Here, roasting the tomatoes first brings out their sweetness. Calamari or baby octopus would work well in place of the prawns.
Charred prawns, eggplant and chickpeas with roast tomato vinaigrette
A simple but elegant dish that works beautifully as either a main or a side.
- 5 mins preparation
- 25 mins cooking
- Serves 4
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Ingredients
- 2 eggplant (about 600gm), cut into 2cm dice
- 2 garlic cloves, finely crushed
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 160 ml olive oil
- 800 gm canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup oregano, plus extra to serve (firmly packed)
- 600 gm peeled uncooked prawns, deveined, tails intact
- 2 tsp dried chilli flakes
Roasted tomato vinaigrette
- 300 gm cherry tomatoes
- 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp caster sugar
- 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil (⅓ cup)
- 2 long red chillies, coarsely chopped
- Finely grated rind of 1 lemon, 1½ tbsp juice
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, or to taste
Method
- 1Preheat oven to 200°C. For vinaigrette, combine tomatoes, garlic, sugar and half the oil in an oven dish, season to taste, and roast until slightly caramelised (15-20 minutes). Transfer to a food processor, add remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Season to taste.
- 2Meanwhile, toss eggplant, garlic, dried oregano and 120ml oil in a separate oven dish to combine, season, and roast until eggplant is golden and tender (15-20 minutes). Transfer to a bowl, add chickpeas, oregano and half the vinaigrette, toss to combine and season to taste.
- 3Heat a char-grill pan over high heat. Combine prawns in a bowl with chilli flakes and remaining olive oil and season to taste. Grill, turning once, until charred (2-3 minutes).
- 4Top eggplant mixture with prawns, drizzle with a little remaining vinaigrette, top with extra oregano and serve with remaining vinaigrette.