Serve the eggplant caviar with crunchy sourdough toast or alongside grilled ingredients.William Meppem

easyTime:30 mins - 1 hourServes:4

Eggplant caviar is a textural dish that works as well as a starter served with crunchy toast as it does as a sauce,particularly with grilled or roasted fish. You can also add cumin and tahini to make a version of baba ghanoush that is,again,wonderful swiped up with bread,and awesome with roasted or grilled food.

I’ve paired the eggplant with roasted garlic puree. Roasting neutralises the volatile oils,and the harsh garlic notes yield to a sweet caramel flavour. You could roast about three whole heads of garlic and make a pot of roast garlic sauce to serve with chicken or fish.

Ingredients

2 medium eggplants
1 whole head of garlic,unpeeled
½ tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
juice of ½ lemon
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
toasted slices of sourdough bread to serve

Method

Step1
Preheat the oven to 160C fan-forced (180C conventional). Prick the eggplant all over with a fork and oil it slightly. Wrap the garlic,oiled and salted,in foil. Put both on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Roast for 40-60 minutes – the garlic should be very soft and the eggplant should be soft and collapsed. Remove from the oven and cool.
Step2
Cut the eggplant in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Place it in a sieve and strain off the juices.
Step3
Cut the garlic in half across the equator and squeeze the flesh out of the skins and into a small bowl. Season with sea salt and pepper,the juice of half a lemon,and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Use a fork to mix it to a puree.
Step4
Place the drained eggplant into a bowl and add the vinegar. Whisk the mixture while pouring in the remaining 5 tablespoons of olive oil,little by little,as though making mayonnaise,until the eggplant mixture is creamy and light. Season with salt and pepper,and fold through parsley.
Step5
To serve,spread the garlic puree on warm toasted bread slices and dollop eggplant caviar on top.

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Nine delicious meat-free ways to make the most of eggplant

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