1 small to medium aubergine per person
sliced sweet onion
1 garlic clove per aubergine
1 sprig of oregano per aubergine
1 chopped, skinned tomato per aubergine
olive oil
salt, pepper
Peel strips lengthwise from the aubergines, leaving about half the skin on them. Cut a slit almost the length of one of the peeled sections and put slices of onion and garlic into the slits.
Put the aubergines into an oven-proof dish with plenty of olive oil. Cover the onion and garlic with chopped tomato and the sprigs of oregano , add salt and pepper and some more olive oil. Aubergines soak up a lot of olive oil and it does bring out their flavour wonderfully.
Bake in the oven at 180 C for at least an hour, depending on the size of the aubergines, until they are well cooked. They can be eaten straight from the oven, hot, or allowed to cool. I left them overnight and served them cold with a dressing made by adding a spoonful of tahina (sesame seed paste) to the oil they were cooked in. Serve them on their own or as part of a table of Turkish mezes: stuffed peppers, pickled peppers, stuffed vine leaves, hummus, olives……