Skip to main content

Grilled Eggplant Napoléons #KitchenMatrixCookingProject

By

Several years ago, I hosted an eggplant dinner for two friends' birthday celebration; I called it 'Ode to an Aubergine.'


Little back story: one of our friends claimed to not like eggplant. I took the challenge to come up with an entire dinner menu made with eggplant...from Eggplant Boats to Creamy Eggplant Soup and Braised Lamb Over Eggplant Puree to dessert. Yes! Even dessert. I made an Italian dessert - Melanzane al Cioccolato - with eggplant and chocolate. And, of course, I ordered eggplant hats for everyone.

Bear in mind that I was just getting started in blogging, so my write-ups were atrocious. Mental note to go back and redo those posts! But, in any case, the dinner was a wild success and the eggplant-averse friend declared, to my delight, Okay, I like eggplant now!

So, I was excited to pick Grilled Eggplant + 12 Ways for this week's #KitchenMatrixCookingProject. I love cooking and serving eggplant, but I realize that I don't grill it often. I usually roast it. Before I get to my offering this week, here the rest of the crew's take on grilled eggplant.
Bittman offers 12 different suggestions for using grilled eggplant and all of them look delicious! I can't wait to try the North African style with honey and ground meat or the Chinese style with hoisin sauce and fresh ginger.  But for today's post, I decided to create a riff on Bittman's Italian style grilled eggplant. This was a hit and will certainly be on our table again soon...after the other eggplant dishes, that is.

 Ingredients
  • 1 large organic eggplant, washed, dried, and sliced into 1/2" steaks
  • salt
  • water
  • balsamic vinegar
  • olive for greasing the grill pan
  • freshly ground salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 2 organic tomatoes, cubed - approximately 3/4 C
  • 1 round of fresh mozzarella, cubed - approximately 3/4 C
  • 2 T fresh basil leaves, chopped + more for garnish
  • olive oil
Procedure

Generously salt the eggplant on both side, laying them on a wire rack over a baking sheet to drain for at least 45 minutes. After the 45 minutes, rinse all of the salt off and place in a baking dish. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and let marinate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. During the last 10 minutes of marinating, heat a grill pan on the stove - or use a real grill. Oil the pan when hot and place the eggplant steaks on the grill pan. Cook till the eggplant is softened and with distinctive marks, approximately 4 to 5 minutes on each side.

Place grilled eggplant on a baking sheet and in the oven to keep warm until ready to serve.

Toss the tomatoes and mozzarella together in a bowl for a quick caprese salad. Drizzle with olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.


To serve, lay one grilled eggplant round on your serving plate. Top with caprese and another eggplant round. Finish with another scoop of caprese and garnish with some fresh basil.
Labels:

Comments

  1. KarenOctober 15, 2018 at 9:50 PM

    I went for the grill pan and the Italian section too. Your photos from your party are adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A Day in the Life on the FarmOctober 16, 2018 at 3:54 AM

    Great minds this month. We all were on the same page. I never remember my dang grill pan though LOL>

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

By
If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce
1 comment
Read more

Aloo Tiki {Pakistan}

By
To start off our Pakistani culinary adventure, I started us off with aloo tiki - potato cutlets. I'm always game for tasty street food. I found a couple of different recipes and incorporated those together for this version. Ingredients 6-8 small red potatoes, scrubbed 1 T cumin seeds 1 T fresh chopped parsley 1/2 t ground coriander 1 t minced garlic Procedure Boil the potatoes until they are tender. Drain and let cool. Mash the potatoes. Traditionally they are mashed without their skins. I left the skins on. In a small pan, toast the cumin seeds on high heat until the begin to give off an aroma and begin to darken. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate to keep them from cooking any more. Blend all of the spices into the mashed potatoes, then shape into small patties. If you wet your hands, the potato mixture won't stick to them. Heat a splash of oil in a large, flat-bottom pan. Dip each patty into beaten egg and carefully place in the oil. P
9 comments
Read more

Hot Chocolate Agasajo-Style {Spice It Up!}

By
photo by D For my Spice It Up! kiddos this week, I was looking for an exotic drink to serve while we learned about saffron. I found a recipe from food historian Maricel Presilla that mimicked traditional Spanish hot chocolate from the 17th century where it was served at lavish receptions called agasajos . When I teach, I don't always get to shoot photos. Thankfully, D grabbed my camera and snapped a few. Ingredients serves 14-16 1 gallon organic whole milk 3 T dried rosebuds - or 2 t rosewater 2 t saffron threads, lightly crushed 3 T ground cinnamon 3 whole tepin chiles, crushed 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise 1 C organic granulated sugar 1 lb. bittersweet chocolate Procedure In a large soup pot that can hold a gallon plus, combine milk, dried rosebuds (or rosewater, if you are using that), saffron threads, ground cinnamon, chiles, vanilla beans, and sugar and warm over medium heat till it steams. Whisk to dissolve sugar, then lower heat an
183 comments
Read more