Marinated Eggplant Recipe

Here it is, the recipe that friends have been chasing for years now. Make and enjoy.

 

Ingredients: eggplant, chilli, garlic, parsley, salt, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil

 

1. Cut a large fresh eggplant into thin slices straight down from the top to the base. You can choose to salt eggplant if you like but we don't bother.
2. On a hot plate/grill cook the individual slices until well cooked and browned. This process dries out the eggplant and prepares it for the marinating.
3. In a large flat dish (eg lasagne dish is good) place the sliced eggplant down in layers with generous amounts of finely cut garlic, parsley and chill (fresh red chillies or dried chilli flakes are okay) (to taste) dispersed through it. Salt to taste.
4. Drown the eggplant in equal measures of balsamic vinegar and good quality extra virgin olive oil. Mix through. It must be covering all of the eggplant.
5. This is the hard bit. You need to wait, let it sit and marinate, overnight preferable, in the fridge.
6. Before eating it take it out of the fridge, mix again and let the olive oil etc come to room temperature so the flavours enhance.
7. Great eaten with fresh crusty bread before a meal, as a snack, as part of a salad or on a sandwich.
8. It will keep in the fridge, covered, for some time, but it hardly lasts any time whenever we make it for friends.

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Kebabs at Nonno's

We've moved

We're into our new "villa apartment" and the boxes are unpacked. With a suite of new furniture and a new mattress arriving on Saturday we are flush with materialism and consumerism. The internet and electricity are connected and we have free local and national calls. If only I didn't spend all day at work answering the phone I might feel inclined to use it after work.

We have taken to walking to and from the supermarket, just as we did in Naples. The street turns into a farmer's market strip once a month, with fresh produce and other goodies just waiting to be snapped up in the sunshine.

The Thai restaurant just across the road does a decent green chicken curry. The local bakery makes a mean apple turnover too. There are a couple of cafes so with time we'll check our their coffee making ability. The Mexican, Swiss and Chinese restaurants look interesting but not very vegan friendly for Gigi. The fish and chip shop keeps calling my name but still I resist.

I'm very excited about the public transport links. The train station is 4 minutes walk away and the trains run every 10 minutes or so. The bus connections are also very handy.

It's all coming together slowly, thanks to some great friends who have helped us move and the generosity of my parents who accomodated some of our more treasured belongings while we were in Italy.

We will be having a house warming soon. But for the friends that live out of Brisbane come and stay sometime. Visitors are always welcome.