With such beautiful looking melanzane, I had to come up with a recipe that would make them proud!

• peel the melanzane like a zebra
• depending on size, cut them in half or quarter
• brush them with olive oil all over
• bake them in a pre heated oven, 200˚ for about 20 minutes

• once they are golden, let them cool on the tray

• for the sauce:
• drain some plain yogurt through a muslin ( let it drain for one hour or more)
• crush a garlic and mix it through the drained yogurt
• add salt, pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
• 1 teaspoon sumac
• mix all well together

• roast a hand full of walnuts until they just colour, then chop them
• soak a handful of barberries for 10 minutes in some water, drain and dry them
• chop some basilico and Italian parsley

• arrange the melanzane on a serving dish
• lightly salt and pepper them
• spread the yogurt topping on top
• decorate with the walnuts, barberries and fresh herbes
• you can serve this dish as a first course or as part of an antipasto