Most eggplants you see are so dark purple it’s almost black. In Italy a delicate variety is cultivated with a lighter color that is almost pink and often partially white: melanzana rosa. Not only the color is more delicate, also the texture and taste are more delicate. I tasted pink eggplant for the first time at Piazza Duomo, a great restaurant in Alba, Italy. It was so tender I couldn’t believe it. If you come across one of these beauties, it’s definitely worth picking one up. If a product is as nice as this, it only needs minimal treatment. Eggplant always needs to be cooked though, and so I decided on grilling it on a hot griddle.
The skin looks pretty but it doesn’t taste any better than regular eggplant, so it had to go.
I cut the eggplant into thick slices (about 1.5 cm or 1/2 inch) and brushed them lightly with olive oil. There is no need with this variety to draw out the bitter juices with salt, because there aren’t any bitter juices.
I then grilled them on the griddle, turning them to get nice grill marks. Pink eggplant cooks a bit more quickly than regular eggplant.
I served this with salt and freshly ground black pepper, drizzled with some very good extra virgin olive oil and a bit of fresh basil. The inside is melt-in-your-mouth soft. Delicious!
That looks perfect …. beautifully simple 🙂
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Never seen pink eggplant (but now we will look). But it looks good and more delicate flavor / texture is always welcome (Carolyn would love this with a touch of salsa verde).
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I love a new vegetable! I’ve never heard of pink eggplant but I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for it now.
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I do this in the summer when the eggplants are ready. I love them. Very yummy.
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Lovely simple recipe. Unusual for you Stefan. The simplicity, not the lovely.
Best,
Conor
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Thanks Conor. I do like to make simple recipes, but sometimes I feel it’s not enough substance to blog about.
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Pink eggplant???? OK, now I have to go look for it. I wonder if it’s available in the US? Love the simplicity of the dish.
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I have been growing Italian Pink Eggplant in my garden for several years. The young plants are usually available in a good quality nursery – but not in one of those hardware chains with an outdoor dept. Each year I plant more of these and less of the Black Beauty variety. Also a few of the on gated variety. The Pink Eggplants are well worth searching for!
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