Baked eggplant with poached egg

METHOD

• 1
  Preheat the oven to 160 °C.
• 2
  Cut the eggplants lengthwise and lightly score the flesh in a crosshatch pattern. Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat and fry the eggplants cut-side down until golden. Then place them cut-side up on a baking sheet, put them in the preheated oven, and bake for 30 minutes.
• 3
  Then let them cool partially, scrape the baked flesh with a spoon onto a cutting board and chop finely. Place in a bowl. After baking, there should be 300 g of eggplant flesh left in the bowl.
• 4
  Bring water to a boil in a pot. Always place a maximum of 2 tomatoes, scored with a cross, into the boiling water and cook for 15–20 seconds. Then immediately transfer them to a bowl with ice water and let them cool. Afterwards, peel the skin from the tomatoes, cut them open, scrape out the seeds with a spoon and discard them. Dice the flesh into 0.5 cm cubes.
• 5
  Squeeze the confit garlic from its skin, mash it with a fork, and add it along with the flavored garlic oil to the bowl with the eggplant. Add the diced tomato flesh, parsley, 5 g of salt, and a pinch of freshly ground pepper. Mix thoroughly.
• 6
  Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Line a small bowl with cling film, pour 1 teaspoon of oil into it, and carefully crack 1 egg into it without breaking the yolk. Press the edges of the film together so that no air remains around the egg and tie it. Prepare the remaining eggs in the same way.
• 7
  Place the eggs in the film into the boiling water, reduce the heat to one-third, and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer the cooked eggs to a plate and carefully remove the cling film.
• 8
  Serve the eggplant on a plate, place the egg on top, lightly season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with chopped chives.