A common question in my house, "Does this photo look good or gross." The answer here: "Fantastic!".
I love eggplant. At this time of year, when everything else is captivating and vibrant in color, no one ever says, "I just had the sweetest, juiciest eggplant!". Still, the mellow eggplant is so tasty while she's young, so what are you waiting for? Like most recipes I love, this one is much more about the method than anything else. The salsa verde, for lack of a better term, could be livened up with a fine dice of Fresno chile or maybe sweetened a bit with flecks of sundried tomatoes. Hate anchovies? What's wrong with you? Kidding! Just leave them out (or use olives). Not into mint? Seriously? Kidding again! Use basil. Really, the thing I love most about this preparation is you throw the eggplant right onto a hot grill (or grill pan, in my case) without any of that tedious salting/rinsing/drying business.
Mint, parsley, capers and anchovies make up the herby mix.
Like I said, this is more of a method based recipe and could be used with other veggies; zucchini, for example, would be great this way. When I made this, I used about 1 cup loosely packed parsley, 1/2 cup loosely packed mint leaves, 2 T capers, 2 flat anchovy fillets and 2 half-dollar sized sun dried tomatoes. The herbs I chopped pretty fine and the capers, anchovies and sun dried tomatoes were finely diced. To this, I added about 1/4 cup of good extra virgin olive oil. This type of sauce I like to mix up and let the favors meld together a bit. I also seasoned the salsa with some chili flake and a pinch of sea salt (use a bit more salt if you have omitted the anchovy). This is a taste as you go scenario since it will change in flavor as it sits. Remember: you can always add more salt but you can't take it away.
Only take off this much skin if you are too lazy to switch from your chef's knife to a pairing knife.
Get yourself organized with your sliced eggplant (with a few thin strips of skin removed), the salsa verde and a shallow dish with about 1/2 cup of balsamic in it. So, like I said, onto the grill they go, naked as they came. Make sure the grill or pan is clean, well oiled and really HOT (keep an eye on your charcoal grill temp). It took me about 10-15 minutes, flipping when needed, to achieve the proper charring and done-ness. Remember, the only thing worse than hating anchovies is undercooked eggplant. Now, here is the great part of this recipe and the reason these little beauties end up tasting so fantastic: straight from the grill they go into a waiting bath of balsamic vinegar. Let them sit for a few seconds on each side so they can soak up a little vinegar and cool down before transferring to a plate or platter. Continue grilling and dipping until they are all cooked.