Eggplants and Aubergines

[Orik]

Stone -- if the eggplant is very bitter, salting and rinsing is not going to help. If it's only slightly bitter, or if it is on the heavy side, you should salt it.

Jason -- Moussaka is not strictly an eggplant dish - there are many recipes that use potatoes, but in any event it's a favorite of mine as well. Sometimes I make an upscale version with proper lamb ragu and with half the eggplants roasted, squeezed and mashed with parmesan as an extra layer.

Other favorites-

- Whole eggplant roasted in a pizza oven, split in half and fresh raw tahini poured on top

- Fish flavored eggplant (a sichuan dish that is not at all fish flavored)

- Eggplant Jam (see here http://www.jewishfood-list.com/recipes/jam...ggplant01.html)

[Beachfan]

I love just about every preparation of eggplant. In my mind, the only problem is undercooking. It's very, very hard to overcook it (unless it becomes dried out somehow). So be generous with cooking times.

[Bond Girl]

you can cook Asian eggplants in a bit of vegetable oil, garlic, soy sauce, sugar and thai chili, spinkle with cilantro. serve over rice.

[Bux]

My experience with eggplant is that the more seeds, the more bitter. I've been told that one can tell which are the female (more seeds) and which are the male by the shape or the mark at the end. I don't even know if it's accurate to call these male and female or if those tricks work, but I've found the Japanese egglants have fewer seeds, are rarely bitter and taste better. (Sorry I couldn't work "butter" into the last phrase.)

[nerissa]

Lately: baked with a miso mixture. I used the long skinny ones-- Japanese eggplants? I can't remember at the moment.

[spaghetttti]

My local market has some really gorgeous eggplants.

By popular demand, these will be made into the baked Parmesan style and served with pasta.

I'm also thinking about baba ghanoush.

Do you like eggplants, what are your favorite recipes?

[phifly04]

Definately baba ghanoush and eggplant pamigiana,breaded and fried,ratatouille to name a few

Dave s

[Jensen]

I made the mushroom moussaka from the Moosewood Cookbook earlier this year and I really enjoyed it. I've used that recipe's method of treating the eggplant (purging and then baking before being used in a dish) to make an eggplant casserole (kind of like lasagne only using eggplant instead of noodles). It's pretty tasty and even the kid likes it. (Quite an achievement, I might add )

Edited for typo

Edited December 12, 2004 by Jensen (log)

[NulloModo]

I love Eggplants (and always eggplant, never aubergine, btw). Moussaka, gratin, lightly fried in EVOO, grilled, whatever, they are great.

[Bond Girl]

I love eggplants. I make them with ginger and lime sauce topped with a bit of cilantro, roast them and spread them on bread sprinkled with salt and pepper, cut them into strips, coat them in a bit of crumbs and deep fried, and serve it with roumalade sauce. And, if you get the small kind you can str them in oil with a bt of indian spices (ie. tumeric, cumin, coriander seeds etc) and tomatoes and serve them over rice.

[Yuki]

I love eggplant.... actually I used to hate them as a child because they made my tongue really ichy.

Favourite way to cook eggplant

1.) Roasted Japanese eggplant with miso

2.) Stir Fried Chinese Eggplant with mapo-tofu like sauce(there is an offical name for it but I don't know its english translation, I know that it contains fish though)

3.) Deep Fried Eggplant on the street is also good with some hot sauce.

For some reason, the large eggplant that I got in the western supermarket tasted like water to me(there is no taste). Did I just picked a bad eggplant, used the wrong recipe(baked with Parmesan), or this kind of eggplant just doesn't taste good?

[purplewiz]

I love eggplant, and they were on sale this week. These are earmarked for eggplant "lasagna" - grilled or broiled slices layered with the usual lasagna suspects.

My favorite way to have eggplant, though, is to brush slices with olive oil, grill until nicely brown and slightly charred, then toss with a dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano or thyme, and salt and pepper. I can eat eggplant this way all day, either hot and freshly tossed, or after having marinated in the fridge overnight. It's all good.

Marcia.

[lovebenton0]

Oven baked eggplant Parm is also a fav for us. As well as gratins. We grow the the Asian varieties because they do better than the globular here, but are good for most anything, just treated differently in relation to shape. For instance for the Eggplant Parm I slice them lengthwise instead of crosswise.

Stir fried with onions and mushrooms served with rice.

Eggplant curry.

Wolfert's garlic-studded eggplant (roasted) is wonderful (from S-W France cookbook).

I do this with ours too -- it's in Recipe Gullet but since that access is not up yet here's my notes:

Eggplant Smush Sandwich

Halve, slice and then saute equal amounts of squash and eggplant in olive oil with garlic, basil, and a sweet and a hot pepper, both minced or use crushed red pepper (even some black pepper would do), until almost mushy (one red Anaheim and one HOT banana or other pepper).

Add one chopped fresh tomato and cook down to smush. You may add a tbsp or two of water, during cooking, if needed.

Salt to taste.

Let it cool a bit while you preheat oven to 400 and lightly butter bread as if you were doing grilled cheese, outside only.

Then pile about 1/2 cup veggie mush onto one piece of bread, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and top with other piece of bread.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the bread is slightly toasty and the cheese is melted.

Also love to use eggplant in tomato sauces for pasta with onions, garlic, lots of basil, red pepper, red wine.

Eggplant lasagna, but I use the eggplant instead of meat or other filling not to sub for pasta.

And Eggplant, Tomato and Italian Sausage Soup is a fav during the fall end of garden season especially. (Links to eGCI course recipe since RG is down.)

It's such a versatile vegetable and prolific in our garden -- still picking the last few now -- we eat it often.

[jackal10]

Imam bayaldi

Auberigine caviar

[fifi]

And yet another gratin . . .

Eggplant Gratin

I invented this dish after having mastered potato gratin dauphinois and searching for other uses for my fabulous 14 inch oval Le Creuset gratin dish. You can use other dishes of similar size to cook this but the cast iron does make for great caramelization.

1 medium eggplant

1 large red onion

Herbs (fresh or dried basil and thyme, fennel seeds or others of your choice)

1 14 oz. can chopped tomato (I like to use the finely diced)

1-pound link of sausage (kielbasa or other smoked garlic sausage is good)

Preheat oven to 325 and place a rack in the lower position. Spray the gratin dish with cooking spray.

Peel the eggplant. Cut in half lengthwise and slice into ¼ inch half round slices. Cut the onion in half lengthwise and slice into ¼ inch half round slices. Layer into the dish in rows, overlapping pieces and rows by ½ and alternating eggplant with onion.

Sprinkle lightly with salt and add herbs to your taste.

Drain the tomato and distribute over the eggplant and onion layer.

Slice the sausage in ¼ inch rounds and distribute evenly over the dish.

Bake on the lower rack of the oven for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until the sausage has a crisp upper layer and the eggplant and onion are thoroughly cooked and beginning to caramelize.

Allow to cool slightly and lift squares with a spatula to serve.

Notes:

Omit the sausage and serve as a vegetable side dish. You may want to use some of the liquid from the tomatoes for this version and add a little olive oil.

Add other ingredients such as sliced garlic, dollops of pesto or sun dried tomato sauce. Red pepper flakes add a nice note. Sliced colored bell peppers could be added. (I wouldn’t use green ones.) Sliced fennel is a good fit. Mushrooms are another idea.

You could substitute squash for the eggplant and have a whole new direction. It may have to cook longer depending upon how much water is in the squash.

Consider this recipe as an example of a technique. Slice and layer whatever you have on hand. The main considerations are the liquid content, depth of the whole dish and cooking time. You want to concentrate the flavors.

This dish makes a great pressed sandwich. Split French or Italian bread lengthwise. Remove some of the crumb. Brush the surfaces if you wish with olive oil. Fill with the gratin mixture and press. Slice to serve.

[woodburner]

Somewhere in my life, probably during the "purple haze" someone suggested to use stainless knives for cutting them, as carbon ones would leave dark cut edges.

Seems it is advice never followed by me, but I thought it may make a difference to you.

woodburner

[Chufi]

I like to dice eggplant fairly small and then fry in a non-stick frying pan over high heat with only a little bit of oil, until golden brown. You have to keep stirring them so they don't burn. When done, they taste great in a tomatosauce for pasta.

Also I like to roast big chunks of eggplant together with wedges of onion and oeices of red pepper, in a hot oven. Drizzled with only a bit of oil. When almost done, I add a coule of tomatoes chopped up.

This is good with fresh marjoram and some goat's cheese crumbled in.

[Swisskaese]

I stuff mine with ground meat (usually beef, but I have used chicken, turkey and lamb). I mix the meat with chopped onion, rice, pine nuts, cinnamon, dijon mustard w/seeds and pomegranate syrup. I pour a mixture of water and tomato sauce, cover with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

I forgot to mention that I split the aubergine ,drizzle with oil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes to soften it before I stuff it.

[bloviatrix]

I didn't like eggplant when I was a kid. It wasn't until I was older that I developed a taste for it. My first love was baba ganoush. And then I began to experiment with other dishes. I like to use eggplant in ratatouille or with tomato for pasta sauce. Eggplant parmesan is another favorite. But I think my favorite way to eat eggplant is deep-fried. When it's fresh out of the oil and the flesh is all creamy it's heavenly. When making eggplant parmesan I use twice as much eggplant because I'm going to nosh while working.

[M. Lucia]

Some of my favorite eggplant dishes include simple sliced rounds sauteed in olive oil or grilled, ratatouille, moussaka, Lebanese mousaka (eggplant, onion, tomato, chickpea), baba ganoush (moutabal), and stuffed eggplant (sheikh el-mehshi/imam bayaldi).

As big a proponent as I am of eggplant, there is also nothing I hate more than bad eggplant. You know what I'm talking about- tough, chewy, flavorless eggplant. This is unfortunately all too common. I have always attributed poor eggplant cooking skills to not salting the eggplant first. I usually cover my slices of eggplant with salt and allow to sit for half and hour before cooking.

So what about y'all? To salt or not to salt?

[Chufi]

So what about y'all? To salt or not to salt?

←

I used to, but now I rarely bother and I find it makes not much difference. They do seem to cook a little faster when salted. I think the main thing is that you have to make sure that it's cooked long enough. Underdone eggplant is just terrible.

I was thinking about eggplant and remembered one of my favorite dishes from years ago: eggplant kuku, which is a kind of Iranian omelet:

Prick 1 eggplant all over with a fork and roast in hot oven until very soft. Scoop out the flesh. Fry 1 large onion (chopped) in a generous amount of oil until golden and soft (takes about half an hour over very low heat). Mix onion, mashed eggplant flesh and 1 tablespoon of flour into 3 beaten eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a lightly oiled baking dish and bake at 180 C until golden and slightly puffed up (I don't remember exactly how long this takes, about 20 minutes I think).

This may sound ordinary but it's delicious. Also great buffet food because it tastes very good cold (served with a garlicky yoghurt sauce)

[Mooshmouse]

Here are links to a couple of different recipes for a Filipino eggplant dish called Rellenong Talong, which is essentially stuffed grilled eggplant. One version uses minced chicken or beef, whereas another version uses pork. In the pork recipe, note that patis is fish sauce. Yummy!

[ruthcooks]

For some reason I cannot stand ratatouille but I love caponata. Must be that touch of sweet and sour. I've served it chunky as a vegetable rather than chopped finely as an appetizer.

[forever_young_ca]

I made "Moroccan Eggplant Jam with Tomatoes and Lemon" - p.17 from The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. It is a great recipe. I loved it as did everyone that I served it to.

As an aside - this is a great cookbook. It makes me drool just to read it

[Adam Balic]

I like the usual European eggplant a great deal, I also use the variants (small and round, small and oblong, long and skinny types) of this type that are avalible in Middle Eastern food stores. On of the more interesting eggplant dishes I have had was a tapas dish in Cordoba. Slices of eggplant where battered and fried, them served with a honey sauce, very nice.

This weekend I cooked some Thai dishes and I went a little eggplant crazy. Along with the large purple type I had a pea eggplants, apple eggplants and a type I have never seen before. Similar in size and shape to an apple eggplant, but a bright yellow/orange colour and most interestingly very heavily perfumed (sort of citrus/floral). I though these may be a colour variant on the apple eggplants, but they tasted very different. They were much more bitter then apple eggplants too, any suggestion on what these are and how to cook them would be appreciated.