Eggplant

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summer

Like many summer fruits (yes, eggplants are fruits), if you’re going to use these within a day or two you can leave them on the counter for the day or two before you use them. Otherwise, refrigerate them but know that after a few days the eggplants will start to pit and the seeds and pulp will begin to turn brown. Soon decay sets in and the eggplant gets thrown away. A sad end for a beautiful vegetable your farmer worked hard to grow. Eggplant in the box should mean eggplant on the menu right away.

(2023) Burnt Eggplant and Bell Pepper Dip

And we got two beautiful eggplant, so I’m going to try the Burnt Eggplant and Red Pepper Dip below, using the poblano peppers and banana peppers that came today as well. If you’re not familiar with the way Riverview manages things, the peppers in the plastic bag are usually hot ones, with the bag to distinguish them from sweeter peppers. Poblanos are one of those maybe-they’ll-be-hot-maybe-they-won’t peppers, but for this recipe it won’t matter. My favorite way to eat eggplant is roasted, so there are lots of roasted eggplant recipes at grassfedcow.com.

(2023) Mapo Eggplant

See the recipe below from Hetty Lui McKinnon. Have you seen her new book, “Tenderheart”? It is HUGE, with almost 200 recipes in chapter after chapter of ideas for the vegetables we get every week. So here are two recipes from the book – the gnocchi and tomatoes AND her vegan mapo tofu with eggplant. I literally keep the book at my desk and just leaf through it when I am looking for inspiration.

(2023) Eggplant and Bean Chili

I have been craving eggplant and peppers so was delighted to see both in today’s box, although only one pepper. But for the eggplants … eggplant and bean chili (see recipe below), eggplant dal with your favorite lentils (your own recipe), eggplant with garlic and scallions (just sauteed eggplant flavored with chili and green onions)? Those are a few ideas from the New York Times food e-newsletter last Sunday devoted to ideas for eggplant.

(2023) Sabich Bowls

The Sabich Bowl makes great use of that eggplant in today’s box as well as a tomato and a little sliced cabbage for garnish.

(2023) Summer Skillet Corn, with Peppers, Eggplant, Tomato and Za’atar

I am tempted to just chop everything up and make a big salad with a little of everything in it – yes, raw corn, and YES, raw okra. And that will be dinner tonight. But eventually we’ll want something else, so I’ve got three ideas here – two from my go-to New York Times (cold noodles with tomatoes!) but one that was demonstrated at the Decatur Farmers Market. I have to say that I truly miss restaurant chef demos at local farmers markets. At once time that was a mainstay of the markets and always a source of creative inspiration … now they’re extremely rare, but the Community Farmers Market folks have local cooks who do demos most every week, and their recipes are perhaps a bit more practical and maybe easier to pull off.

So here’s the loosely written recipe for “summer skillet corn, with peppers, eggplant, tomato and za’atar” that was demonstrated at the Decatur Farmers Market. We don’t have eggplant in this week’s box, but you’ve got everything else and if there’s no za’atar at your house, just use whatever seasoning mix is on hand.

(2022) Creamed Eggplant (Baba Ganouj)

Here’s a simple recipe for baba ghanoush from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. Anyone lacking inspiration for eggplants would benefit from simply reading this cookbook’s index of twenty-some eggplant recipes! Wishing I had more eggplants now.

(2022) Matthew Reeves’ Ratatouille

With so many peppers and that pretty eggplant, it’s time to make ratatouille. Down below is the recipe I’ve adapted from one provided by Matthew Reeves, who with his wife Maggie Reeves, hosts a drop-off for Riverview boxes. What I love is that there are almost no quantities given (just a size for one can of crushed tomatoes). Ratatouille really must have been created as a delicious way to use up summer vegetables and you can juggle quantities of ingredients to suit what you have… and what you like. We didn’t get zucchini this week (at least not in my box) but we got eggplant, yellow squash, lots of peppers, and garlic. You could use the red onion that we got today if you like, or maybe you have some yellow onions on hand. At our house, we’re not big rosemary fans, so we’re leaving that out.

(2022) Bully Boy’s Teriyaki Sauce

If you’re looking at a behemoth bok choy and wondering what to do with it, turn to Riverview’s collection of recipes – https://grassfedcow.com/ingredient/bok-choy/ – for about two dozen ideas. But … I offer you a new one. I had dinner at Bully Boy Sunday night and my friends enjoyed their salmon teriyaki which is served with baby bok choy drizzled with their teriyaki sauce. It was delicious and it just happens we’re publishing that recipe in the AJC in about two weeks, so I am here to share the basics on that sauce so you can reproduce something like it at home. The bok choy was steamed until completely, meltingly tender, and served with the sauce (and the salmon and some steamed green beans). Use a few of the green onions from your box to make this. This sauce is definitely sweet so you just need a little. But it will keep in your refrigerator for a long time, so use it on other vegetables and proteins.

(2021) Eggplant Focaccia With Ricotta and Olives

And then we got two Italian eggplants. I’ve got two recipe ideas below – neither is quick to cook, but both delicious. The Focaccia with Ricotta and Olives makes a delicious lunch. I’m hoping to get mine baked before we head out to the beach so we’ll have squares available for snacking on the road and enough left for a light dinner with a salad.

(2020) Eggplant Moussaka

Needing eggplant inspiration from the beatnik 70’s? Try this moussaka recipe from my mother’s ex-boyfriend Paul. The resulting casserole might be short on authenticity, but is long on yum.

(2020) Kashke Bademijan (Eggplant Dip)

This is a recipe that’s easy to scale up if you have more guests to feed.

The kashk is available at persianbasket.com but Lotfi says you could substitute strained fat-free Greek yogurt if you prefer.

(2019) Pricci’s Rigatoni Alla Norma

I’ve adapted this recipe slightly. When Pricci sent the recipe originally, it called for fresh tomatoes. Then they revised it for canned Italian tomatoes. That was fine, and probably is closer to what they serve at the restaurant, but I liked it best with fresh tomatoes. Today’s eggplant and tomatoes are exactly what you need for this recipe.

(2018) Grilled Eggplant with Nuoc Cham

You’ll find two dozen or so eggplant recipes there, but I’m going to try this one from “Chinatown Kitchen” by Lizzie Mabbott. Just basically browned eggplant with herbs and my favorite Vietnamese dipping sauce. Perfect summer dish. You could use a little habanero in place of the bird’s eye chile. Not traditional, but still delicious. Lizzie’s recipe calls for making the nuoc cham in a mortar and pestle. Full disclosure – I’ll be doing this in a food processor.

(2017) Ratatouille Quiche

Finally, a pretty complicated recipe from Frank Stitt of Birmingham’s Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega Cafe and Chez Fonfon. Delicious and worth the time it takes to make it. Maybe this could be a project for this weekend? Do you have some zucchini left from last week? Perfect. If not, maybe substitute another eggplant for the squash called for her.

(2017) Pasta with Eggplant Sauce

I love eggplant and was so tickled to see it in the box today. Maybe for today, maybe for later in the summer when you need some other eggplant ideas, try this slow-cooker recipe for an eggplant sauce. Love it. The original came from Better Homes and Gardens magazine. It calls for canned tomatoes, but when the tomatoes start coming in, it’s delicious made with fresh tomatoes.

Ratatouille Stuffed Eggplant

This lovely recipe comes to us from Garnish & Gather, the Atlanta-based local organic dinner delivery service. It will use up three of the vegetables in your box. No farro on hand? Substitute whatever grain – bulgur, rice, quinoa – you have in your pantry.

Barbecued Eggplant with Miso Glaze

The secret of this elegant dish, served by chef Ian Chalermkittichai at his New York restaurant the Ember Room, is that it’s broiled in the oven, the direct heat source from above providing a heavy, steady heat that both tenderizes the eggplant and caramelizes its sweet-savory miso glaze.

Escalivada

This recipe is from Eric Roberts of The Iberian Pig and was demonstrated at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market this summer. A lovely side dish, a lovely snack all by itself.

Woody Back’s Charred Tomato Soup, with Eggplant Chow Chow

Charring vegetables is one way Woody Back, executive chef of Roswell’s Table & Main, likes to add flavor to his dishes. When he’s cooking, he’s looking for six components – fat, acid, salt, aromatic, sweet and bitter. The charring provides the bitter in this soup. He demonstrated these recipes at the Morningside Farmers Market and Peachtree Road Farmers Markets this year.

He likes garnishing the soup with crumbles of soft goat cheese, but croutons offer a way to add a little crunch. He’s adamant about his crouton preparation though. No toasting squares of bread in the oven. “That just dries out the bread and gives you something like a rock. Melt butter in a skillet and toast your croutons until the surfaces are golden.” One more tip for crouton making – no little cubes. Just tear small pieces of bread from the loaf for irregular pieces with lots of craggy surfaces to soak up butter and provide a satisfying crunch.

Eggplant and Herb Pickle

This Persian pickle is a great way to serve eggplant. I got the original recipe from Saveur magazine. The dried mint is a totally Arabic thing. Don’t substitute fresh. Just skip it if you don’t have dried.

Eggplant Hash

This recipe is from Deborah Geering, local vegetarian food writer. She suggests it’s perfect with eggs and toast. Peppers are sort of “required” for hash, so if you don’t have any, run to your favorite local farmers market and pick some up. Any pepper will do – bell peppers, fancy Italian frying peppers … even hot peppers depending on how much heat you like.

Eggplant Un-Parmesan

The plethora of eggplant we’ve been receiving can be as daunting to some as a weekly small bag of okra. This recipe from Mark Bittman can be served as is, or over cornmeal mush or polenta if you still have some Riverview ground corn in your freezer from last year.

Eggplant/Squash Baba Ghanoush

I find it interesting that in all our eggplant recipes, we don’t have one for baba ghanoush. Well, that’s what I’m making from the eggplants in the box. Truth be told, it’s one of the few ways my husband will eat eggplant.

This one is from “Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London’s Ottolenghi” by Yotam Ottelenghi and actually uses squash. I’m going to use up the squash from today’s box, but augment it with eggplant. This is a pretty fancy version, but worth knowing about.

Stuffed Eggplant

I love this vegan stuffed eggplant. I grew up eating bulgur but my mom never thought about seasoning it this way. The bulgur is delicious by itself, or stuffed into one of those eggplants in your box.

Layered Vegetable Torte

This one takes its inspiration from the New York Times. It will use the eggplant, squash, peppers, tomato, onion and garlic. There are a million vegetable torte ideas out there. I like this one right now because it calls for grilling the vegetables. That’s a way to keep the heat out of the kitchen as much as possible. And adds another layer of flavors to the dish.

Ratatouille

This is James Beard’s recipe, adapted from his book, “Beard on Food.” You know – the James Beard of the James Beard Awards that our chefs are all so anxious to win every year?

This is a classic Provencal dish, perfect with grilled meat or fish or as a filling for an omelet or as dinner all by itself. The Beard folks note that in France it’s often presented as an appetizer with a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar and a sprinkling of chopped parsley. Toss in one of those jalapenos if you like.

Grilled Sausage and Eggplant Parmigiano Pizza

Are you game to try grilling a pizza? Seems like a great way to entertain as nights get just a little bit cooler. I’ve adapted this recipe from the August 2010 issue of Fine Cooking magazine. Substitute store-bought pizza dough (Trader Joe’s has balls of white and whole wheat pizza dough for about $1 each.) if you don’t want to make your own. No Riverview Italian sausage in your refrigerator? Run out to the Farm Mobile or one of their local markets this week.

Eggplant with Sweet Miso Sauce

Steam eggplants until tender, about 6 minutes. While eggplant is steaming, make miso dressing by stirring together miso, sake, wter, sugar and ginger in a small pot. Heat for about 2 minutes. Set aside. When eggplant is tender, remove from steamer and cut into...

Thai Eggplant Curry

The directions specify not shaking the can of coconut milk because you want the liquid to have separated so you can spoon off the creamy top portion to start this recipe. As with all curries, use the vegetables you have on hand. The combination of sweet potatoes with eggplant and peppers is particularly nice.

Stir-fry Sauce

One of the things I do to make a quick stir-fry even quicker is to keep a jar of stir-fry sauce in the refrigerator. You could buy a jar, but why? When you’re ready for dinner, heat up some vegetable oil, sauté your vegetables (this week you could use bok choy, beet greens, thinly sliced beets, onions, garlic and/or squash) and when it’s just about done, add just enough of this sauce to coat everything lightly. The cornstarch will thicken quickly and your stir-fry is done. I love that I don’t have to haul out the ginger and the garlic and the soy sauce and whatever every time I want to make a quick meal. This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. Vary the proportions to suit the taste of your household.

Pressed Eggplant and Pepper Sandwich

Speaking of eggplants and peppers … I have a few left over from last week so I’m making this eggplant/pepper sandwich. You grill the eggplants and peppers, assemble the sandwich and then let it sit, pressed, to compress all those delicious flavors.

Sautéed Eggplant with Garlic-Cumin Vinaigrette, Feta and Herbs

It’s hard to believe we’re in the first week of November and still getting summer vegetables in our box. Peppers and eggplants for Thanksgiving anyone? I made a lovely beef stew over the weekend with my accumulated hoard of eggplants and peppers. Just had some for lunch today. Delicious. The long, slow cooking renders the vegetables into pockets of succulence floating around in a rich broth. Even my husband, the “I don’t eat eggplant” guy, will eat this without complaint.

I hereby offer my last suggestions for 2010 for these two end-of-the-season crops. And an intriguing recipe for collard greens. Collards and peanuts just seem to have a natural affinity.