GreekFoodTv☼ Roasted Eggplant “Caviar” Dip, Spread, and Salad (Melitzanosalata) 2

Roasted Eggplant Salad, melitzanosalata, is one of the classic meze recipes. It’s healthy, delicious, and easy to make. All you need is great Greek olive oil, eggplants (aubergines), salt, and a pinch of sugar. You can add any herbs you want to that basic recipe, or embellish it with feta cheese, capers, tomatoes, even walnuts. Diane Kochilas and Greekfoodtv show you how to prepare it at home.
3 large plump eggplants/aubergines, washed and dried
2/3 cup/180 ml extra-virgin Greek olive oil
Salt to taste
Pinch of sugar

1. Place the eggplants on a low open flame, such as a gas burner or grill, and roast, turning with kitchen tongs, until the skin is charred on all sides and the very top of the eggplant, near the stem—which is the densest part of the flesh—is soft and spongy. Remove with tongs and transfer to a bowl, until cool enough to handle.
2. Transfer the eggplants to a cutting board and, using a sharp paring or chef’s knife, cut the eggplants open lengthwise down the center. Cut around the contours of each eggplant and peel back its skin. With a spoon, remove the pulp, discarding as many of the seeds as possible without wasting too much pulp.
3. Pour the olive oil into a metal mixing bowl and transfer the eggplant pulp to the bowl. Stir and mash simultaneously with a fork, until the eggplant has absorbed the olive oil and is chunky but soft. Season with salt and a pinch of sugar. From this basic recipe, you can add almost anything. Serve with Greek barley rusks or with bread sticks.

In Greek: μελιτζανοσαλάτα, pronounced meh-leed-zah-no-sah-LAH-tah

If you are a devoted fan of the traditional, cook the eggplant over a wood fire – or add wood chips to a charcoal grill and cook it for that deep, smoky taste. This version is easier and delivers a tasty result, and includes chopped tomatoes. Eggplant salads and appetizers are the salads and appetizers made primarily of eggplants (aubergines). There is variety of such dishes throughout the cuisines of different regions and countries of the world. Eggplant salad, Salată de vinete or Vinetta is a both Hungarian and Romanian mashed eggplant salad made of grilled, peeled and finely chopped eggplants, sunflower oil and chopped onions. The eggplants are grilled until they are covered with black ash crust. The crust is cleaned off and the remaining cooked eggplant is mashed with a blunt, thick wooden knife on a wooden platter (using a metal knife will turn the eggplant flesh black). The eggplant mash is mixed in a bowl, stirring continuously, with sunflower oil, chopped onions and salt. The mix is beaten vigorously. Crushed garlic and ground pepper may be added too. Instead of oil, mayonnaise can be used.
In Bulgaria a typical eggplant appetizer is kyopolou, it is made with roasted aubergines and red peppers.
In Russia and Ukraine, a category of similar dishes is known as baklazhannaya ikra (Russian: баклажанная икра, literally “eggplant pâté” (Note that “ikra” in this context means “puree”, mashed “ragout” or “pâté” rather than the homonym “caviar”) and some versions add chopped tomatoes to the basic recipe. Another eggplant salad popular in Russia is called kh’e iz baklazhanov (Russian: хе из баклажанов, and it is probably influenced by Korean cuisine). Eggplant kh’e is based on julienned (instead of mashed) cooked aubergines and other vegetables, prepared with concentrated vinegar. After adding the vinegar, it is set aside for several hours to cure before eating.

This is the Greek Food Channel http://www.dianekochilas.com/
Come to visit Diane and Vassili at their GLORIOUS GREEK KITCHEN COOKING SCHOOL (Ikaria). They run cooking classes and organize culinary tours in Greece for recreational and professional cooks. They also own DV FOOD ARTS CONSULTING, a food marketing company that produces specialty books and other food-and-wine-related literature for a wide variety of clients and independently for the tourist and other markets. Diane consults on Greek cuisine for restaurants, retail outlets and producers of fine Greek foods. Vassilis Stenos (photographer) offers an extensive archive of food and travel photographs of Greece.