on my plate: aubergine involtini

nd a

OK so my food photography skills haven't exactly improved much, but these tasty little morsels just had to be talked about. Served as part of a picky dinner prepared for friends - alongside butter bean hummous, aubergine turnover pastries and spicy roasted chickpeas - for me these were the success story of the night.

After brushing the aubergine with olive oil and cooking on a griddle pan to achieve those gorgeous blackened stripes, I chose to fill my involtini with feta, toasted hazelnuts, sultanas and fresh mint. I then heated them in the oven to soften the feta slightly, resulting in a dish of incredibly moreish plump little parcels, with wonderful flavours reminiscent of those that my friends and I had sampled in Greece over the summer.

My one word of advice would be don't be afraid of adding lots of mint, as it is essential in balancing the flavours.

Oh, and make lots.

travel bite: Ios, Greece

SO, back from the holiday and I can say with confidence that the terrible cliche of how I now needed another holiday to recover was certainly the case after time spent on this little island...

internal flight from athens to san torini

Following a mammoth journey getting there - airplane, 5hr kip on airport seating, propeller plane, taxi, boat, taxi - we arrived exhausted on what we soon found out was the party island. Not for Brits of course, who the majority of which quite naturally do not have the inclination to endure a journey time equivalent to that of one to the other side of the world; instead it was the predominantly Aussie and Swedish visitors that were lending this island its reputation.

katerina's rooms