Aubergine, also known as eggplant and perhaps more commonly known as the Brinjal or melongene, is a wonderful vegetable, I must admit to the fact that the deep purple colour of the skin never fails to elicit a sense of mystery and luxury about the fruit. One cannot help but feel that there is something magical about the fruit or, and indeed it was believed that because of the skin’s deep and ethereal colour, that the fruit was poisonous – but rest assured, it is not!
Aubergines actually come in a range of colours and are closely related to the tomato. Well no wonder- tomatoes must be one of God’s best gifts to the world and its relation; the aubergine does not fall short of the family accolades. Aubergine can be substantial without being heavy and it is unsurprising that tomato and Aubergine marry wonderfully together in a dish.
Aubergine appears in a range of countries' dishes, from the Middle East, Thailand and China, North Africa, Turkey, Greece and Spain.
Whenever I make aubergine, I always wash it, cut it and then cover the cut pieces with quite a layer of refined or coarse salt. I then leave this for anything from ten minutes to an hour. This known as "
degorging". Many people say that you don’t have to do this, especially since the flavour of aubergine changes when it is cooked. But for me this does more than just remove any bitterness from the fruit (caused by the nicotinoid alkaloids in the plant which you can see in the brown watery runoff) as well as the fact that it helps to reduce the instance of oil absorption which happens because the fruit is rather spongy– which is not cool if you are using an expensive olive oil or if you are watching your weight! I also know some people who seem react badly and get terrible headaches from the nicotinoid alkaloids even after the fruit has been thoroughly cooked. Here I think that degorging helps and, though I am no scientist, I suspect that cooking aubergine with tomato also counteracts their affect.
But enough of that, let’s get back to the deliciousness of what can be made with the aubergine! Because the fruit is quite a rich, this also makes a substantial vegetarian dish if you leave out the chicken.
Ingredients
2 large aubergines, sliced into rounds to a medium thickness ( +/- 1cm)
4 chicken breasts, cut into thin slices (one for each slice of aubergine)
Sundried tomatoes, washed and left to soak in crushed garlic, 3 generous tblsps olive oil and a healthy dose of Oregano.
Calamata olives (depipped and finely chopped)
100g Mozzarella or ricotta cheese, depending on your preference
Two cans of whole peeled tomatoes
Salt and fresh black pepper
Toothpicks
small bunch flat-leaf parsley roughly chopped.
To make
Degorge the aubergine slices as described above. You will find that this also makes the slices more pliable and easier to roll.
If you are using ricotta cheese, you can add the chopped olives, a good pinch of salt and crack of black pepper and mix it up.
Rinse the aubergine slices well.
Season the chicken slices with the salt and pepper.
The rest is fairly easy:
Take a slice of aubergine. Place a slice of chicken on top of that. Then add a bit of the olives (if they are not in the ricotta cheese), one or two sundried tomatoes, a slice of mozzarella or spread a teaspoon of the ricotta mixture and roll up the slice and secure with a toothpick. Place in an ovenproof dish that has been lightly greased with olive oil. Drizzle the remaining oil and herbs from the sundried tomatoes over the top (pop in any sundried tomatoes that you may have left over too. Save about half for the top. Squash over two cans of whole peeled tomatoes with all the juice. Drizzle over remaining flavoured oil and a bit of crumbled ricotta.
Pop in a hot oven (220 degrees Celsius) and allow to cook for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 150 degrees Celsius and cook for a further 20 minutes.
Serve on top of cous cous that has a little bit of nutmeg sprinkled into it and then top with the tomato sauce that has formed as part of the dish with a generous pinch of freshly cut flat-leaf parsley.
Enjoy!
