Michael E. Generalithe eggplant (aubergine)
July 11th 2007 22:45
eggplant varieties
Quite possibly the third most inaptly named fruit of all times (number two is the ice cream bean and one being of course jack fruit which looks nothing like any jack I have met). This of course was not always the case, originally eggplants were a white, egg shaped and sized fruit that were quite bitter and full of seeds. This is where the tradition of salting the eggplant came from, it is purely to leach the bitter ness and in extreme cases make the eggplant edible at all. Modern day eggplant has lost some of the less liked qualities through cross breeding and can now be up to the size of a standard NRL football, I find these ones a bit scary and prefer them about the size of two good sized fists. The modern eggplant does not always need salting but I tend to give them a bit of a season and a sit before use, just in case. There are of course dishes that use this bitterness to an advantage,
ingredients
1 medium (~300gms) eggplant
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
cayenne
method
When I have made this dip you simply spike the skin of the fruit all over with a fork and char grill (bbq or oil and bake in an oven) the thing whole till it is quite soft.allow to cool and
eggplant is a close relative of the tomato and flavour wise it eats well the apple of love, so its not surprising that it also goes with all sorts other Mediterranean staples like olive oil, garlic, capsicum so on and so forth. When I bought an eggplant recently the checkout operator was horrified to learn I was going to feed it to my kids. When I thought about it it did not occur to me that the kids would be afraid of this innocuous vegetable. Most people fear it because it is a bit out of the ordinary and they don’t know what to do with it well heres one super easy fast thing –
Grilled eggplant
1 smallish eggplant
1 tsp of salt
pepper
extra virgin olive oil spray (or olive oil and a pastry brush)
slice the egg plant into thin rounds 5mm or less is great, so much easier to do on a slicer but if it is a little thicker it won’t matter so much.
Sprinkle with salt and leave for five minutes
Meanwhile turn your oven to about 180 degrees
Wash the excess salt off the eggplant and lightly dry on a tea towel. Place slices in a single layer on a baking tray and spray or brush with oil, not too much as eggplant tends to be a bit of a sponge.
Cook in oven till you can press the flesh and the imprint you make stays.
This is perfect for sandwiches and antipasto. To make it more interesting cook with some grated garlic chilli and or lemon juice.
The recipe I inflicted onto my children was ratatouille and was prepared asfollows
2 clove garlic crushed
1 onion sliced
tblsp olive oil
I eggplant diced 300gms there abouts
1 red capsicum diced
two zucchini halved and sliced
200gms 1/4ed mushrooms
1 cup red wine
1cup stock
2cans tomatoes pureed
oregano
salt and pepper
to make this simply sauté all the vegetables in a large pot adding at intervals and in order of list.
Once the vegetables are all sautéed add the liquids and bring to the boil.
Turn the heat down so its just simmering and cook gently so as not to break up the chunky cut vegetable. Simmer for 1.5 hours. Serve up to your angelic children who will eat it no questions asked. Or resort to pureeing it and stirring it through pasta.
Happy cooking, regards, Dave
Ratatouille photo sourced from southernfood.about.com
Eggplant photo sourced from virtualtourist.com
ratatouille
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Comment by katyzzz
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I do my own version of ratatouille with any vegetables going and often with no accompaniment in the way of sauces or spices, it always tastes good and I just serve it with my main meal.
My only complaint is that I don't do it often enough.
It sits well with vegetarians when they come to visit.
Nice post and nice pics.
katyzzz
Comment by David John Burke
culinarian
culinarian ask the chef
thanks for the comment. another thing you can do is useing a good stewing cut of diced meat (beef shank, lamb leg etc) and simply dust with seasoned flour, brown of and add the the rat white it simmers. 1.5/2 hours is more then enough to get the meat tender and you have a feast many carnivores would love. now when it comes to not doing the cooking of the big labourious meal i don't do it often either and that is why i love my freezer i would make this dish and freeze 1/2 to a 2/3 meaning i have luxurious back up plan for when i could not be bothered. regards Dave