A Kind of Autumn Eggplant Salad :)
The eggplant salads are very popular all over the world but in Romanian kitchen they truly have a special place … There are many variations with and without mayonnaise and they are often consumed with fresh tomatoes. And speaking about eggplants another very popular “autumn classic” in Romania is a vegetable spread called “Zacusca” which is based on baked eggplants and peppers, onions and tomato juice or paste (Of course there are countless variations with mushrooms and beans ). The taste is wonderful and for many Romanian people represents one of the “childhood tastes” …
I wanted to make an eggplant salad which tasted like “zacusca”, easy to prepare, fresh, light and with minimum cooking time. It was very simple and very tasty. About the main four components : eggplants, peppers, tomato paste and onions … a few words about how I prepared them …
The Eggplants And The Peppers
Few smells can compare with the smell of eggplants and peppers while they are cooked on a grill over fire or on a cast iron frypan. If you have the possibility and space you should give it a try … if not … baking them in the oven in a tray on baking paper is still a good choice … Leave the eggplants and the peppers rest for 30 min before peeling. After you cook the peppers and put them in a bowl for resting, add a ping of salt over …
If you don’t have time to grill or bake the eggplants and the peppers, you can buy them cooked and peeled …
The Onion
I peeled the onions, sliced them in 1 cm pieces and seasoned them with a pinch of salt and a few drops of balsamic vinegar. I put the slices in a tray on baking paper and cooked them in the oven for about 25 minutes at 200C.
The Tomato Paste
I made it by reducing some homemade tomato juice at low heat. Just the tomato juice, a pinch of sea salt and let it simmer on low heat until I obtained a thick pasta …
INGREDIENTS - for about 4 persons
Organic / Best you can get eggplants - 1000 grams or baked and peeled 500 grams
Organic / Best you can get peppers - 300 grams or baked and peeled 150 grams
Organic / Best you can get tomato juice- 300 ml or 150 ml tomato pasta
Organic / Best you can get onion - 2 medium
Fresh lemon juice - 5 ml
Good quality extra virgin olive oil - 10 ml
Good quality balsamic vinegar - 10 ml
A pinch of salt or more :)
The Salad - How I Made It
I chopped the eggplants together with the peppers on a large chopping board. I used a large chef knife and I chopped them as fine as I could. I don’t recommend a blender for this operation because it changes the texture. If you prepare a larger quantity you can split it in batches in order to have more room for chopping. After I chopped the eggplants and pepper I transferred them in a large bowl. In the same bowl I added the finely chopped baked onions, the tomato paste, the olive oil and the fresh lemon juice … A pinch of salt or two :) and I mixed all ingredients well with a wooden spoon. Gave it a final taste to check the salt and … that was all…
Give it a try :)
