Day 125: fire-flecked saltiness

Right. The weather’s far too nice to - given choice - be sat blogging away. And I have two (always) hungry beagles eying up my piece of toast.

Today is another pick from Nigella Summer, and it really is perfect for summertime eating. Though it would bring equal joy in the darker months of winter, too. Yesterday, I put my griddle-mark art skills to the test making Nigella’s Griddled Aubergines with Feta, Mint and Chilli.

I’m not gonna lie, it was a big test on my patience (and that is NOT a criticism on the recipe; I just have none), but if Nigella makes them - who openly admits that patience isn’t one of her virtues, either - then I’m sure I too can find joy in the calmness of repetitive griddling and rolling. And, in fact, did.

Nigella’s Griddled Aubergines with Feta, Mint and Chilli

My griddle pan is very small and could only fit three slices of aubergine at a time, so this did take quite a while. True, you could lay them all out under the grill or sear them on the barbecue, but I hadn’t used my cast iron griddle skillet pan for about six years so I thought it deserved a little attention.

The hardest part was refraining from eating my way through the feta mix; it was too tempting to grab a flatbread from the freezer, toast it, and then use it as a scoop. But I did refrain. In fact, I had some left over after rolling, which, as you can see from the picture, I crumbled over the top for serving.

Flavour musings

Fire-flecked salty feta and cooling fresh mint wrapped in juicy slabs of smoky aubergine. Need I say anymore? Nigella’s Griddled Aubergines with Feta, Mint and Chilli is just the kind of summertime eating you need in this weather!

I had some leftover steamed buckwheat in the fridge so I turned this into a salad with cucumber, mint (fresh and dried), lemon, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh parsley. Sprightly and refreshing.

You can find this recipe in Nigella Summer/Forever Summer and the Nigella Quick Collection.