Food week: Eggplant caprese
We’re taking a break from the roasted peppers today, but don’t worry, they’ll be back Thursday and Friday!
This is an easy one, and pretty darn delicious.
• 1 large eggplant
• 2 large beefsteak tomatoes
• 8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
• fresh basil leaves
I prefer to draw some of the liquid out of the eggplant. To do that, slice the eggplant, arrange the slices on a paper towel, lightly salt the slices, and put another paper towel on top. You can do this in multiple layers as long as you keep a paper towel between the layers. Come back in about an hour; your eggplant will have dried a bunch and your paper towels will be soaked.
You can slice the tomatoes and mozzarella (matching the number of slices is the way to go) while you wait.
Start with the eggplant, then add a slice of tomato on top of that, then a slice of cheese, then a basil leaf.
The end. See how easy that was?
By Tom, 27/01/2010 @ 09:21
I’ve never seen a recipe with uncooked eggplant before. Is the texture OK? Or am I just missing a step here? I have also read before that raw eggplant has a certain level of toxins that need to be cooked off before consumption. I could be totally wrong. I am enjoying your blog, glad I stumbled onto it during food week!
By Josh Shear, 27/01/2010 @ 10:45
Tom – Thanks for coming by! I sometimes bake the eggplant for a half hour or so if I don’t want to wait for the salt to get most of the moisture out. I don’t know about the toxins — if you’ve met me, you know I tend to eat first then think later — but I like the texture when paired with the raw tomato and mozzarella. It gives you a reason to chew!
By the way, for a modification, drop some honey on top.