Thursday, December 09, 2010

poplette di melanzane-eggplant balls

Cara, you probably already know this recipe or a similar one. Hope I'm not making a mockery of italian cooking but I made these last night and they were delish. Also pure veggie!

2 large eggplants
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped basil (optional
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 onion finely diced
olive oil
1 tsp salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350.
Cut the eggplants in disks, salt them and let them drain for about 30 minutes. Then roast them with a bit of olive oil until brown and tender. When the eggplant has cooled, put it in a food processor and pulse. Add 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs and the rest of the ingredients. Shape the eggplant into balls, roll them in the remaining breadcrumbs and put them on a foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil and bake for about 30 minutes, turning them halfway through until they are golden and crispy. Serve with tzatiki sauce (recipe to follow)

Tzatziki sauce

1 cup balkan style or greek plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber, seeds removed
salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon
chopped fresh mint

Grate the cucumber, salt it and let it drain in a colander for 20 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water then add it to the rest of the ingredients. Delish!

2 comments:

cara said...

sounds good.
my parents have multiple ways of using these same ingredients.
So interesting how many incarnations the same ingredients can have....my mom makes one where she scoops out the eggplant pulp after it is roasted, and makes the polpette and then puts it back into the eggplant skin, covers with tomato sauce and cheese, and bakes until the cheese is melted and golden

anita said...

yummy, that sounds good too!

makes me think of cabbage rolls which i might make sometime soon. good for the holidays!