Cooking with Eggplant [Recipe]

I love eggplant. And surprisingly, I find that often the response I get to that comment goes something like this:

“Oh really? I’ve never had it.”

Or,

“I have been curious to try it, but I have no idea what to do with it.”

If you are either one those people, I have decided to open your eyes to a whole new world: The world of purple vegetables and garlic.

Here is one of my favorite ways to eat eggplant; it’s easy, delicious, and INCREDIBLY good for you. My parents learned this from some Italian friends of ours a number of years ago, and they’ve been making it ever since. This is an easy, healthy side dish. (Which is code for: Awesome!)

Here’s how to make it…

You will need:
– 1 eggplant
– Fresh parsley
– 1 clove fresh garlic
– Extra virgin olive oil
– Salt

Note: In this tutorial, I used 4 eggplant. There are two reasons for this: (1) I have 11 siblings, and (2) They were on sale. This made a LOT of eggplant. Generally speaking, you won’t need to make that much at a time. 1 eggplant should serve about 4 people.

Start by assembling your ingredients and washing the eggplant and parsley. Next, chop the eggplant. I like to use a long serrated blade for this, since the eggplant skins are fairly waxy and are hard to get through with other knives.

Here’s how you want them:

1. Eggplant. Make sure you have it. 😉
2. Cut off the ends.
3. Cut in half, vertically.
4. Slice the halves into long, thin pieces.

Next, fry the eggplant in an ungreased frying pan until it is just browned on both sides, like so:

As your eggplant cooks, using a fork, lift the pieces out of the pan and into a large serving bowl.

Next, mince the garlic and chop some parsley.

Add the garlic and parsley to your fried eggplant, and season with salt to taste. Drizzle olive oil over top, and toss all of the ingredients together until well mixed.