I am desperately trying to expand my repertoire and add to my understanding of flavours and cooking in general. To that end, I am constantly buying cookery books. I am amassing so many they actually don't fit on the shelves - I don't really that many, I just need bigger shelves. I like to go through my books, pull out recipes I like the sound of then try to recreate them with the stuff I have in the house, substituting one ingredient I don't have for another I do. Sometimes it works out. This time was one of them.
Ingredients. For 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main
1 Onion, finely sliced
4 Cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced in half lengthways
1tsp Ground Cinnamon
1tsp Dried Chilli Flakes
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
2tbsp Clear Honey
3tbsp White Wine Vinegar
2 Aubergines
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees fan
2. Fry the onion in olive oil over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, you want them to be soft, not burnt
3. Add the garlic and ground cinnamon and cook for another 2 minutes with generous amounts of salt and pepper
4. Add the tomatoes, chilli, honey and vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes. (I like to rinse the tomato tin with a little water and add this to the mix. This adds a little liquid, gets all the juice out and means your tin is clean and ready for recycling!)
5. Chop the top off the aubergines and slice them in half and each half into 4 and lay out in an oven proof dish
6. Pour the tomato sauce over the aubergines and cover / spread evenly
7. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes
8. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with salt flakes
9. Serve hot or cold, as you like, as a side dish or part of a mezze / salad type thing
10. You will enjoy it!
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