What to do with a surfeit of aubergines?

2 soups for you, the 1st one i'v never tried, the second is AMAZING! ingredients are strange but don't be scared!

Aubegine soup with Mint & Pine Nuts

2Lrg auberines

3tbl spoons extra v.olive oil

1 shallot chopped

1 garlic clove crushed

1/2 tea spoon ground cumin

" " ground cinnamon

3lrg plum tomatoes, skinned & chopped

150g (5oz) cokked butter beans

salt & pepper

500ml veg stock

Garnish - chopped mint & pine nuts

Put aubergines in large saucepan & cover with boiling water, simmer 10 mins. Grain & cut in half length ways. Slash the cut sides in 3 places, brush with oil and bake for 10 mins (200degrees) Remove and cool, cut flesh into 2.5cm dice

heat remaining oil and cook the shallot and the garlic gently in pan without colouring. Stir in cumin & cinnamon and cook for 2 mins. Add tomatoes, aubergine and butter beans. Cook for 2 mins, add stock, cover bring to boil and simmer for 20 mins or untill tender. Cool a little then blend untill smoothish, may need to thin with more stock. Serve liberaly sprinkled with chopped mint and toasted pine nuts.

Spicy Tomato, Aubergine and Apricote

675g aubergines, approx 3

6 tbl spoons olive oil

1 tea spoon cumin seeds

1 meadium onion finely chopped

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 red chilly de-seeded and finely chopped

110g of dried apricotes finely chopped

450ml tomato passata

2.5 cm piece of ginger peeled and finely chopped

juice of half a lemon

1.5litres of veg stock

salt and pep

1 table spoon fresh cariander chopped and some to garnish

Half the aubergines, brush with some of the olive oil, and bake for 30 mins untill soft. (200 degrees) Remove and chop roughly. Heat remaining oil and saute the cumin, onion, garic and chilly for 2-3 mins without colouring. Add the apricotes, ginger, passata, lemon juice, auberginesand half the stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins. Cool then process untill smooth, then re-heat, add rest of stock and taste for seasoning. Stir in coriander and serve with more on top.

Fine to freeze. Hope that helps!

if u know how to make mousaka then u may know how to make imam bayildi, aubergines, tomatoes, parsley, onions, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, and if u want add some potatoes. Then u could just deep fry sliced aubergines but this wont be well preserved. Another one is "papoutsaki". Cut the aubergines in half, cover them with mined meat,, onions and tomatoe. u can add some bessamel sauce on top and put them in the oven. If any of these sounds interesting ask me for the exact recipes.

Aubergine curry

This is quite hot and spicy. All of the ingredients can be picked up in a decent supermarket, though you may have to go to a Chinese or Thai shop for the fresh lime leaves. Dried are passable, but will have lost some of their magic. Serves 4 with rice.

for the spice paste:

5 small, hot chillies (bird's eye)

5 spring onions

4 cloves of garlic

a lump of ginger about the size of a golf ball

6 lime leaves

1 tbsp coriander seed

1 tsp cumin seed

2 green cardamom pods

1 tbsp groundnut oil

a small handful of coriander

for the curry:

2 large aubergines

6 medium-sized tomatoes

a can of coconut milk

more fresh coriander

to serve: steamed white rice for four

Take the flesh out string them together and hang them in the airing cupboard to dry. You can then soak them in hot water to re-hydrate them and then stuff them with a cooked mince and rice mixture and pop them in the oven till they're warmed through. Similar to moussaka, but it's called dolma and looks more impressive on the plate. You can do this with red and green peppers too.

I use aubergines in ratatoille nicoise. It can be made in large quantities and frozen in servable portions. They can also be stuffed with a filling as in stuffed marrow. Any good recipe book will give you instructions for the above two ideas.

From Nestle

Beef and Eggplant Casserole

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp crushed Italian Seasonings

1 eggplant, diced

1 lb stuffing mix

1 tsp seasoned salt

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet brown ground beef, chopped onion and Italian Seasonings; drain.

Cook peeled, diced eggplant in water until tender; drain.

In a baking dish, combine the ground beef, the cooked eggplant, stuffing mix, and seasoned salt. Top with grated cheddar cheese and bake for 15 minutes.

From the National Turkey Federation - USA

Turkey Sausage and Eggplant Bake

1 small eggplant trimmed and cut into 12 1/3-inch thick slices

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs olive oil

1 small Clove garlic crushed

1 lb Italian turkey sausage, casing removed, cooked & crumbled

1 Can (8 ounces) Italian-flavored tomato sauce

1 cup mozzarella cheese coarsely shredded

Sprinkle eggplant with salt and layer in a colander placed over a bowl; place plate on top of eggplant to weigh it down; let stand one hour.

Dry eggplant slices with paper towels; arrange on baking sheet and brush with mixture of olive oil and garlic.

Broil until golden, about 5 minutes per side. Arrange eggplant slices in a single, slightly overlapping layer on the bottom of a buttered 9-inch pie plate.

Top with cooked sausage, drizzle with tomato sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in a preheataed 350 degree F. oven until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Don't forget ratatouille. You can freeze that too.

Ratatouille

1 Tbs olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2/3 cup finely-chopped bell pepper - prefer green

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 1/2 lbs eggplant, peeled, and cut in 1/2" cubes

3 medium tomatoes, peeled, quartered

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

Heat the oil in a large skillet and saute the onion, bell pepper, and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add all remaining ingredients, cover, and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender-crisp. Add the sugar when the vegetables are half cooked.

I like it plain, but Mediterranean herbs -basil, oregano, marjoram- can give it a nice flavor.

One you could share them with others and 2 look online there are lots of sites that offer recipes.

In the event that it's a fruit it includes seeds, otherwise it's a vegetable. And vegetables are usually grown in the ground while fruits are grown in trees.

Well you could resort to secretly leaving them on your neighbor's door steps.... Remember that not good deed ever goes unpunished

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Make loads of mousakas and freeze.them.

Like making your own ready meals.