Eggplant-Mozzarella Tartines
Forget about everything you know about eggplant. It is not hard to cook. You don’t have to do that whole salt-first, then wipe-it- off-before-you-do-anything-with-it thing. It is not bitter.
After many trials and mostly errors (too salty, too soggy, too messy), despite my love for this big nerdy nightshade, I gave up on making eggplant at home. But here in Paris, eggplant’s a staple and it’s available year-round, so I decided to give it another try…and just treat it the way that I do most of my veggies, and just give it drizzle of olive oil, some sea salt and pepper and pop it into a hot oven to roast. Which turned out to be one of the smartest ways to cook eggplant. Firm in the middle, crisp around the edges, and so yummy you’ll be tempted to eat them right off of the pan, like big eggplant potato chips, like I do.
I had two eggplants in my fridge’s crisper, leftover from a cover photo shoot for the cookbook (that’s cover photo shoot #4 if anyone’s counting), and I didn’t want them to go to waste. So I roasted them up. While the eggplant was cooking, I made a quick sundried tomato salsa, and made these easy little tartines for dinner.
Part eggplant Parmesan, part pizza, and part tartine, after one bite I decided that this is my new Favorite Thing.
Eggplant-Mozzarella Tartines
Makes 2
- 1 mediumish eggplant, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
- olive oil
- sea salt and pepper
- about 6 sundried tomatoes (in oil), drained
- about 6 kalamata olives, pitted
- 1 teaspoon of capers
- 2 fresh basil leaves, chopped, plus more for serving
- 2 slices of country-style bread
- about 4 tablespoons of ricotta
- about ½ of a 5.29-ounce/150 gram mozzarella ball
1. Preheat your oven to broil.
2. Brush some olive oil on both sides of your eggplant pieces and lay them out on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on top and slide this into the oven. Watch these carefully, because they’ll only take 5 to 10 minutes on the first side, and even less on the second (you’ll want to flip them over halfway). You’re going for a nice light brown — the eggplant should be slightly crisp (never soggy!) when done.
3. While the eggplant’s roasting, make your sundried tomato salsa: On your cutting board, roughly chop your sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, and basil, all together.
4. Assemble your tartines: Toast 2 pieces of bread, then smear a couple of tablespoons of ricotta on each one. Next, add half of the sundried tomato salsa on each tartine, then a couple of eggplant pieces. Tear off a piece of mozzarella and lay on top, then drizzle with olive oil. Slide into the oven, and let cook until the mozzarella’s bubbly. Serve immediately with more chopped basil.
