Your best eggplant recipes please.

[BettyR]

We just got our new seed catalog in the mail today and I was looking through it and they have some beautiful variates of eggplant and I was thinking about ordering some seeds. Only problem is I've never eaten eggplant and I don't know if I like it...so I bought one and now I need a good way to cook it.

Any ideas?

 

[geoaware]

We like them cut into 1/4" slices, rubbed in salt and left for an hour...then put in a dop of oil and grilled on the BBQ.

 

[Rosalind]

Oh my. Well, you can marinate them in Italian dressing and grill them. Or make eggplant parmesan, which tastes like the tomato sauce really (bread & fry as for a chicken cutlet, then layer with tomato sauce and cheese).

If you like Indian food, and have a fireplace or charcoal grill, you can grill a whole eggplant until it's quite mushy and the skin is charred, then mash it and mix it with chopped garlic to taste, ground coriander seeds (teaspoon), a fresh chopped tomato, chopped hot peppers to taste, a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger, couple tbsp. oil, and salt to taste. Eat scooped up in flatbreads.

Another recipe I have calls for cutting it up into cubes, sauteeing it in a bit of oil, then adding generous amounts of tomato sauce, chopped black olives, capers, garlic, a sauteed chopped onion, little bit of red wine or balsamic vinegar, and Italian herb mix.

Trying to think. Hm. Eggplant doesn't really taste like much, you have to think of it a bit like zucchini--more like a vehicle for other flavors than a flavor of its own. It's a little more substantial than zucchini, though. You can marinate it, bread it, grill it, and use it as a veggie burger, whereas zucchini will turn to mush.

 

[BettyR]

Quote:
Thank you Rosalind,

That helps a lot...My mother used to grow it in her garden. I remember thinking how beautiful the plants were but I never really remembered eating it. I guess she must have put in in with other food and we ate it not realizing it was eggplant.

 

[Renee]

You are going to have fun with the eggplant! I never liked it until I grew my own, now I LOVE the little Japanese eggplants: they are sweet and delicious straight off the bush!

This is the best ratatouille recipe I have ever tasted. It's adapted from Epicurious. Something happens to the ingredients when they are all put together this way and plain old veggies turn into something divine. The smell drives you nuts, it rivals the best pizza aroma. It freezes well, or at least so I have heard. There's never any left when I make it.

Ratatouille
Feeds 8 (except when I am hungry and eat half of it at once)

4-8 tbls olive oil
2 yellow onions, thin-sliced
8 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 medium zucchini/summer squash, cubed (about ½ to 1 lb)
2 red/yellow bell peppers cubed
1 lb eggplant cubed (try to use small, fresh, Japanese eggplant)
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (tastes better) or 1and1/2 lbs fresh tomatoes, diced

½ tsp thyme
½ tsp oregano
1 bay leaf (2 Turkish)
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp fennel seeds
salt and pepper to taste

2 tbls red wine vinegar

fresh basil leaves
Parmesan cheese


Heat oven to 350.

In heavy oven-proof Dutch Oven, saute onions slowly at low heat on stove top in 2 tbls oil. Stir occasionally while cooking for 20 minutes (or more if you have the time) until caramelized, this makes it really delicious and sweet. Meanwhile, cut up bell peppers and squash. Add one or two more tbl. oil, and add bell peppers and squash, and stir. Cut up eggplant and garlic, then add one or two tabl. oil if necessary, add eggplant and garlic, and cook a few minutes until heated through. Turn off heat, add tomatoes, oregano, thyme, sugar, bay leaves, coriander and fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Put on lid, and bake in preheated 350 oven for 1 hour. Turn off oven, let Dutch Oven sit in oven for 30 more minutes. Remove and let sit 20 min.
Mix in red wine vinegar.

Top with basil and/or parmesan cheese, as desired.

This dish is even better the second day, and may be eaten hot or cold.

 

[BettyR]

Thanks I'll give this one a try.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

Use your favorite lasagne recipe and add a layer of sliced eggplant under each layer of ground beef or use it in place of the meat. It's fabulous!!!!!

 

[BettyR]

I had eggplant Parmesan at Olive Garden and I really liked it...the only thing they did differently than what you just posted was they fried the eggplant before they used it in place of noodles.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I never had eggplant until DBF started growing and cooking it and now I absolutely love it!!! My favorite is breaded and fried on a sandwich with mayo, lettuce & tomato!!! He also makes a mean eggplant lasagna - use in place of the meat - and it is fabulous. We usually plant "Black Beauty" and it always does very well.

Edited to add that he does bread and fry the eggplant slices before putting in the lasagna.

 

[rufus]

As I recall, there are boy egg plants and girl egg plants. My mother used pick the boy egg plants so we didn't have to deal with the seeds. I wish I knew how she could tell them apart.

She would slice them about a quarter to three eighths inch and rinse them. Then she would put a good deal of salt on both sides and let them sit for a while. This is supposed to draw bitterness out of them.

Then she would rinse them again, batter and fry them. Sometimes she would "shake and bake" them. Then lay a roasted and peeled green chile on them. topped that with stripes of red chili sauce, sour cream and guacamole. And, what do you know, it was the Mexican flag.

Rufus