Aubergines

[newbiee]

Are you growing aubergines under glass or polytunnel?  Are you limiting your fruits?  If so, how many per plant?

Mine have masses of flowers, and whilst I don't need big fruits, I'm wondering if the plant will produce decent sized fruits if it has so many to bear.

[dragonrouge]

Neither but in pots and limiting them to two or three fruits per plant.  Of course the further south you are (we are in the Vendee) and with copious amounts of water the plant could produce (depending on the variety) say six or so.  But what do you then do with them?  save for Abergine caviar and rats and apart from that what else

[Clair]

[quote user="dragonrouge"]But what do you then do with them?  save for Abergine caviar and rats and apart from that what else[/quote]

http://www.750g.com/recettes_aubergines.htm

http://www.cookitsimply.com/category-0020-0196t.html

[powerdesal]

You have pet rats that you feed on aubergines?????????[:P]

[dragonrouge]

Steve when you please see Christian  at the Brocante bar will you pass him my kindest regards from the Vendee.  The view from Mont Robin was wonderful and I loved his bar but this regions also has some benefits.

Rats is the throw away term for the melange of vegetables which the french so so well but I cannot either pronounce it or indeed spell it so I have used rats for years. But I am sure that as you know I am Welsh that was once a staple diet in the valleys.

[woolybananasbrother]

There is an excellent recipe for rat in my naval recipe book. I wonder if aubergine would add a particular flavour? Better than ship's biscuit perhaps?

[newbiee]

[quote user="dragonrouge"] .  But what do you then do with them?  save for Abergine caviar and rats and apart from that what else[/quote]

 

Roasted aubergine curry

Aubergine and sweet potato curry

Ratatouille

Baba Ganouh

Roasted aubergine slices topped with chillis and mint

Kebab skewers

Roasted aubergine lasagne

 

shall I go on? [:P] .,..

 

[5-element]

Moussaka

Aubergines & Coconut (Caribbean)

Aubergines au gratin

What I often do with aubergines (after slicing, salting, letting stand in colander for an hour and then pressing as much liquid out as possible), is cook them with garlic and a few chopped up sun-dried tomatoes and piment de l'Espelette, in olive oil, long and slow. Then they can be eaten hot or cold.

I also often make Baba Ghanoush, great dip, the French never know what it is.

 

Can't find anything to do with rat, except  adding atouille to it?

[mint]

Now my curiosity has been aroused.  OK, 5E, tell us what Baba Ghanoush is and, more importantly, how to make it.

[woolybananasbrother]

5th elephant may be alseep already so here is

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baba-Ghanoush-2/Detail.aspx

[mint]

Sounds easy enough, Wooly; many thanks.

[woolybananasbrother]

5th Elephant may have a special secret recipe though

[mint]

Well, Wooly, if it's a secret recipe, she's hardly going to disclose it, is she?

[woolybananasbrother]

she will, she is very nice. she has given my vegetable tarts a new lease of life I tell you

[powerdesal]

[quote user="sweet 17"]Now my curiosity has been aroused.  OK, 5E, tell us what Baba Ghanoush is and, more importantly, how to make it.[/quote]

Its Arabic stuff and its horrible. [6]

[5-element]

[quote user="sweet 17"]Now my curiosity has been aroused.  OK, 5E, tell us what Baba Ghanoush is and, more importantly, how to make it.[/quote]

 

5-E is up and about now, being an early riser.

Woolybabe has given a recipe, but it has the crucial part missing, as is often the case with written Baba Ghanoush recipes.

The crucial part to Baba Ghanoush, which differentiates it from ordinary puréed aubergine is its typical SMOKY flavour. To get that smoky flavour, the aubergine should have been roasted fiercely, by holding it with prongs, over a gas ring for instance until the skin has blackened and charred - and you have to take off all the little black bits once it is cool enough. Roasting the aubergine fiercely is the hard part, removing the black skin and all the bits without burning yourself is the second hardest bit. After that, it's all plain sailing:

 you just add lemon juice, garlic, tahini, salt, and liquidize. No need for sesame seeds, the tahini is enough.

This is the Lebanese way, straight from a genuine Lebanese (ex-flatmate).

[Clair]

[quote user="powerdesal"][quote user="sweet 17"]Now my curiosity has been aroused.  OK, 5E, tell us what Baba Ghanoush is and, more importantly, how to make it.[/quote]

Its Arabic stuff and its horrible. [6]

[/quote]

I have to agree with PdS. It's also known as caviar d'aubergine and, like everything aubergine, I dislike with some intensity.

I just do not like aubergine, to the point where I don't even put any on my version of ratatouille!

[newbiee]

 

So, to get back on topic .... is anybody growing aubergines under cover .... and if so how many fruits are you limiting your plants to?

Husband's mother said 5 or 6 fruits per plant (as read in gardening section of newspaper).  Somebody else told me I can let more fruit so long as I don't need huge fruits and that as I pick the smaller fruits the energy will go into the other, which makes sense.

I'm growing Rosa Bianco (yum!) and long purple.

[Iceni]

newbiee

Why not hedge your bets by leaving some plants to run riot whilst giving some others the snip ?

John

[hoverfrog]

I grow mine outside (Limousin) and just let them get on with it...

Oh, and definitely moussaka!

[foxyloxy25]

Newbiee go into the rhs website they have a list of vegetables, with instructions on each.  It really is a super site.  We have our aubergines growing outside, so can give you no help about growing them indoors.

[cassis]

[quote user="newbiee"]

 

So, to get back on topic .... is anybody growing aubergines under cover .... and if so how many fruits are you limiting your plants to?

Husband's mother said 5 or 6 fruits per plant (as read in gardening section of newspaper).  Somebody else told me I can let more fruit so long as I don't need huge fruits and that as I pick the smaller fruits the energy will go into the other, which makes sense.

I'm growing Rosa Bianco (yum!) and long purple.

[/quote]

Yes, we're growing aubergines under glass for the third year.  We don't limit the number of fruits and get up to a dozen per plant.  How big the fruits would grow if we left them on, I don't know as we pick them young.  As a result the fruits are small-ish at 15-20cm long and about 250-300g apiece.  But picking young means there's no bitterness at all (so no farting about with salt).