Vegan Grilled aubergine with chick pea purée & harissa Recipe

I've done recipes from Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food before and that's because Nigel is my homeboy. I've not found a bad recipe yet - they're all good. It's not a book that is aimed a vegetarians, but my mate Nige, that's what I call him when we hang out, is amazing at getting the seasoning just right on everything he does and that is a special skill that is useful for any cook. Plus there's a boatload of tasty veggie recipes in the book that are easy to do and will make you look good in front of your friends.

This recipe was so simple to do and I reckon that a deconstructed version would work really well as dainty h'orderves for your next dinner party. And any left over chick pea puree make a very tasty bean dip with tortilla chips.

Here's a vegan version of Nigel's recipe...

Vegan Grilled aubergine with chick pea purée and harissa

1 x 400g tin chick peas, drained
a sprig of fresh thyme, plus 1 tbsp chopped leaves
225g large diced, peeled potatoes
3 large cloves of garlic, halved
salt
1 large aubergine, weighing about 275g
150ml pint virgin olive oil
50g vegan margarine
harissa sauce
1 lemon

1. Tip the chick peas into a pan and cover them with water or vegetable stock. Throw in the thyme sprig and bring to the boil. Add the diced potato and two of the garlic cloves. Salt and simmer for 15 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, slice the aubergine into 12 rounds about 1cm inch thick. Chop the two remaining garlic cloves and add to oil with the thyme leaves. Brush aubergine with thyme and garlic oil and cook under or over a preheated hot grill for 7-8 minutes, brushing with more oil as necessary; turn once. 
3. Remove the thyme sprig, drain chick peas and mash. Stir in the margarine. Season with salt. 
4. Put six of the hot grilled aubergine slices on a warm serving dish, place a generous spoonful of chick pea purée on each. Spread the remaining slices with a little harissa, then place on top of the others to form six sandwiches, three for each person. Serve with lemon.

Source: The Guardian

12 Translations of British and American Vegetable Names

American Vegetarians visiting the UK will pleasantly surprised by the selection of foods and commitment to vegetarian lifestyle that is available here. Brighton is like a vegetarian Mecca with an amazing array of restaurants to choose from. Events like Bristol's VegFest help bring food culture together in the spirit of celebration. And throughout England there is a network of health food stores, Vegetarian Societies, and Vegan Societies with a history that stretches back to the 1800s.

While you won't need a full on 'British English' course to able to fulfill all your Happy Cow desires, you might want to swat up on some of the words that British people use for some of your favourite foods. After all Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language.

To help better Anglo-American relations I thought it might be useful to put together a little 'Vegetable Dictionary' for travelers on both sides of the pond.

A zucchini, even if it's shaped like a duck, is called a 'courgette'.

'Collard Greens' and 'Spring Greens' are extremely similar vegetables, Spring Greens are just smaller.

'Garbanzo Beans' are called 'Chick Peas' in Britain.

I find this interesting because 'Navy Beans' sound really simple and 'Haricot' beans' sound fancy,
but they're the same bean!

Like 'Courgette' and 'Haricot', 'aubergine' comes from French.

Like 'Garbanzo', Americans take the word 'Cilantro' from Spanish.

'Green beans' are called 'Runner Beans' in the UK.

I'll be honest, I think the American 'rutabega' is a better word than the British 'swede'.

Not sure why the British call it 'soya' and Americans call it 'soy'.

I like saying 'Lima Bean'. Try it, it's nice.

Like 'zucchini', American's take the word 'arugala' from Italian.

In England, if you ask for 'a pickle' you'll get a sort of savoury jam, i.e. something that you would spread on a sandwich. They come in all sorts of flavours and they're generally really nice, but they are nothing like the pickles you'll get at a deli or dinner in the states.