Eggplant Saor
This great dish comes from Venezia. I visited this beautiful city recently, got inspired but give a recipe my own twist. The original dish of fishermen is called Sarde in Saor and obviously use fish. But the same method of cooking and then preserving in vinegar can be applied to vegetables, specifically eggplants. It is a delightful appetizer or can be used with sandwiches or served with roasted meals. It is tangy sweat mellow but refreshing antipasto doing great justice to eggplants making them extremely flavourful.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 firm medium-sized eggplants
- 3 medium onions (yellow or red)
- 4 tbsp olive oil plus extra for brushing eggplants
- 30 g pine nuts
- 40-50 g sultana raisins or dry cranberries
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar (can swap all for balsamic)
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 whole cloves
- 5 whole allspice peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- Black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Soak raisins/cranberries in warm water
- Finely slice the onions. Sweat with olive oil and a pinch of salt on medium-low heat stirring constantly till soft and translucent. Do not let the onions brown.
- When onions are cooked add salt, vinegar, sugar, spices (except bayleaf), pine nuts and drained raisins. If using balsamic vinegar only omit the sugar. Cook till liquid evaporates.
- Slice eggplants into thin coins or lengthwise slices. Brust with olive oil, lightly sprinkle with salt and cook in a griddle pan or in the oven on 190°C for 20 minutes. Eggplant should be soft and lightly browned not too charred.
- Lay slices of aubergine in a serving dish and layer onion mix on top, you can do several layers depending on the size of your dish, finishing with onions on top.
- Add the bay leaf on the top and refrigerate covered for a day or two before serving. It will taste better the longer it marinates. Buon appetito!