Aubergine baklava recipe

Andrea Oliver
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This dish is sure to make both your vegetarian and carnivorous friends happy! It is rich, crisp and looks exciting when you bring it to the table. It is a strong contender for a special occasion main course for the non meat eaters or an innovative side dish. I serve this with a venison and mutton slow cooked stew, saffron butter bean mash and garlicky flash fried spring greens. It worked a treat!

Ingredients

14 Filo pastry sheets
8 Small aubergines
8 Finely chopped shallots
2 Cloves of garlic chopped
8 Thinly sliced fresh figs
1 Bunch fresh thyme
1 Knob of butter melted
2 tbsp Olive oil
3 tbsp Crushed pistachio nuts
450 g Granulated sugar - For the syrup
2 tbsp Pomegranate molasses or 1 table spoon tamarind sauce - For the syrup
1 Pinch of salt - For the syrup
300 ml Water - For the syrup

Details

Cuisine: Mediterranean
Recipe Type: Dessert
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 45 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Serves: 4

Step-by-step

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/ gas mark 6.
Thinly slice the aubergines in rings and lay on a baking sheet and roast until they are soft and turning a little golden at the edges.
Soften the shallots together with the garlic in a frying pan on a very low heat with a little knob of butter until they are golden and caramelised.
Have a clean damp tea towel to hand to keep over the filo pastry sheets to ensure they don't dry out when you are building your baklava.
Lay the first filo pastry sheet on the oven proof baking dish you have chosen. The pastry is very fragile so be gentle but don't worry if there are small folds or the odd little tear - it is inevitable.
Brush very lightly with melted butter then add another layer continuing until you have laid about 7 or 8 sheets.
Make sure you leave the damp cloth over the unused filo pastry sheets.
Spread a layer of the shallot mixture on the pastry layers in the dish then alternate slices of aubergine and fig on top of that repeating until you have used them all up.
Go back to your filo pastry sheets and repeat the layering from the first part of the process until you have another 7 or 8 sheets layered on top.
Score the baklava lightly in a diagonal pattern, drizzle the olive oil all over and then bake for around 30 minutes until golden.
To make the syrup; put the sugar into a pan with around 300ml water and add a pinch of salt. When the sugar has dissolved, add the pomegranate molasses and orange blossom water. Drizzle the syrup over the baklava and whilst still hot scatter over the thyme leaves and the crushed pistachio nuts. Delicious!