Freshly Fried Eggplant Slices

Unfortunately, the end of summer is upon us.  

If you need new ideas on how to enjoy your garden produce, or want something tasty that isn’t too high in fat or calories – freshly fried eggplant just picked off the vine and infused in herb oil is a great meal option! 

Generally, everything is seasoned to taste, and I used what I had available in my garden at the time. 

What You Need:

Eggplant 

For the Herb Oil Infusion: 

Olive Oil 

Rosemary 

Thyme 

Basil 

Parsley 

Optional 

Tomatoes 

Green Beans 

Pepper

You may also need: 

Scissors 

Knife 

Salt 

Pepper 

Eggplant naturally holds a lot of water, so first before frying, we need to salt them.

Using a knife, cut the eggplant into somewhat thin slices. Salt each side of the eggplant and depending on its size it can take between 30 minutes to an hour.

For mine, I only salted the eggplant for about 5 - 10 minutes.

You can tell the eggplant is ready when it begins to form liquid droplets on its surface. Blot the liquid with a paper towel, and let's get ready to fry them! 

To Fry the Eggplant in Herb Oil

Place 3-4 tbsp of Olive Oil in a frying pan. Cut with scissors the rosemary, basil, and parsley, and pluck the thyme leaves with your fingers. Turn on your stove eye to low-medium heat. 

To Deep Fry the Eggplant with Batter

If you would like to use a breaded batter for this recipe, you could do 1 cup flour and ¼ cup of corn meal and add fresh herbs, or spices of your choosing.

Place a beat egg in a bowl or plastic bag and proceed to flour the eggplant, then dip in egg, and then flour once more before placing into the oil. 

Optional Sides with this meal could be freshly fried green beans and just-picked ripe tomatoes.

All you would do is add them to your herbally-infused oil and let them brown for about five minutes in the oil before removing them to plate.

And that’s about it! Simple, right? 

You can add fresh mozzarella cheese or opt for feta cheese as I did. If you have a compost pile, you can save the vegetable and herb scraps for compost.