Eggplant Caprese Salad

Hi Besties! For some reason, Eggplant seems to be one of those plants that just keeps on giving all summer long. Last year, we had so many eggplants that we didn’t know what to do with them and started experimenting with some different recipes. This led us to discover this delicious Eggplant Caprese salad from Irena Macri at Cooked & Loved.

Find Irena’s original recipe here!

Tips to making this caprese salad

The first step of leaving the eggplant to “sweat out” its juices is really important to get rid of some of the bitterness and make sure the eggplant can get crispy when it’s been fried on the stove.

You can use any tomatoes available from your garden! I used sun gold cherry tomatoes because I had a million of them and because they are just so delicious!

Below is Irena’s recipe, we followed as directed and it was delicious!

Ingredients

1 large eggplant (aubergine), sliced into 0.5-cm thick disks
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
5–6 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8 cherry tomatoes, halved (1 large tomato can be sliced instead)
Sliced Mozarella cheese
10 medium basil leaves
1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
Extra sea salt and pepper to season

Directions

Slice the eggplant and spread the disks on a chopping board. Sprinkle with sea salt and leave for at least 5-10 minutes to draw out some of the juices. Pat the pieces lightly with paper towel to remove the juice.
Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the eggplant slices and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until grill marks appear. You will need to drizzle more oil over the slices once you turn them as they will absorb the initial amount instantly. They will not cook properly if left too dry. Don’t panic too much about the amount of olive oil used, it’s all good stuff and not a problem in a lower carbohydrate dish such as this one.
Once cooked, layer the eggplant on a larger serving plate and set aside.
Add a little more olive oil to the frying pan and add the garlic slices. Cook over medium heat for a minute or so on each side, until golden brown.
Top the cooked eggplant evenly with mozzarella slices, halved tomatoes, basil leaves and fried garlic. Drizzle over the balsamic vinegar and season with a little extra sea salt and pepper.