eggplant

Simply Summer {Grilled Vegetables}

by Lisa on July 28, 2011

I’m almost embarrassed to post this recipe as a “recipe,” because it is so simple and adaptable. We make this all summer, every summer—it’s not very pretty to look at, but it is delicious!

Despite the heat, we ventured to the farmer’s market pretty early on Saturday morning.  Even if we don’t need a lot of produce {but let’s face it, that doesn’t happen} we like to go and walk around.  I have a feeling this will be a fun family activity once our baby girl joins us!  While there, we snagged some delicious summer produce and a buffalo steak for dinner.

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Ingredients

  • 1 zucchini, chopped
  • 1 summer squash, chopped
  • 1 eggplant, sweat, rinsed and chopped
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 1 package of mushrooms, rinsed and quartered
  • 1/2-3/4 cup of olive oil
  • garlic
  • assortment of herbs, rinsed and minced {whatever is on hand, we used tarragon, sage, rosemary, oregano and thyme}
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 lemons, juiced

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Method

Mince all of the herbs and garlic.  Use whatever herbs you want—Jeromy just went out back and picked these out of our garden.

Prepare all of the vegetables, then combine with the herbs, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Stir well to coat all of the vegetables.

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Using a grill pan {or tinfoil if you don’t have a grill pan} cook the vegetables on the grill for 3-4 minutes.  Then stir them up and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.  They should be cooked through and slightly browned when removed from the grill.  Only a grill or high-end range can put out the BTUs necessary to cook this much vegetable in 6-8 minutes. A regular range is going to need longer.  Also, cooking on a grill gives the vegetables a nice smoky flavor that can be imitated with liquid smoke if this is cooked indoors.

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Before serving, mix in the lemon juice.

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This is a great side dish for a crowd and you can adapt it to suit what you like.  Don’t care for eggplant? Sub with tomatoes!  Don’t care for onions? How about peppers instead? Make this recipe your own—have fun with it!

We always end up with more grilled vegetables than we can eat in one sitting, but luckily, they make great leftovers.  I love eating them for lunch over arugula with some feta cheese.

Enjoy!

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Mangia! {Eggplant Parmesan}

by Lisa on April 12, 2011

One of my all time favorite meals is eggplant parmesan.  I love the way my mom makes it—with layers and layers of eggplant, cheese and sauce, almost like a lasagna.

This is not prepared the way my mom prepares it :-)   Her way takes a lot of time, my way? 45 minutes, tops.

Ingredients

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  • 1 eggplant, sliced to 1/4 inch thick
  • panko bread crumbs
  • Italian bread crumbs
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • flour
  • burrata mozzarella cheese
  • 2 cups of prepared tomato sauce {I used my mom’s!}
  • salt
  • pepper

Method

Slice the eggplant and lay them out on cutting board.  This is the most important step: sprinkle the slices with salt and let them sit for 10 minutes.  The salt draws the moisture and bitterness out of the eggplant and really improves the flavor.  After 10 minutes, the eggplant will look like this:

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Rinse off the eggplant and pat it dry.

While the eggplant is sweating, set up your breading station.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m trying to use up as much as we can in our pantry.  Now that we’re getting ready to move, using up our pantry is more important than ever—the more we use, the less we move!  I really want to simplify the amount of food we keep on hand in our next house and will share our approach with you when we move, but back to the recipe….

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For your breading station, place some flour in a shallow bowl and season with salt and pepper; whisk the two eggs and water in a separate shallow bowl; and mix the panko bread crumbs with the Italian breadcrumbs in another shallow bowl.

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PLEASE do not run out and buy these ingredients, use what you have on hand.  If you have plain bread crumbs, just add some dried oregano, parsley and thyme. 

Next, dredge the eggplant in the flour, shake off excess.  Then, dip both sides in the egg, shake off excess.  Finally, dredge both sides in the bread crumbs.  Be sure there is a good coating of breadcrumbs on each slice. 

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Bake the eggplant on a greased cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.  This way both sides will get nice and crispy.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on the oven. You want the coating to be crispy but the inside to be soft.

Spread a spoonful of the sauce on the bottom of the baking pan then lay the eggplant in one layer on top of it. {If you prefer the eggplant to stay very crispy, do not spread the sauce on the bottom of the pan}.  Next, spread some sauce on each piece of eggplant.

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Finally, divide the mozzarella cheese evenly among the eggplant and sprinkle all of it with parmesan cheese.

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Pop this in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and a bit brown on top.

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Serve immediately.  Ordinarily I’ll serve this alongside a salad and/or some pasta, but on this particular evening we were in a rush to eat and checking out houses online, so we both scarfed down the eggplant without anything else :-)   It was delicious, though not as crunchy as I would like.  I think if I hadn’t put the sauce on the bottom of the pan and maybe used the broiler, I would have had a better result.  Feel free to make these modifications.  Recipes are just a guide!

Enjoy!

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