Eggplant

Recipes loosely based on “Iron Chef” March 23th, 2001

Main Ingredient: Eggplant

Cooking style: Italian

Iron Chef: Masahiko Kobe Challenger: Yasuhiro Sasajima

This was the first Battle that I tried to cook along with. My notes weren’t

very good, so I don’t know what dishes were inspired by which chef.

There were two Eggplant Battles, Round and Kamo. I have combined all

of my eggplant recipes under Eggplant for simplicity. My Sous Chefs

helped me redo some of the dishes to get pictures.

Sous Chef Katie takes on the task of peeling the eggplant.

Cover all of the eggplant pieces with salt to remove bitterness.

After the salt draws the juice out of the eggplant, rinse off the pieces.

Diced: cut into quarter inch chunks.

Katie gleefully slices carrots for the salad.

Charlotte "Cookie" chops purple onions for the salad.

Wooden Chef shows how much fun breaking up cabbage can be.

1. Eggplant Salad

Julienned eggplant covered with salt to “cure”, remove bitterness. Coleslaw sliced cabbage with carrot slices was put on the plate first then the salt cured eggplant was put on top. Some diced purple onion pieces were put on top of the pile. Next croutons were pushed down into the center of the salad. Malt vinegar was sprinkled on for seasoning.

This dish was inspired by the phrase “salt cured eggplant” used just before the judging to refer to a salad. I had the julienned eggplant left over and didn’t know what to do with it. This last minute inspiration turned out crisp and tasty. 

2. Eggplant and Salmon Sauté

one half cup of diced eggplant, salt cured and rinsed

a 6 ounce can of pink salmon

about a half cup of diced onions

a 6 inch stalk of diced celery

sauté everything in olive oil

3. Eggplant with Scampi 

one half cup of diced eggplant, salt cured and rinsed

one 6 ounce can of small prepared shrimp

8 baby carrots sliced thinly

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

sauté everything in olive oil

Sous chef Christie prepares the tomato sauce.

Christie enjoys cooking the pasta.

4a. Eggplant Pasta:

one half cup of diced eggplant 

one package of tomato flavored ramen noodles

about a dozen cherry tomatoes

Boil all ingredients in a pan on medium high in order to get done before judging.

4b. Eggplant pasta, the rerun:

About two tablespoons of dehydrated tomatoes were fine chopped in a spice grinder and rehydrated in a cup of boiling water with about a teaspoon of garlic powder added. Two cups of salted diced eggplant were added to the reconstituted tomato sauce. The yogurt with basil sauce left over from last night was added after the eggplant was cooked. The Ramen noodles that were leftover when I used the tomato seasoning were cooked in water, drained, and the leftover tomato noodles from last night were added. The noodles were placed in the center of a plate and the

sauce was ladled into the center of the noodles.

Medium sized shrimp were sautéed and added to the eggplant pasta in the picture. 

5. Baked Breaded Eggplant

Quarter inch thick eggplant slices were salted and sprayed with garlic Pamâ. The slices were covered with Italian seasoned bread crumbs on both sides on a cookie sheet. The dish was topped off with French’sâ French fried onions. The cookie sheet was put into a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. The slices were served with dish #4. Red Hotâ pepper sauce was used when this dish was served.

Charlotte has fun making scampi eggplant rolls.

6. Eggplant with Scampi in a Beef Wrap

Eggplant was sliced very thin and salted. After the bitter juice is drawn out by the salt, the slices are rinsed off. The slices were put onto slices of deli roast beef. Bumble Beeâ medium shrimp was put on top of the eggplant slice and diced purple onions were sprinkled on top of the shrimp. The whole pile was rolled up and skewered with a toothpick. My roast beef slices weren’t big enough to contain the whole eggplant and shrimp roll, so I had to wrap and skewer both ends with other slices of roast beef. The rolls were put into the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. The roll in the picture is really deli ham. The slices were bigger and held together better than the original beef. We thought the ham tasted better with the scampi. Wrapping the rolls in aluminum foil may work better to prevent burning. We'll try again later.

Hot Chinese mustard was served with this dish.

7. Eggplant Dessert:

Fry one slice of eggplant for everyone.Use brown sugar mixed with water for the sauce. Top the dessert with sour cream.

Boil the eggplant in a simple syrup made with about three quarters of a cup of brown sugar and just enough water to cover everything.

Place the boiled eggplant slice on a plate, top with a generous spoonful of sour cream, and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar syrup on top. Maple syrup is also good on top.

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