(updated September 24, 2022) // by Phoebe Lapine // 18 comments
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When I got back from Spain last week, all I wanted to eat were vegetables.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I couldn’t get enough of Basque cooking. And for the most part, it was fairly healthy. But I’m pretty sure everyone’s idea of standard vegetable consumption was one or two peppers off of a shared plate of pimientos dipadròn (think shisito peppers…fried).
I also had a good amount of recipe development for Food & Wine on my plate, including savory crepes, 10 ways. This isn’t ordinarily the most veggie-friendly of food vehicles. But after 10 days of fromage and jambon, I couldn’t face eating another 10 plates of the stuff sandwiched inside of a pancake.
So I decided to just do the kind of cooking that I wanted to do, with the veggies that spoke to me at the market, and worry about how they would become part of a crepe recipe later. In case you were wondering, this tuna salad tasted excellent as part of a crepe – kind of a entrée size play on a blini.
One of my favorite resulting combinations was this grilled eggplant recipe, seasoned with sumac, drizzled with bright lemon, capers, and mint, and stacked on top of the buckwheat pancake with a little cloud of mache to seal the deal. You can look for that recipe in the coming months on F&W’s website. But for now, you can try the grilled eggplant solo as a simple summer side dish, or as a creative filling for whatever type of sandwich your culinary whims call to you.
Heat a charcoal grill or indoor grill pan to high.
Remove the top and bottom of the eggplant and stand it up on a cutting board. Slice the eggplant length-wise and thin as you can.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the sumac and olive oil. Brush each piece of eggplant on both sides.
Grill the eggplant on both sides, rotating 90 degrees halfway through to get a nice crosshatch, until soft and charred, about 2 minutes per side.
Arrange the grilled eggplant on a platter. Add the lemon juice, mint, capers, and salt to the remaining olive oil mixture and stir to combine. Drizzle the eggplant with the caper mixture. Serve immediately or at room temperature.
Nutrition
Serving: 4g
If you make this, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe – I’d love to see it!
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Nice! Great sauce. YAY for SummerFest! LL P.S. Pinned
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Sunny @ andloveittoosays
Phoebe,
These look amazing! We have another batch of egg plant coming this weekend…I do believe I will give these a try. xoxo
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Jeanettesays
I could eat this all summer long Phoebe – lovin that sauce!
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Frankiesays
Those perfect hashtag marks! Those eggplants are tweet-ready!
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Stephsays
mmm I love sumac and eggplant, but never thought to combine them!
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Denisesays
Grilling eggplant is one of my favorite ways of cooking with it, the smoky taste is really perfect. Sumac just makes it even better – I sprinkle if on so many different dishes as well as in salad dressings. Cannot wait to see your crepe piece. We love a good savory crepe.
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Christinesays
Love eggplant like this.
And a comment about your text colors. It is really, really hard for aging eyes to read. I had to strain to see what you wrote, and even more so with the colors of the replies.
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Phoebe Lapinesays
Thanks for letting me know Christine. I’ve gotten that complaint before and already bumped the color up slightly. Will have to readdress this. Hope you’ll still visit! If you turn the brightness up or down on your screen, that might help for now.
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Canal Cooksays
Looks beautiful. I’m also in a veggie phase after coming back from a week of eating pasta and little else.
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Phoebe Lapinesays
I hear you! Ate way too much white food this weekend. Back to the eggplant…
Eggplant is about 80 to 90 percent water, so when you put them in the oven they need space to evaporate all that water and caramelize properly," says Covarrubias. Give them a toss halfway through the cooking process to make sure they're cooked evenly, too.
◾Grilling: After washing your Eggplants, Slice them into thick pieces (1/2 inches) and brush some Healthy Oils( Canola, Ovile Oil or Any oil that is available) and Sprinkle some salt. Then just Grill them on the pan. Steaming is, in general, the way to retain the most nutrients in a vegetable.
Many recipes call for salting and rinsing eggplant before cooking it to draw out its bitterness. Brining can be used instead and has the added advantage of helping the eggplant keep its shape when it's cooked, whether your recipe calls for baking, frying, or grilling.
Depending on the recipe, you might want to slice and salt globe eggplant slices before cooking them in order to draw out some of the water and keep them from turning to mush. In On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee writes that because eggplants are filled with tiny air pockets, they function like sponges.
The secret for keeping the purple in eggplants is soaking it in vinegar for 5 minutes. This step is optional as it doesn't affect the taste, but if you are serving guests, soak the eggplant in 6 cups of water and 3 tbsp of vinegar for 5 minutes, and the eggplant will stay nice and purple even after steaming.
You mentioned that once they turned out tough and chewy: then they were not cooked fully through. Vegetables are not like meat, which turn rubbery when overcooked. They turn soft rather. Watch out for the opposite as well: Eggplants when cooked for a long time may turn mushy.
If you are worried that the eggplant might be bitter, slice or cube it, then salt it liberally and allow it to drain for an hour or so before cooking. Putting salt on the eggplant triggers osmosis, which draws out excess moisture and the bitterness along with it.
It helps draw out moisture from the eggplant. You don't have to salt eggplant though, it depends on the texture your looking for. Salting gives it a more creamy texture when cooked and not salting helps the eggplant hold up and be a little firmer after cooked.
Conventional wisdom has you salt the slices to draw bitter liquid out of the eggplant. Once the slices have sat for about a hour, you're suppose to rinse them under cool water to remove any excess salt and then proceed with your recipe.
Age and Size: Whether an eggplant is mildly or extremely bitter can depend on the age and size of the fruit. (Yes, eggplant is a fruit.) Larger, more mature eggplants can be more bitter, typically because their seeds are larger and seeds tend to hold on to the most bitter flavors.
Cut the eggplant into 3/4-inch thick slices (either diagonal, crosswise, or lengthwise). Place the slices in the saltwater brine. Weigh the eggplant slices down with an upside-down plate; let soak for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour.
Soak eggplant slices or cubes in milk for about 30 minutes before cooking. The milk not only tempers the bitterness, but it actually makes for eggplant that is extra creamy, since the vegetable acts like a sponge and soaks up a good amount of milk in its flesh.
As the plants grow, they need an even moisture supply. They do well with a drip irrigation system, but many watering methods work. When the first blossoms appear, spray the plants with a seaweed extract with one teaspoon of Epsom salts dissolved per gallon. The solution improves fruit set.
"You want the eggplant to cook quickly so it does not get mushy, or 'mushad' (pronounced 'moo-shad' aka 'mushy, gross, not delicious!') , as we in the TODAY kitchen say," Stilo said. Roast the eggplant, tossing or flipping halfway through, until it's golden brown and tender. Bake time will vary depending on the size.
It helps draw out moisture from the eggplant. You don't have to salt eggplant though, it depends on the texture your looking for. Salting gives it a more creamy texture when cooked and not salting helps the eggplant hold up and be a little firmer after cooked.
You mentioned that once they turned out tough and chewy: then they were not cooked fully through. Vegetables are not like meat, which turn rubbery when overcooked. They turn soft rather. Watch out for the opposite as well: Eggplants when cooked for a long time may turn mushy.
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Introduction: My name is Roderick King, I am a cute, splendid, excited, perfect, gentle, funny, vivacious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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