Ute cooks:ROASTED AUBERGINES WITH YOGHURT AND POMEGRANATE

Perfect marriage of pomegranate and aubergine

This is another recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Plenty (I have recently posted the recipe for his deliciously addictive roasted pumpkin taken from the same vegetarian cookery book).

I love aubergines and this recipe gives this handsome vegetable a perfect center stage.  Together with the tangy pomegranate seeds and the fresh yoghurt,this is a dish that would convince the most dedicated carnivore that vegetables are not too bad after all.

What I particularly like about Plenty is the very detailed description of the recipes,for example doing this recipe I learned how to de-seed a pomegranate.  Common knowledge to some,this was an eureka experience for me and I kept on buying pomegranates after it because de-seeding is so much fun!

ROASTED AUBERGINES WITH YOGHURT AND POMEGRANATE

Amount: for 2 people

Cooking time: 50 min

Ingredients:

- 1 aubergine

- 1 pomegranate

- fresh thyme (the original recipe suggests lemon thyme)

- 40 ml olive oil

- some sea salt

- some sesame seeds (the original recipe is with the Arabian herb mixture Za’atar which I have never heard of before but I think I should get)

For the Sauce:

- 100 mg Greek Yoghurt (add a bit of water or lemon juice to make it more spreadable)

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- some olive oil to drizzle on top

- salt and pepper

- (one crushed clove of garlic) –not for me as I don’t like raw garlic

fresh thyme,sea salt and sesame

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees

2. Prepare the aubergines by cutting them in half lengthway and cut their surface with 3-4 parallel incision and then make some incision in a 45-90 degree angle to create a diamond pattern (do not cut the skin!)

3. Put aubergines with the cut side up on a baking tray and brush with olive oil.  The aubergines take up a suprising amount of olive oil,so keep brushing until all the olive oil is used up and soaked into the aubergine’s flesh. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as well as the fresh thyme leaves and roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes.  When soft and nicely browned,take them out and leave to cool.

aubergines drained in olive oil

4. Now to the most fun part –cut the pomegranate in half and grab it cut surface down holding it over a bowl.  Then with a wooden spoon gently knock on skin to loosen seeds.  Then knock more vigorously until all the seed have fallen out of the fruit through your fingers into the bowl. Get rid off all the white bits.

Ute happily de-seeding pomegranates

5. Mix the ingredients for the sauce and spoon over cut surface of cooled aubergine.  Sprinkle some sesame seeds and some fresh thyme and,depending on your preference,add plenty of pomegranate seeds.  Finally sprinkle some more olive oil on top.

Enjoy!

See the original recipe here on The Guardian or watch the lovely Yotam cook this recipe on youTube.

You may also like:

• Ute cooks:ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH CARDAMON AND NIGELLA SEEDS (Ottolenghi)
• Ute cooks:BULGUR WITH AVOCADO AND POMEGRANATE
• Ute cooks:LEMON AND GOAT’S CHEESE RAVIOLI