Recipe: Warm Salad of Sweet and Sour Eggplant
- Words by Peppermint
We’re SO KEEN to try this second extract from Celia Brooks’ Superveg – a collection of recipes focused on the goodness and abundance of veggies. In fact if you whip it up, please send some to Peppermint HQ, stat. Thanks!
Ingredients
2 large or 3 medium eggplants
60-90 ml (2-3 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
100 ml (31/2 fl oz) dry vermouth or white wine
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons runny honey
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves
200 g (7 oz) crumbly or soft cheese, such as feta or goat’s cheese, broken into chunks
4 teaspoons pomegranate molasses handful of mint leaves, chopped
75 g (21/2 oz/1/2 cup) shelled pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
Ingredients
Slice the stem off the eggplants. Stand them on the severed end and slice downwards, shaving off and discarding the first and last bit of skin. Make slices 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick. Brush each slice on both sides with olive oil.
Cook the eggplant in batches. Heat a chargrill pan until very hot. Lay the eggplant slices in the pan and cook each side until translucent and striped with black. Allow to cool slightly, then cut the cooked eggplants into long strips about 2 cm
(3/4 inch) wide.
Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. (If you have used up all the oil, add a couple of tablespoons to the pan.) When hot, add the eggplants and spread them out evenly in the pan. Add the vermouth or wine all at once – stand back as it may splutter at first. Season well with salt and pepper and cook, stirring gently, until the wine has almost completely evaporated. Add the vinegar and honey to the pan and stir. Cook for a couple more minutes, while the juices thicken and caramelise, then remove the pan from the heat.
Make a bed of baby spinach leaves on each plate and pile the eggplants on top. Scatter the cheese over them. Drizzle with pomegranate molasses, sprinkle with the chopped mint and pistachios and serve.
Options
Substitute an aged balsamic or balsamic glaze/syrup if pomegranate molasses is unavailable.
Special equipment
Chargrill pan (alternatively fry the eggplants in a large frying pan).
Serves 4-6
Images and recipe from SuperVeg by Celia Brooks by Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99 Photography by Jean Cazals.
JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
Brighten up your inbox with our not-too-frequent emails featuring Peppermint-related news, events, competitions and more!
explore
More articles
Have you made the Viola Quilted Jacket yet? This pattern hits the sweet spot for both established sewists keen to learn a new skill (quilting!),…
Hang out with us on Instagram
“My piece of advice for makers and designers? Run your own race… make sure your key decisions stay anchored in your brand’s core beliefs.”
- Bec Bligh
Quick show of hands: who’s opened a water bottle expecting a refreshing sip… and instead been greeted by the unmistakable whiff of uh-oh?
Because for something that follows us everywhere (desk, car, hikes, yoga…), the humble drink bottle is strangely prone to becoming a science experiment. Hard-to-clean corners and gaskets. Mystery smells. Bec Bligh and her husband Tim know it well. A six-month sailing trip along the Queensland coast left them with a lifetime of memories and one stubborn annoyance: mouldy water bottles they couldn’t properly clean.
So they did something about it.
Enter @EverVessel. Thoughtfully designed borosilicate glass and stainless steel bottles that keep things beautifully simple: durable materials, wide openings, easy-to-clean parts and none of the techy gimmicks that tend to age badly. Turns out simplicity, done well, is pretty powerful stuff. (Their many design awards agree!)
And lately they’ve added a little extra delight: the Artist Series, where creatives like Paola Castro, Ben Miners and Martin Thompson transform these everyday companions into tiny travelling artworks. There are more colabs in the works, too: hydration, but make it joyful! 🎨💧
We chatted with Bec about the sailing trip that started it all, the philosophy behind Ever Vessel, and why the most sustainable product is often just the one you keep using.
Tap the link in our bio to read the full conversation. 🚰
#EverVessel #ReusableWaterBottle
Pull up a chair… there’s room at this table!
For the first time, Feast for Freedom is bringing people together for a spectacular long-table dinner as part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.
A Longer Table is exactly what it sounds like: one beautiful shared table inside the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (@Asrc1), piled with generous dishes inspired by this year’s hero cooks, Noha and Nige.
From 6 to 9pm on Wednesday, 25 March, this is what you can expect:
🍽 A three-course shared feast
🍷 Matched drinks
🎶 Live entertainment
✨ A room full of good humans
Your ticket doesn’t just buy you a delicious dinner. It supports the ASRC’s vital work and helps create a fairer future for people seeking asylum.
Seats are limited, and long tables have a way of filling up quickly – head to @MelbFoodAndWine’s website to book now: feastforfreedom.org.au/mfwf
#FeastForFreedom #MelbourneFoodAndWineFestival #LongTableDinner #FoodForChange
Sew versatile! 🪡
Another great make from Lisa from @SunnySewsEveryday:
My #PeppermintWaratahWrapDress is finished and I’m so proud of it. It has been designed not to flap open and flash your pants in the wind, so I feel confident it will be a great wheelchair or standing dress in English weather.
#PeppermintPatterns #WrapDress #WrapDressPattern
Frame your face with the Peppermint Bucket Hat!
Stay safe and stylish in the sun with your very own self-sewn and self-drafted wide-brimmed bucket hat. This beginner-friendly sew is perfect for a sunny day. Get out your pencils – this pattern is created using equations and maths!
This DIY project was featured in Issue 53 and now you can access it for the lovely low price of only $5.
Sun-safe chic is always in style. ☀️
Find it via the link in our bio!
Photos: @KelleySheenan
#PeppermintPatterns #PeppermintBucketHat #BucketHat #BucketHatPattern #DIY
✨ INSTANT CLASSIC ✨
The Peppermint Myrtle Shift Dress is a beginner-friendly make with a few special details based on the ever-stylish shift shape – the perfect dress you need in your wardrobe right now!
Myrtle cuts above the knee with options to customise the length. Don’t think she’s reserved for hot weather either: try a heavier-weight fabric to turn your Myrtle into a pinafore-style garment for layering.
For our fabrics we chose two from our lovely sewing partner @Karmme_Apparel – the bold Rottnest Stripes in a lightweight, soft-drape cotton, and the quality linen in the handpainted Mexico Collection.
Get making the Myrtle – the only question is, can you stop at just one?
Link in bio 🪡
Fabric: @Karmme_Apparel
Sewist: @Laura_The_Maker
Photos: @KelleySheenan
Models: @SerahSews and @Pins_And_Tonic
Location: @ShareTheDignityAustralia
#PeppermintMyrtleShiftDress #PeppermintPatterns
It’s time to Feast!
Some recipes travel a long way before they land on your table to delight your taste buds. This year’s Feast for Freedom invites us to gather our friends, cook something delectable and raise funds for the incredible work of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (@Asrc1) while we’re at it.
The 2026 Feast features recipes shared by two remarkable cooks: Noha, who brought the flavours of Palestine with her when she arrived in Australia, and Nige, a Sri-Lankan Tamil cook whose journey with food began in the most unexpected of places.
You can host your own Feast up until 30 April – simply register online and get planning! Host a dinner, organise a workplace lunch, or gather your community… However you do it, the idea is simple: cook, connect and celebrate the cultures and stories that shape Australia.
Want to find out more? Head to the link in bio to meet Noha and Nige, learn more about their stories, and discover a delicious recipe to try.
#FeastForFreedom #PeppermintMagazine #FoodForGood #ASRC
