Grilled Eggplant Grape Tomato And Feta Salad With Amazing Basil Parsley And Caper Sauce Recipes

GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH TOMATOES, BASIL, AND FETA

Steps:

• Generously season eggplant slices with salt. Place vertically in a colander, overlapping them. Let stand 30 minutes; rinse and pat dry.
• Preheat grill to medium-high. Liberally brush cut sides of eggplant with oil. Grill, turning once, until tender, about 4 minutes a side. Mix tomatoes, pine nuts, feta, red-pepper flakes, and oil; season with salt. Spoon over eggplant; top with basil.

ITALIAN GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH BASIL AND PARSLEY (MELANZANE GRIGLIATE AL BASILICO E PREZZEMOLO)

Steps:

• Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate.
• Brush eggplant lightly with olive oil on both sides. Stir together remaining olive oil, garlic, and salt in a small bowl.
• Arrange eggplant slices on the preheated grill and cook, turning occasionally, until tender and browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
• Arrange grilled eggplant on a platter. Brush with the olive oil and garlic mixture until eggplant has absorbed the oil. Sprinkle with the chopped basil and parsley and serve.

GRILLED EGGPLANT, GRAPE TOMATO, AND FETA SALAD WITH AMAZING BASIL, PARSLEY, AND CAPER SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the grill to medium-high. (You can only hold your hand there for a few seconds at that heat.) Wash the eggplants if needed and cut off both ends. Cut the eggplants lengthwise, brush both sides with olive oil, and season the cut side with salt and pepper Lay eggplants on the grill cut side down, and cook until you see nice grill marks (about 5-7 minutes.) Turn eggplants and cook about 5 minutes more on the other side, or until eggplant is softened and nicely browned. Remove eggplant to a cutting board to cool. Make the amazing sauce while the eggplants cool. If needed, wash and spin dry the basil and parsley leaves. Slice the garlic cloves, then use a food processor fitted with a steel blade to chop the basil, parsley, and garlic. Add the Dijon, capers, and lemon juice and process until ingredients are well blended; then add the olive oil and process about 30 seconds more. Cut grape tomatoes in half. When eggplant is cool enough to handle, cut it into slices about 1 inch thick. Gently combine the eggplant and tomato halves in a bowl and stir in enough sauce to coat the ingredients (about 1/4 cup). Stir in the crumbled Feta and serve salad warm or at room temperature. Even though tomatoes are best when they haven't been refrigerated, this was not bad after it had been the fridge overnight. It didn't last much longer than that though.

GRILLED EGGPLANT & FETA SALAD

Steps:

• Cut eggplants lengthwise into ¼ inch slices. Heat up a grill pan (or grill). Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried oregano. Grill eggplants for 3-4 minutes on each side or until tender. Using a grill pan - as opposed to a regular pan - gives the eggplants brown grill marks which look really attractive when you present the salad. If you don't have a grill pan, it's only aesthetic so don't worry.
• Arrange the grilled slices on a serving platter. Sprinkle feta, pine nuts, basil and mint over the top. Finally, just before serving, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

GRILLED EGGPLANT STACKS WITH TOMATO AND FETA

Steps:

• Blend basil with oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in blender until finely chopped. Pour into a paper-towel- or coffee-filter-lined sieve set over a bowl and let drain 20 minutes. Gather together sides of towel or filter and press gently on it to extract more oil. (You will have a generous 1/3 cup oil.) Reserve 1 tablespoon basil oil separately for serving. Scrape basil solids into a small bowl and reserve.
• Prepare grill for cooking over medium-hot charcoal (moderate heat for gas); see "Grilling Procedure," below.
• While grill heats, cut off bottoms of eggplants, then cut 6 (1/2-inch-thick) crosswise rounds from each, starting from cut end. Reserve remaining eggplant for another use. Cut 4 (1/3-inch-thick) rounds from large tomato and 2 center slices (1/3 inch thick) from each medium tomato, reserving remaining tomato for another use.
• Lightly brush eggplant rounds on both sides with basil oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Grill on a lightly oiled grill rack, covered only if using a gas grill, turning over occasionally, lightly brushing eggplant with more basil oil occasionally if it looks dry, until eggplant is very tender, 6 to 10 minutes. (Leave gas grill on.)
• Make stacks:
• On baking pan, arrange 4 largest eggplant rounds side by side and spread each with a generous 1/2 teaspoon of reserved basil solids, then top each with 1 of 4 largest tomato rounds. Season tomatoes with salt and pepper and top each with about 1 tablespoon feta. Make another layer with medium-size eggplant rounds, basil solids, medium tomato rounds, salt, pepper, and feta, then top with remaining eggplant and feta.
• Set baking pan on grill and cook stacks, with grill cover closed, until heated through and cheese on top is softened, about 3 minutes. Transfer stacks to 4 plates and drizzle plates with reserved basil oil.
• Grilling Procedure
• If using a charcoal grill, open vents on bottom of grill, then light charcoal. When charcoal turns grayish white (about 15 minutes from lighting), hold your hand 5 inches above grill rack to determine heat for charcoal as follows:
• Hot: When you can hold your hand there for 1 to 2 seconds
• Medium-hot: 3 to 4 seconds
• Low: 5 to 6 seconds
• If using a gas grill, preheat burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then, if necessary, reduce to heat specified in recipe.