Eggplant Like You’ve Never Had Before

Eggplant is my favorite squash I roast it, fry it, saute it, bake it, puree it, and lots of other stuff. In my favorite preparation, Julia Child's Eggplant Casserole (Ratatouille) I do peel and salt it. Otherwise I just pick the younger ot the white skinned variety and go with it.Last night I made an eggplant and caramelized onion pizza.i used thinly sliced tomatoes instead of sauce, lots of herbs, and very little cheese. Bingo! Eggplant heaven.....

debbie

I have been trying to love eggplant but the seeds creep me out for some reason lol. I had an eggplant in the fridge and I just puréed it and dumped it in my chili recipe. I was happy because it wasn't easily detectable and yummy!

Ang

I've never bothered salting it, I just cook it however. Fried in olive oil is great, as it putting it in a curry.

istara

Debbie - your pizza recipe sounds delicious! Do you saute the eggplant before putting it on the dough? Thanks... M.

Marlene

I love this recipe! I also didn't like all the steps needed to salt, rinse, etc. so this sounds excellent. I can't wait to try it.

Lynda

I found a couple of recipes on "allrecipes.com". Eggplant croquettes, that I haven't tried yet but sounds good. Stuffed Eggplant with Shrimp & Basil, which is delicious. I didn't bother with the shell (too much trouble), just chopped up eggplant & put in casserole dish. Also added chopped spinach, mushrooms, onion & bell peppers to it.

Have you tried Roasted Okra? Got recipe from same website. Added cherry tomatoes, onion & mushrooms to that also. It is also delicious & not slimy.

Linda

Marlene yes, I saute eggplant first in olive oil and caramelize the onions until they are very dark go;d and very sweet. Use any crust you like!

debbie

I never realized that people had so many aversions to eggplant. I HAVE LOVED IT ALWAYS ! My all time favorite is to sauté it in a little Evo with mushrooms, chopped cabbage , onions , leeks !!!!! So so good ! Sometimes I throw in a can of diced tomatoes ! I eat it cold and warm all by itself !!

Diane Van Ryn

@ Linda, you MUST try roasting or grilling whole okra. You'll never fry it again! SOOO easy and SOOOO good. Fresh or frozen, either works. Thaw if needed to almost thawed, toss in EVOO, salt and pepper, and roast or grill it until it gets a good char. Not slimy and fantastic flavor. I LOVE roasted/grilled eggplant, too. I think every veggie takes on a whole new flavor and life in the oven or on the grill - the sugars in them develop into pure joy!!

Angie Maddox

Thanks for this recipe, Snack Girl. My healthy recipe collection is growing, thanks to you. I made some really good chocolate zucchini muffins the other day. I reduce the oil and sugar in them. 193 cal each and 2 grams fiber. That may be more cal than you are willing to accept, but I'll send you the recipe if you would like. I'd rather serve this for dessert than something without any nutrition.

kathleen

I always salt my eggplant. The flavor and texture is much better and it only takes a few minutes. Hubby hated eggplant before when he had it in the past and it was not prepped properly, now he loves it. I, personally hate mushy, slimy eggplant or okra. Even for ratatouille, properly prepped eggplant stays firm and delicious.

I really don't want to heat up my kitchen by preheating the oven for 20 minutes or so than cooking eggplant for another 30 minutes. Who wants to do that in the summer?

By properly prepping your eggplant, shorter cooking times prevail and some recipes can be successfully done on the stovetop.

I_Fortuna

I never salt eggplant. Of course, I never buy it from the grocery store either. We grow our own or we get it from our CSA, so we never have nasty bitter eggplant. I kinda wonder if it's the durable variety conventional growers use that is so bitter. I dunno. I've had bitter eggplant before, it was awful and salting didn't fix it. But the stuff we grow and get from our CSA doesn't have any bitterness at all.

We fry it, saute it with other veg, use it in 'zucchini' bread.. Pretty much any way we can.

shris

shris

I'm pretty new to eggplant. My mother didn't fix it and it was always pretty gross to me. BUT! My efforts to eat more vegetables, brought me back to it once again. I found that the long skinny ones, called "Japanese" at my store, have a thin skin and aren't bitter. I slice them think and roast with garlic and salt and VOILA, "potato chips"!!! I do the same with sliced, unbreaded okra and it's delish...I eat it with my fingers like popcorn.

Thanks for all the great ideas!!!

Janet

I salt mine and have never found it to be a daunting task. My husband and kids fight over it out of the oven! It's yummy and IF I can manage to salvage one for myself, I love making it into a sandwich with other roasted veggies like portobello mushrooms and roasted red, orange and yellow bell peppers! Heaven on a bun or in a wrap!

Tywana

Eggplant is such a great vegetable if treated with respect.My favourite is in Sicilian Caponata. also makes a great Curry with potato and tomato. My wife also roasts them whole in the oven and when cooked cut up and add olive oil balsamic vinegar and.

Good eating

john

I've never been a huge fan of eggplant mostly I think I'm just intimidated by what to do with it. Guess now I have an easy recipe to try! Thanks!

Katie Harding

Snackgirl, your daily posting makes my life better. Thank you! I'm going to try this next week on vacation.

Dawn

We loved this eggplant recipe....so easy. I added a fresh chopped tomato and a small yellow squash that were needing to be used up. The whole dish was so good! No need to pre-salt eggplants in this recipe. Lovely...this will go into my rotation. Thank you for another yummy recipe!

Morgan

making this again for the 2nd time. :D

it is fantastic...warm or cold. i think that the better

the balsamic used in the recipe, the better the

results! soooo yummy...thanks for sharing!

sassygirl