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EGGPLANT AND PEPPER TIAN ON FRIED EGGPLANT
Makes: 6 to 8 appetizer servings
4 cups small dice
eggplant, lightly salted to release excess water and bitterness
2 cups
diced red pepper
2 cups diced yellow pepper
1/2 cup diced apple-wood
smoked bacon
5 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons basil cut into fine
strips
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Fried Eggplant, recipe
below
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Place 1/2-teaspoon extra
virgin olive oil in a saute pan and add garlic cloves and bacon. Cook until
bacon is slightly crisp. Blot the salted eggplant with paper towels to dry
slightly. Discard 1/2 of the fat and add the eggplant. Cook until tender,
season with fresh thyme, salt, and pepper. Drain and remove garlic.
In 2
separate saute pans add the remaining extra virgin olive oil and gently saute
the red and yellow peppers until tender. Season with salt, pepper, and basil.
Drain.
Form the tians by placing a layer of eggplant in a ring mold and
packing it down gently. Next, add a layer of red peppers, then eggplant,
finishing up with yellow peppers. Pack everything down gently.
Place in
oven to warm. Unmold on a platter and serve with fried eggplant.
Fried
Eggplant:
1 Japanese eggplant Salt, to purge the eggplant
1 cup
buttermilk
1 cup flour, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
Slice the neck of a Japanese eggplant thin on an electric slicer. It
should be the thickness of a potato chip. Lay the slices out flat and sprinkle
with salt and let stand for three hours.
Preheat a fryer to 300 degrees F.
Blot eggplant slices dry with paper towels. Dip the slices in buttermilk, then
in seasoned flour, and fry until crisp. Drain.
