The vegetables are starting to change in my garden, now we're getting into the real high Summer. I entered the kitchen with a variety of things and my hands started to prepare this dish without even thinking about it. I didn't have any pine nuts for pesto, so substituted it for almonds, adding a bit of parmesan and marscarpone, so this is not a pesto, just in case there are any Italians reading. I once discussed pesto with and Italian and sort of touched on the idea of the addition of lemon. His face changed from friendly, chatty to a very serious one. He looked me in the eye and told me that there is no lemon in pesto. Point taken and I agree, pesto is pesto. Let's leave it at that. If you make something similar get your own name and leave pesto alone!
Serves 4 as side dish
Ingredients
2 aubergine's
1 bunch of basil
olive oil
2 tablespoons of parmesan
4 tablespoons of mascarpone
15 almonds, roasted
salt and pepper
How to go about it
Cut the aubergines in half, lengthwise. Score the flesh in crisscross fashion and sprinkle with salt, leave for 20 minutes. Meanwhile liquidise basil, parmesan, almonds, mascarpone with oil to make a sloppy sauce. Rinse aubergines, pat dry and fry cut side down in olive oil until golden. Turn and fry other side. Remove from pan and let cool a little.
A few minutes before serving, spread the sauce over the aubergines and grill for a few minutes until golden.
This is a really tasty and healthy looking dish. Love the combination of flavors-well done. Yum!
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha I know, we Italians can get very touchy when it comes to food... the thing is Italian food is very popular and has been changed (and sometimes totally re invented - not always in a good way) so much that we now tend to be a bit "over protective". I am all for experimenting... but I like to give things the right name. So thank you (I really mean it) for giving this recipe a name other than "pesto"! :-))))))
ReplyDeleteBTW, the dish looks AMAZING and I would love to try it... I love all the ingredients you used and aubergine is by far my favourite summer veggie! :-)
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!simple and tasty, manu your right dude, the amount of times I order food that has pesto with it; and out comes something totally different!!!just because its green they call it pesto!!!
ReplyDeleteAnyway those aubergines look so good. My favourite is grilled aubergines with a touch (not to much) of garlic and squeeze of lemon juice, fried white bate and a glass of white wine on a summers day!!!
Cant wait for your next dish Madam Poupin
From Tom xx
Looks wonderful! Yum!
ReplyDelete