Eggplant Caviar
This is a great dish that I first learned from The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher. It’s best with the freshest eggplant possible. Some recipes call for salting and draining the bitterness out of sliced eggplant, but when it’s right out of the garden, it usually doesn’t need this step. Eggplant grows beautifully in Iowa, as long as you control flea beetles, and support the plants (and water in dry years). I grow as many different colors and shapes; each one has a distinct flavor and texture. I do a lot of other dishes with the technique I describe for this Russian dish, which I will describe elsewhere.
The key to this and almost all eggplant recipes is slow and long cooking, which mellows and sweetens the eggplant.
The recipe:
1. Take 1 large eggplant and prick it several times with a fork. Drizzle a little oil on it, and bake in the oven until it is collapsed and soft throughout, about 45 minutes to an hour. Let cool, and then slice through the skin and remove the eggplant. It should be very soft. You may puree it in a food processor, mash it in a bowl, or dice it finely.
2. Dice very finely 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 peeled, chopped tomato, and 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley; add to eggplant mixture.
3. (Optional) Add finely diced fresh or roasted peppers, or dill, or sauteed, chopped mushrooms.
4. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
Serve on crackers or bread.
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