Learning to Love Eggplant

When I was a child eggplant (aubergine) was my most hated food. I wasn’t a picky eater, but something about the odd sponginess of the eggplant turned me off. To be fair, most of my eggplant experience was with vegetable stir-fry, a staple in our health food household. Here the eggplant became gray, spongy lumps, often bitter, and with a sometimes tough skin. I couldn’t stand it. I began to tell people I was allergic to avoid eating the stuff.

Then I grew up and moved to Europe. I lived in Vienna and, in the midst of a gray Austrian winter, I would escape to Greece. Here I experienced eggplant bliss—gorgeous dishes that somehow transformed this formerly despised vegetable into something delicious. Later I lived in Asia for five years and fell in love with what that part of the world can do with an eggplant: Japanese grilled eggplant with miso, Thai green curry with eggplant and basil, baingan bharta, a curried eggplant dish from India. Now I can’t get enough of it, and the vegetable I used to be “allergic” to is one of my favorite foods.

In my mind eggplant will always be connected with Greece, for that is where I learned to like them. Recently I’ve been thinking of making a Greek dinner for a group of friends and decided to try a new recipe for baked vegetables (Hortariká Briám), to see if I wanted to include it on the menu. This recipe is from the cookbook on Greek cooking that I bought, 15 years ago, on my first trip to Greece (could it possibly have been that long ago?).

BAKED VEGETABLES WITH TOMATO SAUCE (HORTARIKÁ BRIÁM)
Adapted from The Best Traditional Recipes of Greek Cooking, by Dimitri Haïtalis
1 large potato
1 large zucchini (corgette)
1-2 eggplants (aubergines). I like to use Japanese eggplant as the circumference is similar to the zucchini and I find the skin softer. If using European eggplants, only use 1 small one.
3-4 roma tomatoes
1/2 large onion
2 peppers (I prefer the taste of red peppers, but green is fine if you like them)
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp fresh mint, chopped
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 block feta cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Wash vegetables and remove stems. Peel the potato and onion. Core and seed the peppers. Cut the potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and onion into 1/4 inch slices, as close in size as possible (cut the zucchini and eggplant on the bias to make them larger if needed). Quarter the peppers and cut in half across the width.

Put all the sliced vegetables, except the onions, in a mixing bowl and drizzle 1/4 cup of the olive oil over them. Toss until all the vegetables are lightly coated in oil (add more if necessary). Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and toss again. Oil a square baking dish and begin to arrange the vegetables in rows with each slice slightly overlapping—potato, zucchini, eggplant, onion, pepper, and repeat again until all the vegetables have been used. You may have to squeeze to fit them all in (they may be standing on their side), but in the end should have three rows of alternating veggie slices.

Chop the tomatoes into a medium dice and toss in the mixing bowl with 3/4 of the fresh herbs and the remaining olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour this mixture over the vegetable slices. Bake for about 1 hour, until all the vegetables have softened. Serve as a first course or side dish, with the remaining herbs sprinkled on top and slices of feta cheese alongside. Make sure to spoon some of the pan juices over top of vegetables. Serves four.

PS. To my mind, the real test of any recipe is if you wake up the next morning craving the leftovers for breakfast. This one passed with flying colors. It's definitely on the menu.