Eggplant Harvest Time on the Farm!

Okay, first... before I do food, let me tell you this, and yes, it's a shameless plug... For a beautiful, heart-wrenching story:

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I have never made eggplant Parmesan because I'm the only one who eats it.

I LOVE IT!!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!

But like most of us, I don't fuss over something that only I'm going to eat. Honestly, if that's the case, I'll have a bowl of cottage cheese and write a book!!!

I'm not even kidding, I love writing stories that much, but...

Then there was THIS:

And dozens more will join this happy table tomorrow! So what could I do? I was forced to play with eggplant, which means I'm forced to eat-- and enjoy!!!-- the results!

So this was fun. First I hopped onto facebook and asked for help.

I LOVE MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS! They gave me all kinds of advice and that rocked it!

First, I washed the eggplant... dried it... and sliced it about 1/3 of an inch thick. Now some folks like it thicker, some thinner, but this worked great.

Then a fun part! It starts oxidizing like instantly, like old apples, so don't let that bother you...

Lay out a layer in a big colander, sprinkle heavily with salt.

Re-layer and salt again. Repeat until all eggplant has been salted. This helps make the veggie less soggy after cooking.

They say 30 minutes is fine. Someone told me overnight... Who thinks that far in advance???? Anyway, I left it sit there in the colander while I made next week's post:

Chocolatey-Caramel Walnut Bars!!!!!

Oh my stars, you will love them, I promise! But back to eggplant. Rinse well, lay out on paper towels to dry...

RECIPE PART:

Flour

Egg wash (two eggs whisked in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of water)

Bread crumbs (I used Italian Seasoning mix and salt with fresh bread crumbs, but any crumb/panko will do)

Dredge (I love the sound of that word...) in flour, then beaten egg thinned with water, then seasoned bread crumbs. Heat a thin covering of olive oil on griddle. Fry each side until golden brown.

Set out on paper towel to drain, and enjoy!

Now at this point you can eat them just like this... or you can layer them with sauce and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and bake them... or you can serve with pasta and cheese.

I loved them.

I loved them so much... I can't even...

I mean that!

So Finn was ready for lunch (I will not tell you how late lunch was that day, it's probably illegal to starve a child that long, but I gave him cookies. And his mother was here, and his aunt, and so we all will go to jail together. These days I shouldn't joke about that, eee gads, we are not helicopter parents here. We are so wretchedly normal.) and I gave him a piece of eggplant to try.

#notafan

Look at him, curling his lip!!!

So we substituted peanut butter and Nutella:

SCORE!!!!!

Happy toddler!