Eggplant StacksOctober 30, 2001 We don't seem to eat as much red meat as we used to. Not that the family is turning vegetarian. But chicken, fish and pasta form a greater part of our diet. I still enjoy a good steak a couple of times a month. We'll have the occasional roast leg of lamb, or roast beef. However, dishes like lamb chops or crumbed cutlets seem to have become a thing of the past, and stews and braised lamb shanks are the food of winter. Red meat has become leaner, thanks to consumer demand. However local drought conditions have had their influence on meat prices and I guess fish and boneless cuts of chicken represent perceived better value. When it comes to eating out, though, old habits return. I guess we are not alone in that. We were at an awards dinner the other night and the main course choices were lamb fillets or fish. Everyone fell on the lamb. I suspect the hotel ended up with a lot of fish languishing in the chiller. I did a peremptory survey of the tables around me and not a fish eater in sight. One of my work colleagues was having a dinner party at the weekend. Two of her guests, she discovered, were vegetarians. And she had already bought a really nice fillet of beef. So what did she do? Cooked the beef, of course, but made a large eggplant lasagne for the vegos that would double as a side dish for the carnivores. The spouses of the vegetarians scoffed down the beef with gusto, having been deprived of such lavish and wonderful meat for some time. And my colleague was left with enough eggplant lasagne to last for several days. I love eggplant and we happened to pick one up during our trip to the vegetable market last weekend, along with other ratatouille makings - courgettes, tomatoes. But I decided on a change of tack and today recipe evolved. I had still a nice packet of Swiss brown mushrooms thanks to my friends at Meadow Mushrooms. The spice mixture, Quatre Epice (four spice) usually contains cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. You can make your own using a teaspoon each of the first three ingredients and half a teaspoon of ground cloves. The jury is still out on whether cut aubergine or eggplant should be sprinkled with salt and left to drain for 30 minutes, the theory being the bitter juices will leach out. I rarely bother doing this and I don't think young, smaller eggplants need it. Eggplant stacks 3 tablespoons olive oil In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, vinegar and spices. Pour this onto a shallow dish. Slice the eggplant lengthwise into slices a bit less than a centimetre thick. Dip both sides of the slices into the spice mixture (see picture). Heat the second measure of oil and saute the eggplant until soft and tender - about 10 minutes. Season, remove from pan and keep hot. Slice the courgettes diagonally and place in the pan with the sliced garlic - adding a little more oil if necessary as the eggplant will probably have soaked up most of the oil. Toss and saute for about three minutes. Remove from the heat and keep warm and place the cleaned mushrooms in the pan and cook quickly until they begin to soften. Remove from heat. To serve, fold two or three eggplant slices onto each plate, top with courgettes and a sprinkling of basil then spoon on the mushrooms, season, top with thin slices of raw tomato and serve immediately. You can assemble the stacks on a serving dish as you cook the individual vegetables and then give the whole dish a two minute zap in the microwave immediately prior to serving. Or just make stacks of the eggplant and courgettes on a serving dish then place the mushrooms and tomatoes in the centre (as shown in the accompanying picture). We had these with crumbed mussels but they would go equally well with a steak.
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