Eggplant/Aubergine

[liuzhou]

I should have said the white aubergines (and all the others) come in both the long Asian varieties and the western rounded ones more often found in the west. In fact we get long, bulbous and completely round varieties.

 

Here are the long white type.

 

 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

7 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I should have said the white aubergines (and all the others) come in both the long Asian varieties and the western rounded ones more often found in the west. In fact we get long, bulbous and completely round varieties.

 

Here are the long white type.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find purple varieties with that aspect ratio fairly often here in the USA. I can't remember now whether they're referred to as Japanese eggplants or simply Asian eggplants, but that's the way we Yanks distinguish them from the fatter versions I grew up with. I find them (again, the purple versions of these) to be generally less seedy and less likely to be bitter than the big round ones. Is that your experience?

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Smithy said:

I find them (again, the purple versions of these) to be generally less seedy and less likely to be bitter than the big round ones. Is that your experience?

 

Generally, yes.

[TdeV]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

@TdeV, please let us know what you did and how it came out. Of course I'm hoping I haven't steered you wrong! But if something went wrong, that's valuable information also.

 

To restate: I had 4 eggplants (3.53 lbs) which were roasted in the oven. It was late in the day, so I bunged the eggplant pulp (1 1/2 cups) in a container, added a lot of lemon, and put in fridge. So the water bath (and seasoning treatment) did not occur. Yesterday, there was no easy way to remove seeds, so I put pulp through food mill. Only one cup of pulp remained.

 

I should have read Smithy's note but didn't see it in time, so the full volume of Béchamel sauce got mixed with paltry amount of eggplant pulp and I used provolone cheese. I did add a bit of salt. Definitely not enough flavour.

 

But I plan to try again.

 

I didn't put enough sauce on everyone's plate, only about 1/2 cup or so, so I have a bunch left over. I'm wondering what to do with the leftovers? The best idea I've come up with so far is to make some mashed potatoes, put a well in the centre, and fill that with creamy eggplant sauce.

 

Other ideas?

 

[Tropicalsenior]

15 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Other ideas?

Myself, I kind of like @rotuts's idea of the compost pile.

[Tropicalsenior]

20 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Other ideas?

Seriously though, it does look like a very presentable dish. I've been following your trials and travails in making this and the best thing to do is just follow Julia Child's advice. Never apologize for your food. Pretend that that is exactly the way you expected it to turn out and chances are most people won't even know the difference.

[Smithy]

4 hours ago, TdeV said:

I didn't put enough sauce on everyone's plate, only about 1/2 cup or so, so I have a bunch left over. I'm wondering what to do with the leftovers? The best idea I've come up with so far is to make some mashed potatoes, put a well in the centre, and fill that with creamy eggplant sauce.

 

I think I'd look instead at some sort of color-contrasting topping. An herb garnish maybe, but I'd be more inclined to top it with some sort of meat and sauce. That could of course be because I first encountered it with the lamb dish I showed earlier. Meat braised with tomatoes? Sausages? Beef stew?

 

Or, if you want to avoid meat: Sun-dried tomato pesto? Roasted red peppers?

Edited 59 minutes ago by Smithy
Added another couple of ideas at end (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

I think I'd look instead at some sort of color-contrasting topping

Using it sort of like a loose polenta.