Alongside all of this production, I decided to try and make use of the eggplants that GrandMother had sent - two purple and two white.
I read several recipes online, and started winging it (which can be dangerous !).
I cut all of the eggplants up into about 1/4" slices, and salted both sides, waiting about 5 minutes for the moisture to come out. I recall that this "de-bitterized" the eggplant I rinsed the slices and dried them, and coated them in about 1 Tbsp. of good olive oil. Since Wife had the grill going for the burgers, I grilled them all, losing two through the grates. :-(
I headed toward Ina Garten's "Eggplant Gratin" recipe.
In that recipe, she slices the vegetable 1/2" thick, so we'll see how that difference turns out.
She made a custard of ricotta, half-and-half, and egg, then layered browned eggplant slices and marinara sauce. The gratin was then baked.
Mine was pretty good. I think that the thicker slices would haven been better.
As is always the case in a surfing session, I found some interesting stuff. The eggplant picture came from a blog called Tuesdays with Dorie , where, since January 2008, a collection of bakers - hundreds of them ! - have been baking through the recipes in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. (James Beard Award winner). They post their comments on each weekly recipe on their own blogs, posting a link to their blog post on the Tuesdays with Dorie site. HOW FUN !
