A is for Aubergine

I love meat. What I do not love as much is factory-reared mass-produced meat. While it made protein accessible to the masses, it brought with it immense ethical problems and climate change consequences. What is great, however, is sustainable, free-range, and maybe even hunted meat. For one, the flavour from such products is exponentially better. Animals are treated better. We also avoid much of the ethical challenges. Granted, sustainably sourced products are often more expensive than the factory-reared versions. This, in my opinion, is not a problem but a blessing. Spend a little more on sustainable meat while cutting down on your general intake. You will find you will enjoy food a lot more. Not to mention you are doing your part to preserve this planet. 

This leads me to the recipe for today. Vegetables can be just as satisfying, if not more so, than meat. At least when prepared right. This aubergine recipe ticks that box. Warm, hearty, filling. 

Ingredients:

1) Aubergine

2) Fresh rosemary 

3) Thyme (preferably fresh but dried can work too)

4) Garlic - 1 or 2 cloves

5) Olive oil

6) Butter

Optional Ingredients:

1) Goats curd or cheese

2) Pomegranate arils

3) A dash of imagination

Total cost per serving? ~$2. If you buy this in a restaurant? Probably $12 at the very least. 

Method:

1) Cut your aubergine lengthwise in half.

2) Score your aubergine. You do this first by cutting gentle diagonal lines across the length of the aubergine. Then flip the aubergine and cut diagonal likes across the length again. What should result is a criss-cross pattern over the flesh of your aubergine. Almost like what grill marks look like on a steak.

Tip: Scoring your aubergine does several things. First, it makes it look incredibly pretty after cooking. Second, it aides in the cooking of your aubergine. Third, it allows your seasoning to better penetrate the vegetable.

3) For the seasoning. Start by cutting your clove of garlic into halves. Take the half and rub it on the exposed flesh of your aubergine. (Tip: This perfumes the outer flesh with the sweet scent of garlic.) Next, cut your garlic into fine chips or chunks. When you scored your aubergine, you made slits in its flesh. Take your garlic chips/chunks and wedge them into the slits. 

Tip: Make sure the garlic is wedged in and not exposed out of the aubergine. This ensures that the garlic will not burn when cooking but will almost purée and flavour deep in the aubergine's flesh.

4) Still on seasoning, take your rosemary stalks and cut them into smaller stalks. When you scored your aubergine, you made little points where the criss-cross meet. Take these little stalks of rosemary and jam them into these little points. Again, you want them relatively deep, but feel free to let some of the rosemary stick out of the aubergine. Last, sprinkle your thyme flowers over the aubergine. Salt and pepper the aubergine generously. 

(Tip: Jamming stalk of rosemary into your aubergine again helps the flavour to penetrate. You can also do this with meat! Poke a little hole in your meat and jam that stalk in.)

5) To cook, heat your pan on a medium-high heat. Once hot, add olive oil to your pan and put your aubergine flesh-side down. 

Tip: We want to develop some colour on the aubergine. Where there is colour, there is flavour. No colour therefore means no flavour. This also applies to other vegetables and meat. And so we want to develop a rich brown crisp. In chef terms, this is called caramelisation. In science, the Maillard reaction where amino acids (proteins) and sugars react to create a sweet, rich flavour and a browned tone. Because eggplants are relatively delicate, and because we will be cooking it for about 20 minutes, you do not want too high a heat or your eggplant will burn before it is cooked.

6) Once you achieve a relatively brown colour on the flesh (this should take about 10 minutes), add more olive oil and a good knob of butter. The butter should begin to foam after awhile. Once it foams, lower the heat to a medium to medium-low. The olive oil prevents your butter from burning, and the butter is now a noisette (hazelnutty colour and flavour) which adds incredible flavour to your aubergine and continues the Maillard reaction. 

Here, if you have an oven, turn your aubergine flesh-side up and chuck it in at 200 degrees celcius for about 20 minutes.

If like me you only work with a stove, take a piece of baking paper, pierce a hole in the middle, and lightly place over your pan. Let your aubergine cook by itself, still flesh-side down, for about 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, flip it around flesh-side up and let it cook for about 8 minutes. For the last four minutes, get a spoon, add more butter if needed (and more herbs/garlic if you desire), and spoon your frothy butter over the top of the aubergine that is flesh side up. 

Tip: This technique is called basting. It ensures even cooking. Spooning butter over the top of whatever you are cooking also helps incorporate flavour into the dish.

Tip: My struggle with recipes, which is why I do not use recipes, is that the timing depends on the size of your ingredients. Unfortunately this makes recipes a little inaccurate and not as useful as you would hope. BUT. I used a medium-ish aubergine. If yours is smaller, cut the time down. If bigger, increase the time. You can test how cooked the aubergine is by sticking a knife into the flesh all the way down. It should slide in like butter and not feel crunchy.

Et voila. You have an aubergine ready to eat! Feel free to leave the aubergine on a paper towel before serving to absorb excess oil. Have it on its own, with rice, or pasta. Or, with just one additional step and two additional ingredients you can add extra layers of flavour and texture, giving it an incredible depth and making it amazingly luxurious. 

1) Take your goats curd/cheese and layer it on top of your hot aubergine half. 

2) Generously sprinkle pomegranate arils over. 

Done. The sweetness of the aubergine with the rich punch of herbs and garlic. A soothing, creamy, yet slightly salty goats curd/milk that balances the deep flavour of the aubergine. The sweet, refreshing burst of pomegranate arils. Delightful. Alternatively, here is a suggestion on what might even work better. Swap the goats curd/cheese for some greek yogurt with a squeeze of lemon juice and some lemon rind, seasoned with some salt and pepper. This lifts the dish and provides a different flavour combination compared to the goats curd/cheese. 

Now that you have gotten to this point, I need your suggestions. What would you like to see more of in this blog? What kind of recipes or would you like more process descriptions/pictures etc.? 

#Vegetables