Roast Aubergine & Pomegranate salad

So I was making my Aubergine & Courgette bake and went a bit cray cray with the aubergines. Suffice to say there was a mountain pile of aubergine slices left. I remember having a similar salad at Ottolenghi and set about creating my own version of it. If you want to make this strictly Paleo, just leave out the ricotta and use coconut yoghurt. You can also sub with dollops of greek yoghurt.

INGREDIENTS
serves 4 as a side dish
Prep: 20min  |  Cook: 20min

4         aubergines
50g    pine nuts
½        pomegranate
10       sprigs of mint
150g   ricotta
1          lemon
3tbsp olive oil + extra to drizzle
pinch  salt & pepper

MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F). Slice the aubergines into 1cm thick slices and toss in a bowl. Pour the olive oil over the slices, sprinkle with some salt and pepper and toss to coat - getcha hands dirty. Line two baking sheet / trays with foil and grease with olive oil and lay the slices out on top. Try not to overlap them all because we want the aubergines to roast and maybe even char a little bit for a slightly smokey flavour. If you lay them on top of each other too much it will steam. Put the two trays in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take  the aubergines out of the oven and give them a gentle toss and roast for a further 10 minutes. After that, take the aubergines out and leave to cool.
  2. Whilst waiting for your aubergines, prep the other ingredients. Put the pine nuts in a small frying pan on medium heat to toast. Keep you eyes on these nuts we want them to colour and bring out the nutty flavours but not burn, then turn off the heat to cool down. Score your pomegranate in half and remove the seeds. I use a merge of this method. Whack the pomegranate with a wooden spoon to knock out the seeds into a bowl then pour in cold water to separate the pith. Remove the mint leaves and chop roughly.
  3. Once your aubergines have cooled down, place them in a large bowl, add the pine nuts, pomegranate seeds, mint, squeeze the juice of half a lemon - add the other half gradually as you taste if you want more acidity. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and toss gently.
  4. Before serving, take a teaspoon and dot dollops of ricotta (or coconut yoghurt / greek yoghurt) in and around the salad, crack black pepper and a final drizzle of olive oil and eat!