Recipes from Crazy Eggplant Day

As summer ends and the cool fall days begin, I like to mix the lingering sweet produce with deeper, heavier flavors. This salad, meant to be eaten warm or at room temperature, combines sweet eggplant with smoky pimenton, earthy cumin, and toasty walnuts. The tangy feta and lemon juice round things out perfectly.

Serves 2-3 as a side

2 medium eggplants (the larger globe varieties work best), cut into ½” inch cubes (Sun Gold Farm)
sea salt
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey (Nature’s Best – Oregon Honey)
½ teaspoon pimenton, or smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¾ cup whole walnuts
1 medium clove garlic, pasted (see note) (Gales Meadow Farm)
½ to ¾ cup parsley (Persephone Farm)
½ cup crumbled feta (or other salty, tangy cheese) (Alsea Acres Alpine)
lemon juice
finishing olive oil
fleur de sel

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
2. In a medium bowl, toss the eggplant with a couple good pinches of sea salt. Let it sit for a bit to draw out the bitterness. If you have super-fresh farmers market eggplant, feel free to skip this step.
3. While the eggplant is sitting, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, honey, pimenton, and cumin. Pat the eggplant cubes dry with a clean dish (or paper) towel, then toss them in the dressing until evenly coated. Spread them on a rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven, stirring them occasionally, until soft and golden (about 35-40 minutes). When they’re done, remove them from the oven and set aside to cool a bit.
4. While the eggplant is roasting, spread the walnuts out on another baking sheet. Toast them in the oven until lightly browned (about 5 minutes). Check them frequently – you don’t want to burn them. Remove them from the oven, let cool, then coarsely chop them. Set aside.
5. Finely chop the parsley, then mix will with the pasted garlic to create a persillade.
6. In a large bowl, toss the roasted eggplant with the chopped walnuts, feta, and persillade. Make sure everything is evenly distributed. Finish the salad with a good squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of finishing oil, and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Toss again and serve.

Note: To paste the garlic, first finely chop it, then mash it against the cutting board with the side of your knife blade until you have a smooth paste.

Amie Edelstein moved to Portland 6 years ago and although she liked to cook before, she found herself inspired by the beauty and abundance of local produce and food. Her mission is to help people eat better by cooking and eating seasonally and locally. After honing her technique at the Chef Studio, she now teaches private and small group classes focused on fresh, seasonal cooking and loves helping people try new foods and improve their culinary skills.

This dish is a super delicious way to feature the wide variety of products available from local farms at the Hollywood Farmers Market. The ingredients are also widely available at your local grocery store. It’s a great dish to bring to a potluck or as the main course for a dinner party. Everything except the topping can be made the day before and kept in the refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature, top with the sauce and bake.

For Eggplant/Lamb
Roughly 2/3 cup of olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped (Winter Green Farm)
3 garlic cloves, minced (Winter Green Farm)
1.5 lbs ground lamb (Deck Family Farm)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
3 jars of your home-canned sauce tomatoes OR 20+ fresh romas OR three cans of whole tomatoes, 1 drained, 2 with juice (Winter Green Farm for the fresh tomatoes)
1.5 teaspoons dried mint
3-4 lbs medium eggplant (Winter Green Farm), cut into ¼ – ½ inch-thick slices

For Topping
2 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (for GF option, use 3 T sweet white rice flour and 1 T tapioca flour)
1 ½ cups whole milk
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ cups crumbled feta (Alsea Acre Alpines)
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk (Persephone Farm), beaten
1/3 cup grated parmesan or other hard tasty cheese

Instructions:

Heat some olive oil (3 Tablespoons or so) in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened, 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add the lamb, increase the heat to medium, and cook, breaking up the ground lamb into little bits. Cook lamb until it turns entirely brown and there is no more pink. Stir in cinnamon and allspice, add tomatoes, mint, and salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure the bottom doesn’t burn!

Meanwhile, prepare your eggplant. There are two ways to do this. The easiest and healthiest way is to broil the eggplant. Oil a couple of baking sheets, arrange the eggplant slices into one layer on the sheets, then brush each slice with olive oil. Broil eggplant about 4 inches from the heat until they turn a golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Turn the eggplant slices, brush again with olive oil, and broil another 3-5 minutes until golden brown and tender. Remove from broiler, reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.

The other way to prepare the eggplant is to fry the eggplants on each side in a non-stick pan. Arrange the eggplants on a cutting board (or other flat surface) one layer thick and brush with olive oil. Heat a pan to medium-high heat and add eggplant slices one layer thick in the pan with the olive oil brushed sides face down. As they cook, brush the other side of the eggplant slices in the pan. Flip after about 3-5 minutes. This process achieves the same results but is more time consuming because you have to do it in batches. It also may lead to using more oil if you aren’t careful. Only use this method if you don’t have baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Oil a 13×9 baking dish. Arrange half of the eggplant slices one layer thick on the bottom of the pan, slightly overlapping. Spread lamb mixture over the eggplant and cover with the remaining eggplant slices, slightly overlapping each other.

For the Topping:

Melt butter in a small saucepan with a heavy bottom over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook, creating a roux. Add the milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, still whisking, for 2-3 minutes. Add feta and cook over low heat, still whisking, until cheese is mostly melted. Do not let it boil after this point! Add ground nutmeg and season with salt & pepper. Let cool, covered, for 4-5 minutes. Add the beaten egg mixture to the sauce in a slow stream while whisking. Pour sauce evenly over eggplant and lamb and sprinkle with grated hard cheese.

Bake Market Moussaka for about 30-35 minutes until it is beautiful and bubbling. Let it stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.