Yum!

[conuly]

I made eggplant Parmesan today. (Actually, I got Romano instead, so call it eggplant Romano.)

I had never made it before, but I really had to use up those CSA eggplants and I was hoping with all the sauce to slide it past the nieces without comment. (Wishful thinking. The first words out of their mouth upon seeing dinner were "does this have squash in it?" followed by "oh! I see the eggplant! Connie, why did you cook eggplant?!?!?" Come to think of it, they don't really like lasagna either, so I don't know why I thought that might work.)

Everybody else liked it, though. By happy chance my mother had found a great deal on smoked mozzarella. I LOVE smoked mozzarella, and have since I discovered it back when I was eleven or so. As I was about to gobble it all down before bed last night I remembered that my eggplant recipe called for mozzarella, and thought it might be good to incorporate some of the smoked mozzarella in with the fresh I had bought for it.

Short story even shorter, that is absolutely the way I will make this recipe again, if I make it again. OMG. I wouldn't brag, but it really was that good.

So why is it, anyway, that when you salt and press the eggplant the liquid you squeeze out is brown? It's the same with potatoes, but why brown?

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I think it's probably due to oxidation, the same reason a cut apple turns brown.

Yum, smoked mozzarella - your recipe sounds great; I hope the girlies liked it after all.

[conuly]

Nope, but they ate a bite to try it. I had expected that, so I brought down eggs after and cheese and the broccoli I had not made yet with dinner and let them make what they liked.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

That would've been my guess, too. Salt, after all, is an oxidising agent...

I've never even tried smoked mozzarella! O.ó

[conuly]

Well, yes, but then why doesn't the eggplant itself turn brown?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Ummm... maybe the stuff what oxidises is in the juice, not the "flesh"? Look, I don't know, I'm just wildly guessing ^^

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Well, eggplant does, eventually, whether salted or not. Especially if I cut a slice off and put the rest of the globe back in the fridge. Even if neitiher cut nor salted, it turns brown in places inside (not spoiling).

Guacamole turns brown when exposed to air, too.