Thursday 23 June 2011

A Very Versatile Vegetable

...is the aubergine, or eggplant, as it is known in some areas.
A week or so ago, I had one left from the weekend during which we cooked and ate less than expected, and since I am one of those people who absolutely hate to throw food away (unless it has really gone off and is not fit for consumption any longer), I decided to skip my usual cheese sandwiches for lunch and dinner and made use of said aubergine instead.
On the first day, I added some other leftovers: two spuds and a chunk of goat cheese seemed like good company to the aubergine. I also had a six pack of eggs which I did not want to sit around for much longer:
I peeled and diced the spuds and put them in a deep wok-like pan with olive oil and a little water. While they were happily simmering away, I diced half of the aubergine and added it to the spuds.
These were taking care of themselves now while I diced the goat cheese and mixed two of the eggs with salt, pepper and some herbs.

Now it was time to add the cheese to the vegetables. This time, I made sure to keep stirring, so that the bits of cheese would not all just melt and stick to the bottom of the pan.
By now, the spuds had begun to form a nice golden-brown crust in places, and when the cheese was still recognizable as pieces but at the same time melting softly, I poured the egg mixture in the pan and kept stirring until, maybe two minutes later, it looked like this:
When I found that the egg mixture had set enough to be edible, I called it lunch time and sat down to enjoy my quick & simple (and at the same time very filling!) meal.
Dessert consisted of some fresh fruit (cherries I had picked from my kitchen window, two apricots and a banana).

3 comments:

  1. Good to see your pics are posting this morning. I use aubergine quite a lot in New Zealand in a bean combo when I feed The Family. I've also used it in a moussaka. I've never tried it any other way. I think you may just have persuaded me to have a try.

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  2. Me too! I've never had much luck with it (we call it egg plant) in my kitchen, but enjoy it in Italian restaurants. So, I will definitely try these two variations. They look simple enough for me and I know I'll like the finished dish. Thanks ahead of time!

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  3. Glad you both find my aubergine-laden posts useful, GB and Jill :-)

    Moussaka is something I have not had in a long time, but you mentioning it has made me want to make one some time soon.

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