The Eggplant Situation!

So there it is, that eggplant, staring at me. I don't love it, I don't hate it, and that's the problem. I seem to always want to try it, but it has about a 50% consumption rate at my house because half the time I seem to wait too long, and then unfortunately they find themselves in the rubbish bin.

 

 

So I gathered together some things that needed to get used before they found a similar fate. The eggplant of course, a spaghetti squash, bok choy, some extra rosemary, chocolate cherry tomatoes, and a lonely cucumber. However, the cucumber and tomatoes made it off the chopping block today but will lose the battle tomorrow with one of my favorite simple side dishes, and that's a cucumber and tomato salad.

Step one? Get that spaghetti squash cut in half, in a baking dish with about an inch of water, and in the oven! That's my bottleneck ... 375 with the fan on, and let it go ...

On aside, I found it fascinating that I use my chest muscles to do just about everything, including cutting a squash in half! I recently had a rib injury and it was quite the project to cut this thing in half without finding myself in pain! But anyway ...

Now that the squash is in the oven, time to chop up the eggplant and bok choy. I separated the bok choy green leaves from the more hearty stems as they vary in cooking times and I didn't want the greens to get too mushy.

After about 20 minutes the spaghetti squash was, well ... it wasn't hard anymore! So it was time to get moving. So I got some olive oil in the skillet (and for the record I cook in cast iron more than half the time, because, well, it's amazing!), and started to cook down the eggplant and white parts of the bok choy. I added some salt, pepper, the rosemary, and a little chili powder. However I did reach for a few drops of my black truffle oil since I didn't have any mushrooms on hand and I thought it would give it a good earthy taste. Made a nice difference.

I would say I cooked them down a good 10 minutes, and then just when the got tender, I added the bok choy greens, and cooked them just another minute or two more ...

 

Once that mixture was done, off the heat it went and got placed into a bowl on the side. I then pulled the cooked squash out of the oven, cut it up, and plated it with the eggplant and bok choy "filling", and I have to say it was pretty good. I tend to be a bit of a tomato sauce person so I added some on the top (the eggplant parmesan won't let me go) but my wife could have done without that.
 

 

Kids? Well, they ate it, but I didn't hear any cheers from the crowd however. Though my son did comment that the eggplant "wasn't bad" so I guess that's a small victory! Just another typical make-shift dinner over here. The best part is I got to use my bok choy, eggplant, and squash all in one sitting!

 

Happy Cheffing,

Matt