Grilled Eggplant Salad

I have never worked with eggplant before. I've eaten it (and loved it!), but I've never cooked with it. Mostly because it looks like some kind weird Dr. Seuss egg.

Well, a few weeks ago, Ike and I were getting groceries and decided to pick one new piece of produce that we've never really used in a recipe before. So, I decided to face my fears, and picked the eggplant.

These last few weeks have been absolutely gorgeous (especially for 'winter' in Kansas, hello 78 degrees!!!), so grilling seemed appropriate. And this is the wonderful (and incredibly easy, and incredibly healthy, AND incredibly delicious) recipe I found courtesy of the grill master himself, Bobby Flay.

Grilled Eggplant Salad

1 eggplant, cut into 1-inch thick slices

1 large red onion, cut into rounds

Canola oil

1 avocado, halved, pitted and flesh chopped

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped oregano leaves

Honey

Olive Oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon, zested

Parsley sprigs, for garnish

Brush the eggplant and red onions with canola oil and arrange on the grill. Cook the eggplant until soft and grill the onions until they have a slight char. Remove from the grill to a cutting board and let cool slightly. Once cool, roughly chop and add them to a serving bowl along with the avocado.

In a small bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, the Dijon, and oregano. Add honey and olive oil, to taste, and blend until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add dressing to the eggplant mixture and toss. Garnish with lemon zest and parsley sprigs.

See I told you, super easy! And really there isn't much better than grilled onions!

We ate this as our meal and between the two of us, ate it right up. The grilled eggplant had a nice meaty quality, so you won't miss any heartiness. (If you were serving it as a side it could probably serve four people.)

I grilled up some naan bread to go along with it (another grilling favorite).

Looking at the forecast for next week (high 70s and low 80s) it looks like more grilling will be in order! Here comes Spring!!!