Wilted spinach with aubergine and red peppers

Photographer: Adam
serves 4

This side makes a fresh respite from the richness of the venison and pumpkin. The textures are divine with the sweet crunch of the capsicum, the fluffy softness of the aubergine and the creamy smoothness of the spinach, yum!

Admittedly this is not true to form for the theme of the month, I snuck it in as a delicious side for my last two posts. You could argue that salt and pepper are spices, but that would just be semantics. All three combined is my ode to spicing up the misery of winter.

INGREDIENTS


1 aubergine finely diced and salted*
Rock salt (for aubergine)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 capsicum deseeded and finely diced
1 red onion finely diced
75g butter
3 cloves garlic
300g baby spinach
50ml white wine
Rock salt and cracked black pepper (for seasoning)

METHOD


1. Bring oil to heat in a large fry-pan, fry off aubergine, capsicum and red onion. Once cooked through set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large fry-pan on a low setting, increase to high setting and add in garlic, fry for a few minutes and then add spinach. Work quickly mixing gently with tongs, ensuring that the spinach only just changes to a dark green. Remove from heat if necessary, add in wine and season with salt and pepper.
3. Mix spinach with aubergine mix gently by swirling the bowl. Serve.

Tips and tricks
* To salt the aubergine, slice lengthwise into roughly 1 cm slices, lie flat and sprinkle over as much rock salt as necessary to cover, let sit for half an hour. This draws out excessive moisture and combats bitterness. Then wash and dry the aubergine ready to be diced and used in the recipe.