Briam

You might remember that I posted a couple of recipes on here a while ago? Well this was supposed to be written and posted around the same time as the others, but University life ended up getting in the way and it's been sat in my drafts ever since. Since graduate life has left me with a ton of spare time on my hands, I thought it was about time I finally finished this and got it posted. Especially as I'm running out of ideas for new things to cook and this is a perfect excuse to try it again! 

I think this is my favourite recipe I tried this year, other than cawl of course. The recipe below has been adapted from the one on this website. The first time Meryn and I tried making this, we followed the recipe exactly and were kind of disappointed with the result. The potato wasn't cooked properly and it threw off the whole dish. Tom had it reheated later on that night and absolutely loved it. We couldn't figure out why, it had been nice but not that great. We wrote some notes on the recipe that we thought might help, and the following week I cooked the dish again but following our changes instead of the original. And surprise, surprise - I actually understood Tom's enthusiasm the first time round. It was delicious! It's a bit time consuming but it's worth it, and packs in three/four of your 5-a-day!

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Serves: 2**/4

**This is based on portions that feed me and a very hungry Cyclist. This dish is suitable for reheating if you have leftovers!

Ingredients

1 medium/2 medium sized aubergine/s

250g/500g onion

1/2 garlic cloves

2/5 medium potatoes

2/4 medium tomatoes

120g/250g tomato passata

Extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Mixed herbs to season

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7. 
2. Chop the potatoes into 1cm cubes. Add these to a saucepan of boiling water with a little salt and pepper and begin to half boil them. [This will be done while you're doing steps 3 and 4 and will take 20 minutes]
3. Cut the top (and bottom, for ease) off the aubergine. Cut the aubergine in half and slice thickly. 

Aubergine is tricky and if you have no idea how to cut it, I've done a really rubbish diagram to show you how I find it easiest.

The bright coloured red lines are what you cut first. Then when you have the two halves (or four halves, if you're doing the 4 person serving) of the aubergine, cut it along the dark red line. 

This is what cutting along the bright red line looks like.

This is what cutting along the dark red line looks like. The left slice is the size you are aiming for. Don't panic if you cut it like the right slice though! It's tricky and it cooks (and tastes!) just the same. 

4.  Salt the aubergines. They soak up oil like a sponge and this helps prevent that. Heat some oil in a frying pan and begin to fry the aubergine in batches. This should take around 20 minutes to do! Place the fried aubergines in a large bowl.

5. While the aubergines are frying, chop the onions and the garlic. After you've fried all of the aubergine, add the onion and garlic to the pan. Sauté for 5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the aubergine. 

6. Drain the potatoes and add these to the bowl.

7. Using your hands (or large spoons!) mix the ingredients together. 

8. Add the tomato sauce and stir so that everything is covered. Transfer the mixture to an oven dish (you might need two if you don't have one big enough!). 

9. Bake for 30 minutes. I like to stir after this but that's a personal preference. Turn the over down to 200C/Gas 6 and continue to cook for another 20 minutes, or until the top has browned and the vegetables are tender. 

I have a hot oven so I never need to use the full 20 minutes. It depends on your oven etc etc, so just keep an eye on the dish! 

Aaaaaand then, voilà! All you need to do now is serve. 

Another bonus to this is that this is a great leftover dish. You can add swede, carrots, courgettes... It tastes amazing! If you do want to add these, here's some tips:

• Swede - about 150g for 2 people. You want to chop this like the potato and boil with the potato for 15 minutes. 
• Carrots - about 150g for 2 people. You should chop this (however you like it chopped!) and boil with the potatoes for about 15 minutes.
• Courgettes - 1 large courgette is enough for 2 people. This should be sliced and fried with the aubergine. 

Let me know if you find anything else that is good to add!