Hi All,Well, I'm back again with the fruit of the day. Previously I've discussed fruits and/or vegetables with the letters A, B, C and D. Now I'm up to the letter E.
E is for eggplant - for today at least :)
Did you know that eggplant is closely related to tomatoes and potatoes? No - well click on this link from Wikipedia and you'll learn all about our friendly eggplant. Did you also know that botanically speaking the eggplant is classified as a berry?
As Wikipedia explains, 'The raw fruit can have a somewhat bitter taste, but becomes tender when cooked and develops a rich, complex flavor. Traditionally, recipes would advise the salting, rinsing and draining of the sliced fruit (known as "degorging") to soften it and to reduce the amount of fat absorbed during cooking, but mainly to remove the bitterness of the earlier cultivars.'
China and India are huge producers of eggplant - both produce over 10 million tons each year.
Eggplant is helpful in the fight against high blood cholesterol - and, interestingly, enough, eggplant is richer in nicotine than any other edible plant. Don't be scared...on average 20lbs of eggplant contains about the same amount of nicotine as a single cigarette. Interesting.
Click on this link from the 'World's Healthiest Foods' site - which has a nice, simple and understandable table of the nutrients in a cup of eggplant. Note that you are getting your fair share of dietary fiber and manganese when you eat eggplant.Health benefits of eggplant are included in the next section of the site - fyi, eggplant is great brain food, has phenolic antioxidant compounds, is excellent for maintaining and increasing cardiovascular health. What a fruit!
Later on in the article are tips for preparing eggplant - which brings me to the heart of this entry: eggplant recipes!
This link goes to the search page on Allrecipes.com doing a search for 'eggplant'. With names like Spicy Eggplant, Eggplant Rollatini, Eggplant Pizzas, Eggplant Bake and Eggplant with Pesto, I just might make one of these dishes for the Superbowl. Yum!
Note that when you use Allrecipes.com you can get user reviews (some go back to 2007 or so) of the recipe you are looking at. Users can also print out or email the recipe. Information like preparation time, cook time, and ready time is included in the recipe. Servings are calculated in a US or Metric basis as well. Also on Allrecipes, users can create an account so they can create a 'digital recipe box'. How cool is that?
All Allrecipe.com recipes have nutritional information (calories, total fat, cholesterol) on the page as well. Finally, on the left side of the page where you find a recipe, you'll fine a tab/box that says 'More Recipes Like This'. This is exactly what it says - if you like Eggplant Rollatini, you'll find excellent recipes for Eggplant Tomato Bake, Eggplant Parmesan II and others. Yum.
Regards, and enjoy the recipes.
Stu
