Spicy Aubergine and Tomato Salad

From Tagines & Couscous, Ghillie Başan, Ryland Peters & Small. 2010.

Christmas over it’s time to get back to normal food in normal-sized portions.

I heated the oven up to 200ºC and when it was ready put in an aubergine and two tomatoes. They were left to cook for half and hour, then tested to see if cooked. The aubergine was quite soft so all the vegetables were taken out and left to cool.

The aubergine was cut in half and all of the flesh scraped out and then chopped to a mush-like consistency. The tomatoes were peeled, cut in halves and the seeds removed. These also were chopped into small pieces.

Two garlic cloves were chopped and added to a saucepan with some olive oil. As soon as they began to colour the tomato pulp was added with a teaspoon of harissa and cooked for a few minutes more until it had begun to thicken. The aubergine was now added with a handful of chopped parsley and a handful of chopped coriander. The juice of half a lemon was added, the mixture was tested for seasoning and when adjusted to suit my palate it was ready to eat when it had cooled down to warm.

The salad was dished up and served with a couple of Suffolk Marys. The recipe suggested a sourdough bread, but I had just made the biscuits.

Aubergine and tomatoes are always a tasty combination and with the harissa to add some heat to the mixture and lemon juice to gave it a tang this was a pleasing salad. I found that with the biscuits it was sufficient for a meal.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔