Garlic Eggplant and Rice Noodles

I'm trying to find recipes to use up the excess of eggplants in my life right now, and through the Cookbook Project, I knew that Vegetables on the Side had a plethora of recipes for different vegetables, so I flipped through the pages until I found a recipe for Garlicky Stir Fried Eggplant.  It was fantastic.  Since the book is out of print, I'm going to repost the recipe with my modifications here.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium-sized eggplant, cut into 1-inch chunks (I actually cut mine smaller than 1-inch, since I like my eggplant smaller.)
1 bunch green onions, white and light green parts, cut into small pieces
Pinch crushed red pepper
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup white wine
3 tbsp soy sauce
Rice noodles

Procedure:
1.) Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat.
2.) Saute garlic in pan until golden
3.) Add eggplant and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5-7 minutes.
4.) Add green onions and cook for another minute, then add crushed red pepper.
5.) Combine vinegar, sugar, wine, soy sauce, and stir with a whisk.  Add to pan, cover, and cook on low for 5 minutes.
6.) While sauce and eggplant cook. prepare rice noodles according to the directions on the package.  Add the prepared rice noodles to soak up the remaining soy sauce mixture.

Eggplant Parmesean

I am a sucker for cooked eggplant.  Especially with tomato sauce and pasta.  So a few weeks ago, we had some extra eggplant and I turned to How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for a quick eggplant parm recipe.  I was surprised that Bittman recommended using flour, since in the past I've just coated the eggplant with breadcrumbs.

Ingredients:
Eggplant, sliced into 1/4 inch slices and dried out for at least an hour or so
Flour
Vegetable Oil
Spaghetti sauce
Parmesean cheese

Recipe:
1. Dredge eggplant slices in flour to coat both sides
2. Heat oil in skillet, heat oven to 350
3. Toss eggplant slices into skillet, allow them to get crispy brown on both sides.
4. Drain eggplant onto paper towels.
5. Pour spaghetti sauce into pan; place eggplant on top, top with Parmesan cheese.
6. Cook at 350 for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned.

Enjoy with pasta and more spaghetti sauce.

Eggplant Parm, deconstructed

I'm totally coming around to crockpot pasta.  It's an easy way to deal with pasta, especially on a lazy Sunday when I don't feel like sauteing eggplant, boiling water, and cooking tomato sauce all at once.  This is a great recipe for a work-from-home person, since you do need to cook the eggplant first, and then add the tomato sauce and pasta later.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
1 jar tomato sauce
1/2 box whole wheat pasta (if you use a full box, use 2 jars)
Garlic and lots of it
Veggie crumbles
Parmesan cheese

Procedure:
1. Peel and chop eggplant and put in greased crockpot.
2. Dice garlic, add to eggplant.  Add some more olive oil and salt.
3. Cook on high for 1-2 hours.
4. Add tomato sauce when eggplant is soft and tasty.
5. Add pasta and crumbles when there is about 45-60 minutes cooking time left.  (I rinse the pasta in a colander so it has a little more water.  You may want to do this too.)
6. Serve when pasta is cooked through garnished with Parmesan cheese.

Eggplant steaks

Tonight, I finally got back in the kitchen.  (It's been a busy week, and Mr. Barefoot has been doing all the cooking.)  I made eggplant steaks - and man, were they delicious.

You will need:

• 1 eggplant, sliced into 3/4 inch thick steaks.
• 4-5 cloves garlic (if you don't like that much garlic, well, why are you reading this blog?)
• 2 tbsp (ish) olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Italian seasoning 
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

Equipment:

• Baking sheet
• Indoor grill (or maybe a frying pan)
• Oven at 350
• Basting brush
• Food processor

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  
2. Put eggplants on a baking sheet, bake for 10-20 minutes, flipping midway.  
3. Meanwhile, put 4-5 peeled garlic cloves in food processor; dice.  Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, spices, salt, and pepper.  Process until well combined.  
4. Take eggplant steaks out of the oven.  Brush both sides with oil/vinegar mixture.  Allow to sink in while grill heats.  
5. Place on grill, close grill.  Grill for 3-5 minutes.  
6. Stack eggplants in a tower, with cheese between each eggplant.  

Mr. Barefoot says this is the best eggplant I've ever made.  My only problem is that there is not enough protein in these as a main course, so I got hungry again a few hours later and needed a snack.  We served these with polenta cakes and zucchini sauted in the same sauce as the steaks.  

mmmm dinner.

Tonight I finally got myself to a grocery store. I've been living off a Target and Trader Joe's preliminary run which left me with a random array of foodstuffs.
So for dinner I made myself eggplant topped with sauted onion and cheese.
Ingredients:

• eggplant, sliced into half-inch-thick slices
• onions, cut into slices
  
• cheese (I used cheddar and mozzerella)

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 425
   
2. Saute onions in frying pan. Set aside.
3. Fry eggplant in pan.
   
4. Set eggplant on cookie sheet. Top with onions and cheese.
5. Bake in the oven for about 5-7 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and melty.
   

This was good, but it has a lot of potential. Different cheeses, and next time I'm definitely adding garlic to the onions mixed. And maybe some balsamic vinegar.

Eggplant Steaks

This is an Alton Brown recipe and it turns out pretty well - if you are somebody who doesn't like eggplant, that is fine, but if you are somebody who finds eggplants in their purple rotundity a bit daunting, I encourage trying this recipe. They can be made in the toaster oven and they are fairly easy and turn out pretty good (while being hard to screw up).

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup thick steak sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
8 (1/2-inch) eggplant slices, purged with salt
1 cup grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons chopped parsley, optional

Equipment:

1 oven set to Broil
1 shallow jelly-roll pan
Pastry brush (if you don't own a silicone one already, buy one)
1 small mixing bowl
Paper towels

Procedure:

1. In a small bowl whisk together the Worcestershire, steak sauce, olive oil, honey, and apple cider vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Pat your eggplant dry with paper towels.
   
3. With a pastry brush apply the sauce to both sides of the eggplant.
   
4. Place eggplant rounds onto a sheet tray fitted with a rack.
   
5. Place the tray under the broiler for until eggplant is nicely browned, approximately 2 minutes. Turn slices over and place back under broiler to brown the other side.
   
6. Generously sprinkle freshly grated Parmesan over all of the slices. Place back under the broiler for 1 minute to nicely brown the cheese.
   
7. Serve plain or sprinkle with freshly chopped herbs.