So this recipe came about as a result of my fridge being too cold and freezing an Aubergine I had, haha. I am a food waste advocate (if you hadn’t already guessed) so will do all that I can to avoid throwing away food. I began thinking of ways I could still use this slightly frozen, not very attractive looking thing… and came up with the idea of baking it in the oven. I’ve made Baba Ganoush this way before so already knew it worked well. But would it work with a frozen Aubergine? The answer is YES! Yes it would, very well in fact.
The Aubergine Cream is great hot or cold. I mixed some into pasta, added some spinach, chickpeas, veggie sausages and topped with cheese and crumbled crisps to make a delicious wholesome bake. In the same way it works well as a kind of carbonara sauce so would be delicious with bacon/veggie bacon bits and/or fried mushrooms. It also doubles as a sort of crème fraiche for a tasty bruschetta or can just be used simply as a dip to dunk pitta chips and crisps. Yum!
Anyway, now onto the recipe…
You will need:
1 aubergine - frozen or non
1 white onion
1 tsp garlic powder ( or 3 cloves of fresh garlic crushed)
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 lemon juice
1 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
8 tbsp milk - I used oat milk
3 tbsp yog (I used coconut collaborative- you could also sub for a single cream)
salt & pepper to taste
fresh coriander/parsley/dill optional
Serving suggestion: I made this delicious bruschetta by adding a little more yogurt, a squeeze of lemon, fresh dill, capers, finely chopped gherkins and then mixed it into some chickpeas had it on sourdough toast and topped with pickled carrot ribbons.
Equipment:
-1 blender/food processor
-1 small pan
-1 chopping board
-1 sharp knife
-tin foil
Method:
-Preheat the oven to 200c or equivalent- once the oven is up to heat start by wrapping the aubergine in some foil and bake for approx. 45 minutes
-Next peel and finely dice the onion, then add to a large pan with a splash of oil and fry until golden
-Add in the garlic powder, thyme, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and coat the onion – cook for a minute or two and then turn off the heat
-After 45 minutes remove the aubergine from the oven, wait to cool or carefully unwrap and pop in the food processor with the sautéed onion
-Next add the cider vinegar, lemon, tahini, nutritional yeast, milk and yogurt and blend until smooth- you can add some fresh herbs if you do so wish, water if it needs loosening and more salt and pepper to taste
And there you have it- its that simple! Eat it warm or let it cool and pop it in an airtight container in the fridge. I would say try to eat within 5 days.
