made this tonight. Very tasty-- but way too much liquid. I don't quite understand how it could be so off. I used a baster to remove a lot of the liquid near the end (before the yogurt topping) and boiled it down to add it back in. Still too much liquid. I recommend you just skip the 3 cups of chicken broth. I don't think it's necessary.
This was not a good recipe. Melissa Clark's Eggplant With Lamb, Tomato and Pine Nuts was a MUCH more satisfying version, and faster (in the end) as well. The extra water is a mistake.
Ottolenghi's recipe for marinated eggplant has become a staple on my dinner party table. It has made eggplant lovers out of the most die-hard haters.
Delicious recipe for lamb and eggplant. Tried it the other night and my husband and I raved about it!
Hey if you cook beef liver, a universally hated dish by most people, like this, it would taste good.
The problem is, to hide the taste of the offending food to the person you usually add tons of chol. and calories to it.
Better to stick to tasty, healthy foods that you like with a minimum of chol. and calories added.
Also the initial taste of anything like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. My friend loves egg plant and to me it tastes like a rotten veggie. I love parsley and to him it tastes like a rotten veggie.
None of the dishes pictured here look appetizing and I like eggplant.
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Eggplant, the purple globe variety, can be incredibly delicious and it isn't really all that hard to cook well. You can roast or 'burn' it over a gas flame and use the smoky pulp to mix with lentils or make a beautiful dip with a little yoghurt and fresh herbs. There are loads of recipes online. Look at recipes from a chef like Ottolenghi to learn how to bake or grill it so that it isn't an oily mess. The rounder light purple eggplants grill beautifully when sliced about 3/4 inch think and brushed sparingly with oil seasoned with zaatar or other spices. Asian eggplants open a whole other world of flavors and are easy to stir fry. This Ottolenghi take on Moussaka is typically brilliant. It lightens the dish and simplifies cooking it. Classic moussaka in Greek Tavernas can be ethereal or can be a heavy greasy bomb. Even the eggplant loving Greeks can screw it up.
1) Consider broiled eggplant as a 'gluten free' lasagne noodle and you won't go wrong.
2) A rather racy cookbook called "Intercourses" has an eggplant soup recipe that is to die for.
3) "The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook" has a stir fry of eggplant, bacon, and tomato that is the most divine pasta sauce on the planet.
Get thee an eggplant, sinners!
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T o get eggplant right you salt it and put it in towels until you get most of the water out.
I like to stir fry cut up Asian eggplant with garlic, extra firm tofu, shitake mushrooms, spring onions and finish off with a thick teriyaki glaze and serve over brown rice. Mmm so good!
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@Libby sounds delish!
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It’s the SEEDS!!!
That’s the only problem I’ve ever had with eggplant.
Please, anyone help me find a way out of this conundrum.
@Susan,
If your eggplants are seedy, they're too old. Get younger ones whose seeds haven't turned dark, yet.
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Love the Scrivani photos.
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I believe the aubergine - much better sounding than eggplant - is the most beautiful and sensuous of all veg. One thing I've always noticed chefs on cooking shows do when preparing it is to salt the slices first and then cover them in paper or kitchen towels and place a weight - a kitchen plate or two - on them to drain out the excess moisture and make them more sponge worthy to lap up the oils and sauces they're cooked in.
Like most people I don't have any real experience with them because they seem difficult to do right, yet they are delicious when done right. Maybe it's time to give it the ol' college try once more.
Eggplant is such a marvelous base for a vegetarian meal. It’s sad to see a preparation that requires a dead lamb described as the ultimate recipe.
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@Charlie B
You're right, Charlie. Meat is murder. Tasty, tasty, murder.
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@Charlie B
every time I see the word lamb in a recipe I am disgusted and saddened- how could anyone even consider eating a beautiful young innocent animal such as this - or any animal for that matter - ???
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@Charlie B Would you consider it less offensive if they required a live lamb?
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I was in Milan a couple of years ago and it was nearing the end of lunch time. We went into a corner restaurant and one of the only things that was left was an eggplant dish that looked like the nasty eggplant parm dishes in east coast pizzerias. I reluctantly ordered it. It was divine. Perfectly seasoned and delicious. Don't fear the aubergine.
Ottolengi's burnt eggplant recipe in Plenty is one of my favorite things to cook and eat. In fact- I'm making it today!!!!
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Eggplant is so delicious and versatile. I can’t understand the loathing people have towards that and okra in the US. Being Indian, I know at least a dozen ways to cook it. Every state in India has a few recipes- baigan bharta being the most popular in Indian restaurants in the US. Also, Ottolenghi has great eggplant(aubergine to him) recipes. If I can only get my kids to eat it..
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@ Pb Chicago
I like the looks of ripe eggplants = aubergine = баклажаны, but I eat them only as a spread, described below. :-))
My husband is phobic about anything with what he believes is too much oil. After he saw me cooking eggplant the first time, despite it being prepared pretty well, he ate it with poorly concealed revulsion.
Several failed experiments later, I have decided, as beautiful as they are, I will stick to ordering them in restaurants. Nobody needs to go through that.
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@ Stephanie Massachusetts
Be happy to have such an uxurious husband. There are things made by my wife that I decline, albeit with a heavy heart, on the pretext of "not being hungry".
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@Stephanie: Purchase a copy of Harold McGee's Bible, "On Food and Cooking". McGee notes that eggplant absorbs oil like a sponge if you try to saute it directly with oil, because of the air spaces in its flesh, and releases practically all of it once it cooks and the air spaces collapse.
Instead, you should first collapse the air spaces BEFORE (or along with) adding the oil. There are several ways to do this: microwaving in an almost-closed container with a couple of tablespoons of water (or putting the same amount of water in the cooking pan) ,or soaking in strongly salted water and then rinsing to get rid of the excess salt. I prefer the first two methods.
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@PMN
I'll give the water trick a try. It's something I do with mushrooms anyway. My husband is the kindest, most appreciative eater I've ever met. He calls just about everything "a treat"
But really, he'd be perfectly happy eating roast chicken and salad every day for the rest of his life. His favorite food is salad.
Everybody's got their thing, right?
When people comment on how great he looks they invariably say; "oh I bet he can eat anything he wants and never gain a pound, right" And I say, "yes, and what he wants is salad. If what you want is salad, you too can look like that. However, if you want cake, you have to look like me." It usually ends the conversation.
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Start with fresh, firm eggplant and you can't fail. Don't choose mushy eggplant. The inside will surely be brown and bitter. It's past it's time or has been stored too long in the grocer's cooler. Ask your produce guy to get you fresh eggplant from his stock if you don't like what's on the shelf.
Eggplant tastes best when sealed with a coating. Eggplant is like a sponge and anything you cook with it will be absorbed unless you coat it first. For the coating: flour, then egg, then crumbs. I use part panko and part home made wheat bread crumbs with my own spices. Fry at a high temperature just until crisp and then drain on a paper towel before using in a recipe.
Eggplant does not like to be drowned in sauce. Easy does it with eggplant parm or eggplant dishes that have sauce in layers. Let the eggplant shine through.
Most important, eggplant does NOT freeze well. Restaurants make horrible eggplant dishes because they did not take the time to make the eggplant fresh that day. If it is bitter or mushy it was probably frozen first.
Eggplant is delicious!
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Eggplant us one of the most divine foods there is. I will certainly try this recipe. We are already in love with the vegetable in so many forms: eggplant parmesan, baba ganouch (spelling? -- we make the Hungarian version) and just recently discovered a Korean version (banchan) with sesame oil and garlic. We also prepare it like schnitzel with a tomato salad (again Hungarian style) or put it in pasta. I could go on and on about eggplant...
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Hungarian version? I have been to Hungary many times and have never seen baba ganoush there, unless maybe in a Lebanese restaurant...
@Randy Vanmi
She's talking about padlizsán krém, also called Vinetta.
@Randy Vanmi Maybe like Bulgarian eggplant spread with tomato and peppers?
Absolutely right, I am off eggplant forever.
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The only form of eggplant that I like is a Russian spread called in translation "eggplant caviar".
Boil and skin a large eggplant, remove the seeds, chop finely, and fry in olive oil with chopped white onions, until the latter are golden brown. Drain the excess of oil, cool in the fridge, heap on a slice of bread, and enjoy.
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@Tuvw Xyz Yum! Why do you have to boil the eggplant first? And how long to you boil it? Could you just peel, chop, and fry without boiling it first?
@AH a slightly more time consuming but incredibly delicious alternative is Baba Ghanoush (or what another commentor referred to as Baigan Bharta). The eggplant is first blackened over a flame, then baked. Once cooled it's peeled and mixed with lemon, oil, garlic and maybe tahini. Look up recipes for this - even people who hate eggplant, and those with ingredient concers, will love this smoky, GF, vegetarian, dairy free treat!
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