This dish is rife with the flavor of hazelnuts, which plays off the tender texture of roasted eggplant. Combine this dish with several others from this chapter to make a meal or serve it in its rightful role as a side dishfor roast fish or meat. As is typical for eggplant, this preparation is both elegant and casual, its toothsome meaty and tender texture like that of caponata.
Makes about 1½ cups (75 g)
Ingredients:
2 rm, medium eggplants (about 11 ounces/310g each), rinsed and pricked all over with a fork
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
Zest of ½ lemon, minced
½ cup cilantro leaves Generous pinch of ne sea salt
1 tablespoon hazelnut oil, preferably Leblanc brand
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon hazelnuts, lightly toasted and nely ground
Note: When buying eggplants, choose those that are very firm and shiny, good indications of freshness. Many recipes call for eggplant to be sprinkled with salt and left to drain, a cure for the bitterness sometimes found in eggplant. If your eggplant is firm and shiny, thus fresh, it doesn’t need salting.
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).
2. Roast the eggplants until they are tender when pierced with a fork, about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, peel them and coarsely chop the flesh.
3. While the eggplants are roasting, place the garlic, lemon zest, cilantro leaves, and salt in a mortar and mash the ingredients together with a pestle until they are quite homogenous. Drizzle in the hazelnut oil and lemon juice. Add the eggplant and ground hazelnuts and continue to mash with the pestle until the mixture is chunky but homogenous. Season to taste and serve.
