Tag: Eggplant
crostini with grilled eggplant and pine nut puree
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I am so excited that we can buy eggplants at the Farmers’ Market! They are so fresh and sweet—I have so much fun making yummy eggplant things! This spread is really great on Rise & Shine Bakery’s 100% whole wheat sourdough bread. It’s a variation of a recipe in Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors. I love this for dinner alongside a big pile of roasted broccoli with garlic, or any of the broccoli dishes you’ll find on this web site.
1 pound eggplant or a little more
olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
1/3 cup pine nuts
1 garlic clove
freshly ground pepper
fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped mint
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
slices of bread, toasted
1. Preheat your grill to medium heat. Peel the eggplants and slice them into rounds about ½” thick. Set the slices on a sheet pan for applying the oil. Brush or spray both sides of each slice lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Grill directly on the grill (not in the pan) over medium heat for at least 5 minutes on each side. They should have grill marks and start to get golden-brown. When done, stack the slices and wrap in aluminum foil so that they’ll steam and finish cooking. (This is a grilling method that Dan developed, and it works wonderfully for red onions, as well.)
2. Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over low heat until golden. Then toss them into the bowl of a food processor with the garlic and ½ teaspoon of salt. Process them until finely ground. Coarsely chop the eggplant, then put it in with the pine nuts and pulse it into a somewhat rough puree. Add a little lemon juice to sharpen the flavors, taste for salt, season with pepper, and stir in the herbs. Spread the puree on toast and enjoy!
Alaskan eggplant parmesan, deconstructed summer-style
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I invented this recipe for the wonderful fresh eggplants from the Valley. The slices stay crunchy, and you can really taste the eggplant because you don’t drench everything in sauce and mozzarella. It’s a variation of a proper eggplant parmesan in Cooks’ Illustrated (January 2004), but it’s a much lighter dish, and to my taste, more delicious. If you don’t have fresh tomatoes to make the fast fresh tomato sauté, make the easy marinara sauce—see the following recipes. You can also use these breaded and baked eggplant slices to make a fantastic eggplant parmesan pizza…
It’s much more fun doing this recipe with another person—there’s quite a bit of dredging and drenching to do. You won’t be surprised to learn that I always make a double batch of this because it’s so yummy, and the slices freeze well! Serve this with a side salad, like the green salad with garlicky red wine mustard vinaigrette.
Note: If you’re not using really fresh, local eggplant, it might be bitter unless you salt and drain it first. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of salt, then drain for 30 minutes in a colander. Rinse under water, and dry on kitchen towels to remove as much liquid as possible.
2 pounds eggplant (2 medium eggplants), cut crosswise into ½” thick rounds
6-8 slices of bread (you know my preference: whole wheat sourdough)
½ to 1 cup fresh-grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup flour
3 eggs
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper
spray vegetable oil (or regular vegetable oil)
fast fresh tomato sauté OR marinara sauce (recipes follow)
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Grind bread slices in food processor to make fine, even crumbs. Transfer crumbs to a pie plate and if your parmesan isn’t grated very fine, grind it up with a few pulses, too. Add cheese, ¼ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper to the crumbs and mix together.
1. Combine flour and 1 teaspoon pepper in large ziplock bag; shake to combine. Beat eggs in second pie plate. Place 8 to 10 eggplant slices in bag with flour; seal bag and shake to coat eggplant. Remove eggplant slices, shaking off excess flour, dip in eggs, let excess egg run off, then coat evenly with bread crumb mixture; set breaded slices on wire racks on your counter. Repeat with remaining eggplant.
2. Put 2 heavy, rimmed baking sheets (preferably non-stick) in the oven and let them preheat for 10 minutes or so. Remove them one at a time from the oven, spray or brush thoroughly with vegetable oil, and load the eggplant on the sheets in a single layer. Bake until eggplant is well-browned and crisp, about 30 minutes, rotating baking sheets after 10 minutes, and flipping slices after 20 minutes.
3. While the eggplant bakes, make the fast fresh tomato sauté or the marinara sauce. (You can make the marinara the day before, if you like. Just reheat before serving.)
4. Serve each person several slices of eggplant, overlapping slightly, on plates with little bowls of the tomato sauté. This is especially nice alongside a green salad.
fast fresh tomato sauté
This recipe is based on one from Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen.
3 cups of sliced, quartered, or diced tomatoes
1 shallot or ½ a small white onion, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
small handful basil leaves, slivered, or 1 teaspoon thyme, minced (whatever fresh herbs you have hanging around, or growing in a pot on your deck—oregano, maybe?)
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
1. Toss the tomatoes with the onion or shallot, garlic, herbs, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. You can let the mixture marinate for up to 2 hours or use it right away.
2. Just before you’re ready to eat, heat a skillet and when hot, add the tomatoes. Swirl the pan around to warm them through, add a few drops of balsamic vinegar and some pepper. They should just warm up and release their juices, not fall apart.
marinara sauce
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
two 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes, or diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried oregano
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1. Coarsely chop the tomatoes if using whole ones.
2. Saute the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant (30 seconds or so). Add the tomatoes and cook the sauce until nicely thickened, about 30 minutes.
3. Crush the oregano between your palms as you sprinkle it into the pot. Stir to combine, and add salt and pepper to taste. If you want a smoother sauce, put some of the sauce into your blender, or use a hand-held immersion blender to puree some of the chunks out of the sauce.
baba ghanouj (garlicky eggplant dip)
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This recipe is based on one in Annie Somerville’s Fields of Greens, and I love it. Dip pita bread in it, or spread it on toast. Scoop it up with chips, or with celery… It’s so yummy! If you don’t happen to have cilantro, it’s fine to leave it out.
Two notes about the tahini. 1) If you can’t find roasted tahini, just use the regular kind. And 2) Smell the tahini, and taste it once you’ve gotten it all mixed up and creamy (the oil separates out when it’s sitting on the shelf in the store. If it smells yummy and nutty, and tastes creamy and rich and good, use it. If it smells bitter and rancid, take it back to the store and exchange it for a jar with a newer expiration date. I’ve had some trouble recently with getting good tahini—so make sure yours is good before you use it. In fact, I’ve had so much trouble lately that I’ve just used peanut butter instead of tahini! The natural, unsweetened kind of peanut butter, of course. Maybe I even lik it better than tahini!
2 globe eggplants, about 2 pounds
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons roasted tahini (sesame paste) or natural peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon cumin seed, toasted in a skillet and ground
Juice of 1 lemon
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (OK to omit)
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and brush the cut sides lightly with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet, cut side down, and roast until very tender, about 35 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then scoop the flesh out of the skin, or peel the skin off the outside--whichever is easiest.
2. Meanwhile, combine the tahini or peanut butter, cumin, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, salt, and a pinch of cayenne in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.
2. Chop the eggplant with a big knife until in small chunks, then add it to the bowl. Whisk everything together until it is fairly smooth, but retains some lumps.
3. Allow the baba ghanouj to sit for 30 minutes or an hour at room temperature, then season to taste, if needed, with additional lemon juice, salt, and cayenne. Toss in the cilantro and serve on toast.
roasted eggplant salad with pine nuts & capers
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This is my answer to caponata—the Italian eggplant relish/salad with capers, raisins, and vinegar… I like to taste the eggplant more than you tend to when it’s mixed with all those really strong flavors. So this has less vinegar, no raisins, but still has great flavor!!
It’s a variation on a salad in Annie Somerville’s Everyday Greens. The nice thing about it is that you roast the eggplant slices, so you’re not frying it in quarts of oil (which the eggplant soaks up like mad). It’s quick and easy and healthy. You can even roast the eggplant slices the day before, and make the salad later. Serve this with another salad, like a bean salad or a green salad—or how about a pile of fresh snap peas--for a complete meal!
2 pounds fresh eggplant, sliced ½-inch thick
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or olive oil infused with roasted garlic)
½ tablespoon minced garlic (if not using garlic oil, above)
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
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1 medium or large red onion, finely diced (1-2 cups; to your taste)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed
½ bunch Italian (flat-leaved) parsley, or ¼ cup basil leaves, chopped finely
½ teaspoon salt or kosher salt
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted until golden in a dry skillet
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Toss the eggplant in a large bowl with the oil, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon salt. The slices won’t really be evenly coated with oil—there will be splotches of oil here and there on some slices—but that’s OK. Just mix them around the best you can.
2. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment, or spray them with cooking spray. Lay the eggplant slices in a single layer on the baking sheets and roast for 10 minutes. Rotate the pans and roast for 10 more minutes. Check for tenderness at this point—if you’re using Japanese eggplants, they may be done, but the bigger globe eggplants will take longer. Keep roasting them until they are soft and tender, rotating every 10 minutes or so. It took my eggplants a little more than 30 minutes, but just see what yours taste like. You can do this step ahead of time and mix the salad up the following day.
3. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, slice it into ¼-inch strips.
4. Put the diced onion into a small heatproof bowl, and pour boiling water over the top, to cover. Let them sit for 30 seconds, then drain the onions. Toss them with 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar.
5. Combine the eggplant, capers, parsley or basil, and onions in a large bowl. Toss gently, and let marinate for 30 minutes or so. Season to taste with salt—start with ½ teaspoon and add more if necessary. You may want to add a little more red wine vinegar, too. If the salad is too tart, you can add a pinch of sugar.
6. Garnish with toasted pine nuts and serve!
gratin of eggplant, roasted peppers & garlic
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This recipe is another way to use the great eggplants that A&M Farms is bringing to the market from their greenhouse. Of course we can’t get local red peppers to roast, but we can make yummy fresh tomato sauce if we want, from the local tomatoes! Or you can just use a regular marinara sauce with canned tomatoes—either one will work just fine.
This dish is based on a recipe in Annie Somerville’s Fields of Greens, a book I’ve had for years, and still love dearly. A lot of the recipes can be quite time-consuming (this is one of them, I’ll admit), but the results have never failed me. I tend toward her less fussy recipes, and then am never disappointed.
There are several steps to this recipe, but you can do most of it ahead of time, when you have the oven on for something else. The eggplant and garlic can be roasted ahead of time (or use the garlic that you already have stored, from the olive oil infused with garlic recipe), and so can the red peppers.I thawed mine out from the freezer, where I’d stored them earlier. You can make the tomato sauce ahead of time, too—or maybe you already have some stored in the freezer, waiting for this opportunity to use it!
4 pounds eggplant, sliced ¾-inch thick
extra-virgin olive oil, (or olive oil infused with roasted garlic)
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped (if not using garlic oil)
sea salt or kosher salt
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3 heads of garlic, unpeeled (or the equivalent in roasted/poached garlic from the olive oil infusing project)
3 red or yellow bell peppers, roasted, peeled, and cut into ½-inch slices (see recipe, below)
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, or ½ teaspoon dried
freshly-ground pepper
Tomato Sauce (use either variation, below)
bread crumb topping
2 slices hearty bread (I prefer whole wheat sourdough)
2 medium shallots, minced (or substitute minced onion)
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Toss the eggplant in a large bowl with 3 tablespoons of the oil, garlic, and ½ teaspoon of the salt. The slices won’t really be evenly coated with oil—there will be splotches of oil here and there on some slices—but that’s OK. Just mix them around the best you can.
2. Cut the tops off the heads of garlic, drizzle them with a little oil, and wrap each one in a square of aluminum foil.
3. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment, or spray them with cooking spray. Lay the eggplant slices in a single layer on the baking sheets and roast for 10 minutes. Rotate the pans and roast for 10 more minutes. Check for tenderness at this point—if you’re using Japanese eggplants, they may be done, but the bigger globe eggplants will take longer. Keep roasting them until they are soft and tender, rotating every 10 minutes or so. It took my eggplants a little more than 30 minutes, but just see what yours taste like.
4. Bake the garlic at the same time, removing from the oven when it is soft and squishy when you press on it, or when a paring knife will easily slip into a clove. Set the garlic and eggplant aside to cool.
5. Squish the garlic out of its skin and toss it with the roasted pepper strips and another tablespoon of olive oil, the herbs, and ¼ teaspoon of salt and some freshly-ground pepper.
6. Pour about 2 cups of tomato sauce into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish and layer the eggplant in rows across the width of the dish, overlapping the slices pretty steeply as you go. Continue to layer, packing the slices close together, until you’ve used all the eggplant. Tuck the pepper strips and garlic cloves in between the eggplant slices.
7. Bake for 25 minutes, or longer, until bubbling.
8. While it bakes, process bread in food processor until finely ground. You should have about 1½ cups of crumbs. Combine bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and shallots in a medium bowl. After 25 minutes, remove baking dish from the oven and sprinkle bread crumb mixture evenly on top of eggplant. Bake gratin until bubbling well around the edges, and the bread crumbs are nicely browned, 5 to 15 minutes (this will depend on whether your breadcrumbs are made with whole-wheat or white bread). Remove from the oven and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.
roasted red peppers
1. Preheat your grill or broiler. Roast the red peppers, turning them as each side gets blackened.
2. When they are blackened all the way around, place them in a big bowl and cover it with a lid or a plate until the peppers are fairly cool (this steams and cooks the peppers the rest of the way).
3. Peel the skins from the peppers and remove the seeds, but don’t rinse the peppers—just rinse your fingers as you peel the skins off. Slice the peppers into pieces as desired.
fast fresh tomato sauté
This recipe is based on one from Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen.
3 cups of sliced, quartered, or diced tomatoes
1 shallot or ½ a small white onion, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
small handful basil leaves, slivered, or 1 teaspoon thyme, minced (whatever fresh herbs you have hanging around, or growing in a pot on your deck—oregano, maybe?)
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
1. Toss the tomatoes with the onion or shallot, garlic, herbs, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. You can let the mixture marinate for up to 2 hours or use it right away.
2. Just before you’re ready to eat, heat a skillet and when hot, add the tomatoes. Swirl the pan around to warm them through, add a few drops of balsamic vinegar and some pepper. They should just warm up and release their juices, not fall apart.
marinara sauce
This recipe will make more than you need for this recipe, but it’s so easy and yummy, you can make extra and freeze the leftover for next time you need tomato sauce. Or just make a half-batch!
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
two 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes, or diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried oregano
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1. Coarsely chop the tomatoes if using whole ones.
2. Saute the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant (30 seconds or so). Add the tomatoes and cook the sauce until nicely thickened, about 30 minutes.
3. Crush the oregano between your palms as you sprinkle it into the pot. Stir to combine, and add salt and pepper to taste. If you want a smoother sauce, put some of the sauce into your blender, or use a hand-held immersion blender to puree some of the chunks out of the sauce.
Thai-flavored eggplant with scallions
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Last week, Arthur (the South Anchorage Farmers’ Market manager), was clearing out his greenhouse of eggplants, so he gave me a bunch! What a treat! I made a bunch of baba ghanouj (eggplant dip) to freeze and share with him, but I still had some eggplants left. I thought I’d try a Thai theme, just for fun! This recipe is based on one from Cook’s Illustrated, and the article had a couple of other vegetable recipes to make, using this same sauce base. So for dinner I made this eggplant dish, and then another dish using the same sauce base: broccoli and red peppers with Thai peanut sauce. It was a fantastic vegetable bonanza, served with rice!
It’s important to use an oil with a high smoke point, like peanut oil or grapeseed oil, so it doesn’t burn and smoke while you stir-fry the eggplant. Don’t use olive oil, for sure!
When I made this, I couldn’t find any basil at the Wednesday farmers’ market at the Dimond Center, so I just left it out, and it was great. But I’m sure it would really fantastic with the addition of the basil!
Thai Sauce Base
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice plus 1 teaspoon grated zest from 1 lime
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
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Eggplant
1 tablespoon peanut oil or grapeseed oil, plus 1 more teaspoon
2 pounds eggplant (2 large globes, or 4 long skinny Japanese), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
6 medium cloves garlic, minced
1- inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 scallions, white and green parts, sliced thin
½ cup fresh basil leaves, torn into rough 1/2-inch pieces (optional)
1. For Thai Sauce Base: Mix fish sauce, lime juice and zest, sugar, and red pepper in small bowl until sugar is dissolved; set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until shimmering, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggplant and cook, stirring or tossing the skillet every 10 to 15 seconds, until browned and tender, 5-10 minutes, depending on the type of eggplant.
3. Push eggplant to sides of skillet, clearing center of pan. Add remaining teaspoon oil, garlic, and ginger to center of pan and mash with back of spoon; cook until fragrant, 30 to 45 seconds, then stir mixture into eggplant. Add half of the Thai Sauce Base and stir until combined. Taste and see if you want to add more—it’s pretty potent and salty stuff, so I didn’t use quite all of mine. Add the sauce to your taste.
4. Off heat, stir in scallions and optional basil; serve immediately with rice.
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Each week I'm so excited to read the Farmer's Market newsletter. Alison's newsletters are so inspiring, especially when I can't figure out what to do with all these summer Alaskan vegetables. When my refrigerator is bursting with greens and cabbage, I know just where to look for easy and delicious recipes. I've become more creative and adventurous since reading the South Anchorage Farmers' Market Cookbook. Some of my favorites are the salad recipes, red lentils with zucchini and the butterball potato salad with green beans. 
