Now that we know how to burn an aubergine…lets make some burnt aubergine croquettes
This is a great little gluten free snack or canapé
I rarely fry anything, but these little morsels of love are worth it
Kids and adults will love them, they get pretty addictive
This is taken from Ottolenghi’s plenty
Ingredients
- 4 medium aubergines
- 280g cooked fluffy potatoes, peeled and broken roughly with a fork
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 140g feta, crumbled (I used goats cheese feta)
- 20g Parmesan, grated
- ½ tsp. salt
- 200g gluten free breadcrumbs, seasoned
- Sunflower oil for frying
- Salt and pepper
(Options: the recipe calls for feta, I used goat milk feta but you can use sheep milk. If you want to make it vegan omit both cheeses but add more seasoning to compensate)
Method
- First burn the aubergine (see below)
- Place the aubergine flesh in a large bowl. Add the potatoes, egg, feta, Parmesan, salt and some pepper
- Bring everything together gently with a fork; you want to keep the mixture quite rough
- Add about half the breadcrumbs, just enough so the mux is sufficiently solid to hold its shape but still a little sticky
- Remover the mix from the bowl and divide into four
- Roll each portion into a thick sausage about 2.5cm in diameter
- Sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs on to your work surface and roll the sausages in them so they are completely coated
- Transfer to the fridge and leave to firm up in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, or overnight depending on when you are making them for
- To cook the croquettes, cut each sausage into 5cm long barrel-shaped pieces; you should end up with around 20 pieces
- Pour enough frying oil into a frying pan to come to about 1.5cm deep.
- Heat up the oil, then fry the croquettes in small batches for about 3 minutes, turning half way
- Transfer to kitchen paper to drain
- Best served hot, but pretty awesome cold too
How to burn an aubergine – recap
- I used a BBQ, turning the aubergine every 2/3 minutes for around 10-15 minutes until all sides where brown/burnt and the inside of the aubergine was soft
- The recipe recommends using a gas hob. Start by lining the hob heads with foil to protect them. Put the aubergine on a flame and roast for 12-15 minutes, turning frequently with metal tongs.
- Alternative if you don’t want to use a naked flame, put them on a foil lined tray and place directly under a hot grill, turning a few times.
