You can use standard dark eggplants, but I prefer 4-5 of the long, thin light purple asian eggplants. Slice the long way into 4 slices, brush with oil, and grill till tender and light brown. Grill 3 large sweet red peppers. Throw into a bowl, cover with saran wrap, and let cool. Slip off the charred skins, remove seeds, and slice into strips. On a platter, arrange the eggplant and red peppers. Sprinkle with olive oil, a few drops vinegar of whatever variety your palate prefers and pocketbook can afford, salt and pepper to taste. Let sit a bit, then sprinkle on chopped basil. Another variation is to brush the salad lightly with some pesto instead of using the oil and vinegar. Did it like that last night, and it was great!
Amy in MA "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not." --Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 8841 | Location: Newton (outside Boston), MA | Registered: 17 June 2001
We slice them crosswise, brush with olive oil and grill them.
Then I make a dressing of a bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar (Yes Alice - the crappy stuff ), minced garlic, s&P and crushed red pepper. When we take the eggplant off the grill, we drizzle the dressing on top. Yum and easy.
I've got another recipe for rolatini but it's involved. Oh and another one for caponata, which I'll make as soon as we get eggplants in.
Posts: 15375 | Location: Casa dei Cerrbiati, NJ, USA | Registered: 16 June 2001
Try Pureed Eggplant...my Mom used to make this, but I don't know what it is called in italian, 1 large eggplant 2 cloves garlic 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 teaspoon pepper 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Grill or bake a whole eggplant. Crush garlic with salt. Add eggplant pulp, mix and crush. Heat oil and remaining ingredients in saucepan. Add puree mixture and heat for about 10 min. Transfer to serving dish.
Simple but elegant. Kinda like baba ganoush -Italian style.
Posts: 663 | Location: Palmyra, NJ, USA | Registered: 29 July 2003
quote:Originally posted by avvocato: Try Pureed Eggplant...my Mom used to make this, but I don't know what it is called in italian
AFAIK it is not called. It is not an Italian recipe, though melitzanosalata (made with this exact recipe) is a common "opertikà" (starter) in Greece. In Mallorca I have had a salad made with eggplants treated in a similar way. After having been roasted on a fire, the charcoaled shin was scraped off, the eggplant was hand-shredded and mixed with tomatoes cut in pieces and another vegetable which I can't remeber, maybe boiled potatoes. Garnished with extravirgin olive oil, salt, garlic and some basil they were delicious.
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
Great ideas, thanks...I need them. My single eggplant (or is it egg-plant? eggplant plant?) is going wild and producing enough to feed the city! So far I've breaded and fried them, made eggplant "meatballs", grilled and marinated them and still I have 12 more growing on the plant with more blossoms too!
quote:Originally posted by valerie: I have 12 more growing on the plant with more blossoms too!
Uhm. Before someone tells me "we all do it!" or " I already had them dome that way!!!"... How about parmiggiana and/or moussaka?
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
Yes, I'd thought of those. I'm actually waiting for a Greek friend to email his family recipe for moussaka. It's been too hot here to heat up the oven for parmiggiana - still in the mid 90's, so I'm trying to avoid too much kitchen-heating at the moment. Parmiggiana is on the list since it looks like we'll be eating eggplant until kingdom-come!
This is one of my favorite eggplant recipes. I call it Pasta Norma, and can't remember where I first read it. It freezes well, too, without the pasta and the mozzarella.
Chop 1 or 2 onions and 1 or 2 eggplant, then saute in olive oil. At some point I usually toss in 2 or 3 whole cloves of garlic. Add a can of tomatoes, or if it's tomato season, some chopped tomatoes. Add some basil. You can also add some white wine, if you have some hanging around the kitchen. Simmer about 20 mins if you've used canned tomatoes, longer if fresh.
I like gemelli or cavatappi for the pasta- cook that.
Dice 2 rounds of mozzarella, add it to the sauce along with the cooked pasta. Add more fresh basil.
This is also good with pepperoncini- red pepper flakes- added, although I tend to go easier on the basil then.
Maureen
Posts: 4724 | Location: Boston or Florence | Registered: 07 July 2001
I make a simple moussaka - it's not traditional moussaka, but it is good, and very easy.
1 onion chopped 2 c. potatoes in 1/2 inch cubes 1 big eggplant in 1/2 inch cubes 1 lb. ground beef (1/2 kilo) some chopped garlic 4 oz. crumbled feta (120 grams) 1 pt. plain yogurt (1/2 L.) 1/4 c. oil
Heat the oven to 350 degrees or 180 C. Grease a large baking pan.
heat the oil, fry the potatoes, remove them and set aside. Add the onion and the meat, brown and drain the fat. Add the garlic and eggplant, stir and cook until the eggplant is cooked through but not mushy. Mix the potatoes in with this and add salt and pepper to taste.
In a small bowl mix the feta and the yogurt.
Spread the eggplant mixture in the baking dish, then smear the yogurt stuff on top. Bake for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Once I made this for a party in Venice. The police chief of Venice was there, and he told me he did not like eggplant. So I made him a special little dish without the eggplant. He was so happy he gave me a big kiss!
quote:Originally posted by Shannon: Once I made this for a party in Venice. The police chief of Venice was there, and he told me he did not like eggplant. So I made him a special little dish without the eggplant. He was so happy he gave me a big kiss!
Get yourself another kiss and try it with zucchini next time ;-P Anyhow, this is my recipe, or at least the recipe that is used in my family.
1 kg of minced meat (it should be half mutton and half beef, but my grandmother prefers a beef only solution) One big onion Extragvirgin olive oil 6 spoonfuls of tomato sauce 1,5 kg of eggplants Melanzane (un chilo e mezzo) 2 big potatoes 2 spoonfuls of durum wheat flour 100 grams of butter (unsalted) 1 liter milk White wine (half a glass for the ragout, one glass for the cook while perparing the bechamel sauce) Salt and pepper as needed a couple of spoons of grated cheese (kefalotiri or grana padano)
Cut the eggplants in long slices about 1 centimeter thick, layer them in a container and add slat on each layer. Leave them to "fare l'acqua! (they will "sweat" the excess water) for a couple of hours. Once done, swiftly wash off the salt and squeeze them (you can just skip this if you are in a hurry, especially if your eggplants are not homegrown). Dice the onion and let it cook in some oil until golden, add the meat, brown it and than add the white wine. Cook for a couple fof minutes with the wine, than add the tomato sauce and cook for one hour and a half (if needed add a little water). Season with salt and pepper and a "chiodo di garofano" (clove?). Melt the butter in a pan with an heavy bottom. Add the flour and brown it. Add little by little the milk, making sure that no lump appears. (If any lump might occur, don't worry: after it's done, use a mixer on it; you will have the nicest and smoothest bechamel sauce ever!). Cook (always mixing it with a wooden soppon) until it gets quite hard. If you like it, add a couple spoons of grated cheese to the sauce after it's ready. Let it cool down. Fry the eggplants in olive oil, but do not let them cook completely, they should be golden but still rare. You can either do the same to the potatoes or just add them to the recipe raw, sliced in half a centimeter thick slices (cut them in the same way also if you fry them). In the second case, you will have a somewhat lighter mussaka. Ina baking dish, start layering: first a little oil (not required if you fried the potatoes), than the potatoes, than the eggplants, than the ragout and finally the bechamel. Plant some toothpicks in the mussaka, they will help the steam to "evacuate" steam from the dish, even though they are hard to find (ouch!). Bake for one hour at 250°C. Let the mussaka rest for about four hours before eating, it is a dish best eaten at room temperature. Even better, eat it the next day. If you didn't fry the potatoes, empty a corner of the baking dish with a spoon (this will allow you a first taste ;-P) and let the mussaka rest. THe depression thus created will collect all the liquid in the bottom (and some of the oil too!), making it more anjoyable. Also, if you don't like eggplants, use zucchine.
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
quote:Get yourself another kiss and try it with zucchini next time ;-P
That's a great idea Alice - if there is one thing that is in abundance it is zucchini from everyone's garden. I'll give it a try next time I receive a kilo sized zucchini as a gift.
quote: I call it Pasta Norma, and can't remember where I first read it
I have this recipe also and it's called Pasta all Norma, so you're right! It's a great recipe. I've used that one also.
I managed to give away a few melanzane...anyone want some?! Wish I could send some to you all.
The moussaka recipes sound fabulous. As soon as it cools down a bit I'll be trying them out.
Here's how I made my "meat"balls, if anyone's interested: Layer and salt the eggplant slices, rinse and dry well. Mince them up. Mince up a little onion and garlic and saute in a little olive oil until translucent, then add the eggplant and saute a few minutes until tender. Let cool. Soak a slice of bread in some broth (beef or vegetable). Squeeze out the broth (and reserve it) and add the breadcrumbs and an egg to the eggplant mixture. Combine well and season with parsley, salt and pepper. You may need to add a bit of dry breadcrumbs to help hold the shape. Form into balls, roll in flour and let sit about 10 minutes. Then heat some olive oil, brown the balls on all sides, add the broth, partially cover and simmer about 10 minutes. The broth cooks down and makes a sauce. Yum.
quote:Originally posted by valerie: [...] You may need to add a bit of dry breadcrumbs to help hold the shape. Form into balls, roll in flour and let sit about 10 minutes. Then heat some olive oil, brown the balls on all sides, add the broth, partially cover and simmer about 10 minutes.
Interesting "polpette di melanzane" are an ancient neapolitan recipe. a freind of mine makes them in a quite similar way to yours, the only difference is that she keeps the mixture quite soft and just spoons it into the hot olive oil for frying them, getting a kind of thick fritters instead of real "meatballs". I think I will try both, but I will use a fast "reversed" vegetables broth with a few spices for it.
How to make a "reversed" vegetable broth This is maybe the only recipe by Mr Vissani (a cook that is very famous but also very discussed, here in Italy) that I appreciate. Most of his concotions look more glamorous than really interesting, but his "reversed" broth is a really good idea. It means that you can get a very good vegetable broth in 20 minutes isntead of 2 hours!
For half a liter of "basic" broth you need a piece of onion, a small carrot, a piece of celery, a garlic clove, a pinch of salt, 2 black pepper "berries" and a couple spoons of extravirgin olive oil. First you dice all the vegetables, than you just warm them with the oil in a small pot and cook until golden. Finally, you add the water, the salt and the pepper and boil for 20 minutes. Once done, you just need to filter the broth. You can add any kind of vegetable or spice to give your broth a distinctive flavor, you can also mince the vegetables very thinly if you prefer to leave them in, to make a kind of watery soup that you can drink with some bread (or with some rice boiled into it: when I feel sich I make it with lots of carrots and a small piece of fennel: a "sickness food" that actually tastes good ^_^).
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
quote:Interesting "polpette di melanzane" are an ancient neapolitan recipe
Interesting...and here I thought I was being so creative and original coming up with mine. Alas, if it's a good food idea, I should have known it was already a tradition in somewhere in Italy!
Judy, I made your caponata tonight and it was divine! I did 'salt and sweat' the eggplant first - wasn't sure if I was supposed to. Should that always be done with eggplant?
quote:Originally posted by Gail Hecko: Should that always be done with eggplant?
Used to be. The eggplants used to be more bitter and "spicy" once, and the homegrown ones are still. Most eggplants you can find in groceries now are sweeter and can be eaten without being "cured". Yet, for some perparations (thoe that require frying) IMHO it is better to salt them, not beause of taste but because this way they don't send drops of hot oil everywhere (and in particular on the unprotected parts of the cook's body).
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
I don't salt the eggplant for this recipe, but all depends on the eggplant! I think they absorb less oil if you do the salt thing! then also adjust the amount of salt you add to the dish. I love the caponata served cold the next day!!!
If you are serving it cold... you need to over season as the cold kills flavor. ( which is why some people really like ice cold white wines, like California Chardonnay..if it wasn't so cold... you get more of the wood.. which most people are tired of) I have also had it served warm....as part of a warm appetizer course, and also served in a ring... with melted bittersweet chocolate!!! INCREDIBLE!!!
quote:Originally posted by Diva: with melted bittersweet chocolate!!! INCREDIBLE!!!
This reminds me... Melanzane con il cioccolato! The Eggplants can also be served as a desert with chocolate, but I have neve tried the recipe nor tasted them, so I can't say wether they are good or 8-6~, yet people in Sorrento say they are delicious. I will look for the recipe, as I finish cleaning the office's fridge.
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
quote:Originally posted by Alice Twain: I will look for the recipe, as I finish cleaning the office's fridge.
The fridge is still half full of ice, but here is the recipe by Allegrone.
1 kg. eggplants, flour, salt, powdered cinnamon, extravirgin olive oil or another oil for frying, 2 eggs, the grated peel of half a lemon (only the yellow part) and 100 grams of sugar. FILLING: 80 grams of candied orange and "cedro", 30 grams of almonds (peeled), 2 "amaretti" bisquits 25 grams of bitter chocolate, vainille CHOCOLATE CREAM 3/4 liter of milk, 50 grams unsweetened cocoa, 100 grams of sugar.
Peel and cut in long thin slices the eggplants, salt them and leave them to rest for one hour. Wash them, dry tem and fry them, making sure they do not get too dark or turn hard. Let them rest on a piece of aborbing paper, turning them until they are cold. After that, coat them in flour and egg (lightly salted), fry them again and once again dried of thte excessive oil, than garnished witha mixture of sugar, cinnamon and grated lemon peel. FILLING: Clean the almond and toast them until golden in the hot oven. Mix the almonds, the candied fruits and the chocolate and mince. break the amaretti bisquits in very small pieces [since they are hard but break esily, you maight use the bottom of a glass, N.d.Alice] and mix them in with the rest. SAUCE: Mix the sugar and the cocoa, add them to the milk and simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to veil the back of the spoon. In a sealed container, layer the sweet: first some sauce than a first layer of eggplants, than 1/3 of the filling, than more eggplants, than the sauce... There should be enough ingredients for 3 sauce-eggplants-filling-eggplants-sauce layers. Seal the container and let the sweet rest for three days in the fridge. It is essential to let it rest because thus the flavors will mix, and it is also essential that the container can be ermetically sealed because otherways the sweet would abosorb foreign smells.
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
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), minced garlic, s&P and crushed red pepper. When we take the eggplant off the grill, we drizzle the dressing on top. Yum and easy.
