baba ganoush (and other eggplant recipes)

I've never put labneh or yogurt in mine before. I might have to try that, as I too am overrun with eggplants at the moment. I typically mix in 1/3-to-1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil for this much eggplant.

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Mine are the Japanese kind

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.KOREAN SPICY GARLIC EGGPLANT

Love baba ganoush. I had a smoked baba ganoush which was excellent. Can’t recall where.

Seafood stuffed eggplant or any stuffed eggplant is good. Freezes well also.

Cream of eggplant soup. I make one with a little curry. I freeze the base before adding the cream if I make a lot. The recipe is in the TD cookbook. I can’t access it with the current links.

damn that looks great
thank you

thank you young lady
going to make it this week after a stop at red stick to get curry powder

I hope you enjoy it. Season it whatever way you like. Sometimes, I use the Morton's Nature's Seasoning instead of just the salt.

I like to dip buttered french toasties or hushpuppies in it.

I consider moussaka to be Greek eggplant lasagna. I made it with a potato layer which not all recipes include.

I omitted the olives. Used a cup of shredded Parmesan and a cup of sharp white cheddar in the bechamel, along with 3 egg yolks. Didn’t use bread crumbs.











MEAT SAUCE
1/4 cup olive oil
2 lbs ground beef or 2 lbs ground lamb
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped ripe olives, preferably kalamata (optional)
15 ounces seasoned tomato sauce

BECHAMEL SAUCE
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup grated kefalograviera cheese (use Parmesan if unavailable)

EGGPLANT AND POTATOES
2 lbs eggplants
olive oil, to brush on
salt
2 -3 potatoes (cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds or long slices, enough to cover bottom of baking pan in 1 layer)

FOR ASSEMBLY

1 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup kasseri cheese or 1 cup white cheddar cheese
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS
In large, heavy saucepan, heat 1/4 cup oil; saute finely ground meat, onion and garlic until lightly browned;

add oregano, basil, cinnamon, salt, ripe olives (if using) and tomato sauce; Cover and simmer slowly about 30 minutes;
uncover and simmer slowly another 30 minutes.

While sauce simmers, prepare Bechamel Sauce (recipe below) and eggplant; cut ends from eggplant (1 large or 2 small) and cut in 1/2-inch-thick slices (if using large, flask-type eggplant, peel the skin off in strips with a vegetable peeler - creating a striped look - with some of the peel left on and some off. If using Japanese-style (the longish, purply-white ones), don't bother to peel at all);

Place on a cookie sheet and brush with remaining olive oil; Place under broiler and broil until light brown; Remove from oven, salt lightly, turn eggplant and repeat process; Then position rack in center of oven and heat to 350 degrees.

There are three ways you can prepare the potatoes for this delicious casserole: 1) shallow-fry potato rounds in olive oil until golden-brown or, 2) for fewer calories, arrange the potato slices in your baking pan, brush lightly with olive oil, bake for 15 minutes, continue with assembly, or 3) if you want to cut calories further, parboil them for 8 minutes; drain well on paper towels.

To assemble: In 13x9x2-inch baking dish, arrange layer of potatoes, overlapping slightly, season lightly (there will be only one layer of potatoes, so use them all up); next, do a layer of eggplant; sprinkle some Parmesan, kaseri (or cheddar) and bread crumbs over eggplant; layer meat sauce, freshly grated cheeses, crumbs and Bechamel Sauce until all is used; bake 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees or until flecked golden-brown on top.

To make Bechamel Sauce: In saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat; whisk in flour and cook slowly until smooth and lightly cooked (2-3 minutes); add salt and remove from heat; add milk, whisking rapidly and return to heat; cook until thick and bubbly, whisking constantly; allow to cool 5 minutes, whisking once in a while to prevent a skin from forming; incorporate eggs and grated cheese with wire whisk to make fluffy sauce.

Freezes well.

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Eggplant Fritters

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That sounds delicious. My mom used to make something similar with yellow squash. I could eat them as fast as she fried them up.

went with stuffed eggplant tonight…the skinny ones are a little tricky but with some surgery and a steady hand I was able to cleanly hollow out the halves

ground beef, squash, onions, peppers, a bunch of herbs, red pepper flakes, garlic and a little breadcrumb and parmesan

on a quick tomato sauce with green salad, fantastic. I like the Japanese eggplant fruits much more than the big ones, super creamy and sweet

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Love baba ganoush. I had a smoked baba ganoush which was excellent. Can’t recall where.

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The one at Serop's Express has a very smoky taste. I doubt very much they're doing any smoking there, but it's super good. Maybe they use a lot of smoked paprika.

I've always said I think baba ganoush > hummus. Wild it's not more popular than it is.