True confession: I don't own many cookbooks, and I certainly don't own many books broadly about food. Actually, I own two, a history of the cod fish and Jenni Ferrari-Adlar's excellent collection
'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant.' I love it dearly, partly because the essays are excellent, and partly because being alone in the kitchen, cooking for myself, is my favourite thing in the world. My. Favourite. Thing.
Don't get me wrong: I like cooking for people, but it's the cleaning that bothers me. Despite myself I'm always conscious about the state of my house, and any time I ask people over I inevitably find myself trying to clean the house and cook at the same time, and the bin fills up too quickly and the floor gets disgusting and there's no time to mop and there's some odd social requirement to wear pants. When I'm home alone there's no pants required, and I can eat the kind of weird food I want. I can shred a pile of brussels sprouts and cook them with garlic and sriracha and exhale garlicky fumes all over the cat. I can cook down an entire bunch of kale with a couple of caramelised shallots and a splash of sherry, top it with a poached egg and eat it in great tangled strands. I can roast up a head of broccoli and put an egg on it. Actually, I mostly just take a vegetable, cook it in a non-Rosemary Stanton approved way, then put an egg on it. Either way, I don't wear pants. It's heavenly.
You could make this assembly of roasted tomatoes, grilled eggplant and cheese for other people, but then you'd put to have on real clothing and no one wants that. The New York Times grandly calls it a 'tartine,' and then does that annoying thing where they wax lyrical about 'simple' food, then proceed to make a simple recipe look way too complicated. They made an olive tapenade; I said nuts to that. This is basically cheese on toast with eggplant instead of toast, and it's crazy good. The only fiddly element is the goat's curd, which is both expensive and difficult to find, but if you do come across some this is an excellent use for it. If you don't have any I'd layer on a few slices of mozzarella or a smear of ricotta. This is a very good thing to make for yourself, and yourself alone. Clothing optional.
Grilled cheese on eggplant
Adapted from the New York Times. Serves you.
An eggplant
2-3 good ripe tomatoes, sliced
A garlic clove, crushed
Handful of basil, chopped (yes, I used sad, out of season winter basil, but it was worth it). You could also use thyme
A small quantity of goats curd
Couple of handfuls of grated parmesan
Start with the tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Slice them thinnishly, then put them in a bowl with a slug of olive oil, salt and pepper, the basil and garlic. Toss with tongs, then turn on to a baking papered tray. Roast for 20-30 minutes until collapsed and caramelised.
When the tomatoes are done, take two vertical slices from the centre of the eggplant - you're filleting it, really. I threw out the useless eggplant cheeks, but I'm sure you could repurpose it if you like. Brush both sides with olive oil, then grill over high heat until healthily blistered and charred. Remove to a plate.
Smear each slice with a goodly amount of goat curd, followed by a pile of roast tomatoes and a handful of parmesan. Put back under the grill - I use my large offset spatula for this as it is long and thin - and grill until melty and golden. Eat on the couch while swiping away your food-obsessed cat.