The smell of autumn: smoked aubergine purée

It's been a while since I wrote this article and I am still enjoying a good old aubergine salad which, in the meantime, I found out is called smoked aubergine purée (it is a matter of translating from Romanian into English and not about the dish itself - we call it salad even though it is a purée). The ingredients are the same: smoked aubergines, homemade mayonnaise and either onion or garlic. But my version replaces mayonnaise with mascarpone cheese and I am also adding red peppers. There are other varieties out there, one of them being with smoked aubergines, yoghurt, garlic and dill - this is something I've yet to try. In a meantime, here are some pictures showing my version and if you like aubergines in every shape and forms (I love them!) this is a perfect autumn dish that you can use either as a dip or as a breakfast spread on toast. Delicious!

Autumn humper.

Smoking the aubergines. You can cook as many as you like, I normally make just a small portion of two aubergines. I love the smell of smoked aubergines!

Next step: pealing the aubergines and live them to drain; their juice could be quite bitter (I, personally, don't mind it too much). 

Chopping the onion and red pepper. You can replace onion with garlic or if you don't like either of them just leave it out. With the pepper, I just put a little bit for the colour; the bitter taste of the aubergines overpower it, but again, if you don't like the bitterness, you can put more pepper or more mascarpone (or yoghurt or mayonnaise) - it is a matter of trial and error to see what works best for you. 

Put the ingredients into the food processor together with 2 spoons of mascarpone chesse. You can pot more or you can replace it with mayonnaise or yoghurt - your choice!

Smoked aubergine purée - the perfect dip or autumn breakfast food.