Express your anger by smoking something.

When I’m seriously angry about whatever mmm there is a whole list of things that seem to tick me off, and I feel the smoke coming out my ears, I start to think it might be better if I smoke something else rather than my own head. This is one of the reasons why cooking works for me, when something is on my mind negative or otherwise, I can escape to the fluid process of cooking and immerse myself in creating something to eat. When you also accept my philosophy that you don’t need to be a celebrity chef to make love in the kitchen, its easy to just go for it on your own terms in your own time doing it your own way.

Anything can be inspiration for a dish, anger is just another emotion and why not express it through food. So when you are pissed off, SMOKE SOMETHING!

If you have a gas stove you can smoke just about anything. My favourite and easiest thing to smoke right now is eggplant. It not only adds a slice of the Middle East to your cooking which can be magic in itself, it will help you let off some of your own steam just watching the little sucker smoke itself nuts.

Everyone seems to have his or her own way of doing this but I’ve found this method to be the most effective and easiest for me.

Turn your gas stove on high and then just place the eggplant right over the hob and let it start burning. The skin needs to burn and crisp so it tears. The smoke then passes through the tears in the skin and lets the smoke from the burnt skin pass through and send this exquisite flavour right through the eggplant.

Leave it 10 mins each side then do about 2 mins of rotating to the sides that might have missed out. It will hiss out liquid which is good as this is the bitterness of the veg, this is why you salt eggplant usually if you are cooking it to bring out the bitter liquid, so don’t worry about the hissing liquid it’s a good thing for the flavour.

Once its ready you can remove it to a chopping board, split open and spoon out the insides, or if you are making a dip you can actually just use all of the eggplant skin and all and put in your blender.

The taste of this will wash away all of your anger and if it doesn't just smoke another one and keep smoking until you feel better.