Eggplant Deliciousness

I've included "food" in the title of this blog because I adore cooking and eating--more than your average Joe...or Mehmet. I particularly love trying out new Turkish dishes (and the eating part afterwards...natch). I want to share my attempts with you, in a way that hopefully you can try them at home (ok, I confess that I hope maybe most of my Turkish friends and family will be able to add more tips, tricks and variations to my recipes--most of you will have already made these things).

Today, I decided to cook up some eggplant. Here's how (in my best attempt at converting these into American measurements/weights/shapes):

Ingredients:

• 6 Italian Eggplants (the long skinny kind)
• 1/2 white onion, finely chopped (or you can even grate it if you prefer)
• 3 cloves of "American size" garlic (if you're in the US, just don't use elephant garlic)
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 spoonful of tomato paste
• olive oil
• salt
• parsley

Cooking Fun Times:

• Wash the eggplant (duh)
• Peel the eggplant lengthwise in stripes, leaving some of the skin on
• Cut off the stem and slice the eggplant into 1cm (finger width) slices, and then cut those slices into halves...or however you want to cube it
• Generously salt the eggplant and let it sit for at least 15 minutes (this removes the bitterness)
• Place the eggplant in a colander and rinse off the extra salt
• Preheat a large skillet and then add a generous portion of quality olive oil (preferably the Turkish kind, but I suppose if you have Italian or any other kind, it will do...check your labels!)--enough to sufficiently cover the bottom of the skillet
• On medium heat, add the garlic and onions and sauté until soft
• Add the diced green pepper and cook until soft
• Add the tomato paste, and let simmer for a minute
• Add the diced tomatoes (try to add as much juice from them as possible)
• Add the rinsed eggplant and a few cups of water
• Let simmer until eggplant has softened (you may have to add more water as the cooking goes along)
• Add salt to taste
• Allow to cool, serve at room temperature with freshly chopped parsley and another drizzle of olive oil on top.

Deeeeelish! I'm enjoying mine right now! I'm pretty satisfied, though my fiercest (and best) critic is the hubby--we'll see what he says tonight!

Afiyet olsun! (Bon Apetit, sadly with no English equivalent)