“During barbecue season, one of the things I love to do most is to burn an eggplant or two whenever the charcoal barbecue is on,” says Eatable’s Lisa Featherby. “The reason for this is because the flavour you get from directly cooking over the hot embers is it burns the outside and you are left with an amazing smokiness imparted into the eggplant, which can then be prepped and used as a dish layer on, or even for a salad that day. There’s nothing new about this technique, which is common in Middle Eastern countries, also Turkey. It is a wonderful trick to know and then you can use the eggplant in various ways, even with Japanese flavours it is stunning. You can also burn the eggplant over a gas stove placed on a low heat, the smokiness you get from the coals is much better. Try either way for yourself and see. You can simply scrape the flesh out or pull long pieces of it. Either way, there are many ways in which I love to use it.”