Baked aubergine rounds with cherry tomatoes, served cold
Aubergine rounds baked until meltingly soft, then cooled and topped with finely chopped cherry tomatoes, olive oil and basil. A very simple summer cold dish.
Are you looking for a fresh, light summer dish that can be made ahead and pulled out of the fridge when it is too hot to cook?
Then these baked aubergines with cherry tomatoes are perfect. I will walk you through baking them until they turn genuinely meltingly soft, then dressing them raw and serving them cold with finely chopped cherry tomatoes, olive oil and basil.
The beauty of this recipe is its honesty: four ingredients, no frying, no breadcrumbs. All the flavour comes from the contrast between the slowly baked aubergine, sweet and creamy, and the raw tomatoes chopped very small, which stay sharp and fresh.
There are at least three good reasons to make it: it improves as it rests, it is naturally vegan and light, and it travels well, so it works as a starter or as a side to take along.
The step most people skip is the half hour of resting with oil and salt before baking. The aubergine absorbs the seasoning and cooks more evenly, without staying rubbery in the middle. The other key point is waiting until the slices are genuinely cold before adding the tomatoes, otherwise the residual heat cooks them and all the freshness is lost.
Serve them cold, with all the tomato dressing juices, and some bread to mop them up. They keep for two days in the fridge.
Ready? Let’s get started with baked aubergines with cherry tomatoes.
To make this recipe
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Oven tray or baking dish
Perfect for baking meatballs and vegetables. Choose a non-stick tray for better results and easy cleaning.
Steps
- Wash the aubergines and cut them into rounds about one centimetre thick, leaving the skin on: it holds each slice together while the flesh softens.
- Arrange the rounds in a baking dish, slightly overlapping like roof tiles, so they cover the whole base.
- Season with the oil and the salt, spreading them over all the slices, and leave to rest for half an hour at room temperature: the aubergine absorbs the seasoning and starts to relax.
- Bake at 180°C (350°F) in a conventional oven for about 30 minutes, until the rounds are meltingly soft, yielding to a fork without resistance, with lightly golden edges.
- Meanwhile chop the cherry tomatoes into very small pieces and dress them in a bowl with oil, salt and the hand-torn basil.
- Let the aubergines cool completely in the dish: only when cold do they reach the right texture and the flavour rounds out.
- Spoon the dressed tomatoes over the cold aubergines, together with all their dressing juices, and serve straight away.
Helpful tips
The half hour of resting with oil and salt before baking is not wasted time: the slices go into the oven already seasoned and cook more evenly.
Never add the tomatoes before baking: cooked, they lose the freshness that balances the sweetness of the aubergine.
You can bake the aubergines the day before and keep them in the fridge, adding the tomatoes only when serving.
A splash of vinegar or a squeeze of lemon in the tomato dressing makes the dish even fresher.
Average nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 180 kcal
- Carbohydrates
- 12.0 g
- Sugars
- 8.0 g
- Protein
- 3.0 g
- Fat
- 13.0 g
- Saturated fat
- 2.0 g
- Fiber
- 6.0 g
- Sodium
- 300 mg
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