8. Leave it in the store ;-)

I have to admit I don't really care for it, my mother used to make eggplant parmigiana when I was a child and I really disliked those dinners... Wait, there's one way I like it:

9. Make Baba Ganoujh

LOL Colleen!!!

I must say, this is the first year that we tried eggplant. We do like it on the grill or breaded in egg and breadcrumbs and fried. It's quite nice. BUT you have to salt it and set aside to drain the bitter juices.

You also have to cook it all the way through. If it's white and/or quite firm it's not cooked yet. When it's in baba ganouj it's roasted until it's all sunken in and soft and green and delicious. :)

Slathering it in garlic and olive oil doesn't hurt either! I have found that eggplant varies greatly in taste, probably due to growing and harvesting conditions. I'm trying some of the smaller varieties this year in the garden. I like it, but it is expensive to buy in the store and not all that nutritious, so it is an occasional treat for me, usually for ratatouille or baba ganoush, once and a while parmigiana. Now you've got me hankering for it! I just saw a recipe for open faced eggplant sandwiches that I may have to try. But first, I have to master artisan whole wheat bread to put it on!!

My favorite thing to do with the small in diameter ones (Italian is best, but it can even be done with the big fat ones if you're clever with a knife and remove the seed veins--leave them in for the small ones):

Choose fruits with a good tight skin and few if any breaks or scars. Should make a nice hollow thump when patted. Wash the eggplants and cut off the stems and sterns. Cut lengthwise in half, then cut slivers so that there's a goodly arc of skin and a point of flesh all the way through for each piece.

Prepare a baking sheet (paper or spray). Pour a very small amount of good olive oil in a pie plate or other flat pan--you can use a mixing bowl, but it's harder to use. Put some spears in skin side down and roll them around quickly so the white sides get oiled without soaking up a lot. Transfer to the baking sheet, skin side down, and repeat until all are done.

Sprinkle very liberally with lemon pepper or any spice blend you prefer. The one I use is pepper, lemon peel, lemon oil, corriander, and thyme. I think the lemon is particularly well suited because the lemon oil sinks in and becomes very aromatic, but I've done it with garlic pepper, and pepper with mixed dried herbs. Pepper goes particularly well, but any distinctive flavor that suits you better is fine.

Broil or bake at about 375 degrees for about an hour and a half (I've been known to put it on the rack under dinner, whatever it is, and it works), until the flesh is well browned and sunken and the edges look almost burnt. The sunkenness is from the departure of water. The almost burnt is the delicious caramelization. You can also grill them on a barbecue.

Very very delicious hot or cold. I don't know if they keep because no matter how many I make, they disappear very fast.

I've just remembered I liked them how we made them in Viet Nam at a cooking class. They used small purple and white stripey ones a little larger than a couple of eggs joined together. We added onions and garlic and tomatoes and braised them in a little clay pot for ages. That was nice.