Easy Cheesy Eggplant Bake Recipe (Vegetarian Casserole) - Home & Plate (2024)

FAQs

How to recipes eggplants in oven? ›

Brining adds flavor and texture to eggplants. "Mix spices and salt with water, then soak sliced eggplant in the brine for 30 minutes before cooking.

A raw eggplant is crunchy and flavorless, like a raw potato. When it's cooked, “it should turn fully tender, all the flesh should be somewhat custardy. If you have to, hammer it a bit, knock it around, let it start to collapse.”

The best eggplant is caramelized and crispy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth tender on the inside. This is achieved by giving the cubes or slices enough room to brown while they cook. If you overcrowd them in the pan or baking sheet, they'll steam instead of brown and you'll never get that caramelization.

While the skin of a small young eggplant is edible, the skin becomes bitter on larger or older eggplants and should be peeled. When in doubt, the answer to, "Do you peel eggplant before cooking?" is yes, peel it. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the skin.

Eggplants are brimming with fibre besides water, antioxidants which help reduce gut inflammation, relieve constipation by acting as a laxative; and improve the overall digestive health.

Other nightshades like tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers contain alkaloids, or a form of carbohydrate-binding proteins called lectins that can cause inflammation and digestive issues in some people.

The oil still left in the eggplant tissues contributes to the soft, buttery texture that's so appealing. Oil also carries the essence of added herbs and spices, so that eggplant dishes can become rich with the aromas and heady flavors of onions, peppers, anchovies, parsley, garlic, and lemon juice.

Answer. Eggplant flesh will have tan to brown colored spots around the seeds. If this is the color you are referring to, it is edible. If the flesh is more brown than white, the eggplant may be spoiling and should be discarded.

However, if you can't get your head around cooking eggplant without salting it, here's how: sprinkle the cubed eggplant with 1 tsp salt, toss, leave in colander for 30 minutes. Rinse then thoroughly pat dry, toss with oil and pepper (NO SALT), roast per recipe.

Why do you soak eggplant in vinegar? ›

Why do you soak eggplant in water and vinegar? Soaking eggplant in water and vinegar helps remove some of the vegetable's natural bitterness. This step also helps preserve some of the skin's color so it stays a vibrant purple even after cooking.

Eggplants can have the alkaloid solanine, which can give it a bitter taste. “Another compound possibly contributing to eggplant's bitterness is anthocyanin, which is a phytochemical that gives eggplant its pretty purple hue and can act like an antioxidant when we consume it,” says Nichole Dandrea-Russert, MS, RDN.

You mentioned that once they turned out tough and chewy: then they were not cooked fully through. Vegetables are not like meat, which turn rubbery when overcooked. They turn soft rather. Watch out for the opposite as well: Eggplants when cooked for a long time may turn mushy.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

If you are worried that the eggplant might be bitter, slice or cube it, then salt it liberally and allow it to drain for an hour or so before cooking. Putting salt on the eggplant triggers osmosis, which draws out excess moisture and the bitterness along with it.