Cold Eggplant Salad

Sitting on the rooftop terrace of Georges, in La Jolla, my friends and I enjoyed a spectacular view on an October afternoon.  As usual, our conversation turned to food.  Here were are eating delicious food, and talking about more food!  Anyway, Sharon shared with us a recipe her daughter had made, that she just loved.  I decided to try it yesterday, with a little twist of my own.  Here it is, and I've included a few ideas on how to use it to create other meals.  Enjoy.

                                                   Cold Eggplant Salad

1 large eggplant
1 large red pepper
1/2 onion
1 carrot
1/2 zucchini
handful of flat leaf parsley, well chopped
2 large cloves garlic, well chopped
fresh or dried dill, to taste
2 T. vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Cut the eggplant into long strips, like fat French fries.  Sprinkle with salt, and transfer to a bowl.  Let them sit for 8 hours, or overnight.  Remove accumulated liquid, and use a paper towel to squeeze more water from the eggplant.

Prepare the rest of the veggies.  Cut the pepper into long strips, then in half, so that pieces are about 1/2 inch wide and 4 inches long.  Also cut the carrots into thin strips, the onion into strips, and slice the zucchini and then halve each circle.

In a fry pan, heat 1 T. olive oil, and cook eggplant until soft.  Add remaining ingredients, and cook for 5 minutes, until veggies are cook, but not limp.  Transfer to a plastic container and refrigerate for several hours.

This is a great salad to put on a lunch or dinner buffet, serve as a side dish with any meat or fish, heat and top pasta with this salad, put it on top of brown rice (heat veggie salad), or serve it cold over farro or quinoa. Also, create a Mediterranean lunch, with pita, eggplant salad and hummus.  You can even add feta cheese to the eggplant salad for a real Mediterranean treat.   Or, eat it right out of the container as an afternoon snack.  Almost no calories and it's a perfect food if you're on the Weight Watchers "Simply Filling" program.  Enjoy.