Ok well they’re not all purple, but they are in season and now is the time to grab these mouth-watering beauties.

Oh yes my lovelies, the mighty eggplant. I’m testing out posting from my phone here, so this’ll be short and sweet (eh, probably not). But a question I frequently get is “what are you eating now?”

Answer: Eggplant and grapes. We’ll get to grapes in a minute. Eggplant- I was, for a long time, somewhat scared of this veggie and veered away from it. Why? And see I don’t even have to answer that, cause most of you are nodding your heads right now thinking thank GOD it’s not just me.

The best advice? Go buy a few knowing you’re probably going to destroy the shit out of them and experiment. Because cooking eggplant is like snowboarding- when that moment comes where it clicks there’s no going back, you’ll be on an eggplant crack craving high for the rest of your life. Want a fail-safe starter? I’ll link a recipe below (that I cooked this week) that will make you cry it’s so good.

An eggplant is like a sponge in veggie form. You’ll need to introduce liquid or oil to change it’s properties when cooking. Think on that for a minute and absorb it.

Heh heh.

This is the singular property that not only standith it apart from other veggies, but is also why it demands a different cooking method than you’re average greenbean. Not bad, just different.

Ok so a quickie on grapes. They are mostly water! And you’re like, WOW! No shit Sherlock. Yeah yeah. Why is this cool? It’s very easy to change the properties of water. You can freeze them, use them as cool treats in the summer or even as icecubes. You can roast them with proteins (sausage.. chicken) and they release delicious juices that make your oven a sauna of tastiness- and keep your protein moist. Yes I wrote that with a straight face. Try this out- http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2012/01/creamy-polenta-with-sausages-and-roasted-grapes

So here’s the crazy eggplant recipe. Two tips- brush the oil on the eggplant, this allows for even oil distribution, which is important. Second, heat the wine in the microwave for 45 sec and put the saffron in it, let sit for 15 min, then use accordingly. Saffron releases it’s flavor in liquid much better, it’ll give you more flavor and bang for your buck 😀

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/09/eggplant-mozzarella-and-saffron-rice-bake

Tschuss!