Part 2- Marianted Eggplant

Italian Marinated Eggplant
Adapted from: Gourmet Magazine, August 2002

I use the marinated eggplant in many dishes- on top of salad, in the spaghetti sauce, in the fired rice, on top of a tortilla then cheese and in the oven to melt the cheese, and in lasagna when all the other vegetables were used in the red sauce or spinach pesto.

Makes about 4 cups.
Active time: 30 minutes plus a little more
Start to finish: 1 day

3 lb eggplant, peeled and cut into ¼ inch sticks
1 white or brown onion, chopped
A red or yellow bell pepper (optional but adds nice colour), chopped
3 tablespoons salt
4 cups wine vinegar –use a strong vinegar or mix in some strong with mild
4 cups water
4 garlic cloves (I use more)
4 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or ¼ teaspoon crumbled dried (I use a little more)
½ teaspoon black pepper

Toss eggplant, onion, and pepper with salt and drain in a colander set over a bowl, covered, at room temperature 4 hours. (Eggplant may turn brown.) Discard liquid in bowl.

Bring vinegar and water to boil in a 3- to 4- quart nonreactive saucepan. Add eggplant and boil stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes (I think it takes me ten minutes or more). Drain in colander, then set colander over a bowl and continue to drain eggplant, cover and chilled 2 hours more. Discard liquid in bowl.

Stir together eggplant, garlic, oregano, pepper and 1 cup of the olive oil in a bowl-I do this ahead of time so it can rest. Transfer to a 2-quart jar with a tight fitting lid and add enough olive oil to just cover the eggplant. Marinate the eggplant, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Scoop eggplant out of jar with a fork to drain excess oil.

Marinated eggplant keeps up to one month.

Additions:
When I tried to grow tomatillos I ended up with peppers. I used this recipe with the peppers and onions (no eggplant) and it worked very nicely.
Beans (fresh) might work as well.

You can half the recipe if you want.