Eggplant's an uncommon vegetable to most of America. But in France, aubergine are elegant and in Japan, eggplant, especially the little white pearl eggplant, is a vegetable worth celebrating.
I don't have favorites: not with my children, not with restaurants, and not usually with dishes to cook. But I do have a favorite dish to cook with eggplant: Lasagnette de Melanzane, a sort of eggplant lasagna. The melanzane, or eggplant is sliced thin, salted, and fried. It's layered with a thick, rich tomato sauce, and offset by a tangy goat cheese.
Of course, while you're cooking, you might make a little cook's snack with some of the crispy eggplant slices. Spread them with a little sun-dried tomato spread then roll them up and serve them as a little bite with cocktails.
Because eggplant is so inexpensive, you may think it's crazy to grow your own. But on the show, my friend, master gardener Lynn Brown, at Forni-Brown-Welsh Gardens, gives us great reasons why it's definitely worth the effort. For instance, an eggplant just fresh from the garden isn't bitter, and won't need salting.
With those fresh eggplant, I make Caponata, a dish destined to become one of your favorites — a rich mix of caramelized eggplant, onions, roasted red peppers, spiced with capers and caper juice. And tune in for a pasta lesson that includes a roasted eggplant ravioloni in a roasted tomato sauce. By the end of the show, you'll love eggplant as much as I do.
