We can't get enough of aubergines right now and we've been keen to highlight them with a couple of interesting and fun recipes on instagram including our kale caesar salad with aubergine 'bacon' and now an easy to make but incredibly delicious one tray aubergine bake.
We've also been experimenting with lots of new recipes for Dovebrook with aubergine as the star ingredient. If you haven't already, don't forget to check out our Sticky Aubergine dish as well as our Thai Green Curry. Two dishes where the aubergines really get a chance to shine through beautifully.
We love a simple traybake which only requires one tray for all your ingredients and this recipe really delivers. We adapted it from an Elly Pear recipe. If you don't already know about Elly, check out her instagram. She has so many inspiring and innovative ideas about how to make the best out of leftover food! She is doing a series called 'Rollover Leftovers' - be sure to check it out if you can.
For the traybake the aubergine is roasted gradually over a long period of time with the other ingredients added at different stages. It works so well. Harissa has always been one of our favourite ingredients and we'll probably do another ingredient spotlight focussing on the many ways we like to use it on a variety of different dishes and vegetables.
Aubergine, Chickpea, Red Pepper and Harissa Tray bake:
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp of olive oil
2 aubergines, cut into bite size chunks
300g cherry tomatoes
2 red peppers, cut into bite size pieces
2 red onions cut into small wedges
240g drained chickpeas (preferably jarred)
A handful of good quality jarred black olives
A large handful of fresh coriander leaves
3 tbsp of tahini, mixed with enough warm water to create the consistency of a single cream
3 tbsp harissa paste, mixed with 1 tbsp of water
salt & pepper
Zest of one lemon
Method:
Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7. Pour the olive oil into a large roasting tin and heat in the oven for 5 minutes. Carefully add the aubergine chunks to the hot oil. Season well with salt and pepper, add the diluted harissa and toss everything together.
Return the tin to the oven and set a timer for 15 minutes. When the time is up, stir the contents to make sure all sides of the aubergine are roasting nicely. Set the timer again for another 15 minutes and return to the oven.
When the additional 15 minutes are up, add the cherry tomatoes, red peppers, red onion and return the tin to the hot oven, this time setting the timer for 20 minutes. When the 20 minutes are up, add the drained chickpeas and the pitted black olives and stir well. Return the tin to the oven and roast for a final 10 minutes.
Remove the dish or tin from the oven, stir in the grated lemon zest and leave to cool for 15 minutes. Adjust the seasoning.
Drizzle with a generous amount of the tahini dressing and scatter over the coriander leaves.
Serve with toasted flatbreads or gnocchi- we chose the latter and you can mix them into the tray after they have been cooked. Enjoy!
