Saturday, August 1, 2009

Grilled Eggplant with Balsamic Vinegar

When I grill, I love to cook the entire meal on the grill. (Check back for my grilled garlic bread!) I've tried grilling all sorts of vegetables and one that stands up to the heat very well is eggplant. I've seen a lot of variations on this recipe, so feel free to be creative and make it your own by adding flavors that you love, like ginger or or a little chipotle. If you have vegetarians in the family, a slice of grilled eggplant can also serve as a burger substitute.

In the picture, the eggplant on the left was made with honey and the eggplant on the right was made with brown sugar. I like them both equally well. I left the peel on the honey version and cut it off the brown sugar version. The peel is perfectly edible but for presentation purposes, I think the peeled version looked prettier.


Grilled Eggplant with Balsamic Vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 minced garlic clove
1 eggplant

  1. Oil the grill rack and start the grill.
  2. Mix everything except the eggplant in a shallow bowl.
  3. Peel the eggplant. (Optional)
  4. Cut the eggplant into half-inch inch slices.
  5. Lay each slice in the olive oil mixture and flip, so that both sides are covered. Do this for each slice. Let the slices sit for at least 10 minutes (it's okay if they're piled in the bowl), flipping them one or two more times to be sure they're all covered with the marinade.
  6. Grill for five minutes, turn over and grill another five minutes. You may need to adjust the cooking time depending on the temperature of your grill.

Enjoy!


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7 comments:

  1. I can;t believe I just found your blog site. Among othe rthings< i review food related murder mysteries on my site Cooking with Ideas -- and thus am thrileld to find this. I just reviewd one of your (Krista Davis) books a while ago and have reviewd Julie Hyzy's! I am inspired to start a whole new list of links for mysteries!

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  2. And, Bibliochef added your blog to one of the few links on the site. Congratulations!

    Lesa - http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com

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  3. bibliochef! Great to see you here and thank you for your review! I remember reading it (I was on the road for a writing event at the time and I tried to e-mail my thanks, but I'm not sure it went through) and I truly appreciate it.
    This blog is great fun. Thanks for checking us out!

    Julie

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  4. Krista, thanks for this recipe. My youngest is vegetarian and we're always looking for recipes to try out for her. She really likes eggplant so we will jump on this one soon.

    Julie

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  5. bibliochef! - Your site is a refreshingly original resource for foodies, mystery lovers, and (of course) mystery loving foodies. Loved how you combined your review of On What Grounds with helpful links: e.g., Food and Wine's roundup of best coffee bars and coffee makers. You are awesome.

    KRISTA - Such a great post today. I LOVE egglplant. Going to try the honey-balsamic version because I die for this combo on fresh figs and I never thought to try it with something like egglplant. Three YUMS up!

    ~Cleo Coyle
    http://www.CoffeehouseMystery.com
    "Where coffee and crime are always brewing..."

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  6. Sounds yummy! Honey balsamic. Perfect!

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  7. Sounds delish! I love the chipotle idea.

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