Aubergine, Tomato and Basil Mould
Feb. 24th, 2022 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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cookbook_challenge.
From my mother's recipe book. This is a print recipe, glued in, but it doesn't look like it comes from a newspaper or magazine. My guess is it is photocopied from a recipe book, though the quality looks a bit good for a 50 year old photocopy.
Ingredients
4 medium but even-sized aubergines (about 5 in. long)
Olive oil for frying
1 small carton plain yoghurt
extra freshly chopped basil or parsley for garnish
salt and milled pepper
tomato sauce:
2 (14oz) tins Italian plum tomatoes
1 chicken stock cube
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 dash tabasco sauce
1 good sprig or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon sugar
Method
1. Put all the ingredients for the sauce into a 3-pint heavy-bottomed pan. Bring to the boil and simmer until a cohered pulp is arrived at (a scant 3/4 pint when sieved). Press through wire sieve. Cool. Reserve a third for serving.
2. Meanwhile, wipe the aubergines and top and tail them. Cut into 1/4 in. thick discs, spread the discs on a clean surface and sprinkle lightly with salt. Leave for 30 minutes, then rinse under cold water and dry with paper towels.
3. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan. Brown the aubergines quickly on both sides, adding more oil as and when necessary.
4. Layer the fried discs in a 2 1/2-pint ovenproof mould (or seamless cake tin), spreading each layer with tomato sauce and a little yoghurt. Add an extra sprinkling of fresh basil, if you like, and seasoning.
5. Cover and bake at Gas Mark 5 (190C, 375F) for 35-40 minutes.
6. Turn out of the mould and coat with the remaining sauce, hot. If serving cold leave to cool before turning out. Serves 6-8 as a hors d'oeuvre: 4-5 as a first course or vegetable.
Changes, Mistakes and Substitutions
Not many changes, I used tins of chopped tomatoes to speed up the sauce making process and I didn't bother salting the aubergines since I understand that modern aubergines don't need this. I may have used too little aubergine though since I ordered only two from the supermarket assuming they would likely be rather larger than 5 in. long (I was not wrong). At any rate, when turned out of the mould (I was using a bread tin) the whole thing collapsed into a tasty, but not particularly showy slop. That said, it's quite hard to figure out from the recipe exactly how this thing is expected to hold a shape given there is no egg, flour, gelatine or anything else that might thicken up the sauce. It's just possible, I suppose, that a better aubergine to sauce ratio might have done it, but I'm dubious.
Verdict
Nice, but not nice enough for the faff. We realised, halfway through sieving the tomatoes, that we were making passata, so you could reduce the faff by substituting the tomato sauce for shop-bought passata. If you did that, then I think it is probably nice enough for any occasion where you want to do something a bit fancy with aubergine - only I would suggest serving it in a bowl and not expecting it to hold any kind of shape.
cookbook_challenge.From my mother's recipe book. This is a print recipe, glued in, but it doesn't look like it comes from a newspaper or magazine. My guess is it is photocopied from a recipe book, though the quality looks a bit good for a 50 year old photocopy.
Ingredients
4 medium but even-sized aubergines (about 5 in. long)
Olive oil for frying
1 small carton plain yoghurt
extra freshly chopped basil or parsley for garnish
salt and milled pepper
tomato sauce:
2 (14oz) tins Italian plum tomatoes
1 chicken stock cube
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 dash tabasco sauce
1 good sprig or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon sugar
Method
1. Put all the ingredients for the sauce into a 3-pint heavy-bottomed pan. Bring to the boil and simmer until a cohered pulp is arrived at (a scant 3/4 pint when sieved). Press through wire sieve. Cool. Reserve a third for serving.
2. Meanwhile, wipe the aubergines and top and tail them. Cut into 1/4 in. thick discs, spread the discs on a clean surface and sprinkle lightly with salt. Leave for 30 minutes, then rinse under cold water and dry with paper towels.
3. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan. Brown the aubergines quickly on both sides, adding more oil as and when necessary.
4. Layer the fried discs in a 2 1/2-pint ovenproof mould (or seamless cake tin), spreading each layer with tomato sauce and a little yoghurt. Add an extra sprinkling of fresh basil, if you like, and seasoning.
5. Cover and bake at Gas Mark 5 (190C, 375F) for 35-40 minutes.
6. Turn out of the mould and coat with the remaining sauce, hot. If serving cold leave to cool before turning out. Serves 6-8 as a hors d'oeuvre: 4-5 as a first course or vegetable.
Changes, Mistakes and Substitutions
Not many changes, I used tins of chopped tomatoes to speed up the sauce making process and I didn't bother salting the aubergines since I understand that modern aubergines don't need this. I may have used too little aubergine though since I ordered only two from the supermarket assuming they would likely be rather larger than 5 in. long (I was not wrong). At any rate, when turned out of the mould (I was using a bread tin) the whole thing collapsed into a tasty, but not particularly showy slop. That said, it's quite hard to figure out from the recipe exactly how this thing is expected to hold a shape given there is no egg, flour, gelatine or anything else that might thicken up the sauce. It's just possible, I suppose, that a better aubergine to sauce ratio might have done it, but I'm dubious.
Verdict
Nice, but not nice enough for the faff. We realised, halfway through sieving the tomatoes, that we were making passata, so you could reduce the faff by substituting the tomato sauce for shop-bought passata. If you did that, then I think it is probably nice enough for any occasion where you want to do something a bit fancy with aubergine - only I would suggest serving it in a bowl and not expecting it to hold any kind of shape.