Tribute to Aubergine

"An unsalted aubergine owes its bitter taste to a tiny quantity of nicotine, but remove this minor piece of nastiness and an aubergine will behave impeccably, maybe mixing best of all with garlic, tomatoes and olive oil but also making surprisingly good jam with a silken texture and fullness of flavour. Often referred to as a fruit and usually cooked as a vegetable, it is officially a berry. Some varieties are indeed small and cute enough to qualify, but others are positively Rubenesque." I disagree about mixing eggplant with tomato. Sami Zubaida, who knows about food and about Middle East culinary traditions more than anybody I know and who gave me a great simplified recipe for the Egyptian popular dish, Kushari, taught me something about tomato in cooking: that it kills flavor. He noted to me that saffron, for example, is useless with tomatoes. (thanks Laila)