"eggplant" news and stories

How the Napoleon went from puff pastry and pastry cream to stacks of eggplant, polenta and mozzarella is sort of a mystery, but whatever you call these leaning towers of aubergine, cornmeal mush, tomatoes and basil, count me in. Photographer haraldwalker made his from vegan cook Joanna Vaught's Yellow Rose Recipes, but, if you don't have the book handy, try this epicurious recipe, which sounds very similar.

And if you want to keep your polenta and eggplant closer to earth, this parmigiana recipe might do the trick.

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There is something joyful about a stir-fry -- the percussive tap of a wok chuan (spatula) sliding vegetables around carbon steel, the hiss and spit as the food cooks, the fragrance of citrus in a spicy orange-beef-and-broccoli medley or the smell of the sea in a combo of scallops, cilantro and black bean sauce. Blogger qlinart swears this Thai-inspired stir-fry of Asian eggplant, chicken, red peppers, chiles and basil can be prepared in less than a half hour, and that the recipe is easy enough for a novice cook to make.

Years ago, I was given a copy of Irene Kuo's The Key to Chinese Cooking. Her detailed illustrations and step-by-step guides -- plus her amazing recipes -- taught me well. For more on the lure, and lore, of the stir-fry, pick up Grace Young's beautiful The Breath of a Wok.

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Food fanatics like to play the "last meal" game: What would it be? Who would cook it? Which wine would you drink with it? What would you be wearing? For me, eggplant with pesto is on the short list. (OK, that and mashed potatoes, but that's for another day.)

Jules from Stone Soup provides a simple recipe for the dish, along with some rules to cook eggplant by. She prefers not to salt hers, as some maintain that salting removes moisture and bitterness. It's your choice.

This pesto is a traditional basil-and-pine-nut mix, but she also offers a recipe for a beetroot variety that is gorgeously ruby and sounds well worth the experiment. Use the eggplant and pesto leftovers in a sandwich. That is, if it's not your last meal.

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Caving to pressure from states and environmental groups, India has put the breaks on plans to allow genetically-modified eggplants to be grown commercially, the Wall Street Journal reported.

To create the modified veggie, scientists engineered eggplant (called brinjal in India) to be more resistant to pests than normal varieties by inserting a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.

A government committee approved the move to commercialize the eggplant -- named Bt Brinjal after its scientific modification -- in October, but the Indian government overturned that decision Tuesday.

Jairam Ramesh, the country's environment minister, said there is no clear consensus among scientists on the vegetable's safety, the Times of India reported.

For some reason, eggplant is often neglected by home cooks. Maybe because it's hard to get excited about it visually (dull brown when you want something bright green or red or orange), or because the texture and flavor can be unappealing if cooked incorrectly, or because it doesn't groove with the protein you took out to defrost, or just... because.

This dish is a game changer. It capitalizes on eggplant's plump shape, brings plenty of color into play, uses Middle Eastern ingredients to boost flavor and incorporates chopped eggplant flesh into the lamb stuffing, so texture isn't an issue. Deliciously clever.

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