another work potluck

We had another work potluck yesterday, fêting another departing nurse, and this time I brought pides (little Turkish or Syrian breads) and some yummy eggplant stuff. I have always thought eggplant was one of those unpopular vegetables like Lima beans and Brussels sprouts, so I was surprised when so many people said 'Oooh! I love eggplant!' This was a particularly kwik-n-e-z way to fix it, too, which was good since I hadn't gotten home from the opera the night before till 11:30 and had to get up at 4:30 to bake all my little pides as well as work on the eggplant.





Roasted Eggplant Salad

2 medium eggplants, about 2.5 lb
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
a few sprigs of parsley, stemmed and roughly chopped
a small tomato, seeded and diced (optional; mainly for color)
3T olive oil
1T red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Cook the eggplants in a tinfoil-lined pan under the broiler (don't have it turned up full blast, just at about 400ºF), turning them over every five minutes or so, till they're blackened all over and very soft. Take them out to rest and cool for a while while you work on your parsley and garlic. They should collapse into a couple of heaps as they cool. Cut the stems off, pull off the skins, and chop them up. Pick out any big, dark seeds. Let the flesh sit in a bowl for a while, then drain off any juice that's accumulated. Mix in the other ingredients. That's it!