BRAISED AUBERGINES

(Melanzane in Tegame)

Serves 6

6 baby aubergines (preferably the Tunisian variety)

Salt

4 cloves garlic

Large bunch fresh basil leaves

Freshly ground black pepper

1 medium onion, minced

125 ml/4 fl oz olive oil

225 g/8 oz fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped

3 sprigs fresh basil only

Wash the aubergines, cut off their stems, and make 5 or 6 deep incisions, starting about 12 mm/½ inch below the top and ending about 12 mm/½ inch from the bottom. Each aubergine must remain in one piece.

Soak the aubergines in salted water for a couple of hours. Chop the garlic and the basil very fine, and add a little bit of salt and some black pepper.

Rinse and drain the aubergines, and stuff a pinch of the chopped mixture into each incision. This is hard work, requiring considerable thumb power to pry open the incisions, and at the same time delicacy to avoid breaking the aubergines apart. (One Sicilian name for this dish is milinciani ammuttunati, which has connotations of a real heave-ho!)

Sauté the onion in the olive oil, then add the aubergines, turning them until they are brown on all sides. Add the tomatoes, a pinch of salt, and the basil sprigs. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes, or until the aubergines are tender all the way through. Serve either hot or cold.

A large number of recipes require that the pulp of the aubergine be removed and treated in one way or another before being returned to the skin for a final cooking. One such recipe is called tabacchiere (“snuffboxes”), a name that I thought odd for a relatively humble dish, until I read that it originated in Messina, a free port where snuff was cheap enough for almost every pocket.