Adelaidefoodies – Food blog Adelaide, SA, Australia

I decided to continue with my series of preserved food and make it into a category.  In my previous post, I’ve already talked about the phrase “Preserved is Better” and in this post, I’ll show a very commonly seen antipasto product, chargrilled eggplant. Eggplants are very versatile in terms of taste. They are bitter when raw but give full, complex and sophisticated flavours and soft & fine textures when well cooked. Thus, in many cuisines, cooking eggplant involves salting, draining and rinsing the sliced fruit. This is known as degorging and we will use it today in the recipe as well.

Ingredients 

3 Eggplants – sliced vertically

salt

tarragon leaves – several pieces

1 red chilli pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Masterfoods mixed herbs

Steps

1. Salting of the vertically sliced eggplants. Make sure you add more than enough salt to extract the bitterness of the fruit.

2. After salting for 15 mins., gently rinse off the excess salt and slightly press the slices to squeeze the water out and drain.

3. Put the eggplant slices on chargrill or hot pan. Cook until soft and it now should have some beautiful char mark.

4. In a glass container, place a layer of mixed herbs, tarragon leaves and red chill at the bottom. Add the chargrilled eggplant slices. Make sure they are fully packed into the container.

5. Top the container with extra virgin olive oil and make sure all the slices are fully immersed in the oil. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 days before serving. Serve at room temperature.

I recently made some vinegar cured sardines and I’ll put a post up soon. Enjoy!