Baked charmoulah vegetables

This is an easy way to make delicious vegetables, brilliant for summer.

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp olive oil

2 crushed garlic cloves

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1tsp chilli seeds

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp ground cumin

for mixed sliced vegetables such as 

Cauliflower

Aubergine

Sweet potato

Courgette

 

Method

preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7

Mix the ingredients in a bowl 

brush onto the vegetable flesh. 

lay in single layer in oven dish

Bake for 40 minutes, turning midway, until cooked through and golden. 

Baba ghanoush - aubergine puree

Back to the beautiful aubergines, I find them irresistible. I grilled these on the hob, letting the smell of charred skin fill the kitchen. Once they were charred all over, I wrapped them in silver foil and let them sit, to cool. As they cool they continue to cook, and the skin loosens even more, and some fluid leaches out of them. You can see in the picture that there is still some steam coming out of these - I was in a hurry.

So, once the aubergines are cool enough to handle you rub off the charred skin. Then cradle the denuded aubergine and squeeze it gently, a slimy liquid will come out, keep squeezing, tenderly , but don't pulverize the flesh. Take off the stalk and set aside. Prepare all your aubergines like this - in the picture are three smallish aubergines. I cooked them and made them into baba ghanoush and ate it, so, no pictures.

Today I have one small aubergine, and so that's what I'm using for a step by step recipe. I make this aubergine puree for parties and for an easy meal, following Claudia Roden's recipe, from a Book of Middle Eastern Food, which is a culinary treasure trove. Here it is: 

This rich cream is a combination of two strong flavours: the smoky one of aubergines prepared as below, and the strong taste of tahina sharpened by lemon and garlic. It is exciting and vulgarly seductive. The ingredients are added almost entirely to taste, the harmony of flavours depending largely on the size and flavour of the aubergines used. The quantities below give a fairly large amount, enough to be served as a dip at a party.

Serves 8

·         3 large aubergines

·         2 cloves garlic, or to taste 

·         salt

·         ¼ pot tahina paste or less

·         3 lemons, or more to taste

·         ½ tsp ground cumin (optional)

·         2 tbs finely chopped parsley, a few black olives or a tomato, thinly sliced, to garnish

Cook the aubergines over charcoal or under a gas flame or electric grill until the skin blackens and blisters. Peel and wash the aubergines, and squeeze out as much of the bitter juice as possible. Crush the garlic cloves with salt. Mash the aubergines with a potato masher or a fork, then add the crushed garlic and little more salt, and pound to a smooth, creamy purée. Add the tahina paste and lemon juice alternately, beating well or blending for a few seconds between each addition. Taste and add more salt, lemon juice, garlic or tahina if you think it is necessary and, if you like, a little cumin. Pour the cream into a bowl or a few smaller serving dishes. Garnish with finely chopped parsley and black olives, or with Arab or other bread (pitta), as a salad or as a party dip.

If you can't be bothered to make it yourself, you can buy it in a tin!

Tahini makes a nice dip too, but here it is just an ingredient. I use just about a third as much tahini as aubergine.

charred and hot

wrapped in foil

cooled and ready to peel

Aubergines in the flesh

A bit dented, but still a beautiful purple-y black

Aubergines - baked and stuffed - purple lovelies

blanched, oiled and ready for baking

Stuffed aubergines

Aubergines have a bit of magic about them, not only are they beautiful and curved, with a stunning purple thin skin. The flesh becomes silky smooth when cooked. This recipe mixes the velvety flesh with mushrooms, spinach and cream with a twist of lemon and a crunch of pine nuts.


I made this as a veggie alternative to Sunday's roast chicken.


Ingredients 
2 medium aubergines
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
225g mushrooms
5 large pellets of frozen chopped spinach or 350g of fresh spinach
50g parmesan, grated
6 tbsp cream
3tbsp breadcrumbs
1 lemon
25g pine nuts, toasted
2 tbsp fresh parsley
Pepper and salt


Method


Heat oven to 200C/180C/gas 6

• Bring a large pan of water to the boil
• Cut aubergines in half lengthwise through the stems
• Put aubergine halves into the boiling water, and cook for 4-5 mins then drain well on kitchen paper
• Brush aubergines all over with olive oil, place on baking tray and cook for 20-25 mins, until tender and golden

• While aubergine bakes:
• Wash fresh spinach if using, if frozen set it to thaw
• Toast pine nuts gently in dry pan over low heat – make sure they don’t burn, keep shaking the pan, until they are golden, and set aside
• Finely chop the onion and garlic, put remaining oil in the pan and fry on a medium heat, until transparent and softened
• Prepare fresh breadcrumbs 
• Chop parsley
• Grate zest from one washed lemon
• Mix together topping of pine nuts, breadcrumbs, parsley and lemon zest
• Once the aubergines are cooked, scoop out the flesh, leaving about 1cm on the skin, setting them aside
• Chop the flesh and add to fry with onions and garlic, for a few minutes
• Slice mushrooms and add to onion and aubergine mixture, cook for around 5 minutes stirring all the time 
• Add  spinach to fry with the mixture, until cooked – there shouldn’t be much liquid, add a squeeze of lemon juice (but no pips) and stir it in
• Add cream, taste and season
• Spoon mixture into aubergine halves
• Sprinkle topping over mixture
• Return to oven to cook for 10-15 minutes, until topping is golden and serve

You can prepare everything in advance and cook the stuffed aubergines from chilled, in which case check the heat make sure everything is piping hot before serving.