are making this in advance, you can stop after you have roasted the aubergines and the saffron dressing. Both keep in the fridge for about 3 days. But if you are making it to eat straight away, you will need to cool the aubergines down before serving them. If you are like me, in a hurry, you could even throw them in the freezer! But I think it is tastier if you let them cool to room temperature first and refrigerate them over night. 

To dish up, layer the roasted aubergine slices onto a serving dish, slices slightly overlapping. Drizzle with saffron yogurt, sprinkle with toasted pine nuts, torn basil leaves and pomegranate seeds. 

Then sit back and wait for your boyfriend to pour you with compliments.


Now check out Noomi Rapace in this trailer. She's my new hero. Look at those strong arms!