Ideas for eggplants?

You may want to try making “caponata”, it’s a delicious Italian sweet and sour eggplant appetizer that has capers and black olives in it. Caponata is served cold or room temp on crostini, which are toasted little slices of Italian bread that have been rubbed with a clove of raw garlic. I use whole grain, baguettes or Italian breads now for my crostini, which makes it even healthier. Caponata is perfect for dining outside on a warm summer evening. I have made an entire meal of it with a glass of Chianti on many occasions, it’s that good.



Caponata recipe:


6 cloves garlic chopped

2 celery stalk diced

1 red bell pepper diced

1 large onion diced

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large eggplant diced

1- 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (fresh is better)

1/4 cup capers

1/2 cup black olives, preferably Kalamata

1/2 cup fresh basil, chiffonade (thread sliced)

2 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 cup sugar or honey

1/4 cup red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar



Cooking instructions:




In large pot sauté garlic, onion, celery, peppers in the olive oil



Add everything else except eggplant and basil, and bring to simmer. Taste the liquid, it should be pretty potent: sweet, sour, a little salty. Eggplant is like a sponge and will absorb all of the flavors and mellow a little



Once the pot is simmering, add the eggplant and stir it up. Cover and simmer on low-med heat until eggplant is cooked down, about 30 min.



Take off heat and add fresh basil. Taste caponata, and adjust seasoning if needed (vinegar, sugar, salt)



Let cool, and serve with crostini or crackers. If you’re feeling a little naughty drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Love caponata! Thanks for the recipe.

I grill it with lots of other veggies. http://soupspiceeverythingnice.blogspot.com/2013/02/grilled-vegetables.html

Moussaka is another great recipe. Here is a Moussaka soup recipe below.

My Cajun family smothers it with onion, celery green peppers and either sausage or shrimp.

http://soupspiceeverythingnice.blogspot.com/2014/08/recipe-review-moroccan-roasted-veggies.html

Moussaka Soup
http://soupspiceeverythingnice.blogspot.com/2013/01/moussaka-soup.html
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 zucchini, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Olive oil cooking spray
1 lb lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 medium potato, chopped
4 cups beef broth
1 Tbsp brown sugar

Topping:
1 Tbsp light butter
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup skim milk
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese(plus more for garnish)
1/4 tsp salt
1/16 tsp nutmeg

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425º. In a large bowl combine the eggplant, zucchini, squash, red bell pepper and olive oil. Toss to coat vegetables with oil. Transfer to a large baking pan coated with cooking spray. Season with salt, black pepper and a little red pepper flake. Bake for 20 minutes.

Eggplant Parm

Slice, salt and let sit for about an hour. Rinse and dry. Sprinkle with Mrs Dash seasoning and spray with nonstick spray (or olive oil). Roast in oven (appx 400 degrees) until tender. Top with marinara and cheese. Yum!

I second ratatouille, caponata and melanzane parmigiana.

I don't have a recipe for ratatouille, but basically chop aubergine (eggplant), courgette (zucchini) and peppers, then fry in a little olive oil, add garlic and herbs, put the lid on for a bit to help them cook, add chopped tomatoes (2 tins) and leave to simmer.

For caponata I use this recipe: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/incredible-sicilian-aubergine-stew-caponata

For the parmigiana I use this one, but use light mozzarella and whatever dried herbs I happen to have instead of fresh thyme and sage. I also tend to omit the pine nuts as they're expensive. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3091674/melanzane-parmigiana

I also like them in thai curries - they melt nicely into the sauce.

Spanish "berenjenas fritas" (aubergine chips) are amazing but not really a healthy option - cut into half-moons or chip shapes, soak for 10 mins in beer or soda water, then dip in flour and deep fry. Season with salt then add a drizzle of honey. So good.

An easy lunch/snack is to slice aubergine quite thinly, brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then grill. Top with hummus and feta then grill a bit more.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/layered-aubergine-lentil-bake I made this once and it was OK - nothing special, but OK as a healthy option.

As above: Slice, season, place a bit of olive oil on an oven pan, and roast. Add homemade sauce and mozzarella after you take it out of the oven and the eggplant is delicious. Sorry went back to your OP, no oven. So save this recipe for future.

bump caponata - yum!

Babaganoush is my favorite eggplant dish. It's delicious.

So I just bought around half a pound of Eggplants yesterday. I boiled one and tried it, it tasted extremely bad for me.

I'm curious why you would boil an eggplant?

Anyways.. without an oven.. do you have at least a toaster oven? I like eggplants sliced up, salted and roasted. Either slice into circles or cut long like steak fries.

I am not a big eggplant fan but keep getting them from our CSA, so I have had to get creative! I also don't like that eggplant tends to absorb all the oil/fat that you cook it in.
I have eleven roasting it in the oven then scooping out the soft insides and adding it to chili and casserole dishes. Helps to bulk up the dish using a healthy low cal veggie. Makes me feel good about the dish and by not wasting my CSA share item!

I had this last night
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10033/aubergine-tomato-and-parmesan-bake-melanzane-alla-

We added minced beef so it became more like an aubergine (eggplant) lasagne