I'm a little lost on eggplant. It's a weird veggie. I picked one up yesterday out of curiosity, and now it's sitting sliced on my counter, waiting to be cooked.
Bake it? Fry it? Nuke it? Boil it? What to do!
Are eggplants redeeming in value? Or is it just a little sponge of purple nothingness?
Bake it. It's worked well for me.
If you try to fry it, it will act like a sponge and soak up all oil you have in the pan and then be disgusting! At least, that's what happened to me.
I marinate it in some balsamic vinegar, a touch of olive oil, freshly chopped garlic, some pepper for an hour or more. Then I grill it over the bbq for 5-7 minutes (it would probably be good under the broiler as well.
It can be eaten as a sidedish or as a nice addition to a salad.
I got this recipe from eggface over on Obesity Help and it is really good.
Roasted Eggplant Spread
Eggplant, medium pealed and cubed in 1 inch pieces
2 red bell peppers, seeded
1 red onion, peeled
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp tomato paste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, tossing once during cooking. Cool slightly. Place the vegetables in a food processor, add tomato pat, and pulse 3 to 4 times to blend. Taste for salt and pepper.
It is the ugliest stuff, but oh so good. You can eat it as dip or :
2 boneless chicken breasts, sliced in half and pounded out
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp kosher salt
a few twists of freshly ground black pepper
Roasted Eggpland Spread (reserve 1/2 c.)
1/2 cup Italian Blend Cheese, shredded
Olive Oil
Mix flour and seasonings together. Lightly dredge pounded breasts in seasoned flour. Saute in olive oil (about a TBSP) until golden on both sides. Place two breasts in baking dish. Top with 1/2 roasted eggplant spread. Place the other two breasts on top. Top those with the remaining spread. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
I went the baking route, and wasn't interested in finding a recipe (what can I say? I'm a rebel ). You weren't kidding about the oil! I put about a tsp on each slice, hoping to give it a nice crispy top, and when I went back to the first slice it was all soaked in, so there was a circle of yellow! WTH?! Crazy veggies...
If you want to use a little oil on it the next time you broil/bake it it'll be more even if you brush it on or use oil spray. Also, if you salt it first and let it sit 30 mins it'll lose some of it moisture and won't absorb so much. Make sure to rinse it and pat dry before cooking though.
Slice eggplant very thinly through a slicing blade of a food processor (peeled or unpeeled..your choice). Slice a large SWEET onion the same. Chop a couple cloves garlic.
In a large heavy pan with tight fitting lid over medium LOW heat, put the veggies in, drizzle with a little EVOO, stir and let slow simmer/cook. This carmelizes the onion. Cook for a loooooooooooong time. I think about 40 minutes. Stir every once in a while.
Preheat oven to 350-400 (pretty flexible). In a loaf pan layer 1/2 eggplant mixture, spaghetti sauce, mozzarella, repeat. Bake until bubbly
I love to broil eggplant in the oven, chop it up, mix it with grilled chicken, tomatoes, argula or basil, light chevre, mustard, a little salt and pepper and eat it in a whole wheat pita. Every time I eat it, I think "Wow! This is really good!"
Roasted eggplant and red peppers make a great sauce for chicken, fish, or pasta:
Eggplant-Pepper Sauce
- 8 oz eggplant
- 16 oz red bell pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 to 2 tsp paprika (smoked, preferably)
- 4 tsp lemon juice
Cut the eggplant in half. Core the bell peppers, slice in half and flatten. Broil eggplant and peppers (skin side up), until eggplant is done and peppers are mostly blackened. This may not happen all at the same time, so keep checking on them. The peppers won't take more than five to ten minutes.
Put the peppers in a plastic bag, seal, and allow to steam for five min. Remove peppers from bag and peel, discarding the skin. Chop eggplant in to large chunks.
Put eggplant, peppers, and all remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.
This makes 6 servings at about 60 calories each. I think each serving is about 1/2 cup, but I've never actually measured it (I just weigh the whole batch and then divide the weight by 6 to figure out the individual servings).
I get the Asian eggplants, half them lengthwise and then crosswise so I have 5 to 6 inch halves. Spray pan. Cut 2 slits in each piece and push in a garlic clove sliver. Salt both sides. Start in oven cut side down (spray the peel side) till peel side "gives". Then turn other way till soft. Put thin layer of reduced fat Laughing Cow or cheese of choice on the cut side, sprinkle with pepper or hot pepper flakes. Broil till cheese melted. Really creamy and tasty.
It's fabulous on the grill plate of the barbeque - particularly if you also include wide strips of capsicum and zucchini (aka bell peppers and courgettes) and whole (well, stem removed) giant mushrooms.
And if you take the bbq-grilled veggies and turn them into a veggie bake or a lasagne? Oh, gosh, all kinds of good. Just remember not to go crazy with the cheese quantities!
I usually cut it in one inch cubes, toss with a little olive oil and light sprinkle of balsamic, and roast it in the convection oven so it gets a good brown dry roast. Sprinkle with a little kosher or sea salt. It freezes well, too, so I stock up at the farmers market when it's in season, then roast and freeze.
I use eggplant in mousaka and in roasted veggies.
No matter in which recipe I use it, I always slice it and salt it liberally and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. It will 'sweat' and lose its bitterness. Then I rinse it and pat dry.
For mousaka, I baste the slices with olive oil with crushed garlic (a LOT of garlic) and barbecue them on both sides. For roasted veggies, I cut the slices into chunks, quickly saute with other veggies (sweet potatoes, pumpkin, red peppers, carrots, zucchini (both green and yellow), parsnip (basically whatever veggies you have) - you add roasted tomato salad dressing (don't know why, but it works), crushed garlic and ginger, saute for 5 minutes stirring frequently and then roast in the oven until soft. I do add some mozarella on top at the end.
Mmm eggplant?
It freezes well, too, so I stock up at the farmers market when it's in season, then roast and freeze.
