Whole burnt aubergine | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

Whole burnt aubergine | Jamie Oliver recipes? ›

Place the aubergines in a large roasting tray, dot the cherry tomatoes around, and pop into the oven for 40 minutes, turning a couple of times.

Place the aubergines in a large roasting tray, dot the cherry tomatoes around, and pop into the oven for 40 minutes, turning a couple of times.

Aside from its green top, the entire eggplant is edible: its purple skin, its white flesh, and the tiny seeds inside. Eggplant contains protein, fiber, and a wide range of vitamins and minerals as well as some antioxidants. Eggplant should be cooked before eating.

If the skin is in good shape, it is edible, though some varieties have skin that is too tough to eat. Peel the skin with a vegetable peeler if you think it's wise – younger aubergine skin is fine to eat, but older, more ripened aubergine skin has a bitter taste.

As modern varieties are much less bitter, that is no longer necessary, unless you're planning to fry them – aubergines soak up oil like a sponge and salting helps reduce that.

Aubergines have the reputation of being tricky. Overcook them and they can turn to tasteless mush, undercook them and they can be rubbery and tough.

It's likely just been exposed to air and is experiencing enzymatic browning. An eggplant with brown spots is not safe to eat if it contains bugs or mold or exhibits other signs of spoilage. It should be thrown out.

If it's an extra-large eggplant, the vegetable could be older and the skin tougher, therefore, it's a smart idea to peel it. But small, young eggplant have thin, tender skins that add great texture to the vegetable when cooked.

You might know them as eggplants or you might know them as aubergines, but they are exactly the same plant. The English prefer the latter name, while in North America we use the former.

Like most vegetables, aubergine can be fried, grilled, roasted, steamed or even boiled. It's also happily stuffed, or, blitzed – there are SO many ways to make this bulbous vegetable sing. Most commonly, it is fried or roasted, though we've included recipes which see them boiled below (Thai green curry we love you).

Do you cook aubergine with skin on or off? ›

If the skin is smooth and unblemished you can leave it on. Older aubergines should be skinned however as the skin turns bitter. Use a peeler or sharp knife to remove the skin (as thinly as you can). Use the aubergine straight after peeling, otherwise the flesh will discolour.

Eggplant has a flavor similar to summer squash or zucchini: tender, mild, and sweet with a slight vegetal bitterness. Eggplant will absorb the flavor of whatever it's cooked with. Its texture is firm and spongy when raw, and meltingly tender when cooked (especially fried, smoked, or braised).

"When you lay them on the tray to roast, make sure they're in a single layer and give them enough room to roast properly. Eggplant is about 80 to 90 percent water, so when you put them in the oven they need space to evaporate all that water and caramelize properly," says Covarrubias.

Eggplant flesh will have tan to brown colored spots around the seeds. If this is the color you are referring to, it is edible. If the flesh is more brown than white, the eggplant may be spoiling and should be discarded.

Aubergines are quite spongey to the touch - salting shrinks all the air pockets inside the flesh and means that when you go to grill or roast, it'll absorb a lot less oil. The less oil absorbed, the less greasy the slice. You'll get silky smooth slices every time.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

Cut off the stem and nearby areas before cooking. The stem and area near the stem tend to be where bitter compounds collect. Slice or chop the eggplant and sprinkle the pieces with salt. Allow them to sit for about 30 minutes, then pat dry before cooking.

Brush the flesh side with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put the aubergines, flesh-side down, in a grill pan or baking tray and grill for 10–12 minutes, until leathery and soft. Turn the aubergines over and grill for a further 5 minutes.