I never had much success frying eggplant planks. I’ve switched to grilling them with better results. I layer them like Lasagna noodles for my go to eggplant dish.

There are many shortcuts to making Eggplant Parmigiana. The version that appears in our home uses eggplant that's neither breaded nor deep-fried and it tastes great. And is pretty easy to make.

Good luck. I've mentioned it before here - while you're in to messing with eggplant, don't miss trying Baba Ghanoush. It's a dip made mostly of cooked eggplant with some flavorings (including garlic) that's heavenly.

That's what I was trying to remember Elmer, was the dish you've recommended before. I just noodled and it's a Greek version of hummus. It also calls for tahini. I've only seen tahini in large jars.

For Baba Ghanoush, I prefer using an immersion blender rather than a food processor - less mess and easier cleanup, and it does the job well.

I've made moussaka (although I've mispronounced it most of the time, I think) a few times, but I substituted velouté sauce for béchamel because the milk disagrees with me, and this causes problems when I order it in restaurants. I've made eggplant parmigiana much more frequently, and the cheeses do not bother me the way milk does.

Today I watched Brad Leone make salmon jerky and thought I would like to try that:

I've gotten a lot of my more recent ideas from Brad, and I still use his sauerkraut and mustard recipes - neither of which I had made until I saw his videos.

We grow only 1 eggplant plant. Never have used it in recipes but do slice it up in 1" thick "steaks" brush both sides with olive oil, season to taste, and grill for about 10 minutes while flipping over 3-4 times for an even toasty treat.

We like using the Asian varieties, which are less bitter and easily available in our markets.

Our favorite Japanese restaurant is run by an owner/chef who specializes in classic Edo sushi, and only does a few rolls. He has one with thin slices of grilled garlic eggplant in combination with some other ingredients, and it's amazing. I would never have imagined eggplant could be so flavorful in a makizushi.

We like to use eggplant in Indian and Thai dishes, too.

I've only ever made eggplant tempura, cut up in chunks or just slices cooked in a little oil and eaten with soy sauce like my mom used to make it. I bought one in my grocery delivery today since my eggplant plants aren't doing much due to all the rain we've had this summer.

I like pastitsio more than moussaka.

I used to grow and cook with eggplant regularly, but haven't in quite some time now.

In the past I made eggplant parmigiana often. Molly Katzen's recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook is the one I like. The breaded eggplant slices are baked, not fried and results are delicious and a bit lighter than the traditional style.

I used to make a pasta dish with sausage and sauteed strips of eggplant in tomato sauce. I haven't made that in years tho. It's very hearty and rich.

I like to try new recipes at least once a week.

Grilling the eggplant slices sounds interesting, I might try that, if I had a grill. And I'm pretty sure I have a Moosehead cookbook somewhere around here in my collection, I'll have to see if I can find it. Eggplant Tempura sounds pretty good, too. And carolb's dish, and Baba Ghanoush. Not sure about the availability of Tahini around here, though. Seems like I vaguely remember once getting the idea I wanted to try to make Halvah, and it called for Tahini, couldn't find it anywhere here.

Lars, salmon jerky sounds pretty good, will be interested to know how you like it if you try it. Tried watching that video last night. Couldn't get past the first few minutes, unfortunately he is a real turn off for me, but I'm glad to know he has good recipes. I've only made sauerkraut a couple of times, and it was a very basic recipe and method. Just cabbage, salt and let ferment. But it was really good, so much better than any I've ever bought. So I'm curious what Brad's recipe is.

Rusty

I make eggplant parm, but I do the eggplant cutlets as mentioned in the Mooswood cookbook. I bake mine. I remember that book but have never used it. It just seemed the most logical thing to do to bake them instead of frying. My Italian MIL used to fry those breaded eggplant cutlets and they soaked up copious amounts of oil, made a mess in the kitchen and were downright loaded with calories and fat! And, it took a long time to do all that and to clean up the mess.

My cutlets still are fragrant with olive oil. Because I dont use as much oilive oil, I can use a nicer quality of olive oil that has a welcomed taste to it.

I dunk the slices in egg whisked with a bit of buttermilk, and dredge them into a plate of nice home made breadcrumbs from my special bread recipie. The crumbs are seasoned with black pepper and bit of dried oregano and a nice dollop of grated pecorino romano. They go onto a heavy baking surface that that has been graced with a nice bit of olive oil, dressed with another nice round of olive oil on top, and thet go into a hot oven for about 20 minutes, or so.

For even nicer browning they can be flipped over and given a few minutes more.

I slice the cutlets about 1/2" thick and never salt out the eggplant.

By the time the cutlets are browned they have also been relieved of the excess moisture.

They keep well in the fridge for a few days and do freeze well.

They are easy to make some eggplant parm on top of the stove in one of my iron skillets because the cutlets are all prepared. The cutlets are great even without the added sauce and cheese or whatever you choose.

Pork chops can be done very much the same way. I find that the breading that coats the chop allows the meat under the breading to cook to perfection.

Did someone mention Greece with Baba? I've never been to the area but certainly my introduction to this delicious dish, prepared in different variations, was at Middle Eastern restaurants, not Greek ones. I've enjoyed many good Middle Eastern restaurants in my own area and also all over and especially in London. There, I think oftentimes they're Lebanese ones, on the quest for foreign food that I usually follow there at dinnertime.(parenthetical comment, I hadn't previously known that parts of Southeastern Michigan have a pretty large population of folks from Middle Eastern countries or of such cultures and we found many good ME restaurants there on several visits.)

A lot of Eastern Mediterranean cuisines of different cultures mix and match and flow into one another. Peoples there have always traded, moved and interacted -today's political borders and past ones have always been pretty meaningless. No better example than kebabs or shaslik - the tradition of the various types goes for hundreds or thousands of miles across a wide range of cultures. Hummus too.

I have a wonderful recipe for moussaka in one of my cookbooks. I bake the sliced eggplant in a covered Corningware baking dish. My recipe calls for part ground beef and part ground lamb, seasoned with cinnamon. The sauce is made with egg yoke and seasoned with nutmeg. It's really delicious and the best reason for growing eggplant I know of.

I'm not really a fan of baba ganoush. A local Lebanese deli has the best I've ever had.

I love hot garlic eggplant from a local Chinese restruant but have no idea how to make it.

I love Mossaka but I have never made it. Ever have one of those things you never considered making at home? I have a specialty deli I can get it from.

I also have things that my friends buy but I would only make homemade ( crab cakes, stuffed grape leaves, cannoli (filling) )

My mother used to make moussaka, not an authentic version I'm sure as she hated lamb with a passion so would have used beef. She also made Eggplant Parmigiana. Neither was especially popular in our household as she was the only one who liked eggplant.

The only ways I have liked eggplant is in Baba Ganoush (tahini comes in more or less half pint jars here) and a Vietnamese chilli and garlic braised eggplant using small, egg sized purple and white striped eggplants which I made in a cooking class in Hoi An.