☆☆ - Excellent recipe, worth the extra effort

Starters & nibbles

Angelo Sabatelli's vegetarian starter looks fantastic and tastes fantastic. It is really a piece of art! You can make all the parts ahead. Just make sure you take great care to do every step with 100% passion to fully appreciate this wonderful dish. Whatever you do, choose the best ingredients possible and make sure the baked aubergine is crisp.

Ingredients

2 aubergines, each weighing 300g
50g of soy sauce
100g of extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp of cornflour
peanut oil
8 cherry tomatoes
olive oil
100g of basil leaves
50g of extra virgin olive oil
40g of burrata

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
The day before serving, prepare the roasted aubergines. Peel the aubergines, then fry in a dash of peanut oil over a medium heat until golden brown. Leave to cool and drain a little on kitchen paper, then place on a baking tray and pierce holes all over the surface of the aubergines using a sharp skewer.
In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce and oil until emulsified. Pour a third of the soy emulsion over the pierced aubergines and roast in the oven for 12 minutes.
After this time, remove the aubergines from the oven and pour over half of the remaining emulsion. Return to the oven and cook for a further 12 minutes
Repeat with the remaining emulsion, removing the aubergines from the oven and coating in sauce. Return to the oven and cook for 12 minutes
Once cooked through, place a clean baking tray on top of the aubergines and press down using a weight or heavy object. Transfer to the fridge and leave to chill overnight until set.
Preheat the oven to 100°C/gas mark 4.
The next day, prepare the confit tomatoes. Arrange the tomatoes on a baking tray and drizzle liberally with oil. Transfer to the oven and cook for 2 hours to dry out.
Meanwhile, remove the pressed aubergine from the fridge and pour any strained juice into a bowl. Skim off the oil, then whisk in a spoonful of cornflour and mix until the liquid thickens into a sauce. Set aside until required.
For the basil oil, place the oil and basil leaves in a blender and blitz for 10 minutes until thoroughly combined. Strain through a fine sieve or piece of muslin and set aside until ready to serve.
Remove the confit tomatoes from the oven and set aside to cool, increasing the oven temperature to 180°C/gas mark 4.
Slice the compressed aubergine into 8 even rectangles, discarding any trimmings. Brush the rectangles all over with the aubergine sauce and roast in the oven for 4 minutes.
After this time, brush the baked aubergine in another layer of sauce and cook for a further 4 minutes, or until crisp.
To serve, place a piece of roasted aubergine in the centre of each bowl and drizzle over the basil oil. Divide the burrata between plates, garnishing each with a confit tomato.

Source: Angelo Sabatelli

Rating system

No Star - The recipe looked interesting, it was tested
☆ - A very good recipe in its category
☆☆ - Excellent recipe, worth the extra effort
☆☆☆ - Exceptional recipe, worth every bit of your special time

Tags: #review #food #recipe #starters #aubergines #basil #burrata