We planted our garden in late spring, just a few weeks after my mother passed. At first, I barely walked over to it. When I finally did pay a visit, I was embarrassed to discover my neglect had taken a toll on the vegetables.
My mother had a green thumb, and her house was covered in plants. I could barely keep things alive. After a quick consult with a neighbor and a little Googling, all it took was my husband’s coffee grinds to rescue the flailing garden.
Quite amazingly, our garden continued to grow — perhaps the vegetables felt sorry for me. One particular jalapeno bush produced dozens of peppers a week. I took to making jalapeno poppers in the air fryer, stuffed with cream cheese and Cabot cheddar. For something a bit fancier, I served a blistered jalapeno, fresh fig, honey and torn basil salad for the recent Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot.
Although the tomato plant fell off its stake, I picked piles of fresh, plump tomatoes out from among the weeds for weeks. Every sandwich featured some tomato, and I went through a ton of burrata and fresh mozzarella this summer.
My two eggplant bushes have continued to flower for nearly three months now. In fact, they have fallen over under the weight all the fruit, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
The Italian, or globe eggplant, have been baked into moussaka, and found their way onto a platter of caprese salad that I served as an appetizer at Rosh Hashana. I love using the Japanese eggplant in the vegan Thai eggplant salad I shared last summer that I simply crave.
Another favorite of mine are these Japanese eggplant boats from the cookbook “Saladish” by Ilene Rosen with Donna Gelb. The recipe is called “Choose-Your-Style Japanese Eggplant Boats” and offers four suggestions to get you started: Striped, Laden, Drizzled or Flecked.
I always go for the Drizzled, because I always have the ingredients for it in the house: Greek yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, date or pomegranate syrup, coarsely chopped pistachios, and mint. I have found pomegranate molasses in the international section of the grocery, and have spotted it on the shelves at Cooper’s.
The eggplants are split lengthwise and roasted to make festive boats, painted with a dressing (or yogurt), and decorated with “confetti-like” toppings. The entire recipe takes less than a half hour, with most of the work hands off. I’ve served these for something fun for a weeknight, but they are fancy enough for a dinner party.
Ingredients
Two Japanese eggplants of the same size (about six ounces each)
1 tablespoon flavorless vegetable oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons plain Greek yogurt and a light drizzle of olive oil
One quarter teaspoon date or pomegranate syrup
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped pistachios
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh mint leaves
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Cut the eggplant lengthwise in half and arrange skin side down on a sheet pan. Score the cut surfaces in a crosshatch pattern with a sharp knife. Brush generously with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Roast the eggplant for about 18 minutes, until lightly browned and almost completely tender. Remove from the oven, paint generously with the yogurt and drizzle olive oil, and return to the oven until the tops are caramelized, about seven more minutes.
Transfer the eggplant to a serving platter. Decorate with drizzles of syrup, pistachios and sliced mint. Serve.
Molly Parr lives in Florence with her husband and two young daughters. She’s been writing her food blog, Cheap Beets, since 2010. Send questions or comments to molly.parr@gmail.com.