My Mum used to make us crumbed eggplant when we were
kids. It is amazingly delicious. Crunchy crumb, soft semi salty centre. YUM! I
used to make it quite often but it’s been a while. I made some last weekend and it was
delicious. I thought I’d try my hand at
a cauliflower puree too – they seem to be all the rage – and with some snow
peas. I must say, it was a cracking
success!
I haven’t been putting an ingredients list in and thought it
would be helpful as I like it when other people have one when I’m using their
recipes so here it is:
To feed 4 people depending on the size of the eggplant and
how hungry you are
1 large eggplant
Salt
3-4 cups fresh breadcrumbs (you can use packet ones but go
the fresh ones, they make a HUGE difference.
I used frozen bread rolls that had been in our freezer so long I don’t
remember buying them, so they were stale and frozen, I whizzed them up in the
processor and they worked a treat. Don’t
go using good bread, use your scraps. In
fact, save your old crusts, etc. in a freezer bag and use them!)
1/2 -1 cup wholemeal flour
2 eggs
¼-½ cup milk
Salt and pepper
Half a head of cauliflower
2 cups vegetable stock
Good dollop of butter
Splash of milk
500 grams snow peas
Okay, so to start you need to salt the eggplant – don’t salt
it for too long though or it will be salty and yuck. You need to salt it to bring out the bitter
juices. So, cut it into 1cm rounds – if
the rounds are large, cut them in half so they’re semi circles. Then put them into a colander one layer at a
time and sprinkle with salt, add another layer, salt, etc. then stand the
colander on the sink and leave for about half an hour.
While the eggplant salts you can get your
crumbing ingredients ready, simply put your flour in one bowl, and your breadcrumbs
in another then add the eggs and milk to another bowl and put in some salt and
pepper or other spices that appeal like chilli.
Once the eggplant has been sitting there for a while you’ll
notice some brownish liquid has escaped from it. This is good.
These are the bitter juices. Now
you’ll need to rinse the eggplant, I like to rub each piece as I rinse it then
pat it dry with a tea towel or paper towel.
I know it sounds like a lot of work, but TRUST ME, it is worth the
deliciousness at the end!
Now, you’re ready to crumb.
This bit is a bit messy and quite fun.
Simply coat the eggplant in the flour – you do need to press it in a
bit, then put it into the egg wash, then the crumb, again you need to pres the
crumb in a bit. You’ll need to do it one
piece at a time to get it well covered, it’s a little time consuming but again
– the yummy is worth it!
Now, once you’ve got a few pieces ready heat some oil in a
large pan, about 5mm deep. I use olive
oil but an vegetable oil would do. I
wouldn’t use coconut oil as it would make the eggplant taste coconutty and I
just don’t think it would work. Now,
once the oil is hot, gently put the eggplant slices in then turn down to a
medium heat. I cover the pan too, I find
this way the eggplant absorbs a little less oil and cooks through well. Keep crumbing your other slices while you
start cooking the initial ones, you do need to do them in batches. Check on them regularly and turn once they
are brown and crispy looking.
While your eggplant is cooking, get started on your
cauliflower. I rinsed the cauliflower
after chopping it into chunks, then brought the stock to a boil and put the
cauli in. Boil it until it is tender,
then drain in a sieve/colander and put back into the pot, add the butter and a
tiny bit of milk then use a hand mixer to blend – you could put it into a food
processor or blender too but would probably have to cool it a bit first. Mashing it might work too. Once it is pureed, add some salt and pepper
to taste then keep in the pot so that you can reheat it easily once you’re ready
to serve.
Once the eggplant has cooked on both sides, place it on
paper towel so that some of the oil can be drained off.
When your eggplant is *almost* ready, put a pot of water on
and blanch the snow peas. Serve the
eggplant on top of the puree with the veg on the side. So yummy.
Vego Sausage liked the puree but preferred an apple to
anything else – Vego Papa and I weren’t worried though, it meant more for us!!
It was also a night where Vego Sausage wasn’t that keen on
sleeping when she normally sleeps, so we thought, well, if she’s not sleeping,
we might as well eat ice cream cones.
They were good. We shared!
Sorry I’ve been lax with my posts, I promise there will be
more vego goodness heading your way soon.
And some more tales of toddlerhood too!
Things have been very busy in Vego Manor and finding the time to sit and
type out a post is rare. Getting photos
off the camera is hard too with an almost two year old who is SO HELPFUL! And I don’t want to post recipes without
photos, it’s like having chips without salt – wrong!
Well, time for bed for this Mumma.
Much love Vego Friends! Until next time x
No comments:
Post a Comment