Category: Eggplant

I am loving the abundance of eggplant we are getting in our CSA share this year! I hope you are too. Also, aren’t the tomatoes delicious? I mean, they are always good, but this year they seem to taste even better than I remember in years past.

This is a really simple dish celebrating both eggplant and tomatoes.

It’s great as a main dish or side with anything grilled and leftovers are nice in a sandwich or with topped with an egg or two.

I used Barbarella eggplant, the big globe variety. You can use any Italian style eggplant. If you don’t have pesto just use some olive oil and herbs and garlic, 2 or 3 tablespoons will do.

Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes

Preheat your oven to 400F

• 1 eggplant
• 2 tomatoes
• 4 tbsp pesto or about 4 tablespoons of finely chopped herbs (parsley or basil) and garlic mixed with 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• Manchego or parmesan cheese or any cheese that will melt
• sea salt & black pepper
• handful freshly chopped chives

Slice the eggplant into about 3/4 of an inch and salt and pepper them and rub some olive oil on.

Spread some pesto (or garlic herb oil if you don’t have pesto) on the slices.

Now top with some beautiful tomato slices.

And cheese.

Bake in a preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until the eggplant and tomatoes are soft and the cheese is bubbly.

Top it with some fresh herbs and that’s it. Delicious. The Barbarella eggplants are so creamy. It’s hard to see, but look close at the cut cross section of the cut eggplant, you can see how creamy it is.

Have a wonderful week. I’ll see you at pickup.

Mo

 

 

 

 

 

 

This eggplant dish is gussied up grilled eggplants. You could use zucchini instead of or in addition to eggplant if that is what you have. It’s so hot this week I didn’t want to turn on the oven so I grilled them. You can roast your eggplant in a 400F oven if you don’t have, or want to use a grill. Roast them for the same time as you would grill them.

Cut the eggplant in half and rub them with oil and salt and grill them on high for 15 to 30 minutes until they are soft. The time will depend how big your eggplant are. I have both Japanese (left) and Italian (right) eggplant.

I topped my thin Japanese grilled eggplant with yogurt and a tomato relish I made with tomatoes, parsley and some red onions. I added a little lemon and olive oil to my yogurt, but that is all. Super simple.

The fat globe Italian eggplant I topped with ricotta, basil and parmesan cheese. You could top these with any pizza topping and it will be delicious.

This is a really quick meal I think you will really like. Leftovers are great in a salad or with pasta.

Have a great week and try to stay cool. See you at pickup.

Mo

 

I make these eggplant rollups all the time. I did a post on eggplant rollups several years ago but I make them so often I thought it was worth repeating.

Everyone loves these. They travel well so you can take them to potlucks. They make great leftovers too.

Once you make them a time or two they come together in a snap. I had always made them with the large Italian eggplants. Last week Amy asked if making eggplant rollups with Japanese eggplants would be too fussy and I automatically said ‘yes’. But then I started wondering if they really would be?

So, I took some Italian eggplant and Japanese eggplant home and tried it out using both.

You don’t need a recipe. All you need is.

• Eggplant
• Cheese, I had ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella and goat cheese (not pictured).
• Some tomato sauce, any kind or just a large can of tomatoes would do
• Basil-bread crumbs are optional. I didn’t use bread crumbs this time.

You will want to cut the eggplant lengthwise into thin slices (I cut these eggplants into three pieces each) and brush them with olive oil and salt and pepper.

You can either broil or grill them. Sometimes I grill them, this time I broiled them for about 5 minutes on each side. When they are nice and brown put some cheese (any kind) on one end of the eggplant and herbs you like and roll them up.

Here are the Italian eggplant broiled and ready to roll. Each of these medium eggplants were cut into 4 pieces.

Pour your sauce in an ovenproof container and set your rolled up cheesy eggplant in the container. The rolls on the left are Italian and the ones on the right are Japanese.

Now bake them in a 400F oven for about 35-45 minutes.

The verdict? Four of us ate these rollatini with lots of leftovers and all of us liked the Japanese eggplant best. The Japanese eggplant rolled up tighter and had more eggplant per bite with less cheese, which seems counterintuitive but we all liked the ‘more eggplant-less cheese’ bites. Don’t get me wrong, the Italian were still great! I think Italian eggplant are better for layering in lasagna and eggplant parmesan, but rolled up I think I am switching to Japanese if I have a choice.

This was dinner. Eggplant rollatini, kale pesto pasta and tomato and cucumber salad. All the vegetables from this weeks CSA.

I hope you try this. Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Mo

I love to make ‘real’ eggplant Parmesan but it is admittedly a big production. The three bowls to coat the eggplant, then fry it all is a mess. It is worth it, sometimes, but it’s not a meal I am going to throw together last minute.

This is what I throw together last minute when I want eggplant Parmesan.

I didn’t follow a recipe and I didn’t measure anything, but this is pretty basic, I don’t think you can screw this up. Use what you have, it will be delicious. I have even used zucchini instead of eggplant and it was delicious. Here is a recipe doing basically what I did, follow it if you want exact quantities.

Here is what I had, that red jar is tomato sauce I canned. Use any sauce you like.

Slice the eggplant and brush some olive oil on the slices and salt them and roast them in a 450F oven for about 45 minutes. When they are nice and brown and soft, layer the roasted eggplant with some Parmesan cheese, and other cheese if you want (I used ricotta and forgot I have mozzarella too), basil or herbs if you want, layer your ingredients until they are used up then drench the whole thing in sauce.

Finally, top the whole thing with bread crumbs tossed in olive oil and Parmesan cheese (I forgot to take a picture of the breadcrumb topping.

You can make it early in the day or a day or two ahead. When you are ready to make it preheat the oven to 400F and bake it until it is bubbly and brown on top and meltingly hot…and serve it with some pasta. Don’t forget the pasta.

Summer is here and the summer vegetables are too. Enjoy the bounty.

See you at pick-up.

Mo

 

Ratatouille; ra·ta·touille “a vegetable dish consisting of onions, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, fried and stewed in oil and sometimes served cold.”

OK, maybe not traditional ratatouille, but close. I didn’t have any peppers and I added some corn. Like always I use what I have and you should too. I also didn’t want to heat up the kitchen so I used the grill. This whole meal took less than a half hour  to make start to finish (longer if you are taking pictures) 😊

This is a photo recipe.

Grilled Ratatouille

Gather the vegetables you are using and prepare them to be grilled. I cut most of my vegetables in half length wise. Everything else I sliced about 1 inch thick. Throw everything but the tomatoes (and corn, if using) into a bowl and season with oil and salt and pepper.

The tomatoes will cook really fast and you want all the juice from the tomatoes, so season them separately.

I had 3 eggplant, 3 tomatoes, 3 little onions and two ears of corn. This was plenty for 4 servings.

Put everything on a medium hot grill and don’t walk away. Everything will cook fast. I only grill the tomatoes on the skin side, again to preserve the juices.

The vegetables will cook at different rates. Remove the cooked ones onto a cutting board to cool as they get done. Put the tomatoes into a bowl, you can reuse the same bowl you used to season the vegetables with. When they are cool enough, squeeze the tomatoes and break them up with your hands. I pulled out most of the skin, what you do with your tomato skin is up to you. Chop up the vegetables into bite size pieces and add them to the bowl.

I cut up my corn into little ‘cobbettes’ because I think they are fun to eat like that. You might not have or want corn, or you might want to cut it off the cob. Again, totally up to you. Regardless. Season the grilled ratatouille with a nice vinegar and olive oil and salt and pepper and mix everything up really well and taste and adjust to your liking.

I made some fresh corn polenta and we had a delicious Farm Fresh meal.

Have a great week.

Mo

 

I saw this recipe the other day and wanted to try it.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Eggplant-Rolls-Filled-with-Basil-and-Cheese-12755
I followed the recipe pretty closely except I used ricotta instead of mozzarella cheese, and I made the tomato sauce without the sugar and I didn’t strain it. I reduced the cooking time of the sauce, I only cooked the sauce until the tomatoes collapsed. I wanted the dish to be fresh and summery.
I grilled the eggplant instead of cooking it in the broiler. I don’t think it made any difference in the recipe. I just grilled it because it was hot when I was making this, and I didn’t want to stand in the kitchen, I like to grill. Cook the eggplant however you like. It will work out fine.

My eggplant were kind of small, here they are all grilled with the cheeses and the tomato sauce ready to assemble the dish.
I had a summer squash lurking in the refrigerator so I grilled that too.

Starting to assemble the dish.

All rolled up. I had a little cheese leftover so I put that on top.

Added some more sauce, about 1/2 way up the rolls and some Parmesan cheese.

After baking. It looks soupier than it was. Maybe that is why the recipe says to thicken the sauce? I liked it like this in the summer, maybe in the winter a thick sauce would be better.
I think I want to serve it with polenta next time.

This was seriously good, and really filling and I had lots of leftovers.
This would make a nice pot-luck dish.
I hope you try it with the eggplant you get in your share this week.

This week I thought I would share some of my favorite go-to recipes with you. First is moussaka, or my take on a moussaka-like dish using what I have on hand.

• 2 globe/Italian eggplants, unpeeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
• Olive oil
• 3 cups total of any vegetables you have available to you (onion, carrots, celery, fennel, rutabaga, kohlrabi, mushrooms…any combo of these works here)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• About 2 cups of tomatoes, cut up (fresh or canned, whatever you have)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 4 egg yolks

Sprinkle both sides of eggplant rounds with salt and brush with oil. Either bake or grill the eggplant until it is tender.

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the 3 cups of vegetables and saute until the vegetables are very tender. Mix in garlic. Saute until juices evaporate, about 10 minutes. Mix in oregano and cinnamon. Add tomatoes and parsley. Cook until mixture is thick, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Lightly oil 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange half of eggplant rounds in single layer in dish. Spoon half of tomato mixture evenly over eggplant. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese. Repeat layering with remaining eggplant, tomato mixture and 2 tablespoons cheese.

Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Stir 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until sauce thickens, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk yolks in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot sauce. Pour sauce over vegetables in dish. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over sauce. (Can be made 1 day ahead. If you’re making this ahead, cover and refrigerate here.)

Bake moussaka at 350°F until heated through and sauce is golden brown on top, about 45 minutes (or about 55 minutes for refrigerated moussaka). Cool 15 minutes.

• 3 medium-sized eggplants
•  1/2 cup (130g) tahini (roasted sesame paste)
•  1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
•  3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
•  3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
•  1/8 teaspoon chili powder
•  1 tablespoon olive oil

Grill the Italian Eggplant and scoop out the flesh and mix with the rest of the ingredients. I mash it all together in a bowl with the back of a fork.

– Mo

*Adapted from a recipe by Nigel Slater

• The flesh of one grilled Italian eggplant
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• A handful of mint leaves
• Olive oil

Mash all the ingredients together in a bowl and use it as you would baba ganoush. This is fresh and bright.

And this is the eggplant sauce served along with  cauliflower and beans you are getting in your share.  I blanched the vegetable for about a minute and served the eggplant sauce on the side.

– Mo