there is no egg in eggplant

Eggplant are plentiful this year.  And lovely.  I adore eggplant but cooking them can be a chore.

This simple and delicious eggplant recipe will use up most or all of the eggplant you couldn’t resist buying at last week’s farmers’ market.  And you will enjoy it for days.

At Collingswood Farmers’ Market eggplant is available at nearly every stand.  Springdale, Flaim, Buzby, Dannlyn, Viereck, Formisano, Savoie, Fruitwood.  And they are available in all sizes, shapes, and colors.  Experiment!  An eggplant, despite how it looks, tastes like an eggplant.

This recipe uses small or baby eggplant, but it works on the big guys too.  (and it works with zucchini!)

Ingredients:
eggplant
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt

Directions:
-Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Cut the top and bottom off your eggplant.  Peel them (or not…I like them peeled).  Slice them lengthwise…about a 1/4 inch thick.

(now this step is where people differ…at this point I place my eggplant slices in a colander and sprinkle them with salt and let them drain for about 30 minutes…not necessary, but my preference…after 30 minutes rinse and dry the eggplant slices)
-Line a pan with foil, dull side up.  Lightly spray or brush the foil with olive oil because eggplant tends to stick.  Place the rinsed and dried eggplant slices on the tray.
-Pour an 1/8 of a cup of both olive oil and balsamic vinegar into a bowl.  Stir.  And lightly brush the mixture onto each slice.  Make more of the mixture if you’re doing lots of eggplant.

-Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.
-At the end of ten minutes, take the tray out of the oven.  Turn the eggplant slices over.  Brush with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar mixture.  Put the tray back in the oven.  Bake another 10 minutes.
-Remove the tray and immediately take the eggplant off the foil and place on a platter.  You can eat the slices hot but I like to let the eggplant cool to room temperature.  (Really great to do this in the morning and let the eggplant sit on the platter until you serve it at lunch or dinner.  Any leftovers can go in the fridge and be used for three or four days.  I love cold slices on my salad especially if I have some fresh Jersey tomatoes!)

-I do the same preparation with zucchini (on the left of the plate) (skip the salting) and it is delicious!