Fragrant Moroccan Aubergine with Roasted Veg

A couple of weeks ago I found myself at Bristol Biofuels with Helen, I've been running the Transit on biodiesel for about a year now since they moved up from Avonmouth to just around the corner from work.

I will do almost anything to not fill the van up with normal diesel, I'm not an eco-warrior, I'm just too tight to pay the extra. We were going to the White Stuff on Queens Rd in Clifton. I just managed to go via Albert Rd in St Philips. Whilst the bloke was filling up the van with delicious cheap biofuel I noticed a large five litre bottle of olive oil on the side.
"What's with the olive oil, is it just an example of veg oil?"
"Nah, the boss has a share of an olive farm in Spain, we sell it"
Result! I returned to the van with 5 litres of the best cold pressed extra virgin olive oil nestled in my sweaty palms.

This means I have a surfeit of the golden nectar, alright green nectar but it doesn't scan as well. This recipe calls for a lot of olive oil and the better the oil the better the result.

1/2 tsp Brown mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp. Fennel seeds
4 cloves
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp coriander seeds
Generous handful of sesame seeds

2 Potatoes
2 parsnips
1 largish red pepper
3 or 4 cloves of garlic or half a whole garlic (courtesy of Lidl)
2 medium onions
1 aubergine
2 tomatoes
3 chestnut mushrooms
Extra virgin olive oil
Splash of sherry
Small handful of sultanas

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Crush the coriander seeds and black pepper together with the salt
Put a heavy based pan on a medium heat and add the mustard, bay leaves, cloves, fennel and sesame seed when you are starting to smell the oil being released from the cloves add the coriander, black pepper and paprika and roast until the sesame seeds are starting to turn golden. Make sure the spices don't start to burn.

While the spices are roasting roughly chop the garlic, chop the potatoes, parsnip and pepper into chunks for roasting. Chop one of the onions into quarters.

Cut the aubergine in half and slice lengthways into thick slices. Cut the onion in half and cut into half moon slices

Chop the tomato and mushrooms into chunks. Put a large heavy based pan on a medium heat and add a very generous amount of virgin olive oil, add half the spices and chopped garlic. Fry the spices and garlic until the oil is well flavoured, add the slices of aubergine and make sure each slice gets a decent amount of oil, they will suck up the oil like some sort of egg plant shaped sponge. Add the onion and tomatoes and put on a close fitting lid. Turn the heat down to medium low and leave to cook.

Put a roasting tin on the stove on a medium heat and add a generous glug of olive oil, add the roasted spices and sesame seeds, the remaining garlic and the sultanas. Fry the spices and garlic for a minute or so, add the potatoes, parsnip, pepper and onion and stir making sure everything is liberally coated with the flavoured oil and sesame seeds. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over and chuck it in the oven.

After the aubergine has been cooking for about 20 minutes or so add a good splash of sherry and the chunks of mushroom, cover and leave to cook. 

The longer you leave this the better it will be, it should be ready by the time the vegetables are roasted. However you can start the aubergine so that you give it a longer cooking time and the aubergine will almost literally melt.

When the vegetables are roasted, roughly an hour I think, but I just keep an eye on them, add them to the aubergine mixture and mix in thoroughly. Make sure you get all the caremelized bits of garlic spices and oil.