brian(MN)

Member
Do any of you guys grow/eat eggplant? Years ago my parents tried it, grew fine, but no one would eat it. I don't how she cooked it. We have one plant in the garden so when it begins to produce, I'd like to try to cook iT . Any easy ideas?
 
I slice it cross wise like a squash or tomato, dip it in egg, roll it in
flour or corn meal and fry it in a little olive oil on medium/high heat.
Tastes a bit like fried green tomatoes that way.
 
Our family likes them picked while on the smaller side.

Slice about 1/4 inch thick.
Dip in beaten egg.
Then dip in crushed up soda-cracker crumbs.
Fry in a small amount of butter.
Season lightly with salt/black pepper.

Probably not heart healthy... but we have it once or twice per year. Tastes really good!
 
Forgot about homemade eggplant pizza!

Homemade or store-bought dough...
Pizza sauce
Thinly sliced eggplant
A little finely diced onion
Season to taste
A little shredded mozerella
A fine drizzle of olive oil over top (get best grade of oil... EVOO)
BAKE
When done a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a little cayenne pepper if you like spicy food.
 
(quoted from post at 18:41:40 07/23/14) Do any of you guys grow/eat eggplant? Years ago my parents tried it, grew fine, but no one would eat it. I don't how she cooked it. We have one plant in the garden so when it begins to produce, I'd like to try to cook iT . Any easy ideas?

We grow and sell a lot of it. Our customers (and I) like a dish called Mousaka. It is basically lasagna, but you substitute eggplant for the noodles. Anything is good with tomatoes, cheese and hamburger, right??
 
when i worked at a nice Italian restaurant in my youth, we would bread and deep fry it and then put spaghetti sauce on it. it was pretty good.
 
Grandmothers recipe was to slice it thin, very lightly salt, or not, meaning you don't have to, (I rarely use salt, but here I think just a tiny bit was fine) then press, say with an upside down plate with weight on it, overnight, drain off any fluid, dip/bread, however you like, fry in pan, deep fry would be fine too, then layer in a casserole dish, marinara, spaghetti sauce, want something really good, grow enough tomatoes to make a home made sauce from fresh garden tomatoes, however you wish, then, top off with mozzarella cheese of good quality, bake, 325 F or so 45 minutes, til it browns on top. You can vary any of this, but that's one typical way of an eggplant Parmesan. The internet is full of recipes to try. I've tried growing it for the last few years, not sure whats up with it, soil or what, then there's some bug that makes the leaves look like a screen door, years ago, I could grow it and it would produce excess, likes the same soil as bell peppers, deep rich soil, same nutrients, and I have prepared the soil for it, still marginal, had better luck before in the lower garden with it.
 
In addition to the frying down below, try slicing into wedges or strips lengthwise, toss with olive oil, season with some salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika and throw them on the grill until soft.
 
However you cook it, pay attention to billy's grandmother and salt it and let it sit/drain some of the bitter juice before you cook it and get some seasoning into it. Personally do not like the stuff but my Italian friends insist that the salting and draining is important. Anyone can come up with a recipe I can make at home that is edible I would be grateful. Love to grow it.

I know I can eat it because there is this place in Traverse called Little Bohemia...or Little Bo's to their friends. They make it as an appetizer Parmigiana and it is pretty decent with a cold beer or some Northwood's (Wild Bill's) cola.
 
There is something to that, I could not remember the reason, though I don't use much salt, here I think you do want to use it sparingly. I don't recall if I rinsed it off, and should add, I dipped them in flour, not breading, not sure if I used eggs to make it stick or what I used, had to be, wouldn't use oil, been such a long time since I've prepared it, trying to remember, too long now LOL ! I always thought preparing it this way was a great dish from the garden and if you time it right you can have your own tomatoes for sauce.
 
I'm Italian and I can second nearly all the suggestions below. If you want to just grill them with the skin on you should pick them young to avoid the bitterness.
 

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