All this sunshine means now is the time for glorious Mediterranean flavours. And few ingredients work better together than aubergines and chickpeas

The aubergine and the chickpea are old friends, going hand in hand throughout the Mediterranean. They turn up together in mezes, often whipped to a purée with olive oil, and in garlic-scented stews, in the company of tomato, lamb, mint, lemon and, of course, olive oil.

In a food sense I am in deepest summer mode at the moment. Give or take the odd courgette, dinner seems like a never-ending round of watermelon, feta, tomatoes and aubergines. This week the last of these appeared at least three times: stuffed, in a twist on the classical imam bayildi; fried into crackling discs and spread with a beetroot purée, and yet again in a quick fry-up of minced lamb, onion, dill and crumbled chalk-white sheep’s cheese. In all cases the aubergine was in the presence of plump pois chiches.

So to those stuffed aubergines. Rather than a tomato and garlic filling, I mixed them instead with the roasted meat of the aubergine, the aforementioned chickpeas and, to introduce some welcome textural contrast, a handful of crisped pumpkin and sesame seeds. Add garlic if you feel the need.

I also took the opportunity to flour and fry a few young aubergines this week, bringing the rustling fritters to the table with a bowl of crushed beetroot and chickpeas – a sort of beetroot hummus, spiked with mint, whipped not to a smooth paste but left slightly knubbly and coarse. It’s up to you how long you hold down the button on the food processor. Such a recipe is also pleasing to make by hand, smashing the cooked beetroot and pulses with a potato masher or against the side of a bowl with the back of a wooden spoon.

This is what I call high-summer cooking. The sort of food to eat under a fierce sun which is, of course, where such ingredients are at their happiest.

Cumin aubergine, beetroot hummus

You could grill the aubergines. The result will lack crispness, but is still good. Brush the slices of aubergine generously with olive oil, sprinkle them with cumin seeds then cook under a grill until golden and giving.

Serves 4

For the hummus:

chickpeas 400g tin

beetroot 250g, cooked

mint 8 leaves

olive oil 6 tbsp

For the aubergines:

aubergine 1, medium to large

plain flour 3 tbsp, heaped

cumin seeds 1 tsp

olive oil 5 tbsp

Make the hummus: rinse the chickpeas and tip them into the bowl of a food processor. Cut the beetroot into large pieces and add to the chickpeas together with the mint leaves, then process to a coarse purée, pouring in the oil as you go. Stop when you have a spreadable purée. Check the seasoning – it may need salt – then transfer to a serving bowl, cover with film and refrigerate.

Wipe the aubergine, remove and discard its stalk, then slice into rounds about 1cm thick. Scatter the flour over a plate, season with salt and finely ground black pepper and the cumin seeds. Place the aubergine slices in the flour, turning them over and gently pressing them down to lightly coat them.

Warm a shallow layer of oil in a high-sided frying pan then, when it starts to bubble slightly, lower in some of the aubergine slices and leave to fry until pale gold. Turn over, cook the other side then lift out and drain briefly on kitchen paper.

Serve immediately, hot and lightly crisp, with the beetroot humus.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sunshine on a plate: aubergine with chickpeas and sesame. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin for The Observer

Aubergine with chickpeas and sesame

Add finely sliced garlic if you wish.

Serves 2

aubergines 2, large

red chilli 1, large

olive oil 6 tbsp

For the filling:

onions 2

olive oil 3 tbsp

chickpeas 400g tin

red-wine vinegar 1 tbsp

pumpkin seeds 4 tbsp

sesame seeds 2 tbsp

dill a handful, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Slice the aubergines in half from stem to tip, then place them skin-side down in a roasting tin. Score their cut surfaces in a crisscross lattice pattern. Seed and very finely chop the chilli and stir into the olive oil with a little salt. Spoon the oil and chilli over the aubergines, encouraging it to trickle down into the scored flesh. Each half will take 2-3 tbsp of oil. Bake for 45 minutes or until the flesh is soft and easy to scrape out.

Peel and roughly chop the onions, then let them soften in the oil in a shallow pan over a moderate heat. Stir them regularly, until they are sweet, soft and pale gold at the edges. Rinse the chickpeas, then stir them into the onions, together with the red-wine vinegar and a generous and careful seasoning of salt and pepper.

Tip the pumpkin and sesame seeds into a dry frying pan and toast over a moderate heat until they are patchily golden, then remove from the heat.

When the aubergines are cool enough to handle (or if you are impatient, slightly before) scrape out the flesh into a bowl using a spoon, leaving the skin intact, and add it to the onions. Return the aubergine shells to the roasting tin skin-side down, leaving a little space between each. Stir the pumpkin and sesame seeds into the onion and aubergine mixture and check the seasoning, then spoon generously into the empty shells. A loose scattering of dill is rather good, though not entirely necessary.

Return the aubergines to the oven and bake for 15 minutes until thoroughly hot.

Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk

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This article was amended on 21 August 2015 to adjust an error in the ingredients.