I just bought an aubergine

[SouthWestmom]

Really fancied eating it. Now what?
I'm vegetarian. In the house I have oil tomatoes onions ('mushrooms but I hate them) cheese etc.

What do I do with it...

Haven't read the whole thread so sorry if I'm repeating some of this...

I think the idea about aubergines being bitter is rather out of date these days. Perhaps in the past aubergine varieties were bitter, but I've never had one. I only salted an aubergine once and it was so salty after that it ruined the dish.

What I do with them is

• fry slices in lots of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and eat greedily with oil dripping down chin
• cube, fry until soft, add a tin of tomatoes and some herbs, cook till everything really soft and saucy, and eat on spaghetti
• scoop out the insides, chop and fry till soft, then mix with chopped mushrooms and cheese, stuff back into the shells and bake in the oven
• cube the whole thing, fry till soft, mix with shopped mushrooms, chopped up potatoes, cheese and cubed ham/bacon (if you're not veggie), stick in a casserole and put in the oven to make a sort of aubergine bake

- use it (in think slices) instead of pasta sheets when making lasagna

• use it to add veggie bulk to bolognaise sauce
• ratatouille

shopped chopped mushrooms

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12957-chermoula-eggplant-with-bulgur-and-yogurt is gorgeous.

I quite often griddle it in slices (about a £1 coin thick) and then drizzle in garlic olive oil or pomegranate molasses.

Ratatouille... You can also mix it with cooked ravioli/tortelloni/ what ever you've got, sprinkle lots of cheese on it, and grill till bubbling and crispy. Breadcrumbs on the top add extra crispyness.

Parmigiana Pie

Preheat oven to 200C / 400F / GM6
Slice 2 large aubergines into 5mm slices
Put on a baking tray, drizzle with oil, roast for 15-20 mins until tender and starting to turn golden. Set aside.
Separately, take a frying pan, heat 2tbsp oil, 3 chopped garlic cloves and a pinch of chilli flakes until garlic lightly browned.
Add 1tsp dried rosemary, cook for 30 seconds
Stir in 1tbsp balsalmic vinegar, and simmer until reduced and starting to smell sweet
Add 500g passata, simmer for 10 mins
Take a pie dish and put layers (in this order) of tomato sauce, aubergines, a light sprinkling breadcrumbs, sliced mozzarella (2 balls in total) and repeat until you have used all the ingredients. Finish with aubergine, then a good layer of breadcrumbs, and 50g parmesan (Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons all do 'Italian Hard Cheese which is essentially vegetarian parmesan)
Bake at 180C / 350F / GM4 for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

Tis a favourite in this household :)

PS if you ever don't know how to use up something you have knocking around, then www.supercook.com lets you put in all the ingredients you have and tells you what you can cook with it

I like to bake them in the oven till they shrivel. No oil or seasoning. Scrape it the flesh all into a bowl with a bit of lemon juice. Put in pan and add cream, pecorino or palmesan or any strong hard cheese. salt & pepper. Absolutely delish as a side to anything....Esp' with lamb. Sorry I know you're veggie.....

Beignets d'aubergines

This is something I once had in France (and have made at home since) and it is delicious. The aubergines are sliced and cooked in a batter then served with a delicious classic tomato and garlic sauce (as you might make for a simple pasta sauce). Just make sure you slice the aubergines thin enough to cook nicely through. Absolutely gorgeous. google it for pics and french recipes

I also like aubergine parmigiana and I usually cook the aubergines first when I make it then do the layering.

I second (or third - others have recommended) a big roasting tin of chunky chopped aubergines peppers onions courgettes etc and glug olive oil and balsamic or add a jar of harissa or similar Moroccan type paste. Great with pasta or couscous.

Aubergine parmigiana can be so spectacular that we call it Transcendental Melanzane (TM) in this household (melanzane is the Italian for aubergine). You just need to make sure that you layer it with plenty of good mozzarella, a decent tomato sauce, and loads of sauteed garlic - as much as half a head - over the slices of pre-cooked aubergine.

But an Imam Biyaldi is also perfectly acceptable too.

Aubergine and mint - griddle the aubergines and whip up a dressing with fresh mint leaves, balsamic, white vinegar, oil, sugar, garlic salt & pepper. Bath aubergine in the dressing and eat when room temp. delishious.

I second the caponata.

If you want a really quick thing though you can cut it lengthways and put it in the microwave skin side up for 4 mins with a bit of oil brushed onto it, change sides, put cheese on and cook the other side for about 3 minutes. Delicious and easy

Little snacks for a party - cut it into slices and fry, then put in the oven with tomatoes cooked into a sauce and parmesan cheese on top.

I put them in everything - bloody lovely! Chop up them up small and use onions, courgettes and green lentils to make a veggie mince substitute. I use them in anything Mediterranean-y

I use it instead of pasta! Delicious! I just peel it, then slice it, and then cut into thin strips (like narrow chip size) and cook in a bit of oil in skillet. Then put spag bol sauce on top! Yum!

For those who don't want to use lots of oil (I'm looking at you, SW devotees), you can mix 1 teaspoon of good olive oil with 2 or 3 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice and brush over slices of aubergine about 1cm thick, then grill until browned on each side. Use in pretty much any of the recipes above that mention sliced or cubed aubergine. That's enough for 1 or 2 aubergines, depending on their size.

Involtini is wonderful, recipe i use is in Nigellas how to eat
My favourite meal i think , i am a big meat eater but think i prefer that to anything

I haven't rtft in detail but my favourite recipe is:
Cut the aubergine into thin strips lengthy ways
Soak them in salt water for about 30 mins to soften the strips
Remove them from the water and rinse under the tap
Spread pesto on on side, put a piece of feta, halmoumi or goats cheese at one end, roll it up into a wheel and secure with a skewer
Wrap in foil and bake for 20 mins in the oven
Also works really well on the bbq

I can tell you what NOT to do with aubergine - soup!

I followed a recipe, it sounded delicious. But it looked disgusting and it tasted worse. It was grey and mushy and slimy and very, very horrid. DON'T make soup

Marking my place. I love aubergine but never cook it at home, no idea why after reading all these gorgeous ideas and recipes!

In Italy in a restaurant I had a yummy aubergine cheese and tomato bake with alternate layers. The French classic ratatouille is also delicious and to be blunt why not just stuff it beadcrumbs herbs cheese onions tomatoes. Then there's always Greek moussaka you'd need a veggie version with pulses or quorn

Roast all the veg in the oven with some vegi sausages on a tray. Put in a pot, add stock, passata, herbs and spices and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or more. Voia, you have a yummy sausage casserole. I make it all the time. The aubergines taste amazing cooked this way, they always need lots of cooking to avoid the chewy boot effect.

That vegegeree stuff sounds the bomb.

Many delicious recipes here
I know a mediteranean dish from Cyprus: baked aubergines. It tastes sweetish but has no added sugar. Two large aubergines, one large sweet onion and a huge chopped bunch of flat leaf parsley. Slice aubergines a third of an inch and brush both sides with olive oil. Needs a lot of olive oil some use half a cup some a whole. Put a film of olive oil in the bottom of a stoneware oven dish and arrange a layer of thin onion slices first, thin tomato slices and half a cup of chopped parsley all of this mixed with oilive oil. On top of this lay half of the slices of the aubergines. Next repeat the layer of onions tomatoes parsley and on top the rest of aubergine slices. Top them with tomato and onions if you like, drizzle olive oil and bake in 150 fan oven checking the softness of the aubergines. You don't have to add salt. You can add pepper and cheese cubes if you like.

Bake in a medium dish to see how it goes. people vary the quantities of olive oil some use half a cup and some 1 cup.
It makes a delicious entree, lunch or supper.

I'd give them back their land that is rightfully theirs.

That'd be aborigines then? Not a fruit as such.
Apparently you can do anything with a small aubergine.

Yes to microwave -- they don't absorb nearly as much oil if you nuke them first.
I make spiced aubergine dip with them.
Pierce the aubgergine, microwave until soft, let it cool and chop it roughly.While it's cooling, chop an onion or shallot and a couple of cloves of garlic and cook gently in olive oil until soft. Add the chopped aubergine, some hot chili or cayenne powder to taste, and a teaspoon of ground cumin. Salt to taste. I put whole cumin seed in too. Add a good tablespoon of tomato puree, with a little water to thin it slightly, then cook until the mixture is thick. It may need more tomato puree or tomato pulp. After about 10 mins stir in a pinch of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice for a sweet/sharp note. Put into a bowl and sprnkle with chopped coriander, ( drizzle of olive oil if liked) Serve warm or at room temp with pita or arab bread.