Congrats Jammie! Success is always so much fun. Especially in a year when garden success is hard to achieve. I hope you and your little princesses enjoy the eggplant. You're growing some really beautiful varieties.

Dawn

Yes, but what is it's name? How big is it? Is it a boy or a girl ?

PS Whoa! Just saw the new preveiw screen.

Yaaay, Jammie! I'm envious of anyone harvesting ANYTHING at this point, but so glad for you!

Might I suggest eggplant Parmesan (delicious but not really healthy or gluten free, probably) or baba ganoush? I would eat baba ganoush on anything, but especially good with pita bread or naan, and on sandwiches or grilled chicken wraps.

Congrats! Our very favorite way to cook them is slice them in half longways and cook them on the grill with a little olive oil. That's it. Those long small eggplants have such great flavor I don't want to cover it up with anything else.

Chandra's eggplant has its first fruit started, since it is green I hope I can tell when it is ripe!

Thanks, Dawn!

And PunkinHeadJones, it's a white capser eggplant, (6 inches) so I think I am gonna love it and squeeze it and call it George.

Mia, baba ganoush is another exotic food that I am sure I have never eaten, but I will look it up and definitely try!! I hear eggplant is prolific, so I may run out of recipes. I'm not officially gluten-free yet--fingers crossed--but I think there are recipes for the Parm anyway. Have no idea what naan is, lol.

Thanks, guys, one step forward here!
Jammie

Naan is Indian flat bread. There are recipes all over the net.

Jammie - naan is an east Indian type of bread...not gluten free but maybe adjustments can be made.

Chandra - any recipes? Especially one with graham flour maybe?

I really, really wish I liked eggplant. It's so pretty and EXOTIC! Maybe eventually this forum will convince me to try it and like it!

YEA FOR YOU! As has been said, - happy SOMEONE is harvesting SOMETHING. (including you, Dawn!) Let us know if the Princesses like it? Might help convince me to try it if I think the G-kids might like it too.

Paula

It's kind of like hummus, but with much more flavor. Eat it as a dip, as a condiment, or on a spoon. It's yummy! And naan is a kind of Indian bread/tortilla/pita type thing.

Okay, so I put olive oil on it and sliced it thin and roasted it in the oven. The girls liked it, my older one said it tastes like "oprahs" which is okra, and my husband really liked it a lot. YAY!

Paula, I think for the kids, slice it in long, "french fry" shapes, and maybe give them a dipping sauce. I also read where you can sweat the eggplant with salt like you would cucs, then roast them, so they aren't as spongy. I bet roasted up like that would make them even better for my girls. Tasted a lot like squash to me, and a little creamy.

They got tired of baby carrots and ranch dressing, so today I sliced regular carrots long ways and made several 7-8 inch long slices. Then criss-crossed them on a plate with 2 dollops of ranch and some dill sprinkled on top. I said it was a fancy appetizer like at the restaurant, and they oooo'ed and ahhhh'ed at how pretty it was and gobbled it up. LOL. Many times it's in the presentation for the kiddos.

I wonder if you put some kind of shake and bake type coating on the eggplant, then baked it, if they would eat it like fish sticks or chicken fingers.

Thanks, everyone, can't wait to try baba ganoush with naam.

Jammie

Jammie, that's how my mother used to fix eggplant for us, in fingers and battered and fried. It is interesting how different the long narrow ones are to cook than the big ones - no bitterness, no peeling, lots more flavor.

I like baba ganoush best when the pierced eggplants are left on the closed grill after cooking other stuff so they soak up some smoke while they cook until collapsed. That smokiness makes a big difference.

Yay! Now, with this heat, if you keep that many plants watered, you should be in eggplant heaven for awhile.
We like them grilled with a little garlic and olive oil. Or, just roasted in the oven, same way.I pick them right before eating. If picked young, they don't even need peeling, especially the Asian types.

We have harvested eggplants 2 times, one before to the storm and second crop after storm recovery. All plants recovered beyond my expectations. Kudos to all your encouragement and wishes.

We cook eggplants many ways; fried, stuffed, gravy, salad, barta, cooked with rice, etc. I have one link mentioned here talks about few eggplants recipes. you can Google for hundred of variants of eggplant and/or Brinjal recipes. here you go one such link: "Eggplant Recipes"

Here are pics of today's harvest of eggplants, few cucumbers, some carrots... Tanu ate 3 small cucumbers while picking...

Eggplants are drought and heat tolerant, that's why they are very common vegetable in arid regions of the world. Less water and cool temp are not good for them, Indeed very dry and hot conditions keep pests and diseases of eggplants at bay. Have a happy growing and cooking.

Regards -Chandra

Here is a link that might be useful: some pics of harvest...

Chandra, That is an amazing harvest even with the set-backs you have had. Guess this proves you can't keep a good man down, because that certainly proves success under terrible circumstances.

Jammie,
Today I was reading a magazine while waiting for a haircut, and copied down a recipe for sandwiches made with eggplant that sounded really good. It said to slice the eggplant, then salt it and let it sit a little bit so that it wouldn't absorb oil. Mix 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and coat the eggplant with that mixture, then grill it for 7 or 8 minutes. Use ciabatta bread or a similar type of bread, and assemble the sandwich with the grilled eggplant, sliced tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil leaves. My eggplants still haven't produced but they're growing well so my fingers are crossed. I don't even know what type they are, they were just labeled "eggplant." We love eggplant roasted with various other veggies and coated with olive oil and garlic (lots of garlic!).

Suzie

One of our dishes is roasted eggplant soap. Most of the recipes are about the same on the Internet so I usually just search and grab the first one that pops up.
I wish I had more freezer space because this would be a gret way to preserve it.

Man those ideas sound so great!! Chandra, how awesome is that harvest?? I think we are growing some of the same types. Tanu is so precious!

by the way, I discovered the hard way that eggplant has those mean, nasty thorns!! At least I did before the girls did.

It's taken me several years just to get a handle on cooking, so combining new garden veggies with cooking is a new challenge. I will figure it out, though!

Jammie