Slow Cooked Aubergines

This dish came about out of the remainders of a shopping trip for another dish. I wanted to do something with aubergines but in the end, decided they weren't quite right for the main I had in mind.

Left with two massive aubergines and with the oven being on for a long and slow cook I thought I'd put together something simple and pop it in the oven at the same time.

The results were pretty good, though it was never going to be bad given the glue for the aubergines was tomatoes, onions and garlic!

I cooked this up again and served it with a rolled breast of lamb and small roasted spuds (sautéed up in the lamb fat before finishing in the oven). It was a pretty epic meal to be honest though very weighty on the richness scales. If I was to do again I would put this with a leg of lamb and some great white bread to mop up all the lovely juices.

In total this was in for 7 hours at 130 but it could easily do with less. The longer its in the deeper it all gets.

It lends itself to prepping in the morning and then it's ready when you're ready in the evening, you don't need to worry about overcooking it.

Also, when putting it all together at the start, the colours are ace.

Step 1 - Fry off the aubergine

• Preheat your over to 130C

• Get a large frying pan (The bigger it is the quicker) and put it on a medium heat.
  I used my pancake skillet, did it in two batches

• Cut up the aubergines into roughly 1cm slices

• Pour in some olive oil, you don't need loads, just enough to help the aubergines brown

• Add the slices to the pan. Give the uncooked sides a little bit of extra oil before you turn them

• Give them a turn when they change colour as they start to cook through.
  Don't worry if they look a bit burnt, it doesn't hurt

• Keep turning them until golden and crisp and repeat batches until all are done. They should have started to collapse a little as the water inside them started to cook off

• Leave to cool a little as they stay really hot for ages

Step 2 - Make your sauce

• Finely dice your onions and garlic

• In another pan, on a low heat, sweat them off in a good knob of butter and olive oil

• Give a few turns of salt and make sure they don't start to brown.
  If they start to, add a splash of water and give them a stir every minute.
  Continue until they are soft and sweet

• Add the passata (you could make your own following Mike's recipe) and warm it through

• Saving a little back for garnish, finely chop most of the coriander, stalks and all

• When the sauce starts to bubble, take off the heat and stir through the chopped coriander

Step 3 - Assemble

• In a deep pot with a lid, start layering up as follows

• Slices of aubergine

• A spoonful of tomato sauce spread over - just enough to smear over them

• A grind of pepper

• Repeat until you get near the top or run out of ingredients

• To finish, slice tfresh omatoes and arrange over the top to provide a glorious edible cartouche

• Cover with a little more olive oil, salt and pepper

• Put the lid on

 

Step 4 - Put it in the oven until you are ready

• Put it in the over for at least 4 hours or until your ready.
  #Top tip: If the dish is really full, it will bubble a little so make sure you have a tray under it somewhere in the over otherwise you will make a real mess of you oven!

Slow Cooked Aubergine

• 4 medium aubergines

• Olive oil for frying

• Decent knob of butter

• 2 red onions

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 500g passata

• 50g fresh coriander

• 3 good large tomatoes

• Salt and pepper