Eggplant Adventures

I have to admit... I've never really had a hankering for eggplant... Don't like it, don't buy it, can't stand it... Mind you, that was all before I tried it about 4 years ago in Toronto... It was a conference and the buffet dinner that night was eggplant parmesan with no other choices. No slices of bread with a can of tuna like back in university days... So I pulled back my lips and gingerly nibbled my teeth into it... eeeewwwwweerrrrrrwaitasecondthisisactually... kind of... hmmmm... yummy... hmmm.... Another few nibbles, and I decided I had given eggplant a bad rap for 40 years!!!

But then... how do you cook it.... what do you do with it???? Sigh... too much trouble... We'll just stick with broccoli and cauliflower, carrots and celery, cucumber and tomato... Except, I sort of always sidle by the eggplants in the supermarket and look at them longingly... Let's face it, they are a very fetching shade of purple, quite attractive really. And every store I've been in usually has huge piles of them, so... they must be popular? Yes??? Either that, or the grocery stores are wasting their money on disposable eggplants! And Superstore actually has Chinese eggplant, long and slim, and a lighter shade of purple... But what to do... How to cook it???

The other day, I was in Superstore and circling around the eggplants and finally decided to go for it. The next issue was, how to pick an eggplant... Do you go by weight? Sheen? Colour? Heft?? They all felt equally... funny... to me... I thought they would be hard like a squash, but no... sort of soft and yielding but super smooth... After testing a variety of eggplants, I chose a likely looking specimen and gently laid it in my cart. My sense was, this little puppy would bruise very easily!!! Tiptoe-ing through the store and careful not to bump my cart... I made it to the checkout, to the truck and home with an intact eggplant!!!

Now what??? Thank God for the internet!!! I'm not sure what people did about cooking before the internet... Oh yeah, cookbooks... uh-huh... whatever!! So, I did a bit of research... Eggplant is actually part of the nightshade family, a relative of tomatoes and sweet peppers... That must be one huge vine that the eggplants grow on!!! I also learned that in Europe it is called "aubergine", so much more fancy sounding than "eggplant", which sort of goes out of your mouth and falls with a splat on the floor!

I learned as well, that "eggplant (purple)" is a colour, and was introduced by Crayola in 1998... how cool to have a crayon named "eggplant purple"! Except, eggplant can also come in white, yellow, orange(!), green, pale purple, black and grey... go figure... That does however explain why it is named "egg"plant... because the white ones look like eggs (duh)... They can also range in size from long skinny things to the traditional eggplant shape to small round ones. Who knew eggplant could be so... varied!

I also learned that eggplants are not vegetables... no, they are actually a "berry", as with tomatoes... This means it has a lot of soft seeds, which are bitter to the taste because they contain nicotinoid alkaloids, not all that weird, since it is a close relative of... tobacco... All you who are looking to ditch your cigarettes, don't use the patch... eat eggplants (20 lbs = 1 cigarette)!

The bigger question is this though... It is native to Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka... so how did it end up in our Superstore as a regular denizen?? Well, it was introduced to the western world by... the Arabs around the 1500s and the rest is history... Eggplant was a big hit!

Another thing to know about eggplant is that the stem can be spiny... and that means that the cute little green hat that the eggplant wears also bears spines... as my fingers can attest... "Where did I get so many slivers from???" Watch out for eggplants... they bite!

Now, as for cooking it... That is another story... Wikipedia says that when it is eaten raw, it is slightly bitter, but when cooked develops a "rich and complex flavour"... Hmmm.... The skin is edible, although most recipes call for peeling... Salting it can help dispel any bitterness, but luckily our modern varieties aren't bitter at all... No, they've dealt with their issues and are quite mild-tempered! The French use it in ratatouille... the Italians in eggplant parmesan, the Greeks in mousakka, and the southeastern Asians in a variety of dishes...

You can stuff it, you can grill it, you can deep fry it, you can bake it, you can mash it, you can stew it, you can braise it... You can do pretty much anything with it, and it'll be yummy (I think)... Let's just say it's versatile and it now kind of makes sense that the Indians call it "King of Vegetables"... 'cept for the fact it's technically a fruit and well... being so versatile, it might even be a Queen... You never know, could happen... So it's "Queen of Fruits"... That is... kind... of ... an... interesting image... Perhaps it could be the official fruit of the Rainbow!!

By the way... in case you are not convinced yet... eggplant is effective for the treatment of high blood cholesterol... maybe... some studies say yes... others say no... still... it can't hurt!

Now, let's get to the crux of the matter... cooking my delicate little eggplant. I had perused the internet and pulled off four likely recipe contenders. Two called for breading and frying... two called for baking... In the interests of health, I went with one of the baking recipes... Most recipes call for spaghetti sauce, so lacking that, I went with the one that just called for tomato slices... After pulling off the leaves (silly me... prickles!), I sliced it into 1/4 inch slices and peeled them... I was a bit flummoxed by the texture and kept poking the slices trying to figure out what sort of texture they reminded me of... A really soft apple-inside comes to mind, but not as juicy... And yes, there were tiny fruit seeds in there... Brushed with olive oil and garlic, the slices were sent into the oven to bake and brown... Afterwards, they were layered in a casserole dish with tomatoes, basil, mozza and parmesan, and sent back to the oven...

I have to admit... secretly, I had my doubts... Even though this was supposed to be dinner... I had a backup plan in place, in case it was a complete flop... In this case, hand-made sushi... If push came to shove, we could always fall back on that... When the time was up, I pulled it out of the oven and thought... well, at least the cheese melted...It didn't look all that appealing, but I kept saying, think of it as a sweet potato (the white not the orange variety)... Could be... With some trepidation, we cut pieces out and put them on our plates... a bit of salt and pepper and we agreed to eat our first bite at the same time... presumably so that when we both spit it out, it would land on the other's plate and seal the deal (no more eggplant)!

Some chewing... some more chewing... some swallowing... and a second forkful for each... Hmm... maybe this isn't a flop! After three mouthfuls, we looked at each other and agreed "This isn't half bad... in fact... it's pretty good... like 8/10 in fact!!" Wow... And, we finished the whole casserole dish... Who knew???

I may try the pan-fried variety next time... might leave the skin on next time... But I think I can safely say... eggplant is now a welcome addition to our grocery cart!! And the lesson?? Well... for me... trust in my cooking instincts I guess... And don't diss something until you've actually tried it. I do that a lot... I don't like sourcream. Don't like cottage cheese. Don't like _ _ _ _ _ ... "Well, have you tried it?" No! But that's beside the point! My favourite line is... "it's sour"... Sourcream is sour (duh)... cottage cheese is sour (it comes in the same shaped pots as sourcream)... mustard is sour... mayonaise is sour... yes, I know... I've grown beyond "it's sour!"... So... there is always hope for each of us... try something new... anything... browse the produce section and bring home something new... you never know... you might make a new flora friend!