I love a richly cooked, ripe eggplant that’s absorbed all the fertility friendly polyunsaturated fatty acids of the olive oil it was baked in. This is a recipe inspired by Imam Biyildi, a turkish dish where eggplants are stuffed whole and simmered in tomatoes. Roasted or sautéed eggplants go perfectly with bolognaise sauce and are a great gluten and grain-free alternative to zucchini noodles or pasta.

Tomato Garlic Roasted Eggplant

2 tbsp olive oil

1 brown onion

4-5 baby eggplants

4 garlic cloves

6 ripe tomatoes diced or 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes

1 cup of vegetable stock

parsley, basil or other garden herbs of choice to serve

Cut Eggplants in half lengthwise and sprinkle the cut surfaces with salt, leave for 20 minutes and then rinse in water. This drawers out bitterness.

Preheat oven to 190C

Meanwhile, Add the oil to a casserole dish that is suitable for both stove top and oven. Slice the onion and sauté in olive oil for 10 minutes until soft and golden. Add the eggplants to the onions with the tomatoes, stock and the garlic and simmer for 10 minutes. Season the vegetables. Turn the eggplants over and place the casserole dish in the oven for 40 minutes.

Top with herbs, bolognese (see below) and a little cheese of your choosing if you like. Mozzarella would work well, as would parmesan, and even feta.

Simple Bolognese

Olive oil

1 onion

1 garlic clove

4-500g of beef mince

tin of tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

2/3 cup of stock

Add olive oil to a skillet and sauté the onion until brown and golden - about 5 - 7 minutes. Add a pinch of salt to the onion and then the mince, stirring until browned. Add in the tomato paste, tomatoes, garlic and stock. Simmer for at least 10 minutes but up to 40. The longer you simmer the sauce the sweeter and more robust the flavour. If simmering for longer be sure to add extra liquid so it doesn’t dry out.

Variations: Add vegetables of choice. Grated carrot, zucchini and cauliflower work well.

Yesterday only hours after boasting about my ‘immune system of steel' my husband Andrew, I fell ill with headache and fever. I was straight home to bed were I stayed for hours, I downed immune boosting herbs, anti-viral essential oils, vitamin c and zinc, I was making myself ginger lemon tea and swallowing garlic cloves whole. I managed to muster up the strength to cook myself a healing whole chicken soup, and today after plenty of rest, I feel like I’m in convalescence, I managed to stop this monster in it’s tracks.

A soup made with the whole chicken, provides proteins essential for the production of immune cells, and all the wonderful minerals from the bones are leached into the broth providing zinc, magnesium, calcium, and Vit D just to mention a few. Only recently have a started eating meat after 13 years as a vegetarian, and sometimes vegan. I ate my soup yesterday with gratitude reverence for the chicken, and all of the life giving and healing vitality it bestowed. I beleive yy intention of healing while I prepared and ate this dish played just an important role in my quick recovery as the nourishing ingredients themselves.

Here is my recipe adapted from Perth author Jude Bleureu's “Healing Chicken Soup in her amazing book Wholefood.

Healing Chicken Noodle Soup

Okay first of all this works best if you have a really big soup pot, like a proper stock pot. I don’t have one of these and tried making my soup with a le crusset casserole dish. It worked but it was a tight squeeze, and I made a bit of a mess.

I whole organic free range chicken 2 medium sized brwn onions or a large brown onion 3 stalks of celery 3 carrots a few sprigs of fresh thyme 6-8 sage leaves 2 sprigs fresh oregano 1 corn cob, kernals removed and reserved 3-4 garlic cloves 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 2 bay leaves sea salt black pepper 2 handfuls of flat leaf Italian parsley 8 dried shitake mushrooms two handfuls of noodles, soba noodles, vermicelli egg noodles, or whatever noodles you acquire

1. Place your large soup pot over a low heat and place the whole chicken inside. IF therese is skin on the chicken the fat will serve to cook the vegetables, but you can add some olive oil to help the cooking process along.

2. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and gently sizzle. Add the thyme, sage and oregano, and then the corn and the corn cob, garlic, ginger and half the parsley. Add the stock, the shitake mushrooms and the bay leaves. Cook for one hour.

3. Lift the chicken out of the liquid and remove the flesh. I used a pair of tongs, and a fork to get this job done. Also take out the shitake mushrooms and slice them up nice and small. Add the bones and mushrooms back into the broth and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

4. Remove the bones and the corn cob, and check soup for consistency and flavour. Add the noodles. Add more herbs if you like, some extra salt as required or some tamari. When the noodles are cooked through the soup is ready.

Happy Wellness