Sunday, May 13, 2007

Greetings From Fire Island: Roast Eggplant


I'm sorry I didn't write about this last night, but I spent the better part of the day at the South Side Hospital Emergency Room (part of the North Shore University Hospital Network), getting my shoulder put back in. They did a great job, but I do not recommend this to anyone! When the lovely wife and I finally made it back to Fire Island last night, we were treated to dinner by our friends. Although I didn't cook (I in fact, slept on the couch), I did help with the eggplant. One of the problems I have with grilling sliced eggplant is getting making sure that the slices are nice and brown on the outside and cooked on the inside. Often, I end up with some burned pieces and some raw ones. Sort of a bell shaped curve of eggplant. This is especially painful if I am cooking for lots of people.

Whole eggplant is actually pretty easy to grill. After the eggplant is completed, it can be salted a bit and eaten as is or used in another dish: such as making baba ganoush. More on that later. If your home, you can actually do the same thing by steaming the eggplant. Although you lose some of the "grill" flavor, its a great way to make a lot of eggplant fast.

INGREDIENTS

Whole, medium sized eggplant(s) (not to small or overly huge)

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Grill with cover (such as a Weber)

INSTRUCTIONS

Using a fork, prick holes in the eggplant (see photo for the excellent holes made by Dan). This will stop the thing from exploding like popcorn. Place on extremely hot grill (500 degrees is good). Cover grill. Turn every few minutes or so. Don't worry if the skin burns: it will. The eggplants usually cook in about 15 minutes. You should be able to easily stick a skewer through them. Take them off the grill and let them cool. Peel off the skin (which, if burned a little, will come right off). Prepare as you want.

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