Medallions of Grilled Eggplants with Tuna, Cherry Tomatoes, and Feta. It’s a fresh and light summer recipe, perfect for any occasion, both as an appetizer and a light main course.
This recipe I propose today is fresh and flavorful, can be served as a cold main course, perfect against the summer heat.
With the heat arriving and a new African anticyclone heating our peninsula, the desire to turn on the stove is minimal, and we seek fresh and light dishes.
Summer gives us eggplants, a basic ingredient in many typically Mediterranean preparations. For this recipe, I chose the variety called ‘Round Dark Eggplant.’
The round eggplant has a classic semi-spherical shape with a bright violet color (which is why this variety is also called ’round violet’), has a sweet and tender flesh, sometimes reaching significant sizes weighing up to 1.1 lbs; it can be consumed in various ways, for example, sliced and then fried or grilled, or stuffed and baked.
Its flesh is quite sweet, so it doesn’t need to be purged beforehand and is perfect for grilling, unless it is slightly overripe: in this case, it will still have a pungent flavor and many seeds inside.
As with all other varieties of this vegetable.
With some slices of eggplant, we can enrich the classic caprese of tomato and mozzarella, making it even tastier and more colorful.
Thanks to its simple preparation, this recipe can be served in no time and is equally good as a side dish.
In practice, I prepared this dish because a couple of friends suddenly came to visit, we sat on the terrace to chat, and in the end, we decided to have dinner together.
To cook something practical and quick, in the fridge, I had some nice eggplants, cherry tomatoes, feta, and canned tuna. Homemade bread, well, that’s never missing.
Seasoned everything with basil oil, and what a delight, guys, it was so good.
I used feta, but you can also use mozzarella.
Successful dinner. Shall we see how to prepare it?
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Stove, Air Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, and Fall
- Energy 327.69 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 13.81 (g) of which sugars 7.01 (g)
- Proteins 17.92 (g)
- Fat 23.75 (g) of which saturated 9.40 (g)of which unsaturated 4.72 (g)
- Fibers 5.38 (g)
- Sodium 1,233.18 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 200 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
Grilled Eggplants with Tuna, Cherry Tomatoes, and Feta
- 2.2 lbs eggplants (2 large round)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 7 oz feta
- 6 oz tuna (drained weight)
- as needed basil
- 1 tbsp capers (optional)
- garlic
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- as needed salt
Tools
- Grill Pan
- Bowl
- Colander
Steps
Grilled Eggplants with Tuna, Cherry Tomatoes, and Feta
Start by washing the eggplants well under running water and drying them.
Wash the eggplant and cut it into slices of uniform thickness (1/8 to 1/4 inch, depending on your preference).
Grill them on a well-heated grill pan, turning them once or twice.
If desired, before grilling, you can place them in a colander and sprinkle with salt to remove some of their water.
(You can lightly brush the slices of eggplant with more olive oil during cooking, if desired).
Meanwhile, wash and dry the cherry tomatoes and cut them into wedges.
Place them in a bowl and season with olive oil, salt, and chopped basil. For those who like it, add some finely chopped garlic.Add the drained tuna.
If you like, you can add some desalted capers.
Wash the feta from its brine and cut it into coarse pieces.
Once the eggplants are ready, arrange them on a serving platter.
Add the seasoned cherry tomatoes, feta, a bit of raw oil, and finally some fresh basil.
And here is our unique dish ready to be served.
Tips
If you wish to prepare the Caprese with Eggplants in advance, I recommend keeping the ingredients separate and assembling the dish only at the end. Tomatoes seasoned with tuna and feta tend to release a lot of water, compromising the dish’s presentation.
If you don’t like garlic, don’t add it; it will still be delicious.
Storage
As mentioned above, the seasoned eggplants are not suitable for long-term storage.
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