I've never been a big eggplant fan. However, for reasons that are not clear to me, our CSA is a HUGE fan of growing tons of all different kinds of eggplant (turns out they come short and fat, long and skinny, purple or white, all different combinations). That's the "bane" part - too much eggplant!
I try really hard to eat the stuff that comes in our CSA under the principles of not wasting food we're paying for and being willing to try new things. The eggplant stymied me for a while. However, over time (and here comes the "blessing" part) I have found a few recipes that include eggplant that I really like. It turns out that I still don't like breaded, oven "fried" eggplant. I dislike how mushy it gets. But, grilling eggplant gives it a whole new dimension. Here are several recipes that I highly recommend, all of which feature eggplant.
Quinoa cakes and eggplant ragu: I know I've mentioned this before, but it really is one of my favorite dishes. Make sure to really chill the formed quinoa cakes, don't try to flip them too early, and don't get too upset if they fall apart.
Spinach salad with grilled eggplant: This recipe is amazing. I go back for seconds and thirds and look forward to it in my lunch the next day. Given how I generally feel about eggplant, that's really saying something.
Grilled eggplant pizza: This pizza brings up the idea of grilling an entire pizza. We often do this now. It tastes good, and you don't have to to turn the oven up high to cook your pizza. I do find that grilled pizzas are more successful if you pre-cook the toppings, since they almost exclusively get heat from the bottom. There's just enough from the top to melt the cheese. And while we're talking about pizzas, here is a topping combination that you have to try: caramelized onions, gorgonzola cheese, and walnuts. Unbelievably good.
If you have a ton of eggplant to use up, I hope these recipes provide some inspiration for some new dishes. In the meantime, even with these recipes I can't eat as much eggplant as our CSA gives us, so if you have any other ideas for it, let me know!
Don't forget Mom's Vegetable Curry posted back in May. It is really a potato and green bean curry but the thickening comes from eggplant. The day she wrote down the recipe, she said 2/3 of an eggplant, but I am pretty sure it would soak up a whole large eggplant. The eggplant pretty much falls apart and just provides body without really adding eggplant flavor. This is the curry we had regularly served with rice, plain yoghurt, dry roasted peanuts, and raisins. Tastes great and soaks up eggplant.
ReplyDeleteWe just had this for dinner tonight along with some halibut and rice. It turns out we've never made it with the full amount of spinach called for in the recipe before. I would recommend using less than called for to increase the proportion of "good stuff" to spinach.
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