A few years
ago, I had the privilege of teaching cooking classes, encouraging people to use
locally grown produce. One of the most
difficult vegetables to push was eggplant!
What
preconceived notions we have about eggplant!
Most people immediately think “mushy” when you mentioned the beautiful
aubergine because any time they’ve ever been offered eggplant, it has been in
the mushy state. All vegetables can be
cooked that way and in certain regions of the United States that is the only
way to cook them. I’ve come to realize
that Americans have an aversion to eggplant because we have an aversion to
pureed food, yet many of us preferred our vegetables cooked to that soft
state! Unfortunately, the longer you
cook most vegetables, the fewer nutrients they retain, so I encourage you to
learn to love veges in the crisp tender state.
Today’s
column is devoted to eggplants! I want
you to try eggplant! Eggplants were
first domesticated in India and they come in a variety of shapes, colors and
sizes. The first written detail of how
to grow eggplants dates to 544 China. A
12th century book from Arabic Spain describes growing them and a
1597 English botany book describes the plant that “groweth everywhere in Egypt”
but was hard to grow in London gardens.
Thomas Jefferson learned to love eggplant while in France and he
introduced it to the United States, but it didn’t become popular until the late
1800s when Italian and Asian immigrants came to us with their longtime love of
the vegetable.
Most of us
are familiar with Eggplant Parmesan. I’ve
made boatloads of that, but I’m going to share a recipe in this column that is
a short cut version of the popular dish.
I’m also going to share a recipe for something sweet made with eggplant. No matter how you use eggplant, remember that
it is like a sponge. It will soak up
whatever oil to use, so be prepared for that.
Too much oil is a bad thing and will totally change the texture and
taste of your dish. Make sure you are
using good, flavorful and fresh oil.
When I grill eggplant on the BBQ grill, I usually leave the peel
on. For most other recipes, I remove the
peel.
Eggplants
are in! I love them and will probably
devote more than one “Vintage Vegetables” column to the beautiful things. They come in many sizes and colors, so in the
next year I will feature a few! We are enamored
by global cuisines, and most of us are surrounded by International restaurants
so we feed our love of new or different tastes at a restaurant’s table! I’m encouraging you to cook at home and teach
yourself how to blend these wonderful food cultures with your own!
Easy Pan-Fried Eggplant with Fresh Tomato Sauce
Peel and slice an eggplant. The slices should be about half and inch thick. Dip the slices in a milk/egg slurry, then in dried breadcrumbs. I’m not a fan of panko breadcrumbs, so I use unseasoned breadcrumbs, but you can use Italian seasoned. Fry the eggplant slices in canola or olive oil until they are brown and crispy. Remove them to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Expect to have to add oil to your skillet as you fry, because the eggplant will soak it up.Eggplant Parmesan is usually smothered in cheese and sauce and you can hardly taste the eggplant. This dish is not that way! As the eggplant cool, make a quick sauce in the skillet you’ve used for frying. If there is any more than a Tablespoon of oil in the skillet, remove it. To the remaining oil, add a couple chopped Roma tomatoes (any variety will work), ¼ cup of finely chopped onion, ¼ cup of chopped red or green bell pepper and 1 teaspoon of garlic puree. Add a generous grind of black pepper and a good sprinkle of salt. Sauté the vegetables until they are softening, then add about a cup of tomato juice (I use Bloody Mary mix!) to create the sauce. If you want more liquid, add it. If you want more flavor, use V8 juice. Cook this until it starts to bubble, then it is done. This is a quick, fresh sauce.
Pour the sauce over the eggplant slices when ready to serve. Top it with parmesan cheese. Serve it with rice or pasta … or with other vegetables! Make this recipe your own.
My next recipe is so worth making! It takes a little time, but it sure will surprise your family. Don’t tell them that eggplant is in the recipe, if they don’t like eggplant. They will never know it! It is important to use vegetable or canola oil to deep fry these fritters. You want to make sure the temperature has reached 375 degrees. Anything lower will take too long and the fritters will absorb too much oil. Test fry a little drop of your batter before putting a whole scoop in. I have found that it is so simple to use a small ice cream scoop to drop the batter when frying anything like this. If you dip your scoop into the hot oil, before scooping up some of the batter, it will be easier to release the batter. You can make this batter in advance and keep it refrigerated. Notice that there is no milk or water in the batter. The eggplant has plenty of liquid, even after you have pushed all the water out of it.
Dessert Eggplant
Fritters
1 medium eggplant
1 egg
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Peel and chop the
eggplant. Boil it until it is
tender. Drain the eggplant and press the
excess water out of it. Mash the
eggplant and whisk in the egg, sugar, flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Deep fry the little fritters by dropping
about a Tablespoon of the batter into the oil.
They will float to the top of the oil when they are done and if they
don’t turn over on their own, turn them once while frying. Drain them on a paper towel and sprinkle them
with powdered sugar or roll them in a mixture of granulated sugar and cinnamon. Make a pot of good coffee and enjoy!
This column is part of my 2020 Vintage Vegetables food project. If you'd like to see similar posts, just hit the menu tab. I'll also be sharing this with a few blog parties, so make sure you click through to see the other posts. My favorite parties are listed on my sidebar.
