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.
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.
Of course you can grill the eggplant if you’ve got the grill going.
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.
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.
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.
From the “Chez Panisse” cookbook. A simple way to serve eggplant.
A big gorgeous eggplant just cries out to be used in a dish like this one from Women’s Health magazine.
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.
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.