Epic Roasted Eggplant

Mothers Day Dinner

After being out and about all day doting on mum, or perhaps because we are in the thick of a pandemic, being inside all day treating mum like the queen she is, it only makes sense to make her dinner. However, we don’t want to spend 3 hours cooking, make a massive mess and cause some stress, no, we want something quick and easy, without mum knowing it was quick and easy, something full of flavour and looks amazing without you even breaking a sweat. This eggplant dish is for you, packed with punchy flavours like pomegranate and herbs, smoothed out with a classic labneh and bulked up with some Israeli couscous, the beautiful middle eastern flavours rolling off the tongue such as mums praise to your work. Eggplant can be hit and miss, if cooked properly its a beautiful delicate vegetable that soaks up loads of flavour and is very satisfying to eat, however, if not cooked properly it has a strange texture and a weird enzyme that burns your tongue and kind of feels spicy. That’s not what we want for our mothers. There are a few things you can burn without burning, yes there is a difference, there is a burnt that tastes great, and a burnt that is burnt and cannot be served, its a fine line to play with but getting it right can transform your eggplant to that amazing succulent vegetable you eat in good restaurants. In this recipe we score and season the eggplant, dousing it with a good hit of olive oil and smack it flesh side down into a hot pan.- Always lead with presentation side first in the pan, same goes with fish, skin on goes skin side down first, when there is no skin it means bone side down first, you are going to get the best-looking product this way. Back to the eggplant, and its starting to get pretty dark, almost burnt, leave it for that little bit longer until it makes you feel slightly uncomfortable, then flip. Upon flipping the aubergine, we hit it with a good dollop of pomegranate molasses, a little brown sugar or honey and some more olive oil, now it goes into a hot oven to roast, you will roast until soft and tender, it will take about 10 minutes, and wallah, beautiful aubergine, cooked and seasoned to perfection, pomegranate molasses adding a nice acidity, balanced by the sugar and going slightly caramelised because of it. Labneh is a yoghurt that has been ‘hung’ to remove the whey, ending up with very thick yoghurt, the texture is amazing, we sometimes spread it on toast with marmalade for breakfast, For this dish, it adds a nice creamy texture that rounds out the eggplant and pomegranate. This is a no-fuss, no tricks, fresh and beautiful meal, we hope your mother enjoys it as much as ours did. Happy mothers day.