Occasional cooks: eggplant

Here is your weekly thread to talk anything and everything food. 

Share what you're cooking this week, ask for tips or recipes for a dish, tell us about your meals out. 

Via SBS

Inspired by a conversation with Potter the other day, we're talking eggplant.

I can understand why some people dislike eggplant - if you've had it badly cooked, it's pretty horrible. It can be bitter, and, when under-cooked, crunchy in a deeply unpleasant way. 

And I've also seen complaints about the texture when over-cooked, that it's slimy and mushy. Since ratatouille involves cooking it almost to mush, and I love ratatouille, I'm in two minds on this criticism.

An image search for ratatouille brings up lots of neatly layered versions, clearly based on the dish from the Pixar Ratatouille, but the traditional version is much messier. 

I wonder if this contributes to people not enjoying eggplant - they tried to do a ratatouille like the movie does it. The one time I tried to cook one like this, the vege didn't cook anywhere near enough - to my mind, ratatouille is a sloppy melange of vegetables, cooked until they merge into each other.

My recipe:

Onions (and garlic, if you want)
Eggplant
Zucchini/courgette
Capsicums/bell peppers
Canned tomatoes

Herbs/salt and pepper

Cut the vege into large-ish cubes (around 1 to 1.5 inches) - the onion can be smaller.

In a large pan, sweat the onions with some oil, then add the eggplant, zucchini and capsicum, and cook for a few more minutes until starting to soften. Add the tomatoes, plus some dried herbs. Cook on the stovetop, or in the oven, for at least an hour. Everything should be falling apart by the time you serve it.

It's traditionally a side-dish, but serve with some nice bread or pasta for a meal.

And this is one of those dishes that improves with a day in the fridge, so make lots and enjoy the leftovers.

Another favourite eggplant dish that I've never made for myself is Japanese miso-glazed eggplant. Here's an easy recipe, although I'm not convinced the cooking time is long enough.

Perhaps Horsey Mike has a useful recipe for this?

Via Epicurious

And you can also slice eggplant thinly, crumb it, and cook it on a grill - a favourite of my vegie friends for barbeques.

Lastly, here is the saddest image of eggplant I found - a microwave ratatouille. That anyone published this image and thought it might entice people to cook...

Via Food Network