☆☆ - 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