Grilled Eggplant with Tomato and Ricotta cheese

I can hardly believe that summer is over and it’s already fall!  Hope you all had a great summer!
This year, my husband decided to plant a bigger garden which kept me busy throughout the season. Then came the harvesting and canning… Now that I retired my canner (hopefully, until next year), I feel a sigh of relief as things start to wind down. I’m actually looking forward to do some baking and cooking but not before I try some more recipes on the barbecue and this one is one of them.

I love to use the barbecue. It has been my way of cooking this summer. Summer might be officially over, but the weather is still great for outdoor cooking and since I had some eggplant left from canning a bunch of Romanian vegetable spread, (Zacusca), I thought I will try this recipe that my daughter gave me. It’s fast and easy recipe that makes an absolutely delicious vegetarian dish!

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

2 medium eggplants
1 tsp sea salt
4 Tomatoes sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 cup Ricotta cheese*

Sauce:
4 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp grated onion**
1 tsp Italian Spices
1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 tsp Paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt

 

DIRECTIONS

Wash eggplants really well and slice eggplants  into about 1/2 inch thick slices.

Place slices into a bowl. Sprinkle with salt; toss to coat. Set aside for 30 minutes then drain off any liquid.

To prepare sauce, place all ingredients in a bowl; stir together to mix.

Preheat barbeque grill for a few minutes, to medium heat.

Meanwhile place eggplant slices, single layer, onto a cookie sheet. Brush each slice with some of the sauce.

Place slices with brushed side down, onto the barbeque and grill on medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes, or until grill marks show on the slices. (By the time I got to barbeque my eggplant, it started raining and I was in a hurry to get them done, and I missed taking pictures :- (  Bummer!)

Turn eggplant slices over and brush the remaining sauce on each slice. Cover with the lid and grill for another 2-3 minutes.

Place a teaspoon of ricotta cheese on each slice. Cover and grill until cheese starts to melt.

Top cheese with a slice of tomato. Grill for 2-3 minutes longer or until tomatoes are wilted. Remove eggplants to a covered dish.

Great served over steamed rice.

* Replace ricotta cheese with crumbled Feta cheese or a mixture of half of each cheese.
**Replace grated onion with 1 tsp. of dehydrated minced onion.

Bon Appetite!
Leia’s Culinary Treasures