Archive for Eggplant
Ratatouille
This week, because we literally had our hands full with eggplant, the challenge to creatively utilize this purple bounty continues. We walked away from the farm with not only a sizable Rosa Bianca, but also a few Long Purples (depicted above) and a Casper, which is a small, white eggplant with a very sweet flavor. None of the recipes in the weekly CSA newsletter called for such a massive amount of eggplant in one dish. And since eggplant loses its texture and firmness with each passing day, we needed to use them all up quickly.
Our saving grace was a French dish called ratatouille, originally a poor farmer’s solution to excess summer produce. Ironically, the original recipe didn’t include eggplant, but today, ratatouille is almost unrecognizable without it . Zucchini, tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, onions, and garlic were used to make the first manifestations of this dish, and luckily for us, we had all these ingredients in stock as well.
There are a variety of ways to make ratatouille but all agree on one thing: the ingredients are cooked in stages, then combined and left to stew. Slow cooking allows the flavors to interact, and the final product makes a unique contribution to any dinner table (as well as fantastic leftovers!).
Rolled Eggplant Tapas
Eggplant are practically coming out of our ears at the farm. A minor miscalculation resulted in way too many transplants this year, and recently the CSA members have been receiving more eggplant than they ever bargained for. Well, the prolific production has finally caught up to us, and we’re now faced with the same challenge as the members: what to do with so much eggplant!
Luckily, though, the weekly CSA newsletter contains several recipes. Our eyes immediately gravitated to the rolled eggplant tapas, an appetizer served in Spain. Not only did it seem like a great way to use our eggplant, but it also called for tomatoes and basil (both of which are bountiful at the farm as well). And since we both love goat cheese, how could we resist?
The variety of eggplant we had on hand is called Rosa Bianca, which you can see in the photo above. Its flavor is milder than the darker variety you’re probably used to, but it’s also sweeter and, in our opinions, tastier. We’ve been told these eggplant don’t do well at the farmers’ market because people are hesitant to cook with a lighter colored eggplant. Well, they’re missing out.
