I have a love\hate\ I WILL STAB YOU relationship with eggplant.  It seems that about 50% of the time I cook something with it horrible things happen.  Either its mushy and tastes horrible or I get sick from eating it. The last few times I got stomach problems and I assumed it was the tiny seeds in the eggplant.  So I stopped eating it for a while. Stopped eating it, and popcorn and all manner of things with tiny seeds. Then recently after chaning my eating habits and getting my colon in relative good shape, lots of fiber and less fatty foods, I had some popcorn a while back and I was fine. I had some sesame seeds and no problems. So I assumed it was time for eggplant again. And I feel great.
So, I popped around the net and saw a dish on Tastespotting for some grilled eggplant rolls.  I mabe had one or two of the items listed in the recipe but I had a basic idea of how they did it. I  had no grill and my indoor grill pan/tray thing was like <insert lewd comment about illegal sexual activies here>, if you know what I mean. So I just baked mine in my dishes from Christmas that I am still in love with.

So I slice it, salt it, let it sit. Rinse it, dry it and cook it up a bit.  Plate it, shoot it, then we just eat it. And when looking at the pics of my tasty triumph I see a NASTY piece of cilantro in the image. I was so hungry last night I guess I didnt care. It was still good though and I really can’t be mad.  After all I don’t take pics of food for a living right?   I will leave it up, because I want to chronicle failures too. They are fun some times.

Eggplant Rollups with Spicy peanutes and feta cheese.

1 Large eggplant
2 small zucchini
2 small Roma tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks green onion chopped
olive oil
1 small lemon
black pepper
feta cheese
20 or so black olives, (10 or so sliced and 10 or so whole)
1/4 cup cilantro

For Spicy  peanuts
1 can of lightly salted party peanuts
cayenne pepper
chili powder
garlic powder
canola oil

It is really easy and the longest/hardest part is waiting on the egg plants to salt.
Chop the top and bottom of the eggplant and make sure the outside is clean. Wet paper towel and such blah blah.
If you are lucky to have a mandolin this part is super easy. If you don’t like me, then you gotta get some skill going.
Listening to Prince while slicing will help you I promise. Slice thin strips that are thick enough to stay together but thin enough to be rolled into a tube.

I use a cleaver from  my set, a 7-inch Nakiri Asian Cleaver from the Katana Series by Calphalon.  I use it for everything so I feel comfortable with it. After a nice flat piece is cut fro the bottom and top I place it on the board with the wide bottom on the board. I off a piece to start with because you wont be able to roll that peice up. I keep it for the filling, aint wasting nothing, later. I make long slicing motions and pull down and slightly away from the eggplant. I pull slightly away because as I go down I tend to pull inward and this will stop me from making a wedge cut. I go slow and as I feel myself pulling inward I adjust and pull outward. It takes one good screw up then I am able to get the rest right.  But any messups will be used for filling so its ok. I get about 8 or 9 good slices from one large eggplant. I lay them on a cookie sheet and salt them top and bottom and let them sit for 40 minutes. Its to pull out some bitterness and extra water from the plant. The water makes it all gummy I think when I cook it. I read two schools of thought on this and one says to do it and the other says not to. I tried not doing a few times and I think that’s partly why I was sick the other times too. Who knows. Im not a doctor although I play one in online video games. when they are done, rinse them and pat them dry with a paper towel.  All of the pieces not good enough to be used as rolls can be diced up at this time. Their veggie deaths will not be in vain.  I dice some tomatoes, and zucchini and slice some olives. I mince some garlic and chop some green onions too. I mix the onion, tomato, zucchini in a bowl with lemon juice black pepper and olive oil.  Like 3 million other recipes, heat some olive oil in a skillet  I also add a touch of sesame oil when I start a dish with garlic most times, I just love that extra flavor and smell. Now add the garlic, let it get soft but not brown, about a minute or so. Then add the other veggies except for the olives. About a good 8 minutes of cooking is all they need with occasional stirring.  Now you can add the eggplant and olives and let them cook for another 8 minutes or so to get good and mixed together.  Remove from heat and spoon a small amount into a piece of eggplant and then top with a cilantro leave or two and roll it up. Place it face down in lightly oiled baking dish. Repeat. I get about 8 this way. I drizzle some more oilve oil across the top and let cook for 25 or so minutes at 400 degrees. They soften up pretty good but still have some bite to then when you cut through them with your fork.

While cooking I make some spicy peanuts to top. This along with the feta cheese brings a whole new flavor and really makes it special and not just eggplant stuffed eggplant.

Heat a bit of canola oil in a heavy bottom skillet. When warmed add in the peanuts and then sprinkle with seasonings. I use a lot of chili powder because I like the flavor. Toss  often until you smell is strong and you may see a few nuts with browned spots from the skillet. Not too many browned spots because these spices will burn, and you don’t want blackened peanuts.

For the eggplants. I chop some of the nuts and sprinkle across the top along with some feta cheese crumbles and some more cilantro. This is where that nasty piece got in my picture. I swear…

Anyway, very good and served with slice of  toasted sourdough bread and a few olives on the side it was a very good low impact meal.