Fab Four, Episode 3: Tunisian-style eggplant salad

(See entry titled “Fab Four” for an explanation of this series.)

As the common eggplant is the largest of our four varieties, it works well in recipes that call for a good quantity of mashed or chopped eggplant flesh. This Tunisian-style salad has a balance of tartness from lemon, sweetness from eggplant, and a spicy kick from red pepper flakes. It is best served warm with toasted pita as an appetizer or side dish.

Ingredients

1 medium-large eggplant

2 large or 3 small garlic cloves

red pepper flakes, paprika, ground coriander

a handful of chopped parsley

juice of about 1/3 lemon

olive oil

salt to taste

Begin by baking the eggplant whole in the oven on 350°F for about 30-45 minutes, or until eggplant is so soft that it yields to poking. Some eggplants are stubborn and take longer to bake -- adjust baking time as you see fit.

Poking may be employed to determine whether the eggplant is done.

When the eggplant is baked to mash in this way, the skin should come right off as if you were unzipping a coat.

Let the skinned eggplant cool a bit, then remove the seed pockets and wring the flesh gently over the sink, removing as much of the bitter juice as you can. (If you taste your eggplant and it isn’t too bitter, you can skip this step. Be warned that baking can sometimes bring out the natural bitterness of the eggplant.)

Removing seeds.

Chop the wrung eggplant into mash.

Heat up a nice-sized pool of olive oil on medium.

About this much oil. Less oil is OK too -- I like my mush oily.

Fry the eggplant mash in the oil, stirring in crushed garlic, a good-sized dash of red pepper flakes, a good-sized dash of coriander, and a small dash of paprika. (Adjust spice quantity to suit your individual taste.) After sautéeing for about 5 minutes, add the juice of about 1/3 lemon, allowing the liquid to boil off. Salt to taste.

Turn off heat and stir in chopped parsley. 

This salad is delicious either warm from the stovetop or cold the next day.

Kitty lurks about.

Extra bonus tip:
Fresh herbs like parsley and cilantro keep in the fridge much longer when you trim the stems and put them in a jar of water.