The grilled eggplants with chimichurri are a delicious and simple to make appetizer or side dish, ideal to serve cold and perfect to prepare even the day before. During summer, they are the ideal side dish for barbecues of meat and fish. The chimichurri sauce, a typical South American preparation, gives the eggplants an intense and aromatic flavor, softening them and making them irresistible. If prepared the day before, the eggplants will have more time to absorb the flavors, but even a one-hour marinade in the refrigerator or at room temperature will be enough to achieve a great result. These grilled eggplants can also be served as a main course for a vegetarian summer dinner, accompanied by other cold vegetable dishes like zucchini carpaccio, cold pepper soup, or baked gratin tomatoes.
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Grill
- Cuisine: International
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, and Autumn
- Energy 141.18 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 9.27 (g) of which sugars 5.12 (g)
- Proteins 1.65 (g)
- Fat 12.05 (g) of which saturated 1.73 (g)of which unsaturated 0.20 (g)
- Fibers 4.63 (g)
- Sodium 102.85 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 90 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 for Grilled Eggplants with Chimichurri Sauce
- 1.3 lbs oval black eggplants
- 0.21 cups extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch parsley
- 2 tbsps vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 hot chili pepper
- to taste salt
- 1 pinch oregano
- 1 pinch ground cumin (optional)
- 1 pinch smoked paprika (optional)
Tools
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Garlic Press
- 1 Grill Pan
How to Prepare Grilled Eggplants with Chimichurri
To prepare the eggplants with chimichurri, first make the chimichurri sauce, which needs to rest for about half an hour in the fridge. Finely chop the parsley (1) with a knife. Put it in a bowl and add the chopped chili pepper, oregano, and, if you like, cumin and paprika. Also add the crushed garlic with the garlic press (2). Before pressing it, you can cut it in half and remove the central part, which is the most indigestible. Then add a good pinch of salt, the vinegar, and the oil (3).
Mix carefully using a spoon until you get a fairly liquid sauce (4). Cover the bowl and let the chimichurri rest in the fridge for half an hour. Meanwhile, grill the eggplants: wash them, dry them, remove the stem, and cut them into slices about 1/8 inch thick (5).
Place a non-stick grill pan on the stove, brush it with a little oil, and heat it very well. Then arrange the eggplant slices (6) and grill them for about 2 and a half minutes. Then turn them over, lightly salt them, and cook them on the other side for a couple of minutes (7).
As the eggplants are cooked, place them next to each other on a plate or tray, forming a first layer. Season them with a couple of tablespoons of chimichurri (8). With the other eggplants, form more layers on top of each other, seasoning each layer with a little chimichurri, until all the eggplants are used. Finish by pouring the remaining chimichurri over the top layer (9).
Cover the grilled eggplants with chimichurri with a sheet of food film and let them marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
Storage
Chimichurri marinated eggplants can be stored in the refrigerator, in a glass container, for 3 or 4 days.
Tips and Variations
With the same sauce, you can also season zucchini or grilled peppers. If you don’t have a grill, you can bake the eggplants in the oven, placing them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and brushing them with a little oil. It will take 15-20 minutes in a ventilated oven at 356°F.
