AP – Grilling tends to focus on meat, but vegetables also get great flavour from a stint over hot coals. So move the burgers and hot dogs to the side and make room on your grill for smoky, tender eggplant.
In this recipe from our cookbook Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year, we halve eggplants instead of keeping them whole, exposing the flesh to the direct heat to develop deeper flavour.
Making a crosshatch pattern in the flesh with a knife further increases the surface area to maximise browning.
The eggplants are cooked cut side down until well browned, then flipped and brushed with garlic oil. Bits of garlic are pushed into the cuts, where they soften and mellow.
The eggplant then is covered and roasted until a skewer inserted at the narrow end of the largest eggplant half meets no resistance, then finished with a fresh salad of parsley, mint, sesame seeds and lemon zest.
We like to serve the eggplant in the charred skins, but the cooked flesh also can be scooped into a bowl, mashed and mixed with the herb mixture, then finished with olive oil and lemon juice.
If you prefer to cook the eggplant indoors, broil the oil-brushed eggplant halves cut side up on a wire rack set on a broiler-safe rimmed baking sheet.
GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH SESAME AND HERBS
Ingredients
Two medium eggplants, halved lengthwise
Half cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus extra to serve
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Six medium garlic cloves, finely grated
Half cup finely chopped fresh parsley
Half cup finely chopped fresh mint
Six tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
One tablespoon grated lemon zest, plus two tablespoons lemon juice
Directions
Prepare a charcoal or gas grill. For a charcoal grill, spread a large chimney of hot coals evenly over one side of the grill bed; open the bottom grill vents.
Heat the grill, covered, for five minutes, then clean and oil the cooking grate. For a gas grill, turn half of the burners to high and heat, covered, for five to 10 minutes, then clean and oil the grate.
Using a paring knife, carefully score the flesh of each eggplant half in a crosshatch pattern, spacing the cuts about three-quarter-inch apart.
Be careful not to cut through the skin. Use a quarter cup of the oil to brush the eggplant flesh evenly, then season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining quarter cup oil and the garlic.
Grill the eggplant halves cut side down on the hot side of the grill until well browned, five to 10 minutes.
Flip the halves cut side up and move to the cooler side of the grill. Brush the garlic-oil mixture onto the flesh, using the brush to push the garlic into the cuts. Cover and cook until a skewer inserted at the narrow end of the largest eggplant half meets no resistance, 30 to 40 minutes.
In a small bowl, stir together the parsley, mint, sesame seeds, lemon zest and half teaspoon each salt and pepper.
Use a spoon to carefully separate the flesh from the skin of each half, but leaving it in place.
Sprinkle each half with the herb mixture, then carefully stir it into the flesh to combine. Drizzle with olive oil and the lemon juice. Serve warm or at room temperature. – Christopher Kimball
