A while back there was a TV programme
on the BBC about the various fruits and vegetables grow in the UK but
underutilised by suppliers and consumers. Either the food item itself wasn’t
very popular, or it was just a lot cheaper to grow them overseas. For each
episode a famous chef would investigate a particular item, talk to growers and
then share some recipes. It was disappointingly dull. One good thing to come
out of it though, was this incredible recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi on an
episode focused on walnuts. Who would have thought that a half hour television
programme about the British walnut growing industry could be boring? I was
shocked.
I had never eaten or even seen a
pickled walnut before I made this recipe, but I like walnuts, and vinegar, so
thought they couldn’t be that scary. Boy was I mistaken. They are icky like how
vacuum-packed cooked beetroot is icky – with added layers of ick due to the
fact that they look nothing at all like a walnut, but a brown squishy blob
thing. But my inner feminist domestic goddess would never be beaten by
something as trivial as a pickled walnut, so I ‘ovaried up’ and carried on with
the recipe. And it was definitely worth it.
Ingredients
4 medium aubergines
4 tbsp olive oil
Coarse salt (sea salt or I use pink Himalayan rock
salt) and freshly ground black pepper
For the salsa:
125g walnuts, chopped
80g or 2 whole pickled walnuts, chopped
2 tsp liquid from the
pickled walnuts jar
1 and a half tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped parsley
The seeds from ½ pomegranate.
My insights into de-seeding pomegranates can be seen here.
Method
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Cut both the aubergines in half lengthways
through the stalk (its prettier that way). Score the flesh in a criss-cross
pattern, being careful not to go through the skin and stab yourself in the hand
with a knife.
Oil the cut side of the aubergines. Aubergines can absorb an awful lot of oil. I
reckon that the best way to make sure they are coated but don’t absorb too much
oil is to pour a little on the baking tray and press the cut side of the
aubergine into it for a second or two.
Sprinkle the aubergines with a generous pinch
of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Place on a baking tray,
flesh-side up, and roast in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the flesh
is cooked through and turns a dark golden-brown. Leave them in the oven with
the oven off and the door closed for at least another 10 minutes.
Make the salsa by mixing all the ingredients
together just after you put the aubergines in the oven. I reduced the levels of
vinegar from the original recipe, as I wanted it to be a little lighter. Just
before you are ready to serve it, taste it and judge if you feel it needs more
vinegar.
Serve the aubergines on a
big platter slightly warm or at room temperature, with the salsa spooned over
the top. If you have any extra parsley and
pomegranate seeds you may want to scatter some over the top of the finished dish
too.
No comments:
Post a Comment