Aubergine and Cumin Charlottes

I have been intriqued with Laura Calder's French Food at Home.  I tried her aubergine (eggplant) and cumin charlottes.  Aside from a few Oops and a personal tweek or two of the recipe the charlottes turned out very nice.  This recipe makes two servings.

Ingredients

• Two aubergine (eggplants) - first oops, the market only had small Japanese eggplants and I only bought four but should have picked up at least six.  Two medium to large regular plants should be fine
• 1 tbl Cumin - 2nd oops, I was down to my last bit of cumin but managed the bare minimum
• 1/4 cup milk
• Gorgonzola cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp cheyenne pepper
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive Oil

Preparation

• Slice the first eggplant into half, lay the halves face down onto an oiled sheet and bake at 400 degrees F until the meat of the plant is soft.  This should take about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Once the aubergine is done scoop the meat from the skin and set aside.
• Slice the 2nd eggplant lengthwise into thin slices between 1/8 and 3/8 inches thick
• Take the slices of the aubergine, brush with olive oil, place onto a cooking sheet, salt & pepper, and place into the oven at 425 degrees F - 3rd oops, I was in a hurry and placed the slices under the broiler.  Great idea but left them in too long.  Luckly only a few slices burnt and the others were nicely browned.  The biggest problem was the lack of aubergine slices. C'est la vie. 

• Mix the three eggs, the 1/4 cup of milk, the cumin and the cheyenne together

• Then mix in the cooked aubergine meat previously sccoped from the skin
• When the aubergine slices are done (browned on the bottom) remove them from the sheet and lay tem into the bottom of an oiled ramequin (ramekin) bowl. 
• Fill the lined ramequin bowl 1/2 full with the egg/aubergine mixture.
• Crumble a layer of gorgonzola cheese on top of the mixture
• Fill the ramequin with the remainder of the egg/aubergine mixture
• Place the bowls into the oven at 350 degrees F until the mixture set, about 15 - 20 minutes
• Allow the bowls to cool
• Cut around the edges of the bowl and gently remove the charlotte from the bowl onto a plate.

Serving Suggestions
I paired this with a tomato salad (cherry tomatoes, fig vinegar, olive oil, basil, and mint), a swordfish steak (merinaded in lemon juice, pineapple, ginger, cilantro, and onion) and a glass of chardonnay.