Updating guilt, and eggplant salad

Oh hey. That month went by fast.

Quickly, must assuage posting guilt! Have a photo apropos of nothing!



This was from a leisurely lunch at Bacco QVB with Nicole and Serena. The pear and caramel thing with the gold foil is what I ate, and I am pleased to report it was delicious. The other two items are a lemon meringue tart and a ricotta tart, also reportedly delicious.

I haven't been baking at all lately, it's just never the right time and with the weather warming up I'm not that interested in baked goods (lol I lie, I'm still perfectly willing to buy them...).

So here is a Middle Eastern-inspired salad I made for a recent impromptu dinner. It goes best with a bit of couscous I think, as it was a bit sharp on its own. Tasty though.

Eggplant Salad

3 eggplants, cut into 3cm cubes
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
50g pine nuts, toasted
1 tomato, finely chopped
1/2 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped
1 cup coriander
1/2 tsp cumin

Dressing:
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp red wine vinegar, or sherry
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sprinkle the sliced eggplant with salt and place in colander for 30 minutes. Then rinse and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Heat a large pan with oil and shallow fry the egg plant until golden over over. Drain on kitchen paper.

Combine the cooled eggplant with remaining ingredient and season.

Comine the dressing ingredients and add to salad.

By Brigitte Hafner, in Good Living Summer