Roasting eggplant requires preparation and timing. The skin should be peeled off, and the eggplant may need to be salted to remove bitter juices. Whole eggplants can be roasted for salads or eaten alone.
When it comes to roasting eggplant, many of the best tips and techniques come down to how the eggplant should be prepared and how long it should be roasted. Because the skin on an eggplant can be quite tough and unpleasant to eat, it’s often best to peel off all or most of the skin before slicing or dicing the eggplant. Depending on how well an eggplant will roast, the eggplant pieces should often be salted to remove the eggplant juices, which can be quite bitter. There are also methods of roasting whole eggplants, which can be quite simple and produce delicious results.
Roasted eggplant is a common preparatory step for a number of dishes, although it can also be roasted and eaten without further processing. Depending on how someone is planning to roast the eggplant, the skin should often come first. For many people, the skin on eggplants is tough and lacks the warm flavors found in the flesh. Preparations in which the eggplant will be sliced or diced before roasting should often start with peeling the eggplant. Because the peel contains a great deal of nutritional value, however, some people prefer to peel only part of the eggplant, leaving a striped pattern of peeled and unpeeled sections.
Someone roasting slices or cubes of eggplant should consider salting and draining the eggplant. The cubes can be placed in a colander over a sink, fully salted, and drained. Long slices of eggplant can be placed on a baking sheet lined with paper towels, salted, covered with more paper towels, and then covered with another baking sheet pressed down on them with a weight such as a brick or large can of food. Salt draws out moisture in the eggplant, which can be bitter, though it should be thoroughly washed and squeezed before roasting.
Roasting whole eggplant can be quite simple and produces a wonderful result for salad or on its own. The aubergines should be left with the skin still open and pierced several times with a knife or skewer; this allows steam and moisture to escape during cooking. Once pierced, the aubergines can be placed on a baking sheet and roasted in the oven over high heat for nearly an hour or until the flesh is very soft. The eggplants can then be cut open and the flesh scooped out to eat. For a quicker roasted eggplant without piercing the skin, cut the eggplant in half or wedges and brush the flesh with oil, salt and pepper before popping it into the oven.
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