Smoked Eggplant with Pistachio and Vine Leaves
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If you’ve ever wanted to cook like a qualified chef, now’s your chance. At my Melbourne restaurant, I make this nutty, smoky, lemony eggplant (aubergine) dish exactly as it appears here. Don’t worry, it’s not too technical. Vine leaves are easy to source, and are sold in major supermarkets.
Recipe details
Serves: Recipe for 4.
Protein: Vegetarian
Ingredients
½ garlic bulb, broken into cloves and peeled
juice of 2 lemons
pinch of salt
pinch of cumin
135 g (5 oz/½ cup) tahini
large pinch of salt
300 g (10½ oz) pistachio nuts
3 large eggplants (aubergines)
2 tablespoons good-quality olive oil
8 fresh grape vine leaves
Method
Blitz together the garlic, juice of 2 lemons and salt with a hand-held blender. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Pass it through a sieve, then add it to a blender with the tahini and cumin. Add 250 ml (8½ fl oz/1 cup) of cold water and mix furiously for a couple of minutes. Add 200 g (7 oz) of the pistachio nuts and blend until completely smooth. Season to taste with more lemon juice and salt and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Spread the remaining pistachio nuts on a baking tray and roast them for 8 minutes. Allow them to cool down and then using a mortar and pestle smash them into a nice crumble (or just chop them by hand) and set aside.
Using a gas stove or, even better, a charcoal barbeque, burn the skin of the eggplants as until completely burnt on all sides and then scoop out the flesh. Try not to mash it too hard at this stage. Mix in the juice of 2 lemons, and olive oil and season to taste with salt.
Place the seasoned eggplant on the plates, drizzle the pistachio tahini all over, then sprinkle over the crushed pistachios and garnish with the vine leaves.