Aubergine, Mozzarella

The food I eat on my own often falls more in to the category of "snack" than meal; even when it's a meal-sized plate of food, it's likely to be just protein, or just veg, or just carbs, rather than a well constructed mixture of the three. A lot of the time I'd be happy just munching on a chunk of cheese and perhaps a pickle or two, though I usually manage to construct something a little more nutritious than that. This falls somewhere between the two camps: very few elements, all simple tasty things on their own, very little cooking time, but all the same a sensible, proper meal.


An aubergine and mozzarella supper for one

1 aubergine
Jar of harissa paste
1 ball (c. 125g) mozzarella (use the best/most expensive stuff you can buy without feeling guilty about it)
Garlic bread/crusty bread to serve

Top and tail your aubergine, then slice into rounds roughly 5mm in thickness. No need for tape measures, but if they're too thick they'll burn without cooking through, and if they're too thin they'll just burn plain and simple. Spread them out on a grill pan; I find mine is generally just the right size for an aubergine's worth of slices, but do yours in two batches if not.

Mix a tbs of oil into the harissa paste to loosen the thickness, then brush a very thin layer of the flavoured oil and paste over both side of each slice of aubergine. Keep the amount of paste to an absolute minimum - it's spicy stuff - unless you are normally the kind of person who eats a vindaloo for breakfast.

Stick under the grill and grill until well browned (almost until they start catching and burning), then turn over and repeat on the other side. On my grill, this takes about 3-4 minutes per side, but grills vary so much in strength that you're just going to have to watch over them like a hawk so that you can whip them out at the right moment.

Stick on a plate with the ball of mozzarella and the bread. Eat.


Then, of course, I want those same flavours when I'm cooking for two, but putting a few slices of grilled veg on a plate with a ball of cheese and a slice of bread feels slightly underwhelming when there's more than one of you. So this is how to turn it into a "proper" meal:


And a bigger aubergine and mozzarella salad for two

In addition to the above...

1 other vegetable, perhaps a red onion or a courgette
100g or so of cherry tomatoes
bag salad leaves (I'd suggest rocket or spinach)
juice 1/2 a lemon

...and you'll need to up your quantity of whatever bread you've chosen, too

Repeat the harissa-grilling method with your chosen other vegetable; you'll probably need to add another tbs or so of oil to the jar of harissa to get enough for this.

Chuck the grilled veg into a bowl with the cherry tomatoes (which you've halved or quartered according to how big they are and how little you like them), salad leaves, the lemon juice, and a drop more oil from the harissa jar if it all looks a bit dry at this stage.

Rip your mozzarella roughly into half (taking care to reserve the larger half for yourself), then place on plates. Serve the salad and the bread on the table separately, helping yourselves according to likes and appetites.