Eggplant With Pesto

My first attempts to cook eggplant years ago revolved around sautéed versions. These typically began modestly enough with a few tablespoons of olive oil but then, inexorably, required more and more oil to be added to prevent burning. By the time the eggplant was soft, the slices or cubes had sucked up vast reserves of oil which they relinquished if reheated (as in eggplant parmigiana) -- not pretty, or tasty. The calorie count was inestimable. And often the eggplant had a bitter aftertaste.

To cure the bitterness, various mavens recommended slicing the eggplant into strips or rounds, salting heavily, placing in a colander to drain for an hour or so, then rinsing off, patting dry, and proceeding to the above oil rig stage. This put cooking a simple vegetable into the Sunday afternoon project category. I continued to buy and wrestle with eggplants, but I became deeply suspicious of their resume.

Until the microwave. The microwave "gets" eggplant. You almost can't go wrong, and just a bit of oil or a small amount of cooking liquid is required. The results are much healthier, the pre-salting stage is eliminated, and the cooking time is reduced to minutes.

Here is one of our all time favorites, using the blessed microwave shortcut for the eggplant:

Pesto ingredients
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 -2 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, preferably reggiano, grated
2 T pine nuts (optional)
Salt to taste

Technique
Whiz the basil leaves in a blender or food processor until chopped fine
Add the garlic, salt and oil and blend until well incorporated
Pour into a bowl and beat in the parmesan cheese by hand for best texture
Add the pine nuts and stir
NOTE: the entire process can be done in the blender to save time

EGGPLANT with Pesto
Preheat oven to 375
Wash, cut the ends and stem off a medium to large eggplant, slice
lengthwise into pieces of similar width
Place into a microwave and oven safe dish, brush very lightly with pesto
Cover with lid or plastic wrap and microwave on high 3-4 minutes or
until eggplant is softening but not mushy
Drain accumulated liquid from dish
Brush eggplant slices again with pesto, using more than previously and
covering all surfaces
Bake uncovered at 375 to heat through and slightly brown the top,
approximately ten minutes