Mild-mannered eggplant gets a spicy kick from mint, olives, and jalapeno peppers.
Did you know that solanum melongena is called “eggplant” in America because some 18th century cultivars looked like goose eggs? Elsewhere the prolific purple fruit is an aubergine or maybe a brinjal. “Mad apple” came about when someone confused the Italian melanzane with mela insana.
Of course “insana” is how you may feel when you stumble over yet another sack of eggplant left on your doorstep by a stealthy and definitely anonymous benefactor. Like the tomato and potato, it is part of the deadly nightshade family and for centuries people assumed all three were poisonous.
Yesterday the wondrous box of organic vegetables from Elysian Fields Farm, our amazing CSA, disgorged a few more pounds of slim, curvy dark purple and pale lavender eggplants. They are so lovely and tender at this time of year that I usually rush to put them on the grill, brushed with a little miso mixed with sugar and sake. Soft, a little sweet and slightly charred, they are delicious with anything else you might want cook over hot coals, especially lamb chops or pork tenderloins.
I love Paula Wolfert’s recipe for caponatina, a Sicilian dish of eggplant with celery and green olives in homemade tomato sauce, splashed with lots of red wine vinegar. Ditto for her Moroccan eggplant and tomato salad, in which both are cooked to the consistency of jam. Both recipes are in my well-splattered copy of her cookbook, A World of Food, and in true Wolfert fashion, they need to be prepared a day or two before serving.
But this week I’m tired. I’m also crazy for fresh mint from the garden, fruity Kalamata olives and ricotta salata, a flavor-packed trio that worked magic with summer squash a few days ago. I decided to try them with eggplant.
When very fresh eggplant is cut into chunks and sautéed in olive oil, the flesh becomes rich and almost creamy. To spice it up, I added chopped onion, lots of garlic and a slivered jalapeno (more bounty from the garden), then tossed in some tomato. At the end, I stirred in the mint, olives and ricotta. It was even better than the squash.
From start to finish, this is a 25-minute dish and so satisfying that it’s all you need for supper on a hot summer night. Which leaves you lots of time to pick whatever else is ripening in the garden.
Eggplant with Fresh Mint, Kalamata Olives, Jalapeno and Ricotta Salata
To serve 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main dish
Ingredients:
1 pound slender Asian eggplants
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and slivered vertically
1 small tomato, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 small handful fresh mint, about 1/2 cup of leaves stripped off the stems
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
3 ounces ricotta salata, crumbled in largish pieces
Method:
1. Trim off the tops of the eggplants and cut them into 1/2-inch chunks.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pan over a medium flame. Saute the onions and garlic for 1 minute, then add the eggplant and sauté for about 8 minutes until it becomes soft and creamy and starts to brown around the edges. The eggplant will quickly absorb most of the olive oil, so add the remaining 2 tablespoons as soon as needed.
3. After 8 minutes of sautéing, add the jalapeno and tomato and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more.
4. Remove the eggplant mixture from the heat and add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir in half of the mint leaves, and all the olives and crumbled ricotta salata. Set the mixture aside for 5 minutes so that the flavors can mingle. Just before serving, stir in the rest of the mint and serve warm.