So here is the weekend harvest...
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| A garden harvest |
Two ripe tomatoes, one green tomato (it fell off in the storm), a few cucumbers and our first three eggplants. Oh and we cut some bay leaves.
Not too bad, all things considered. Sure it's not a lot, but we've always considered the weekend gardening that we are doing as a sort of "proof of concept" for the future. We're testing what works, what doesn't work, and everything in between. Which varieties of different vegetables work for us and which don't.
It's also a way to find out things we can do with our harvest, even if only on a small scale. For example, since we're not overflowing (yet) in cucumbers for canning, we sliced these up and added them to some brine we already had in the fridge.
Anyone have any great uses for the eggplant? This is the long and slender "Asian" eggplant variety. We've tried regular eggplants and these (twice each) and these far and away did the best. One year we were getting six per week. There are two more on there now, probably ready this coming weekend.
We have used our mayo/parmesan oven fry method but now we're looking for some more ideas on how to use only a few smaller eggplants at a time.
Any suggestions?
Try an eggplant relish to put on crostini or top a baked potato. (many recipes online)
ReplyDeleteGreat beginnings of a good harvest.
ReplyDeleteI really don't have any tried & true recipes for you, but years (many years)ago I would cube up an eggplant (like you would a potato) and roast in the oven on a baking sheet and seasoned with salt, pepper, a dash of cayenne pepper, or whatever you want to season it up a bit or maybe make into oven fries (fries just happen to come to mind) Probably could do the same thing with zucchini in making oven fries.
You probably could use it in a stir fry if you you like that sort of thing or maybe add to a salad.
Don't know if a person can make this into some sort of dip or not.(just throwing a couple of ideas your way.)
Other commenters who grow eggplant may have some better ideas.
That is a very nice first harvest!
ReplyDeleteI could almost taste fried green tomatoes when I saw that nice green one there. I live in tomato country, lots of tomatoes shipped from Ruskin, F. also a lot of u-picks. I will need to go pick some this week and get some green ones to.
ReplyDeleteEggplant Bella - my own recipe. 3 Chinese eggplants sliced thinly, 1 pkg Bella mushrooms, 1/2 large onion Kalamata olives halved, olive oil, garlic Sautee eggplant and garlic 1at then onions then mushrooms. Serve over pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan.
ReplyDeleteSorry not very specific but that's all I wrote down.
That’s a very nice weekend harvest. They look so pretty in your basket.
ReplyDeleteAs for suggestions, you could pickle them, Italian style with olive oil:
https://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/pickled-eggplant/
A recipe for water-bath pickled eggplant:
https://foodinjars.com/recipe/urban-preserving-pickled-fairy-tale-eggplant/
I also saw recipes for eggplant salsa, pasta sauce, grilled eggplant, Italian Caponata, a Mediterranean dip called Baba Ganoush, and Ratatouille.
Baba ganoush would be my only suggestion. Oh, but I see it was suggested just above.
ReplyDeleteJust popping by to say hi and say that I have a number of fab aubergine recipes https://www.dominthekitchen.com/?s=aubergine+
ReplyDeleteNot wanting to change the subject here; but had to mention that I seen something early this morning that I hadn't see for several days due to all the rain and that was a Beautiful Sunrise this morning. Was Absolutely Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteBaked (not fried!) eggplant Parmesan with that exact variety of eggplant. Thinly slice the eggplant long wise, dip in egg, and dredge in Italian breadcrumbs. Bake the slices in the oven at 375 until they are brown and crispy. Then in a casserole dish layer with your favorite sauce and lots of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Mangia!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge fan of aubergines but there is a recipe in Ottolenghi's Plenty cookbook for a lentil and aubergine dish that I like. I think this is it: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jul/04/vegetarian-vegetablesrecipes
ReplyDeleteIn general I always highly recommend that book, I think I've cooked more recipes from it than almost any other cook book I have, and most of the ones I have tried have made it into regular rotation.
I like to use eggplant as a low carb substitute for lasagna noodles. I slice it, roast it with a sprinkle of salt and a spritz of olive oil, let cool, then assemble the lasagna using the roasted eggplant slices as the noodles. Yum!
ReplyDelete