Friday, September 28, 2012

Finally

We all know I am not a fan of eggplant. What we didn't know was that chopping into small pieces, drying it out with salt, browning it in olive oil, and baking it with other vegetables and orzo would make it tolerable, and maybe even (gasp) desirable

Making Smitten Kitchen's baked orzo recipe may have marked a turning point in my kitchen. The eggplant in this dish enhances the texture of the cheese and pasta, adds a pretty shade to the color palette, and hardly tastes anything like itself. I followed the recipe almost exactly, and loved the results. The only alterations I made were laying sliced tomatoes on top instead of dicing them and mixing them in, and substituting whole wheat orzo. Now I won't have to give away every single CSA eggplant we receive. Just most of them.


Chopped onion, garlic, carrot, and celery
Pre-baked mixture
Finished product (two days later, just out of the fridge)

5 comments:

Amanda said...

I bought eggplant the other day *just* so I could try this recipe. Mike is convinced that he doesn't like eggplant, and I haven't formed an opinion yet, so fingers crossed that we like it as much as you did!

Madelaine said...

I hope you do! You'll have to let me know :)

Amanda said...

I made it tonight...I can't say that I liked it, but I didn't hate it. Mike didn't realize it was eggplant, although he said he noticed a weird texture. The texture is definitely weird!

Amanda said...

Oh, and I subbed some zucchini in for part of the eggplant, just in case. It's a good addition! I think I didn't put enough of the cheeses in, since I didn't measure them (I just dumped in what I had available :D ) so that might have been part of the problem!

Madelaine said...

I bet zucchini would work well! Eggplant does have a very unique texture :) I think that not hating it is a success!