Grilled eggplants, a very tasty side dish ideal for many occasions; we can enjoy them during an aperitif, a buffet, or to enrich our tables. Grilled eggplants are a great summer dish that is easy to prepare and keeps well for days when stored covered in the refrigerator, so you always have them ready for every occasion. Simply seasoned with garlic, oil, parsley, and chili pepper, they are also perfect for dressing cold pasta, stuffing sandwiches, bruschettas, friselle, and whatever your imagination suggests.
I leave you the recipe to prepare excellent friselle and sandwiches to stuff with eggplants and some other tasty side dish recipes to enrich your tables
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, and Autumn
- Energy 237.79 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 9.61 (g) of which sugars 5.25 (g)
- Proteins 1.65 (g)
- Fat 23.12 (g) of which saturated 3.31 (g)of which unsaturated 0.15 (g)
- Fibers 4.52 (g)
- Sodium 446.90 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 150 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
The ingredients for grilled eggplants are simple and light
- 3 eggplants (medium)
- 5 oz extra virgin olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic
- to taste salt
- to taste chili pepper
- 1 bunch parsley
- 2 tbsps vinegar
Tools
No special tools are needed to prepare grilled eggplants; they are all utensils you surely have in your kitchen
- 1 Colander Giostyle
- 1 Grill Pan Aeternum
Preparation
To prepare the eggplants, my advice is to slice them at least an hour in advance to leave them under salt. This will make them taste better and cook faster.
Wash the eggplants well and remove the stems. With the help of a good fine serrated knife, slice the eggplants to about a quarter-inch thickness; they should not be too thin.
Place the sliced eggplants in a large colander, creating layers without overlapping them too much, and sprinkle fine salt on each layer. Do not overdo it with salt, but consider that it will be the only salt you add to the recipe, so it must be enough to season them.
Once you have sliced and salted all the eggplants in the colander, I recommend covering them with a lid or a plate that presses them down well and letting them drain their natural water for at least an hour, but this time can vary according to your needs. The more drained they are, the faster they cook.
After the resting time for draining, heat the grill pan on high over a medium-large burner and proceed to grill all the eggplants.
As you grill the eggplants, place the already grilled ones in a baking dish or container with high edges, always creating layers of eggplants and season each layer with garlic pieces, chopped parsley, chili pepper, a drizzle of oil, and vinegar. Continue this way until all the eggplants are exhausted. Do not add more salt; the one added earlier will suffice, and finish by covering with a generous layer of oil.
NOTES
You can consume the eggplants as soon as they are seasoned, but my advice is to let them rest to better absorb all the flavors, possibly turning them over on themselves to better penetrate the oil and vinegar between the layers, so you avoid having to add too much oil to cover them well. Grilled eggplants keep for 2/3 days covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I skip salting the eggplants?
Certainly, we can avoid salting the eggplants, but it won’t speed up the process because salting them for at least 30 minutes allows the eggplants to lose some of their natural water, and besides improving the taste, they will cook in less time.
How can I store them?
You can close them in a sterilized container with a lid, making sure that the oil completely covers them.
