Roast Eggplant with Garden Salsa

Flavorful and colorful, this was a winner at cooking club.

Once a month or so, six of us girls get together for our own Loyola Cooking Club.  Taking turns at each of our homes, the hostess of the month chooses the theme.  Over the years we have cooked and shared our best chocolate cake or cheesecake (we always waddle out the door on those days!), or it could be something as simple as lemon where a meal is made using lemon in all recipes from beverage to dessert.   Or it may be that all recipes come from a certain cookbook, or nowadays, a blog.

Our hostess this time asked us to make recipes from the Smitten Kitchen blog, written by Deb Perelman.  The banter that accompanies each post is fun and I found myself liking this woman who is not only a clever writer, she is an amazing cook.  We decided that each of the eight prepared recipes were delicious (well there was one that wasn't quite as good as the rest), and we will definitely be visiting this blog again.  This recipe received thumbs up by all in attendance.

One eggplant makes eight servings
Prep and cook time:  about 30 minutes

1 to 2 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons olive oil
1 eggplant cut in 3/4- to 1-inch slices
Salt and pepper to season eggplant
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 ounces (1/2 cup) crumbled feta
2 tablespoons capers, drained
2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced
3 tablespoons minced fresh mint leaves
Freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Coat a large baking sheet generously with olive oil, about 1 to 2 tablespoons. Arrange eggplant rounds in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Seasoned and ready to go into the hot oven.

Roast, without disturbing, for 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully flip each piece: the undersides should be blistery, dark and a bit puffy and should release from the pan with no effort. If they’re not, let it cook longer. Once flipped, sprinkle them with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper and return the pan to the oven for another 10 to 12 minutes or so, until the undersides match the tops.

Nice and browned and slightly puffy.  Mix the salsa ingredients
while the eggplant is cooking.

Meanwhile, place the red onion and vinegar together in a small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes*.  Mix crumbled feta, capers, tomatoes, mint, onions and vinegar, and remaining 4 teaspoons olive oil (I used less!) in a bowl. Adjust seasoning. Add more vinegar, if desired. Add freshly ground black pepper, to taste.


Ingredients for the topping are ready to be mixed.

A final touch, mint blossoms for garnish.

Each serving includes one slice roasted eggplant topped with several spoonfuls salsa (about 1/4 - 1/3 cup).  Calories come in under 100 calories, over 3 g fiber, and over 2 g protein per serving.  As the salsa and eggplant are veggies, there are lots of good vitamins and minerals as well.  The very small amount of cholesterol and saturated fat comes from the cheese.  Otherwise, the fats are mostly monounsaturated.

*Soaking the red onion in vinegar softens the bite of the onion.  Toss the whole mix of vinegar and onion into the rest of the ingredients when making the salsa.  This was another little gem gleaned from Deb Perelman's blog!

- Kim Fielding