Okay, smarter people than me. I want to make this eggplant dish for dinner

tomorrow:



Ingredients

8 to 10 servings

* 2 large eggplants, ends trimmed, sliced into 1/3-inch-thick rounds
* Salt
* 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced lengthwise into 8 pieces
* 1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced lengthwise into 8 pieces
* 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced lengthwise into 8 pieces
* 1 orange bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced lengthwise into 8 pieces
* 1/3 cup olive oil
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled (3 ounces)
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh marjoram, oregano, or basil, or a combination
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* Juice of 1 lemon

Directions

1. Place the eggplant slices on a wire rack and sprinkle them lightly with salt on both sides. Set the rack aside until the eggplant begins to "sweat," usually 15 to 20 minutes. Blot the eggplant dry with clean paper towels.
2. Arrange the eggplant and all the bell pepper slices on a large baking sheet, and brush both sides of all the pieces with the olive oil. Season with kosher salt and black pepper. Transfer the eggplant and peppers to the grill, in batches if necessary, and cook, turning them occasionally to promote even browning, until they are softened and nicely marked, 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Transfer the grilled eggplant slices to a large platter, and top them with the pepper strips. Garnish with the crumbled feta and minced marjoram. Drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice, and serve either warm or at room temperature.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/eggplant-and-peppers-with-feta

And I don't want to grill outside. Mom has one of those Foreman grills but I've never had much luck making anything taste like food with it. Should I just fry the eggplant instead of grilling? That would be one way to go. We don't have many kitchen machines here. Today Mom showed me how she used her garlic press to whack at walnuts in a freezer bag to resemble chopped walnuts. It works perfectly, lol.

Eggplant is a different texture--why not try a slice and see what happens to it? You can always fry the rest.

within an aluminum foil packet. Cleaning up is so much easier. I usually rub olive oil on the aluminum foil before laying the food on it. This recipe sounds good . . . I'm going to try it.

because you want those puppies to brown. You don't really need the caramelized marks a grill would leave, although they do impart an extra depth of flavor.

The Foreman grill won't brown them.

I have a gas stove, so I usually blacken red peppers on the hob so I can peel them. That suffices for grilled peppers around here.

Just don't forget that step of salting the eggplant to get that nasty brown juice out of it. That makes a huge difference in the final effort.

so if I want "simmer" I have to put one of the comales for making tortillas under whatever pan I'm cooking in and also reduce the liquied in dishes like rice.

In step two when you have them on the baking sheet, just pop into the oven and broil until done, turning over when half done. You don't need a broiler pan where the juices drain off because this isn't meat.

A long time ago I sort of sneered quietly when my brother got a gas grill. Well, he was right. lol

The slices were fine but by the time they are browned nicely, imho they're over done. (So that batch was hidden in some pasta sauce and no one here knew about the failure, lol.)

Maybe Friday I'll try browning them a little first on a griddle and then into a hot oven for only a few minutes. I keep treating eggplant as if it's steak and it keeps not being steak.