Eggplant, Smoked Mozzarella, and Basil Rolls

These were amazingly delicious and now I wish I hadn’t used the rest of the eggplant to make my Madras Eggplant Pickle.  I used the homemade mozzarella that I made on Saturday, and due to a grocery list mixup I had no fresh tomatoes so I used a bit of tomato sauce.  The texture juxtaposition of the silky eggplant and the chewy mozzarella was really delicious.  I bet that this would be amazing with a fresh flavorful tomato, or even with a slightly dried tomato.

Eggplant, Smoked Mozzarella, and Basil Rolls, from The Best-Ever Vegetarian Cookbook, by Nicola Graimes.  Pg. 236.

Madras Pickled Eggplant

I had half an eggplant left over from dinner, and in my quest to 1) waste less food 2) make more preserves 3) eat more pickles, I decided to go for this.  I tweaked the spices a little (1/2 a teaspoon chili powder instead of 2 tablespoons, and I didn’t have fenugreek or tumeric so I used some others that sounded like they’d go) and left out the chile peppers.

It’s actually really good.  There’s such a variety of spices, and an awful lot of sugar, that there’s a whole lot of layered flavors that slowly come out.  The silky texture of the eggplant makes it taste very rich, too.  I have an entire pickle jar of this stuff now, and I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, but it is actually really, really good.  I wonder if the kids will touch it.

Madras Pickled Eggplant, from The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving, by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard.  pg 153.