Aubergine

"last night before
I fell asleep
I put the book
on the floor
looking down
I see its spine
with the golden
simple name
of the old
poet who might
already be dead
somehow he used
ancient magic
everyone says
we don't need anymore
to place inside
me that perfect
sadness"

- from "Aubergine", by Matthew Zapruder

This is a lovely dish, regardless of whether you call the vegetable "eggplant" or "aubergine". Fearnley-Whittingstall suggests two ways of serving it - with a dollop of yogurt and shredded mint, or with a bit of pesto. It's great both ways.

Roasted Eggplant Boats

(from River Cottage Veg Everyday, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall)

Ingredients

2 large eggplants

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 – 3 pinches crushed red pepper flakes

4 – 5 Tbsp olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

2 – 3 Tbsp pesto

OR

4 – 6 Tbsp plain, full-fat yogurt and 8 mint leaves, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut eggplants in half lengthways. Using a small, sharp knife, make a series of deep slashes diagonally across the flesh, going about two-thirds of the way into the flesh but not right through to the skin. You want to end up with 6 – 10 slashes, depending on the size of your eggplants.

Mix the garlic and red pepper flakes with 3 Tbsp of the olive oil. Hold one eggplant half in your hand and squeeze it from side to side so the slashes open up a little. Spoon some of the garlic- and red-pepper-oil over the top with a teaspoon, using the back of the spoon to work the oil down into the slashes. Repeat with the other halves.

Put the eggplant halves, flesh side up, in a roasting dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then trickle over a little more olive oil – there should be little or no unoiled flesh showing. Roast in the oven for about 50 minutes or until a deep golden brown.

Let eggplants cool slightly. Serve hot or warm, either smeared with a little pesto, or dabbed with yogurt and sprinkled with mint and a little more salt.