Three main ingredients and they all begin with the letter 'A' - spooky. But, of course, that's only if we call the purple things 'aubergines'. It doesnae work if we say 'eggplants'. Or maybe it does. Those who heard the Bearsden accent (Bearsden is a wee enclave of Glasgow), might agree that 'artichokes stuffed with avocado and eggplant' puree has the same level of assonance. And, everybody else might think, 'What are you on about, Macbean?'. Ach, it's not that important, really...
I found this dish in a restaurant in Istanbul, although on the menu, it was claimed to be a Greek recipe. They don't usually do that in Istanbul... admit that something might have been invented by the Greeks. But this restaurant was one of those kind where they try to make up a menu of dishes from a broad range of international cuisines that still fit together quite well. It seemed to work. I had pasta with porcini mushrooms after my stuffed artichokes and I felt that was a nice combination.
It was a good night altogether, in fact. We met up with a bunch of friends we hadn't seen for a while and had a great time. The restaurant is off what could be considered the main street in the new part of the city centre: Istiklal Street. We were on the seventh floor and there's a fantastic panorama of the city from the wide window. A rather unsettling thing was that the same panorama was visible from the toilet. Not often you get to sit in the can and look out over a capital city.
So, here's how to do the recipe. Or here's how I did it, which I'm assuming isn't far off the way it was done in Istanbul. I used tinned artichokes and I suspect they did too. Here, I'm giving the quantities you'll need to fill about four artichoke bottoms. I would suggest two per person as a starter.
Ingredients
1 avocado
1 aubergine
4 artichoke bottoms
A sprig of fresh parsley
A squirt of lemon juice
Salt
Stab the aubergine several times with a fork and place in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook for about twenty minutes. Drain and cover with cold water.
When the aubergine is cool, you should be able to strip the skin off fairly easy. When you've done that, slice the aubergine down the middle and press the two halves together hard with the palms of your hands to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Chop the aubergine finely and put into a bowl in which you can mash up all the ingredients.
Cut the avocado in half and remove the stone. Scoop out the pulp with a spoon and add it to the bowl with the chopped parsley and just a little lemon juice. The lemon will stop the puree from discolouring, but as canned artichokes can have a lot of citric acid in them, it's wise not to use too much lemon juice or the final result might be too acidic. Mash up all the ingredients into a puree and add a little salt to taste, then spoon the mixture into the artichoke bottoms.
Serve garnished with a few salad leaves and a couple of slices of tomato or something like that.