And it's a shame if you don't eat more of it. It's a great versatile vegetable that is loved and eaten the world over. It's got a creamy rich texture if it's cooked properly and it tastes great if prepared properly.
The most important thing about cooking eggplant you need to remember is that you have got to slice it, sprinkle salt on it, and let it sit for at least 30 minutes before you cook it, althought I recomend that you letthe salt sit on the eggplant for as long as possible a couple of hours is best. The salt draws out the water in the egg plant and it's the natural water inside the eggplant that can give it it's bitter taste if you do not use salt to draw it out. From time to time my dictatorial aunt would fix eggplant and she never drew the water out and for years I hated eggplant. It was only when I bought my girlfriend a Mediterranean cook book years ago that we learned how to prepare eggplant properly.
Eggplant comes in many different varieties. The long slender one above is the Asian eggplant. It also comes in a white variety and an Asian variety that looks like this:
We bought some eggplant yesterday at our local farmers market that looks like that. I plan to wash it, slice it, sprinkle salt on it, and then to oven bake it with a spicy olive oil brushed on it. Other eggplant dishes I make are eggplant lasagna, breadcrumb covered wok fried eggplant, eggplant Parmesan, and eggplant puree.
Some people eat an eggplant dish called Baba Ganoush. I'm kind of leery about eating eggplant unless I or my girlfriend fixes it because not everyone draws out the bitter water before cooking it.
Many people in this region eat eggplant regularly and they live to a ripe old age.
They also eat a lot of olive oil, eat more fruits and vegetables and far less meat than we Americans do, and they drink a good bit of red wine as well.
Mmmmmm, red wine and eggplant, mmmmmmmmm.
Many people in this region eat eggplant regularly and they live to a ripe old age.They also eat a lot of olive oil, eat more fruits and vegetables and far less meat than we Americans do, and they drink a good bit of red wine as well.Mmmmmm, red wine and eggplant, mmmmmmmmm.I love the French word for eggplant, which is 'aubergine.' It sounds so romantic and suave.
Elvis Costello sings a song called 'Aubergine' on this CD. Also on this CD are some great songs, great jazz music, and the great Debbie Harry.
This is a painting by an artist named Jennifer Thewlis that I found when I googled the word aubergine. I really like it's impressionistic quality and the fact that the woman in it looks like a real women, not some fake skinny bony ass thing.
Elvis Costello sings a song called 'Aubergine' on this CD. Also on this CD are some great songs, great jazz music, and the great Debbie Harry.
This is a painting by an artist named Jennifer Thewlis that I found when I googled the word aubergine. I really like it's impressionistic quality and the fact that the woman in it looks like a real women, not some fake skinny bony ass thing.If you are reading this Ms. Thewlis, I really like your work. I like it almost as much as I like eggplant.
12 comments:
When I lived in California (where they make proper burritos wrapped in foil, not the "smothered" or "wet" variety most common elsewhere) I would get a grilled vegetable burrito that had eggplant in it. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
Also, though you seem to have enmity for Dr. Zaius, I have to like a candidate with a pro-real woman platform. I hope you win, too.
Mmmmmm. Your ode to the eggplant was impressive. I'm lucky to have lots of middle-eastern eateries around me, so I gets plenty of baba ghanoush.
Baba Channouj is better than sex. Try it.
baba ganoush is really easy to make yourself, you need a food processor though.
My sri lankan inlaws call eggplant "brinjol.'
As long as you are getting international about it.
Wrong! I had some eggplant yesterday! At the Chicago Joe's buffet on Sundays, one of the things they have are delicious grilled vegetables, including grilled eggplant.
I love bab ganoush.
When I visit my folks next month, I'll have to convince my mother to cook up of her famous eggplant parmesan.
Um, baba ganoush.
Julie-Don't tell anybody but I actually really like Dr. Zaius, he's the reason I blog today.
Bubs-Long live eggplant!
Snad-With an edorsement like that I may have to.
Green-I was only getting all Frenchy on it, but thanks for the Sri Lankan word for it. Anytime I can learn obscure words I'm happy.
Johnny-It's okay, I knew what you meant.
Eggplant....food of the gods say I.
Yummmmmmmm... I have it as often as possible -all the different varieties which you have shown.
The salting bit is essential and may be one of the few things I can I say I took from my childhood kitchen.
That whole potatoes fried in beef tallow really was less healthy.
The fact that you so appreciate eggplant is a tribute to your sublime brilliance.
Once I came homefrom the farmer's market all excited. I interrupted my house mates to show them this perfect eggplant I had bought there.
Perfect shape, amazing shade of dark purple and without blemish.
They looked at me as if I was insane.
Philistines!!
The other way to get eggplant that is not so bitter is to get white eggplant or blush eggplant which is less purple and has more of a, you guessed it, purple blush to it. They tend to be sweeter and less bitter, but salting it works well too, i just don't always have patience for waiting that long, so getting the other eggplant which i can find at the local farmers market is also great for me.
Fran-I agree!
MWB-Those people should be flogged.
Boxer-You are right. We had the light purple Asian eggplant this evening for dinner and it was not bitter at all. We loved it!
fresh fruits and veggies, red wine and dark chocolate: doesn't sound like a bad diet to me and I swear by it!
Post a Comment