Aubergine and Fresh Tomato Pasta

The aubergine (Solanum melongena) is not a vegetable but a berry? A big, glossy berry, and that little morsel of biological detail makes me love them even more.

This is a quick version of a River Café pasta recipe, as I needed to get food on the table pretty fast for the ravenous beasts after a hard day.

You start by frying garlic, chilli and flat leaf parsley in oil for five minutes. Then add tomatoes which I DO NOT drop into hot water and peel because it takes too long. I only cook the tomatoes for 5 minutes instead of the recommended 20 as I like fresh, fresh tomato sauce in the summer. Then I add a bit of sugar because I live in the Northern hemisphere and our tomatoes are just not as sweet. Oh, and I don’t add mozzarella, so is this a River Café recipe at all? Probably not, but it’s still good.
The aubergine needs to be cut into fine slices and fried in a very hot pan to avoid them becoming sponges of oil and I prefer to griddle them for that very reason.  You can pick up a cast iron griddle pan for under ten pounds on Ebay and it will be your friend for life, if you don’t have one, go get one now.

1 medium aubergine

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

olive oil

3 garlic cloves peeled and chopped

5 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley

2 dried chillies crumbled

600g fresh tomatoes, chopped

Salt to taste1tsp sugar

300g spaghetti or pasta of your choice

120g parmesan freshly grated

Slice the aubergines into really thin slices, sprinkle with salt. Leave for half an hour.  Rinse and dry. In the past, aubergines were far more bitter and this removed the bitter juices, these days they are rarely bitter but the salting will reduce the amount of oil absorbed in cooking.

While they are draining heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pan and add the garlic, parsley and chill.

Fry gently for almost 5 minutes.

When the garlic has started to turn a golden light brown, add the tomatoes and cook for ONLY 5 minutes. Then set aside

Heat 3 more tablespoons of the olive oil in a frying pan and add aubergine slices to cover the bottom. Do one batch at a time and do not overcrowd the pan. Or better still place them on a hot griddle over a high gas flame.

Fry on both sides until light brown and crisp.

Drain well on kitchen paper.

Repeat until all the aubergine is cooked.

Drain thoroughly return to the pan. Place the sauce back on the heat, when hot, add the aubergine and finish with the grated cheese.Cook the spaghetti in a generous amount of boiling salted water.Serve immediately with a green salad and garlicy dressing.

Vietnamese Barbecued Aubergine/eggplant & Lime Coriander Corn

I love aubergines on the barbie and this dish is superb.  I was shown how to make the sweet/sour/salty/hot sauce by a hotel chef in Vietnam and I’ve tried making them in various incarnations. You can make them in advance for an outdoor party as they taste great at room temperature or even cold from the fridge.

Ingredients

1 tblsp             caster sugar

2 tbspn             rice vinegar

2 tbspn             fish sauce

1 clove             garlic peeled and chopped

1                      Thai chilli (hot) chopped finely

2                      Aubergines/eggplants

2                      roasted peanuts, crushed roughly

3-4tbsp             chopped coriander

1                      spring onion (optional) green part only, chopped

Combine the sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, garlic and chilli in a small bowl and set aside.

Prick the aubergine with a fork or you make some light cuts along the length of the aubergine with the tip if a sharp knife for easy peeling later. Don’t forget or it may burst in the heat.

Grill over medium coals or a gas flame tuning regularly until the flesh has softened and the skin is charred. The remove to a rack and allow to cool.

When the aubergines have cooled, split them open.  Mash the softened flesh with a fork a little and then pour on the sauce. Add the chopped coriander and some spring onion and finish with a sprinkling of chopped roasted peanuts.  This dish is best served at room temperature.

Corn with Lime and Coriander butter

A fine flavoured butter to brush onto hot corn cobs. The sharp lime lifts the sweetness of the corn, and contrasts nicely with earthy-ness of the coriander and cracked pepper, finishing off each bite with little salty bursts of Maldon salt crystals. I steamed the cobs as the ‘stair-rods’ of rain stopped play, but this is another excellent one for the barbecue.

4                      corn cobs

75g                  butter

1                      lime, juice and zest

2 tbspns            chopped coriander

Maldon sea salt and cracked black pepper

Barbecue, steam or boil your corn until tender

Meanwhile, zest the lime and set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan for a minute of so.

When ready, remove from heat and add the zest, coriander, salt and pepper. Squeeze in the juice of half the lime. Taste. If the lime is big and juicy this will be enough but if it is one of those tough little dry ones you will need to squeeze in the other half.

Take a pasty brush and brush over the hot corn. Enjoy, with butter running down you chin.

Summer dips – beetroot and aubergine/ eggplant

Here are two of my favourite dips to make with Greek yoghurt on a summers day. The beetroot dip was shown to me by a Russian, it contains a hefty amount of raw garlic for such a small dish but he insisted this was how it was made in Georgia. The garlic fest. adds a hot tang to the earthy flavour of the beets, yum.

The aubergine dip is traditionally made by searing a plump, fresh aubergine over flame to give it a smoky flavour. When made like this (rather than in a conventional oven) I would not add the Greek yoghurt but leave the vegetable to star. This has always been known in our household as “poor man’s caviar.”

CDC beets (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Beetroot Dip

4                         medium beets, stalks and root    removed, scrubbed thoroughly

6 large                garlic cloves, peeled and chopped finely

6 heaped tbsp   Greek yoghurt

1/2tsp                  salt or to your taste

sprinkle of           paprika

Steam the beetroot for about 30-40mins or until soft enough for a knife to cut through with ease. On no account boil them or you will lose the fabulous colour. Mash the beets or use a food processor, mix in the other ingredients and serve with tortilla chips.

Aubergine dip

1                        large aubergine/egg plant

1                        lemon , juice of

3 tbsp heaped  Greek yoghurt

2 tbsp                chopped flat leaf-parsley or mint leaves

salt                     to taste

Prick the aubergine with a fork and bake in a fairly hot oven for about an hour until the skin is crisp, or better still barbecue it and scorch the skin.

Scoop out the soft flesh, chop with a knife then mash with a potato masher. Squeeze in the lemon juice, stir in the yoghurt. Add the chopped herbs and serve. Excellent on toast or eaten with crisp flat bread.