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Roast Eggplant Salad
Recipe by Mindy Woods
Whip up this mouthwatering roast eggplant dish for your next meat-free Monday.
- Steps
- Ingredients
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced.
- For the Chickpeas, place chickpeas and herbs in a small saucepan and cover with water. Season with salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until just tender, about 35-40 minutes. Strain (reserve the cooking liquid) and refresh chickpeas in ice water immediately.
- Drain and divide chickpeas into two portions.
- For the chickpea cream, place one portion into a high speed blender and add verjuice, salt and enough cooking water to achieve smooth hummus like consistency. Set aside. Reserve remaining chickpeas for the salad.
- For the Parsley Oil, bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil and prepare an ice bath. Once the water is boiling, add the parsley and cook until bright green, about 15 seconds. Quickly transfer to the ice bath and set aside for 5 minutes to completely cool. Transfer to a clean dry tea towel, wrap and squeeze gently to remove as much water as possible.
- Transfer parsley to a high powered blender and add the oil. Process until as smooth as possible.
- Line a sieve with three layers of cheesecloth. Pour the oil into the sieve and allow to strain. Avoid temptation to press the oil through. Transfer oil to a bottle and set aside in the fridge.
- For the Roasted Eggplant, toss eggplant with olive oil until evenly coated. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon smoked paprika and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat a non-stick pan over medium high heat. Place eggplant into the pan, cut side down and cook until well caramelised. Transfer to oven and cook until tender, 25-30 minutes.
- For the glaze, combine prunes and verjuice in a small saucepan over low-medium heat and cook until prunes are tender, about 5 minutes.
- Using a stick blender, process to a smooth puree, adding a little water to achieve a smooth sauce like consistency. Season with smoked paprika and salt, to taste.
- Once eggplants are cooked, remove them from the oven and brush with the prune glaze. Set aside in a warm place and reserve remaining glaze.
- For the Chickpea Salad, place oil into a small saucepan and heat to 180°C.
- Add the capers and fry until golden and crispy, about 1 minute. Remove from the oil and place onto paper towel and allow to cool. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients and toss gently until well combined. Taste and season lightly with a pinch of sea salt if required.
- To serve, spoon chickpea cream onto the base of the serving plate. Arrange roasted eggplant on top and spoon some glaze on top. Top generously with chickpea salad. Drizzle with parsley oil and serve immediately.
