eggplant anyone???

How to make excellent baba ganoush: the first principle is to roast the eggplant so that the skin becomes blackened and charred. I do this in the broiler of my oven. Because eggplant season is in the summer and that heats up the house, I try to roast the eggplants at night. I cut them in half and place them cut side down on foil. Then I broil them until the skin is black and the eggplants collapse. Then I put the eggplant halves in a collander to drip and cool, and then I scoop the very soft, very tender and sweet flesh out of the charred skin.

Somehow the roasting does something to the membranes of the eggplant flesh so they don't feel as rubbery. Then of course you puree them.

Here are the proportions from Claudia Roden:

3 large eggplants
2-4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup tahini
juice of three lemons
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
chopped parsley or cilantro, 2 tablespoons

I puree all the above ingredients with the roasted eggplants in a food processor until very smooth. Her quantities make quite a lot of baba ganoush.

Mollie Katzen has a recipe in one of her books using baba ganoush as a pasta sauce.

i make a stuffed eggplant parm that even my anti-eggplant dh loves
peel the eggplant and slice it into thin rounds

in a bowl mix 2 eggs, a 12-16oz jar of ricotta cheese, a cup of shredded mozarella, some fresh garlic and oregano. Make 'sandwhiches' with two eggplant rounds and the cheesey mixture inside. Then dip those sandwhiches into egg and then coat in breadcrumbs. Fry up the breadcrumb coated sandwhiches in olive oil till nicely browned on both sides. lay them on paper towel as you go to suck up some of the grease. When all fried... layer them in a pan and cover with marinara sauce. Bake on 350 for 30 minutes, then open the oven and sprinkle more shredded mozarella on top. bake another 10 minutes till cheese is melted nd browned. yummy!!

also, you can fry eggplant and add it to falafel in pita?
we do falafel with humus, techina, fried eggplant and some lettuce...all in a nice pita bread. A lovely dinner

Here's a recipe for Ratatouille from this month's Everyday Cooking magazine.

Ratatouille. This vegetable stew can be eaten on its own, served with meat, fish, eggs, or tossed with pasta.

Serves 8. Prep time: 40 min. Total time: 1 hr.

Can be frozen in airtight containers for up to three months; reheat in the microwave or on the stove. Leave out the basil until just before serving.

1/3 c. olive oil
2 med. onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 lg. eggplants (2 lbs.), cut into 1-inch cubes
4-5 med. zucchini (2 lbs.), cut into 1-inch cubes
coarse salt and ground pepper
3 yellow or red bell peppers, ribs and seeds removed, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 c. fresh basil

1) In a Dutch oven (or other heavy 5-qt. pot with a tight fitting lid), heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in eggplant and zucchini; season generously with salt and pepper.

2) Add 3/4 c. water; cover, and simmer until vegetables are beginning to soften, stirring once, about 5 minutes. Stir in bell peppers; simmer, covered, until softened, 5 minutes.

3) Stir in tomatoes and thyme; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Partially cover; simmer, stirring often, until vegetables are tender, 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. If serving immediately, stir in basil.

Tip: Peeling Eggplant -- Use a vegetable peeler to peel off some of the skin in strips. This will help the eggplant to cook faster and will make it more tender.

Hi!
I have some eggplant ideas/recipes
1st is instead of frying your eggplant, slice, sip it in egg, then breadcrumb, then bake it. It takes longer and I end up using many cookie sheets, but you save on oil!! Eggplant soaks up so much oil!

Another way my ds loves is to cute it in chunky julienne style and fry/bake for hand-dipping in sauce(this is good with zucchini too)

And Emeril has a recipe for roasted eggplant soup, it's sooooo good!!! It shouls be on food network.com but I'm not sure and I gave my Emeril cookbooks away in a mdc swap!

And now for my famous eggplant recipe.....
1.Slice thin and bake/fry 1 large eggplant the long way so you have long pieces.
2.In a round cake pan/casserole dish/cheesecake pan press down a mix of breadcrumbs and butter to cover bottom and a little of the sides(like you were making cheesecake with graham cracker crumbs) I've used 8in cake pans and 10in casseroles so use what you have
3. Layer the eggplant so the 1st piece is placed with one end in the middle, pointing out, it should hang over the sides of the pan, layer eggplant in a spiral/round fashion, so the bottom gets covered and all the ends are hanging over the sides(can you picture this?)
4.fill!!! We make angelhair and toss it with a tomato meat sauce and parm cheese, but you can fill with any pasta or whatever!
5. Fold over eggplant ends ontop of the filling, sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
6. Bake 25min at 325, until heated thru really
7. Let stand for 5-10 minutes then flip onto a plate/serving platter. It looks like a cake!!!!! And it cuts like one if you use angelhair pasta. It's so yummy! A complete meal in one pan! My family loves this dish and think it's so fancy, but it's quite simple

We planted seeds and our eggplant is only a few inches high

Captain Optimism, I want to eat dinner at your house!

Here are a few other ideas...Roast the eggplant like our C.O. said, then chop up the flesh. You can freeze it in ziplocks at this point. The eggplant thus prepared can then be used for quickie meals:

rice pilaf: saute onion and oil, add tomato paste, green pepper/celery/carrots, etc, and some beans like garbanzos/white beans/pintos or what have you, toss in the rice and water (or V8 or broth or tomato juice) and the eggplant. Simmer until done. The eggplant disolves int his pilaf and if cooked in a pressure cooker this dish can be ready in 10 minutes.

One my MIL does is fry some onion in oil, add turmeric and eggplant, then scrambled egg & salt to taste. Stir until egg is set. This is fast and delicious.

Throw it on pizza.

WOW!! THANKS HEAPS for all the replies & recipies/ideas!!! :

Unfortunatly, with my picky "meat & Potatoes" DH I think I will only get away with trying a couple of these. I am a bit picky too, but hes bad... when I told him I was looking for ideas here he said "Why? I only like it one way. -Fried."

But I think I will deffinatly start off with trying the "cake" that stacey posted. & the patties that sandrajoon posted.