Aubergines

[Foxglove]

How do I prepare an aubergine for cooking?

[Pinotage]

Depends how you want to cook it. Usual advice is to cut it into slices or cubes, salt liberally to remove excess water and then rinse and dry. You don;t hav eto salt, but it soaks up a tremendous amount of oil if you don't.

[Hendrix55]

They are a bit tricksy.  I usually don't bother with Delia's "salt it then leave in colander covered by a plate and weighted down then rinse and pat dry with a clean tea towel" hoopla.  I slice it into cubes then put it in a low temp. oven (Gas 4/ 160Cish) for about 20 minutes to lose some water.  That should be fine if you are putting it in a lasagne/curry/stew but I'd faff about with the salt if I was going to fry it - they can taste really bitter if they absorb too much oil.

[normyc]

With Aubergines these days, you don't need to salt them, as this was originally done to remove the bitterness. Simply slice into 1" pieces, drizzle some  olive oil onto both sides, then grill, oven roast, BBQ or dice and add to a stew, or mix with similar sized chunks of courgette, red and yellow pepper and red onion, and oven bake at 180c for around 30 minutes

[Clare A]

I agree with normyc about the salting, ie, no need. Try this:

Layer in an oven dish with thinly sliced potato, onions, mushrooms, courgettes & peppers (any colour) and crispy fried bacon. Pour a can of tinned chopped tomatoes over the lot and bake for 40mins to an hour, depending on how keen your oven is, at 180c/gas mk4.

[Foxglove]

Thank you all for the cookery lesson - I will be making Claire A's recipe tonight - sounds yummy. THANKS :)