Thread: Egg plant ?

How do I make a healthy egg plant dish? I tried to fry them in oil last night (olive oil) and they seamed sooo oily that it wasnt good for me.....Anything you recomend?

Instead of pan-frying: brush with oil (very lightly, place on baking parchment paper) and broil in the oven. Yum!!! Also works with zucchini.

I also love a well-cooked ratatouille (sp?) - don't have a recipe handy, I am afraid. The only thing about eggplant that bothers me is how it tastes when it is under-cooked ;-)

ETA - you can also spray the eggplant with a misto oil sprayer, instead of brushing.

I do not eat eggplant for macrobiotic reasons (and I'm just allergic to it).

But however you try to cook them, try "sweating" them first. Slice them, rub the teeniest bit of salt on both sides, and then wrap in papertowels, press every so often. This removes the water content so that your eggplant dish does not get mushy.

toss 'em on the BBQ!! ;)

wanted to add... cut plank style, maybe 1/2 think and coat with a high-flash point oil. place directly on grill until tender (maybe 10 minutes).

Here is my favorite for eggplant. Cut into thin rounds (leave the skin on). Brush each side lightly with olive oil, place the rounds on cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350. Take them out of the oven and top each round with any or all of the following: sundried tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, chopped onion, roasted garlic, thin ham slices, black olives, mozarella cheese. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and put back in the office for 10 to 15 more minutes. Now what you have is pizza with crispy eggplant as the crust.

Souzan

souzan that sounds ownderful......will try that!

I'm afraid that putting anything food-wise in my "office" (though we all know what you meant) ..g.: would make anything disappear in what would seem like a matter of minutes. (Approximately 50 in-house grad students - I don't refer to them as "the locusts" for nothing.) ..l;, Sorry, just could not resist a little poke.

Originally Posted by Souzan

Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and put back in the office for 10 to 15 more minutes.

I always slice them thinly, grill them with salt and pepper, etc, then put them in grilled cheese sandwiches! I would use a mister with olive oil, or maybe a paper towel dipped in olive oil and wiped on. Put them on paper towels after you finish cooking them to soak up extra moisture.

Souzan, your recipe sounds wonderful! I'll try that with the eggplant in my fridge!!

Rachel

Mmmmm....grilled egglpant & cheese sandwich. With roasted peppers, maybe? YUM.

If you hae a george Foreman grill, slice into planks, spray wit olvie oil, season and grill. You can do red pepers at the same time.

{{{HUGS}}}

I luv eggplant! I have also grilled them with the cooking spray butter flavor (no cals), with some grilled squash - or it is so good.

Originally Posted by nasila

Mmmmm....grilled egglpant & cheese sandwich. With roasted peppers, maybe? YUM.

Grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, on a bed of basil with either goat cheese or mozzerlla, sprinkle with balsamic vinegar eat on toasted nummy-nummy bread.

Roast them. Put them in a fairly hot oven (I think I use 180C) for half an hour or so, and when you taken them out leave them to cool and collapse. Cut each aubergine (sorry, I'm British) in half and scrape the flesh from the skin. It's really nice mixed with tomatoes and garlic for a pasta sauce, or of course you can use it to make baba ghanoush.

Azhia's tip on salting them will also pull out that bitterness that larger ones can have. I like to dice a few and saute it with onions, garlic, red pepper (basically any other veggie you like), basil or oregano; then mix with some bread crumbs and parmesan. I split a few more lengthwise, scoop out the center and fill with the saute mixture. Bake and enjoy!

My favorite way to eat eggplant is sort of derived from ratatouille, though my recipe is really informal. I cut it into chunks and saute it in a little olive oil over very high heat in a heavy iron skillet, mixed with:
zucchini/summer squash
red pepper
onion (pref. red onion or vidalia)
Garlic
Basil
Cracked black pepper

at the end I throw in a handful of fresh spinach leaves and a handful of grape tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes, halved).

If I have them on hand, I'll often add some or all of the following:
Brussel sprouts, halved
Artichoke hearts
Asparagus
Fresh basil leaves (added right at the end)
(ummm, just about any kind of vegetables, really)

I love to toss on some feta cheese or goat cheese while it's still warm, too. I sometimes add black beans to make it a main dish, or warm up the leftovers in the morning and top with a poached egg.

i personally hate eggplant- my mom tried hundreds of ways. even if i had no idea it was in there, i can taste it. you could go the greek food route and make mousaka- basically lasagna with eggplant instead of meat or.. papoustakia... i'll try to find an english translation/equivalent.. basically it's eggplant gutted, sliced in half and then you put a ground beef concoction inside.

aha!
Greek recipes - Greek food - Stuffed eggplants from Lesvos island - Melitzanes papoutsakia apo ti Lesvo

At a hafla last month someone showed up with eggplant lasagna. I don't have the recipe, but if you're creative in the kitchen it's worth a try...

i have that recipie in the eating clean cook book.....Hate lasagna though

Turkish recipie
Chop the eggplant in little blocks, chop an onion, chop 2 potatoes into blocks, chop some tomatoes, chop 2 small carrots.
Take large pan: add 3 spoons (large wooden ones) olive oil and some (1 spoon) tomato paste. Now this is the secret:, olive oil and tomato paste, olive oil and tomato paste, no Turkish recipie without olive oil and tomato paste). Add all choped vegetables in the pan and stirr for 3 minutes, add salt (2/3 little spoons). Add enough water so the vegetables are just under water. Cook for 45 minutes, add more water if necessary. The end result should look like this: cooked vegetables in a sauce of olive oil and tomato paste. In Turkey they call food like this "Sulu Yemek" (food with water). Eat with Turkish bread or pilav.
If your not a vegetarian you can add chopped lambs beef to the vegetables as well, you can also add green beens to your vegetables but they need to

bon apetit!
or better Hafiyet Olsun!

Originally Posted by amiraates

Turkish recipie
Chop the eggplant in little blocks, chop an onion, chop 2 potatoes into blocks, chop some tomatoes, chop 2 small carrots.
Take large pan: add 3 spoons (large wooden ones) olive oil and some (1 spoon) tomato paste. Now this is the secret:, olive oil and tomato paste, olive oil and tomato paste, no Turkish recipie without olive oil and tomato paste). Add all choped vegetables in the pan and stirr for 3 minutes, add salt (2/3 little spoons). Add enough water so the vegetables are just under water. Cook for 45 minutes, add more water if necessary. The end result should look like this: cooked vegetables in a sauce of olive oil and tomato paste. In Turkey they call food like this "Sulu Yemek" (food with water). Eat with Turkish bread or pilav.
If your not a vegetarian you can add chopped lambs beef to the vegetables as well, you can also add green beens to your vegetables but they need to

bon apetit!
or better Hafiyet Olsun!

Thank you! Sounds wonderful! I have some lamb in my freezer and think I'll make this soon. I always grow eggplant and tomato in my garden and look for new recipes to use the bounty. Last year I grew white and green eggplants and they were wonderful!

Souzan

I also do a vegetarian chili using egg plant. . .

{{{HUGS}}}

mmmm I love eggplants but my kids only eat them disguised. they love Baba ghanoush and thats healthy cos the eggplant is baked whole in the oven, just make sure to pierce with a skewer first as I have had an eggplant explode in my oven, not nice to clean up let me tell you.
I often just chop them up and throw into curries or make ratatouille style sauces for pasta much like some of the above recipes. another hit was to lighly fry slices and top with tomato and cheese, its nice to sprinkle balsamic vinegar and S & P on the tomatoes before topping with cheese and then grilling.

Originally Posted by Emma

Roast them. Put them in a fairly hot oven (I think I use 180C) for half an hour or so, and when you taken them out leave them to cool and collapse. Cut each aubergine (sorry, I'm British) in half and scrape the flesh from the skin. It's really nice mixed with tomatoes and garlic for a pasta sauce, or of course you can use it to make baba ghanoush.

that's what I do, too. or I roast it on the grill. you don't need any oil at all, unless you need it for your recipe.

Originally Posted by amiraates

Turkish recipie
Chop the eggplant in little blocks, chop an onion, chop 2 potatoes into blocks, chop some tomatoes, chop 2 small carrots.
Take large pan: add 3 spoons (large wooden ones) olive oil and some (1 spoon) tomato paste. Now this is the secret:, olive oil and tomato paste, olive oil and tomato paste, no Turkish recipie without olive oil and tomato paste). Add all choped vegetables in the pan and stirr for 3 minutes, add salt (2/3 little spoons). Add enough water so the vegetables are just under water. Cook for 45 minutes, add more water if necessary. The end result should look like this: cooked vegetables in a sauce of olive oil and tomato paste. In Turkey they call food like this "Sulu Yemek" (food with water). Eat with Turkish bread or pilav.
If your not a vegetarian you can add chopped lambs beef to the vegetables as well, you can also add green beens to your vegetables but they need to

bon apetit!
or better Hafiyet Olsun!

I made this recipe last night and added some lamb to it. We ate with cous cous. Wonderful!!!!!! Seasoned with a little cumin and nutmeg plus lots of black pepper. Thank you for this fabulous dish!

Souzan

I love eggplant and have tried at least variations of many of the above... a twist to Nasila's bbq suggestion; slice the eggplant into thin slices (maybe a 1/4 of an ince thick) top one slice with basil pesto and provolone then add another slice of eggplant to the top, spritz with a bit of olive oil (they do absorb the oil so just a spritz on each side) and toss several of these on the grill in a vegi basket. It works in an pre-heated oven or hot grill pan -- requires a bit more oil -- but the grill gives the best flavor hands down! Another tip, when you store your eggplant don't put it in the fridge, they like heat so they turn dull brown & mushy pretty fast in there, leave it out in a fruit bowl (after all they're sooo pretty!) I grow mine also Souzan!!! I spend a good portion of my summer coming up with new ways to serve the harvest!!!