ROY NER: Eggplant Fasoulia RECIPE

Eggplant Fasoulia
Serves 4

Ingredients and Equipment
2 eggplants – try Eden’s Edibles, Mangrove Mountain
Pinch of salt – try Olsson’s Sea Salt

For the tomato consommé: NB. Consommé needs to be prepared minimum 8 hours before
1kg vine ripe tomatoes – try Block 11 Organics
1 celery stick – try Block 11 Organics
½ red onion – try A&W Muscat
5 cloves garlic – try Russell, The Good Garlic Guy
10 leaves basil – try Kemps Creek Farm
2-4 tablespoons Worchester sauce – try Prickle Hill Produce
2-4 tablespoons aged red wine
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

For the spring salad:
Hand full butter beans
Hand full yellow butter beans
Hand full broad beans – try Zavaglia’s Gourmet Produce
Hand full mint leaves – try A&W Muscat
Hand full dill leaves

Dressing:
50ml extra virgin olive oil – try ALTO Olive Oil
½ lemon – try Eden’s Edibles, Mangrove Mountain
Pinch of sumac

Garnish:
Pea shoots
Smoked harissa paste/oil (optional)

Method
For the consommé, place all the ingredients into a blender and blitz, season, taste and blitz again. Pour the mix into a muslin cloth and strain for a minimum of 8 hours. Use the tomato mix that is left in the muslin cloth for a rich tomato sauce next time you make pasta or red sauce based slow cooks.

Start with the eggplant, peel the eggplant and cut in half. Score the eggplant and rub with salt, leave for 30 minutes. Wash off the salt, then steam the eggplant for 30 minuter over salted water till soft, then place onto a rack and let all the water drip from the eggplant.

Warm the consommé gently on a cooktop and soak the eggplant into the warm consommé (in the restaurant we soak it for 24 hours).

For the salad, you will need a pot with salted water rapidly boiling. Start by blanching the butter beans for 2 minutes then refresh in ice water, then secondly blanch the broad beans for 1 minute then refresh into ice water.

Hand pick about 10-12 mint leaves and 10-12 dill tops and set aside.
Warm up a non-stick pan to medium/high heat, pan fry the consommé soaked eggplant till the eggplant is caramelised. Place the eggplant in the centre of the plate then warm the consommé just ever so slightly. Pour about 60ml of consommé around the eggplant.

In a kitchen bowl, mix the bean varieties, mint and dill then dress with the extra virgin oil, lemon and sumac.
Place the salad onto the eggplant.

Garnish with smoked harissa oil and pea shoots.

Cook’s notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional ovens; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55–60 g, unless specified.

This recipe was cooked on equipment and appliances by Carriageworks Partner Smeg Australia.

Recipe from Roy Ner’s live demonstration at the Carriageworks Farmers Market, Sat 6 Oct 2018.

All ingredients available at the Carriageworks Farmers Market every Saturday.