Giuliano Hazan

Grilled Eggplant

Melanzane alla Griglia

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • Serves

    6

Appears in

How to Cook Italian

How to Cook Italian

By Giuliano Hazan

Published 2005

Not only is eggplant easy to prepare on the grill, but it is also a delicious accompaniment to grilled meat. Serve the eggplant half in one piece. Usually the skin is too tough to eat, so you scrape the flesh out with your knife and fork.

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 medium clove garlic
  • 6 to 8 sprigs flat-leaf Italian parsley
  • Salt
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 medium eggplants

Method

  1. Preheat a charcoal or gas grill.
  2. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Finely chop enough of the parsley leaves to measure 2 tablespoons. Put the garlic and parsley in a small bowl. Season with salt, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and mix well with a spoon.
  3. Cut off the tops of the eggplants and cut them lengthwise in half. Score the cut side with a half dozen diagonal slashes about ½ inch deep (do not cut all the way down to the skin). Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.
  4. Grill the eggplants cut side down until they have grill marks, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn them over and spread the parsley mixture over each eggplant half. Grill, covered, until the flesh of the eggplant is tender, about 15 minutes. Serve hot or lukewarm.

© 2005 Giuliano Hazan. All rights reserved.