Eggplant is a wonderful seasonal vegetable that can be cooked with a wide variety of products using various heat treatment methods. There are a lot of eggplant recipes in the oven, they can be vegetarian and meat, diet and spicy. But in order to prepare a delicious dish from this product, you need to know some tricks.
Features of eggplant processing
This vegetable is quite specific and has some features that everyone needs to know in order not to spoil this product.
When cutting eggplant, only stainless steel knives should be used. Otherwise, the vegetable will turn black before the start of the heat treatment, which means that the taste will already be a little worse.
The skin of this vegetable can be very bitter, so before cooking it is recommended to scald the eggplant with boiling water and grate it with salt. After setting them aside for 30 minutes, then wash off the salt and you can already proceed directly to the preparation of the dish.
If you bake whole eggplants in the oven, the recipe with the photo often indicates that before cooking the vegetable, you need to pierce the fork in several places. These holes are needed so that the steam comes out and the vegetable keeps its shape.
Eggplant in the oven with tomatoes and feta
Cooked vegetables according to this recipe are very juicy and tasty. The charm of the dish lies in the fact that it can be consumed as everyday food, or can be prepared on the festive table. To prepare four servings of this dish, you will need to take two medium eggplant, which must first be processed so that they are not bitter.
You will also need 300 g of chicken, 150 g of feta cheese and 1-2 tomatoes. As a sauce, ordinary sour cream is used, it should be taken 200 g. If you like sharper dishes, then you can use mustard and garlic. On top of the dish is sprinkled with 150-200 grams of hard cheese.
Cooking method
Cut the prepared eggplant lengthwise into very thin slices. It is very difficult to do this with a knife, so you can use an ordinary peeler who will cut the vegetable to the desired thickness. You can also use the device for cutting vegetables.
While other products will be processed, you need to put a pot of water on the fire, add a small amount of salt and boil the chicken fillet.
Each piece of eggplant needs a little salt and add pepper. Various spices and herbs can be used, if desired, for example thyme, oregano or rosemary. Fry eggplant in a hot pan quickly. Then they need to be laid out on napkins or paper towels so that they absorb excess fat.
In the meantime, you can begin to prepare the remaining ingredients. Tomatoes need to be blanched. To do this, you need to make two small cuts from the bottom of the vegetable perpendicular to each other and dip it in boiling water for a few seconds, then sharply put it under cold running water. Now with a small knife you can very easily remove the skin from a tomato. Cut the vegetable into small slices.
Feta cheese should be cut into small cubes. While preparing all the other ingredients, the chicken fillet has already been cooked, it must be pulled out of the pan and cut into approximately the same slices as cheese and tomatoes.
Last stages
Food lovers can sharpen garlic dressing. To do this, mix the grated garlic with a small amount of vegetable oil and add a little chopped greens (parsley, dill or cilantro). To mix everything.
Put eggplant on the table, anoint each piece with a small amount of mustard and garlic dressing.
Along the edge of one side of the eggplant slice, gently lay a small amount of chicken, feta cheese and tomato. Wrap in a roll and put in a baking dish. Perform this procedure with all remaining products.
When all the eggplant rolls are in a baking dish, they need to be sour cream and sprinkled with the required amount of grated hard cheese. Put the dish in the oven for 15 minutes at a temperature of 200 degrees. After this time, the dish will be ready.
When cooking this dish, cream can be used instead of sour cream, and white horseradish can be added instead of mustard. It will not only give a unique flavor, but also make eggplant very sharp.
Eggplant recipe in the oven with a photo
The whole eggplant is baked in this recipe; smoked products are used here that give the dish a pleasant aroma. To prepare baked eggplant in 2 servings, the following ingredients are needed:
- eggplant - 2 pcs.;
- ham - 150 g (you can also use bacon, balyk or any other smoked meats, for example, chicken breast);
- 150 mozzarella cheese and tomatoes
It is also necessary to add garlic dressing and suneli hops to the dish. To improve the flavor when serving eggplant, you can sprinkle a small amount of crushed cilantro.
Cooking method
You need to take a whole eggplant and process it so that it does not bitter. Then, without cutting the stalk, you need to make longitudinal cuts. It should be a kind of fan. In each compartment you need to put a slice of ham, cheese and tomatoes. It is recommended to cut cheese and tomatoes in circles, thanks to this the dish will have a more beautiful appearance. When the eggplant is stuffed, you should start cooking garlic dressing.
Mozzarella cheese and tomatoes go well with basil, which is why in this case garlic sauce will be prepared on the basis of this ingredient. In a blender bowl you need to put a few leaves of fresh basil, garlic (1-2 cloves), vegetable oil and a little salt. If you like unusual flavor combinations, you can also add several sprigs of cilantro or 2-3 mint leaves to the dressing. To kill everything in a blender.
Put stuffed eggplants on a baking sheet and pour them abundantly with garlic dressing. The cooking process is almost finished, it remains only to bake the products. It is necessary to preheat the oven to 180 degrees and put eggplant bake for 30-40 minutes. This time is indicated for a medium-sized vegetable, if eggplants are large, then the cooking time will increase by 10-20 minutes. Therefore, you should independently check the readiness of the vegetable. To do this, it is very simple to pierce the eggplant with a fork and, if it is soft inside, it means that it can be taken out of the oven, if it is still not there, then let it bake to the desired state. The dish is ready, bon appetit.
Odessa eggplant
The previous two recipes are suitable for people who eat meat products, but if you are a vegetarian, then this recipe is for you. To prepare this delicious dish you will need to take a few medium eggplants, 150 grams of carrots, onions and asparagus. If you eat dairy products, you need to take 200 g of ordinary hard cheese, if not, then you can take soy.
First of all, you need to cook the filling. To do this, all vegetables (except eggplant) must be peeled and cut into small cubes. Then fry them in a pan with vegetable oil. To improve palatability, it is recommended to add thyme, oregano and soy sauce. These products will significantly improve the quality of the filling. Cook the vegetables until half cooked, then transfer them to a bowl.
Cut the eggplant in half and pull out the middle with a regular spoon. However, there is no need to overdo it, the walls should not be thinner than 1.5 cm. The resulting void should be filled with the prepared filling. Sprinkle the top of the dish with the selected type of cheese.
Take a baking sheet, grease it with a small amount of vegetable oil, put eggplant on it and put in the oven for 30 minutes at a temperature of 180-200 degrees. After this time, the eggplant in the oven with cheese and vegetables will be ready for use.
Conclusion
The preparation of eggplant dishes is quite simple, you do not need to have serious culinary skills to make tasty and healthy food. This vegetable can be combined with any kind of meat. For example, in the last recipe, you can add minced pork to the filling, and then from a vegetarian dish it turns into a hearty meal that will appeal to every man.