Herbed and oven charred aubergine bruschetta with sautéed asparagus

Bruschetta is now on the menu of every small diner in town, but it’s the same old tomato and basil or mushroom and anchovies. I am a big fan of aubergine and love it on my pizzas and lasagnes, so why not on bread? This is a great antipasto dish for dinner parties where you want to spend less time in the kitchen and more time with the gossip girls. Leave them in the oven at a low temperature and serve them as and when you like. No last minute ‘deep frying’ or ‘tossing with the dressing’. It’s fresh, fast and simple (like Donna Hay would say it).

I do make a longer version of this recipe sometimes. And that just involves spreading a layer of tomato salsa on the focaccia before placing the aubergine on it. I usually make the tomato salsa a day in advance; it only develops more flavour overnight with the balsamic vinegar in it (see my recipe for tomato salsa). But keep it simple and try this one first. You can always add and subtract ingredients, depending on what you find at the local grocer’s. Use different combinations of herbs, but not all at once. Use nuts if you like.

This recipe started to take shape when I came to mum’s place and saw this huge bed of sweet Thai basil in the kitchen garden! I just wanted to make something with it, and I think this recipe clearly brings out its beautiful oriental flavour and aroma.

If you multitask (all women know how to do this), you can get this done in as less as 15-20min. Isn’t that real quick?

Prep time: 10min

Cooking time: 25min

Serves: 4 pieces

Ingredients

Focaccia bread, sliced to get rectangular pieces

50g mild cheddar, grated

1 large aubergine, sliced and immersed in ice cold water

For the sautéed asparagus

5-6 stalks asparagus, keep only the top tender half

2tsp olive oil

20g softened salted butter

A pinch of ground black pepper

Salt to taste

Herb-mix for the aubergine (grind coarsely and keep aside)

10 leaves sweet basil

1 sprig rosemary, leaves only

4-5 pitted black olives

½ tsp lime zest

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

A pinch of ground black pepper

Salt to taste

50g sour cream (home-made or bought); to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 150°C.

Marinate the sliced aubergine in the herb-mix for 5-10min. In the meantime, heat olive oil on a skillet and mildly sauté the asparagus stalks with some salt and pepper. Make sure they are nice and crunchy. Keep aside.

On the same skillet, heat some olive oil and cook the marinated aubergine slices. Cook them on both sides, till they are brown and soft (should take about 5-6min). Do not overcook.

Slightly butter the top and sides of the focaccia, place 2 aubergine slices on each piece, top it up with some grated cheddar and bake in a preheated oven for 5-10min. Remove and serve hot with the sautéed asparagus and some sour cream.

Note: To make sour cream at home, use a 60:40 proportion of single cream to milk. Heat the milk till it is warm; add it to the cream kept at room temperature. The final mixture should still be lukewarm (so heat your milk accordingly). Add a tbsp of sour yoghurt to this mixture, stir gently with a spoon, cover and allow to set for 4-6 hours (in summers; 7-9hrs in winters). This process is the same as setting normal yoghurt, which we do everyday at home. To get a thicker sour cream- use whole fat milk, whole fat cream, or just tie up the ready sour cream in a muslin cloth and leave to drain in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.