[Sca-cooks] oop eggplant recipe (long)

[Vincent Cuenca]

   Listen, if Vincent can make ecchplants edible, I'll buy two copies of
   his book!

   Selene, not a big fan of the eggplant evidently

Well, I was at work, so I couldn't really slip my cookbook translation in 
there.  (Maybe I should e-mail the show and mention the SCA.)  I was just 
trying not to get caught!  Here's the recipe, if anybody's curious:

Kiopoolu (Bulgarian Vegetable Caviar)

This not a period dish, but it is delicious and easily done on a barbecue or 
other open flame.  As it does not require refrigeration and has no easily 
perishable ingredients, it's perfect war food.

1 large eggplant
1 large green or red bell pepper
2-3 small onions
4-5 Roma or other small, fleshy tomatoes
1 head garlic
Salt
Pepper
3 T chopped flat-leaf parsley
olive oil

If using a barbecue grill, prepare your coals.  Peel eggplant and slice in 
half lengthwise.  Sprinkle liberally with salt and let sit in a colander for 
at least half an hour to remove the bitter juices.  Remove the roots and 
tops of the onions, but do not peel.  Slice the top off the head of garlic 
so the tops of the cloves are exposed.  Sprinkle with a little olive oil, 
and wrap in a piece of tinfoil.  Put the onions and tomatoes on two parallel 
skewers, so they are easier to turn.  When the eggplant is ready, wash off 
any excess salt.  Spread some oil on a larger piece of tinfoil and carefully 
wrap the eggplant in it.

When your coals are ready, pile them on one side of the barbecue grill.  
Place the pepper, tomatoes and onions directly over the coals, and the 
eggplant and garlic off to one side.  Place the cover on the grill, and go 
do something else for a while.  Check back every ten minutes or so, and turn 
the pepper as each side gets blackened from the fire.  Turn the other 
vegetables as needed.  Once the tomatoes are soft and their skins crack, 
remove them and put them in a bowl.  Once the pepper is thoroughly 
blackened, put it in a paper bag to steam.  After twenty minutes, take it 
out and peel off the burned skin with your fingers.  Remove the seeds, and 
put in the bowl with the tomatoes.  When the garlic is soft to the touch, 
after about twenty minutes, remove from the grill and unwrap.  The cloves 
should be soft, almost pastelike.  The eggplant and onions are done when 
they are soft to the touch.  The eggplant package will appear to have 
collapsed somewhat.

Open up the foil and let the eggplant cool.  Remove the seeds, then put the 
remaining flesh in the bowl along with the other vegetables.  Peel the 
charred skin off the onions. Turn the whole business out on a cutting board 
and mince finely with a cleaver.  Do not use a food processor or blender, as 
the texture will be too fine.  Scoop back into the bowl.  Squeeze the cloves 
of garlic into the bowl and mix well. Season with salt, pepper and olive oil 
to taste, and garnish with the parsley.  Eat with pita bread, lavash or 
crackers.


My wife doesn't like eggplant, but she'll eat this.  Part of it is the 
texture, and aprt of it's getting rid of those little seeds.

Incidentally, Cariadoc's recipe for eggplant pancates is also good for those 
who don't ordinarily like the stuff.

Vicente

______________________________________________________________________
If you get into a jam, you can always eat something, blow something up or 
throw penguins. --Jim Henson

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