Eggplant Stacks

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
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon Quatre Epice
1/2 teaspoon mild paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 or 2 medium eggplants
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 courgettes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
12 brown mushrooms, wiped clean and quartered
a handful of fresh basil, torn
salt and pepper
4 tomatoes

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).