Easy Eggplant Recipe (One-Pan Dinner) - Alyona’s Cooking (2024)

FAQs

Easy Eggplant Recipe (One-Pan Dinner) - Alyona’s Cooking? ›

Cooking it at a high temperature (425 F / 218 C) for enough time (25-30 minutes) to give it a browned exterior and tender interior. Just look at those cubed purple beauties!

Cooking it at a high temperature (425 F / 218 C) for enough time (25-30 minutes) to give it a browned exterior and tender interior. Just look at those cubed purple beauties!

If you're baking or roasting eggplants, give them some wiggle room so they cook evenly. You don't want to crowd the baking sheet or pan. "When you lay them on the tray to roast, make sure they're in a single layer and give them enough room to roast properly.

While the skin of a small young eggplant is edible, the skin becomes bitter on larger or older eggplants and should be peeled. When in doubt, the answer to, "Do you peel eggplant before cooking?" is yes, peel it. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the skin.

What do eggplants go with? Flavourings: garlic, chilli, onion, basil, mint, cumin, parsley, coriander, oregano. Ingredients: haloumi, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, anchovies, olives, tomatoes, eggs, beef, lamb, tahini, yoghurt, lemon juice, olives and olive oil.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

Fried or baked eggplant is delicious, but they are not the only ways to cook eggplant. Try it sautéed, stir-fried, grilled, or broiled.

When looking at the exterior of the eggplant, check the stem and cap. Both should be green and fresh-looking. If they are starting to fade in color, that's an indicator that the vegetable may be spoiling. You'll also want to toss the eggplant if there is any mold on the stem or cap.

Eggplants do not store well for long periods of time. Without refrigeration, eggplants can be stored in a cool, dry place for 1 or 2 days. If you don't intend to eat the eggplant within 2 days, it should be refrigerated.

Nearly always I microwave them first, either whole or in pieces, for up to ten minutes at about 750w. This leaves them soft and less bitter, and ready for browning in the frying pan or oven. I find for eggplant parm, slicing thin is the key. If too thick can be tough and rubbery...

How to make eggplant soft? ›

drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper then toss well in a bowl using a rubber spatula. spread out on tray and bake at 240°C/ 450°F for 20 minutes, flip, then for another 10 minutes, until the eggplant is super soft and caramelised on the edges.

Soaking eggplant in water and vinegar helps remove some of the vegetable's natural bitterness.

If you don't have a wine cooler, a cool, dry place like your kitchen counter is the next best thing. In fact, some people say that a room temperature setting is the best place to store eggplant.