Baked miso eggs with roasted eggplant and pumpkin
Ever since we opened Mina no ie in 2012, this baked miso egg dish has been one of our signature breakfasts. I’m really happy with this great marriage between Eastern and Western flavours — everyone loves eggplant and miso (plus cheese). We use our nanbutekki (castiron) pans, designed by Sori Yanagi, for a sizzling, stylish oventotable service. You can bake and serve the dish in individual pans or one large pan for sharing.
Serves 4 500g eggplant (aubergine), sliced into 1cm thick rounds pinch of salt
90ml olive oil
250g butternut pumpkin (squash), cubed 4 eggs
125ml thickened (pouring/whipping) cream
80ml sweet miso sauce*
2 Tbsp chopped spring onion (scallion) 150g provolone cheese, sliced
To garnish coriander leaves
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170degC .
Grease a heavy castiron pan or gratin dish (about 30cm25cm), or 4 individual castiron pans.
2. Soak the eggplant in salted water for
1015 minutes. Arrange the eggplant in a roasting tin, drizzle it with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, until soft.
3. Steam the pumpkin in a double boiler for 5 minutes, or until cooked through.
4. Distribute the eggplant and pumpkin evenly in the castiron pan. Gently crack the eggs over the vegetables. Pour the cream and sweet miso sauce evenly over the dish, then sprinkle over the spring onion and top it all with the cheese.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese melts. Garnish with the coriander and serve hot, straight out of the oven.
Note: You can swap eggplant and pumpkin with other winter vegetables such as cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms and sweet potato.
* Sweet miso sauce is great for marinating fish, meat or vegetables, as well as adding to salad dressings.