Marinated Aubergine Salad


Italian cuisine

Ingredients:
- 2 medium sized aubergine.
- 2 big clove garlic, crushed.
- 2 chilli, deseeded.
- 2 tbsp capers, minced.
- ¼ cup mint, finely chopped.
- ½ cup olive oil.
- ½ tsp salt.
- ¼ tsp pepper.

Directions:
- Slicing the aubergine into rounds no thicker than 5 mm.
- Sprinkle with salt and leave for 30 minutes on a clean tea towel to drain.
- In the meantime, combine the crushed garlic, chilli, capers and mint in a mortar and pestle and smash it all together with a little of the olive oil.
- Add the rest of the olive oil and a little salt and pepper, and mix together. Set aside.
- When the 30 minutes is up, heat a pan on a medium heat, but do not oil the pan itself.
- Take as many of the aubergine rounds as you can fit in a single layer in the pan and brush with a little of the olive oil mix - not too much or they'll go soggy, just enough to get them to brown up.
- When the pan is hot, place the rounds with the oiled side facing down, and fry until golden.
- Brush the topside with a little more oil, then flip and fry the other side. When both sides are golden, lift them onto a serving plate.
- Repeat with the remaining rounds, frying in batches.
- Once all the aubergine is fried and arranged on the plate, drizzle over the remaining olive oil mixture, making sure you spoon the mint, chilli, garlic and capers all over.
- Drizzle over more olive oil to ensure each piece is dressed.
- Pop the platter in the fridge for at least 6 hours before serving.