Grilled Eggplant with Garlic-Cumin Vinaigrette Topped with Parmesan and Cilantro
Grill marks on any type of food gives me a sense of warmth and comfort. It doesn’t even have to be meat! Grilled eggplant has a charred flavor, which gives this otherwise rather tasteless FRUIT some depth and flavor. [Note: Yep, I said fruit. Remember that if it has seeds, it’s a fruit.] This dish is so easy, tastes great, and usually anything with grill marks is sure to impress your guests.
For this dish, you’ll need:
1 large glove eggplant
1½ fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons EVOO
½ teaspoon cumin
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon of shaved Parmesan cheese
Sprinkle of chopped cilantro
Salt
Using the side of your knife blade, press and smear the cloves into your chopping board with a continuous downward motion to create a paste. Sprinkle the garlic paste with salt and continue to mash it. Combine the garlic paste, lemon paste, and cumin. Whisk in the olive oil slowly for an emulsified finish. “Emulsifying” simply means to force ingredients that don’t naturally mix together to well…mix together. No one wants a spoonful of plain oil over their salad, or in this case, their eggplant.
For the eggplant, I used a stovetop grill for ease and convenience. After slicing the large globe eggplant into about ½ inch thick rounds, I brushed one side with olive oil, seasoned it with salt, and placed onto the grill. Check to make sure your heat is high enough to create those beautiful stripes, it should take about 3-4 minutes for each side. As the first side is grilling, I brush the upward facing side with more olive oil (I didn’t salt this side because I don’t like my dishes too salty). Flip and let the other side grill up until the eggplant is tender and moist. Put your slices onto a plate, drizzle your garlic-cumin vinaigrette over everything, and top with Parmesan and cilantro.
The Style for this Stir is an Andrée dress with angled stripes and textured material. The stripes act as grill marks against the textured brown flesh of the eggplant. I added a few beaded green bracelets to mirror the cilantro and a pearl chained bracelet as the Parmesan. This dress is stretchy and so comfortable. It can be worn casually with sandals or dressed up with boots or heels…or boots with heels. This is one of my favorite coats because it has a hood, it zips, and it’s fitted when zipped up. As I’ve said previously, boots have the ability to completely transform the look of an outfit. This ensemble is somehow winter weather appropriate once the boots come on. Slipping on a pair of boho sandals or stilettos would change the whole feel of the dress as well. So have fun with your tight stretchy dresses and see how many ways you can wear it!
As always, please feel free to contact me or comment below with other eggplant recipes, other items to grill, or ways to vamp up or casualize (It’s actually a real word!) your dresses. Thanks for reading!