Baked autumn vegetables, aubergine cream

A mildly spicy, soft-textured vegetable dish, with a herb-flecked aubergine cream as accompaniment. There is plenty of juice here, spiked with harissa and pine kernels, and you may like to eat it with bread to sponge it up. 

 

Serves 4. Ready in 90 minutes

 

For the aubergine cream:

 

aubergines 2, large
olive oil
yoghurt 250g, thick and creamy
mint or coriander leaves a good handful

 

For the baked vegetables:
tomatoes 750g
courgettes 3, medium
peppers 2, red or orange
onion 1
olive oil 5 tbsp
thyme leaves 1 tbsp, chopped
ground cumin 1 tsp
harissa paste 3 tsp
pine kernels a handful
raisins a handful

 

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Cut the aubergines in half lengthways, then score the flesh with several deep gashes – this will help the olive oil and heat to penetrate the flesh – then put them in a roasting tin or baking dish and pour over a few generous glugs of olive oil. Bake for 45 minutes or so, until thoroughly soft. You should be able to crush the flesh with a fork easily.

 

Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes in half, unless they are very small, and put them in the roasting tin. Cut the courgettes into thick chunks and add to the tomatoes. Halve the peppers, pull out the seeds and core, then cut in half again. Peel and halve the onions, cut them into thick segments and add, with the peppers, to the roasting tin. Pour over 4 or 5 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt, the thyme and coarsely ground black pepper, then the ground cumin. Finally, toss everything together, making sure the vegetables are well coated with oil and seasonings.

Roast the vegetables for a good hour, or until they are soft and lightly browned.

While the vegetables are roasting, continue with the aubergine cream. Scrape the flesh from the skins into a mixing bowl. Mash to a coarse purée with a fork and stir in the yoghurt, a light seasoning of salt and black pepper and the mint or coriander leaves, then set aside.

Remove the vegetables to a shallow serving dish and keep warm. Place the roasting tin over a moderate heat and stir the harissa paste, pine kernels and raisins into the roasting juices. Let them come to the boil, then spoon over the roast vegetables and serve with the aubergine cream.

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