On one of our recent farmers' market forays, I found lots of goodies.... A bread baker who has a 'traveling brick oven' on wheels; a chef who cures and sells his own bacon by the slabs and of course, great veggies. Good thing I had carried a small cooler with me, since I bought two types of goat cheese: chevre and feta at one market and then a slab of the home cured bacon at the other...
The beets, leeks and papaya salad with basil and feta I made recently was made with the cheese and some of the veggies I got that day.
Recently, I was wondering what to do with the mini eggplants and placed a request for ideas on Facebook....several friends came up with suggestions and I used a combination of them for tonight's dinner.
The photo is not the best, but conditions in the kitchen were not optimal for photographing.
Roasted Mini Eggplants with Spicy Ground Pork on Noodles
Spicy Syrup
Half an onion - chopped small
2 garlic cloves - minced
Olive oil
2 tiny Hawaiian hot chile peppers -cut lengthwise
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
Leaves from 4 large sprigs of mint
Leaves from 5 stick oregano sprigs
Vegetable stock or broth
Sauté onions and garlic in small amount of oil add brown sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, herbs and the hot chiles (I placed the chiles in a small SS mesh tea ball so it could be fished out). When bubbly, add 1/2 cup stock. Simmer slowly and if needed add more stock and continue simmering.
Roasted or Baked Mini Eggplants
2 mini eggplants - cut in half lengthwise
Juice of half a Meyer lemon
Olive oil
Seasonings
Sprinkle the lemon juice on the cut side of the eggplants. After a few minutes pour 1/4 teaspoon olive oil on the cut side of eggplant and spread all over it, bottom sides also. Sprinkle with your favorite seasoning combination or salt and pepper to taste
Place on small tray in toaster oven and roast or bake until golden and done.
Ground Pork with Spicy Syrup
1 pound ground pork - mine was very lean so, I added...
1/4 inch of homecured bacon - minced
Spicy syrup from recipe above
Sauté to brown the pork and minced bacon until browned. Add the spicy syrup and cook down a bit.
Serve spicy ground pork over pasta or egg noodles
Top with the halved roasted or baked eggplants
YIELD: Serves 4
SOURCE: Madame Donna, Dorine H, Terri C and Sonia M
Please provide details below to help Gather review this content. If it is found to be inappropriate and in violation of the
Gather Terms of Service, action will be taken.
You have successfully submitted a report for this post.
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
print
Comments: 35
I'm so glad you suggested turning it into a syrup...I changed some of the quantities and added the oregano...It was delicious!
thanks for reading and commenting...
As to the eggplant in the dish....Next time I will chop up the eggplant and cook it with the other veggies and herbs in the syrup and mix it in with the main component of the dish - the meat or whatever... When roasting, the skin was a bit tough and I had to scoop the pulp out of the skin to eat it. But the taste of the roasted pulp was delicious!
Also, the spicy syrup can be adapted to your own tastes...Now that I have tried it, I will be playing with variations of it and using it with other things besides the ground pork - lamb would be great!
It would make a great marinade too for veggies as well as meats!
Eggplant does very well in the garden.
(This is ranch country. We grow Beef here.)
About the only green vegetable I can get is broccoli. And packaged spinach. Sometimes I can get green beans. Apples and Oranges. Although we do get mangoes and coconut from time to time! Go figure! Who knows what goes on in the heads of a ranch country produce buyer?!!!
Read the comments I made to Richard about the eggplant. I loved the taste, but the skin was very tough.
The syrup came out delicious and just 2 small Hawaiian chiles was enough for us... thanks again for the suggestions!
That syrup is going to get a workout in this house...we love it!