A New Approach For Eggplant

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

They’re here! And they brought friends. Lots of them. This time of year I could be talking about the bushels of zucchini or baskets of tomatoes. But I’m referring to a vegetable far more daunting: the eggplant.

If you planted eggplant this year in your home garden, your kids are probably sick of Eggplant Parmesan. Your husband likely rolls his eyes when you tell him for the third time this week that you will be having spicy pork and eggplant stir fry for dinner. And frankly, you are probably getting tired of the purple beast. How many new ways can you find to make an inherently mushy vegetable not be a soggy sponge filled with oil?

That was exactly the situation my younger brother, Andrew, found himself in on a recent weekend. On a visit to see our older brother, Paul, they had swung through a farmer’s market picking up some nice tender looking white heirloom eggplants. Andrew assured Paul he had a technique that would save the sweet, small vegetable from drowning in its cooking medium, leaving the texture tender but still cooked. Paul was intrigued.

Andrew’s method centered on dry heat. The eggplant were sliced about 3/4-inch thick, not too thick and not so thin that it would disintegrate. He set a cast-iron pan over a medium high flame. The eggplant slices went down on the hot surface completely naked, no oil, pepper, or salt. It took a couple minutes per side, but eventually the smoking pan lightly seared the pale eggplant skin and released some of the moisture.

While the eggplant worked away, Andrew sautéed garlic, shallots, and oregano with olive oil in a separate pan, just until soft. Once the eggplant was nicely browned and tender to the touch, he transferred everything to a bowl and tossed the slices with the still warm garlic and shallots and a bit of salt and pepper.

My older brother raved. He had never seen this technique before nor had I. And we were both tired of roasting eggplant and too many times ending up with a watery puree. What a unique use of this abundant late summer vegetable!

I gave it a go not long after, using two long and skinny Japanese eggplants. I did not have a cast-iron pan but I found a heavy bottom stainless steel skillet worked just as well. I did the eggplant in batches, then promptly tossed them with the olive oil mixture--not too much, just enough to moisten the rounds. I did this early in the evening, giving the herbs and oil a chance to infuse the eggplant sitting out on the counter at room temperature.

When my stomach started to growl, I quickly pan seared a chicken breast and sliced some heirloom tomatoes. I tossed the tomatoes with the eggplant and piled a nice mound on my plate nuzzled up against the chicken. The eggplant was perfect: tender, just on the right side of being too crisp, with a slick of herby olive oil. As for the oil, it was doing just what is should: complement, not overwhelm. It was a novel approach and for the first time I was not terrified, but glad, that there is still a long eggplant season to come.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 large Japanese eggplant
• 2 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
• salt and pepper
• 2 medium heirloom tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil (optional)