Late summer is eggplant time. But what to do with it? There’s the classic Caponata or Eggplant Parmesan, but beyond those what do you do?
Grilling caramelizes and brings out the sweetness of the eggplant, tomato and onion.
Throwing the eggplant on the grill along with some grape tomatoes and red onion is a super easy way to prepare it and you can serve it a couple of ways. I dressed it with some balsamic vinaigrette, layered the veggies on a platter, sprinkled with some fresh basil and served it warm the first night.
Eggplant, Tomato and Red Onion Salad pairs beautifully with peppery arugula.
We had some leftovers so I chopped the eggplant the next night and served it along with the tomatoes and onion over arugula. The peppery arugula was a nice base for the sweet grilled vegetables. Some pine nuts added crunch to the salad and a little feta cheese rounded it out.
Grilled Vegetable Arugula Salad
You can use any variety of eggplant that is large enough to give you easy to handle slices on the grill. There are so many interesting varieties now. I used some pretty purple and white skinned Nubia eggplants for this recipe.
Nubia Eggplants
Give eggplant a try while it’s fresh from local farms!
- Eggplant(s): about 1 lb
- 1 pint grape tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- About ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil for coating vegetables
- Kosher salt to taste
- 2 T extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp honey
- 6 large leaves fresh basil
- Preheat the grill on high and scrape it clean.
- Using tongs dip a paper towel in peanut oil and wipe the grill surface with it, dipping and wiping until well oiled.
- Make the dressing by processing 2 T oil, ¼ cup balsamic ¼ t salt, pepper, garlic clove, and honey in a mini-blender or mini-chopper or alternatively mince the garlic by hand and whisk dressing to combine.
- Cut ends off eggplant and cut toin ½ inch slices lengthwise.
- Peel and cut ends off onion. Cut in half crosswise and then cut each half into 6 wedges.
- Thread onion wedges on skewers.
- Thread grape tomatoes on skewers.
- Reduce grill to medium high.
- The onions will cook a few minutes longer than the other veggies so brush them with olive oil and put them on the grill first. Close cover. Turn every few minutes.
- After the onions have been on 3-4 minutes, brush top side of eggplant slices with olive oil and place oiled-side down on grill.
- Brush oil on other sides of eggplant slices.
- Brush tomatoes with oil and put skewers on grill.
- Grill the eggplant and the tomatoes about 10 min total turning halfway through with the grill cover closed. The eggplants are ready to turn when they have nice grill marks.
- Remove veggies from grill.
- In a large bowl gently toss eggplant slices with 2 Tblsp of the dressing. Arrange on a platter. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt to taste.
- Remove onions and tomatoes from skewers into large bowl and toss with 1 Tbsp dressing. Arrange over eggplant slices.
- Julienne the basil leaves by stacking and rolling them up and slicing crosswise. Sprinkle basil over veggies.
- Note: There will be dressing leftover, which can be used for the arugula salad
This is a great way to use any leftovers. Chop eggplant into bite sized pieces. Toss some arugula with a little of the balsamic vinaigrette. Top with grilled vegetables and a few pine nuts. Add crumbled feta cheese if you like.
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