Eggplant Manicotti - total time 1 hour

It is eggplant season... and if you're like me, eggplant is one of those vegetables that you don't use often.  There aren't a lot of recipes out there for eggplant.  At least not like there are for zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, or other home garden vegetables.  Outside of eggplant parmesan and ratatouille, it can be difficult to find something to make for dinner.  And if you have a bumper crop of eggplant (or just want to try something different) that can be a problem!

One thing you will find with all eggplant recipes... it calls for "sweating" the eggplant.  If you have had eggplant before and didn't like it, maybe it tested bitter, it is probably because they didn't take the time to sweat the eggplant.  Essentially it is just letting salt remove some of the moisture from the eggplant before cooking it.  The larger the eggplant, the more important this process is.  If you pick your eggplant young or select some of the smaller asian varieties, you can get away without it, but miss an opportunity to really add some flavor with the salt.

This recipe uses sauteed eggplant essentially as noodles.  You could do steps one through two and make a number of noodle dishes, like lasagna or slice into strips for spaghetti.  I always felt eggplant seemed like an Italian vegetable and this may be why!  The eggplant noodles take on a buttery flavor and the filling is creamy and garlicy.  This will be a new summer recipe staple at our house!

Eggplant Parmesan - total time 1 hour

The first time I gave up meat for Lent, I thought it was going to be difficult to find enough recipes to keep from getting bored.  That part ended up being pretty easy.  It was eating at restaurants that ended up being complicated.  If there were any vegetarian options, it was usually limited to something super cheesy and probably pretty unhealthy, which seems like an oxymoron... unhealthy vegetarian.  Most menus (at the time) didn't have vegetarian selections, so I would ask the waitress for something without meat.. and they would always give me a blank stare and then ask me if I wanted a different kind of meat instead.

Now when I go out to eat at restaurants, I notice there are more vegetarian sections in the menus... and they usually have more than one item listed... and some of them are actually healthy and not loaded with cheese.  I'm not sure if I am just noticing it more frequently now because I am looking for it more often, the restaurants I go to now are more likely to have vegetarian, or if it really is a trend (probably helped by Meatless Mondays).

So back to that first time going meatless...  We were welcoming a new associate to our team and went to this family run Italian restaurant.  It was a Friday during Lent and the only vegetarian item on the menu was eggplant parmesan.  Nearly everyone at our table ended up with this dish.  It made me wonder if everyone really liked eggplant parmesan or if there had been other meatless dishes would there have been more variety at our table.  And really, why weren't their more vegetarian options at an Italian restaurant?!  There are so many to choose from... baked ravioli, tortelini soup, gnocchi, baked broccoli alfredo, manicotti... just to name a few.

I haven't had eggplant parmesan since that day, not because I don't like it, actually I do really like it.  There are just so many recipes out there!  So, with it being eggplant season, I decided to make this vegetarian Italian classic.