Last summer, at a wine tasting in France I made the most wonderful discovery caviar d'aubergine. I was until that point an aubergine refusnik but being a poilte well brought up girl I gave this dish a try and was converted. I haven't taken a photo of the finished dish because to be honest it tastes a million times better than it photographs. I have also seen recipes where the cooked mix is pureed to make a dip - i'll be trying that some. My recipe (and the wine tasting) can courtesy of Emma Kershaw of La Maison du Rire in Languedoc Roussillon.
I urge to try it - especially if you hate aubergine.
2 large aubergines
1 red pepper
1 red onion
3 - 4 cloves of garlic
herbs de provence
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
olive oil
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Roughly chop 1 aubergine, the pepper, onion and garlic cloves.
Toss into a baking tray with lots of herbs de provence (be generous at least 1 heaped tablespoon), the cumin and plenty of olive oil.
Season to taste.
Mix throughly.
Turn the heat down to 175C and cook for 45 mins to an hour, stirring from time to, you might need to add more olive oil.
Meanwhile if you have a diffuser cook the other aubergine on this.
Just place the whole aubergine onto the diffuser, turning from time to time.
Once all of the skin is blackened and the aubergine is soft all over, remove from the heat and place into a bowl to cool.
Once the aubergine is cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skin.
Roughly chop the aubergine and add to the mix in the oven.
By cooking the aubergine this way it gives the Caviar a lovely smokey flavour, you can get diffusers in any good cookware shop they cost around £3 so worth the investment! If you don't have one just cook both aubergines in the oven.
The caviar is done when all the vegetables are really soft and slightly caramelised.
Check seasoning and adjust if needed.
