Eggplant Off-the-Rails

Last night we were cooking Lebanese lentils and rice and decided we might as well cook our eggplant as a side dish.

I hope no one reading this blog is coming away with the impression that we cook in a deliberate, organized fashion. This is kind of what it's like in our kitchen:

"How about a fried, breaded sort of thing? When I did breaded tofu last week, I dipped the sticks in soy sauce before breading them."
"I don't think soy sauce is Lebanese."
"How about vinegar?"

1. Slice the eggplant into rounds and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar.

"Hey, do you think I should marinate them?" [no answer]
Go fold dish towels for a little bit. "Wow, the eggplant soaked up a whole lot of vinegar."

2. Bread the eggplant in a mixture of breadcrumbs (a lot), chili powder (some), and salt (a little).

"Can I fry these now? Oh, you're using all the burners."
"Put it in the oven?"

3. Bake in the oven at, oh, 375 degrees.

"Did you put any oil on those?"
"Oh, shoot."

4. Remove eggplant from oven and drizzle with olive oil and flip. Check after about 15 minutes.

"They're not getting crispy."

5. Flip and return to the oven for a few minutes, hoping for a different outcome.

"Hey, how about I put them under the broiler?"

6. Broil for a couple minutes. Remove and taste.

"I can't really taste the chili powder. Add cheese?"

7. Flip and grate some parmesan on top. Broil for a couple minutes more, until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.


P.S. Lots of relevant stuff on the Bitten blog recently: Mark Bittman is making a winter citrus salad of oranges and grapefruit that looks delicious. Another writer on the blog seems to be coming with us on the dubiously-authentic winter vegetable curries.