It’s the most delicious time of year to be a vegetable-lover — don’t you agree? We’ve got wonderful recipes to help you make the most of summer produce, whether it comes from your insanely productive garden, the farm stand, that large haul of zucchini your neighbor gifted you, or the supermarket. This first in a series of stories is our Summer Produce Special — a bumper crop of our best recipes featuring the vegetables of the moment. Today that would be . . . eggplant!
Got eggplants?
• If you have the gorgeous baby kind featured in the photo above, and if you can get fresh curry leaves, you can make the outrageously good Charred Baby Eggplants from Anjali Pathak’s The Indian Family Kitchen. (We’re working on a mini-review of the book, coming soon!) This is one of the best things we’ve eaten all year. And it has been a long year. The eggplants are melty-soft and the coconutty, spicy topping — with dabs of yogurt and delicate curry leaves — turns the into something super special.
• Make ‘em dance! Those babies are also perfect for the chef José Andrés’ crazy-delicious, umami-forward Dancing Eggplant. Nuke or grill them, slather them with a Japanese-inspired sauce and top with bonito flakes that seem to dance.
• Throw any eggplants, large or small, in the bottom of your grill (or your broiler) and make the best Baba Ganoush imaginable.
• Baba-ed out? Make a lively Charred Eggplant Salad, zingy with lemon.
• Medium-sized eggplants are perfect for a fabulous Baked Kofta with Eggplant and Tomato, from Sami Tamimi’s new Falastin cookbook. Each kafta (lamb patty) crowns a stack of tomato and eggplant, so best if the eggplants aren’t too fat.
Next up in our Summer Produce Special series: Zucchini. Watch this space: It’s coming to Cooks Without Borders soon!
RECIPE: Baked Kofta with Eggplant and Tomato