Eggplants
We take great pride in our produce. Sinan, our monosyllabic fruit and veg guy, tends to arrive 2 hours late and with only some of what we ordered, but he knows how to choose the best watermelons (a dying art) and we can count on him for the small, crunchy cucumbers we love, exactly the kind of green chilies we need, and black Bursa figs in season. Sabrina brings us the best of Europe—crazy colored cauliflowers from France; garlic flowers from Cornwall for ten days in July; sweet tomatoes and round eggplants from southern Italy. These eggplants have a sweet, white flesh without a hint of bitterness and are a particular joy to cook and eat—if you ever see them in the shops, treat yourself. That said, most supermarkets stock terrific eggplants these days, so if you can’t find them, don’t feel as if you are missing out.
The eggplant has somehow become a meat substitute and features heavily in vegetarian menus. It seems that if you’re a vegetarian and don’t like eggplants, you are doomed to starvation or salad. These are three of our favorite eggplant recipes—they’re the ones we always go back to in our menus and are favored by meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.
Vegetarian moussaka
This dish was inspired by Nirit Putterman, a food-fanatic and friend who sends us long emails about venison stew and has been known to call us in the middle of the night with questions about the water-fat ratio in choux pastry, and again in the morning to report the results of her baking. Like all her dishes, this has been meticulously tried and tested, and rightly judged to be delicious.
A hearty dinner for 4
4 large eggplants, trimmed
olive oil, for brushing and drizzling
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 oz/100g goats’ cheese (we prefer a log, but you can use a soft one if you prefer)
2 tbsp/25g kashkaval (or pecorino) cheese, grated
For the tomato sauce
1 large red onion, peeled and diced
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
½ cinnamon stick
2 thick slices of lemon
4 sprigs of fresh oregano, picked
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1½ lbs large plum tomatoes, diced (6–8 tomatoes)
generous 1 tsp sugar
1½ tbsp tomato purée
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2½ tbsp water
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Slice each eggplant into four or five slices lengthways. Brush a baking tray with olive oil and place the slices flat on it. Drizzle with some more oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Roast in the oven for 12 minutes, then turn the tray around to ensure that the slices cook evenly. Roast for another 8–12 minutes until they go golden and soft. Set aside to cool.
Sauté the onion, garlic, cinnamon stick, lemon slices and oregano with the oil and salt in a frying pan over a medium heat, until the onion and garlic start to soften. Add half the diced tomatoes and the sugar. Increase the heat to high and cook for about 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes go very soft. Add the remaining tomato dice along with the tomato purée, black pepper and water and continue cooking over a high heat for another 6–8 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick, but you can leave the lemon slices in the pan—they taste really good.
Cover the base of a small casserole dish or ovenproof saucepan (about 8 in/20cm diameter) with a layer of the cooked eggplants and spoon a third of the tomato sauce on top. Smooth it out a little and crumble half the goats’ cheese all over. Repeat the process with a second layer of eggplant slices, another third of the tomato sauce and the rest of the goats’ cheese. Cover with the remaining eggplants and sauce, and sprinkle with the grated kashkaval. You can prepare up to this stage a day in advance—just cover and store in the fridge until needed. Then 30 minutes before you want to serve, take the moussaka out of the fridge to come to room temperature and preheat the oven to 400°F.
Bake in the center of the oven for 20–25 minutes, or until the kashkaval cheese topping is all melted and golden.
Badargani—eggplant rolls filled with walnuts & pomegranate
This is a festive, colorful, good-looking vegetarian dish with tons of flavor. You can serve this as a starter if you want, or as a main with some yogurt and a large green salad.
Dinner for 4
4 large eggplants, trimmed
olive oil, for brushing and drizzling
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
For the filling
1 large red onion
3 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
¾ cup/100g toasted walnuts, roughly chopped (reserve 2 tbsp to garnish)
3 tbsp pomegranate molasses
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1¾ in/5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 small bunch of parsley, chopped (about ½ cup)
generous ½ cup /100g fresh pomegranate seeds (reserve 2 tbsp to garnish)
a pinch of cayenne
Heat the oven to 425°F.
Slice each eggplant into five or six slices lengthways. Keep the outside slices for the filling and use the nice, long, inside slices for the rolls. Brush a baking tray with oil and place the nice inside slices flat on it. Drizzle with some more oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Roast in the oven for 12 minutes, then turn the tray around to ensure that the slices cook evenly. Roast for another 8–12 minutes until they are golden and soft. Set aside to cool.
While the slices are in the oven, peel the onion and dice finely. Cut the eggplant trimmings (the outside slices) into the same sized cubes. Fry the onion in the oil over a medium heat until it starts to soften, then add the diced eggplant and the salt. Cook until the eggplant goes very soft. Remove the pan from the stove and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well and taste to see if you would like to adjust the seasoning.
Place a large spoonful of the filling at one end of each roasted eggplant slice and roll them into thick sausages. Place the filled eggplant rolls in an ovenproof serving dish. If you have a little filling left over, spread it around the edges of the dish. Place in the oven for 5 minutes to warm through before serving. Sprinkle the warmed rolls with the reserved walnuts and pomegranate seeds and serve 3 rolls per person.
