Aubergine with Tahini Sauce

The tahini sauce is very versatile and goes incredibly well with so many things. Pork or chicken kebabs, roasted vegetables or best - some spiced roast chicken. I’ve paired it here with aubergine because I had a lovely plump one sitting around.

I tried to write something funny about aubergines, but my head didn’t work today, so I put ‘aubergine jokes’ into google and found this…

‘An aubergine walks into a bar and buys a pint of lager. The barman says to him ‘we don’t get many aubergines in here’ and the aubergine goes ‘at 4 pound a pint, i’m not surprised.’

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! rofl.

Thanks internet!

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First we do the aubergine, for which you’ll need…

1 medium sized aubergine

pierce it a few times and put it in an oven at 200 for 40 minutes. right. done that…

The tahini sauce…

4 tbsp tahini paste

juice of half a lemon

touch of olive oil

a handful of chopped fresh parsley

salt

a few tbsp of water to loosen it up

Combine everything bar the water, stir, then add the water slowly until you get the right consistency. I like it about the thickness of cream. Cover and set aside.

To finish, pull the aubergine out of the oven and split it down the middle. Throw some feta in there if you want. I did. Top with the sauce and then some fresh coriander.

Oh, hang on. I just thought of a joke…

‘Knock knock’

‘Who is there please?’

‘Aubergine’

‘What?’

‘I’m an aubergine’

‘Why have you got a voice?’

‘…aubergine’

‘Fuck off!’

Thanks brain!

Vegetarian Quesedilla and Guacamole

Despite the amount of pleasure I take in gnawing on flesh and bones, I also don’t mind vegetables. Here is my favourite current meat free recipe, and it’s quite alright. I’ve included a recipe for home made flour tortillas as well, because they really make the dish. They’re more flavourful, easy and cheap. Some people might even say they were ‘gnarly’ or ‘wicked’. I’m trying to be humble lately though, so I just say they’re ‘quite nice’. I don’t mean it though. I think they’re bodacious!

For the tortillas you’ll need…

2 cups of plain flour, sieved

half a cup of milk

2 tsp of oil, perhaps sunflower

1 and one half tsp of baking powder

salt

To make, you need to add everything in a bowl and mix by hand. If it’s a litle too sticky, then add a sprinkle/s of flour until it is. Knead it for a fair few minutes, until you have a smooth dough. Cover and set aside for twenty minutes or so. I would make the guacamole now.

So for the guacamole…

1 avocado

half a lime

sprinkle of dried chilli flakes

bit of seasoning

palmful of coriander, chopped

Split, seed and scoop the flesh out. Mash it up with a fork, add the rest of the ingredients. That should have taken two minutes at most, so you could start the filling if you want.

So for the filling you’ll need…

half a tin of beans - preferably black beans, but kidneys, black eyed or something like that will be fine. also, drained.

half a cup of chicken stock

half a tin of tomatoes

garlic, chopped

half a red onion

a lovely red pepper, roasted and peeled

a nice hard cheese. i used cheddar.

Saute the onion in a little olive oil until soft, add garlic and then the beans. Add the stock and tomato, stir a little and add the pepper. Simmer lightly for 10 to fifteen minutes, or until the beans are soft and the sauce has thickened and reduced. While it’s thickening, get on with the final stage of the tortillas.

Take out the dough, flour a chopping board and roll out dough balls about half a fist big. If you don’t have a rolling pin then just use something cylindrical, like a booze bottle or somesuch. Roll them out as thin and round as you can and cook them in a dry frying pan on a medium heat, about a minute on each side, or until they resemble tortillas.

Take a pair of the tortillas, apply the filling to one side, sprinkle liberally with cheese and then top with the other tortilla. Plonk it back into your frying pan and cook for a minute or so, flip, another minute then out on a board. Cut up and serve however you want, with the guacamole and maybe some nice sour cream.