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Tips for Roasting Eggplant

Eggplant is a powerful fruit. When properly roasted, eggplants can be as rich and savory as any meat. Roasting eggplant isn’t difficult, but there are a few tricks that we love to employ to make sure they come out of the oven evenly cooked and golden brown. Follow our advice and harness the power of the eggplant to create delicious dinners in your home.

How to prepare an eggplant before roasting

The first step is choosing a dish for your finished eggplant. If you’re working with a recipe, it will offer guidelines on how you should cut your eggplant. If you’re not working with a recipe, try choosing from one of the methods below:

1-inch cubes

Small cubes of eggplant are well-suited to salads because they are easy to stab with a fork, and they are perfectly bite-sized. This method of preparation maximizes surface area and browning, for a crispy final product.

To cut an eggplant into cubes, first rinse the eggplant. Then use a chef’s knife to cut off the very top of the eggplant, removing the stem. Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise to form two long pieces. Working one half at a time, place the eggplant cut-side-down on a board and slice lengthwise into strips. Keeping the strips together, rotate the eggplant and cut across the strips at a 90° angle. Repeat this process with the other half.

½-inch rounds

Roasted eggplant rounds are easy to slice and eat. This shape has a good balance between crispy surface area and creamy roasted interior. Eggplant rounds are a great way to top off a grain bowl.

To slice an eggplant into rounds, start by rinsing the eggplant and removing the stem with a chef’s knife. Then, simply lay the eggplant on its side and slice across the eggplant, doing your best to keep each round even.

Halves

Eggplant halves have a crispy exterior and a creamy exterior. With a golden-brown top, these large pieces make for a beautiful presentation.

To cut an eggplant into halves simply rinse, remove the stem, and slice lengthwise with a chef’s knife. To help these large pieces cook evenly, we recommend scoring the surface before roasting, as demonstrated below.

When to salt an eggplant before cooking

Salting and rinsing eggplants prior to cooking isn’t always necessary, even though you might see it in recipes. The eggplants of yesteryear had a strong bitter flavor. Cooks would mellow out this astringency by salting and rinsing eggplant slices prior to cooking. Today’s eggplants have been selectively bred to remove this bitterness, so salting to remove unwanted flavors before roasting is unnecessary.

Sometimes salting can serve another purpose: drawing out excess moisture. Eggplants are full of water, and it can make it hard to get them nice and brown when frying. All of that water turns to steam in the pan, and prevents the eggplants from getting crispy. To remove water, you need a good amount of salt. Sprinkle the sliced eggplant generously with salt, and wait for 10-15 minutes. You should see little beads of water forming on the surface of the eggplant. Brush off the excess salt, and use paper towels to pat the eggplant dry. Now you should be able to achieve a beautiful sear.

When to score an eggplant before cooking

If you’re working with large pieces, scoring an eggplant will help the flesh cook evenly and allow any seasonings to penetrate the flesh of the eggplant. Scoring before roasting eggplant also creates more surface area. That means you’ll get even more caramelized golden brown goodness in your finished dish.

All you need to score an eggplant is a small knife and a cutting surface. This technique will work with any type of eggplant. We’re demonstrating with a globe eggplant, which is the variety most commonly available in American grocery stores.

Start by removing the stem of the eggplant. Do this by cutting away the very top of the eggplant with your knife. Discard or compost this portion. Then, cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. You should end up with two long eggplant halves.

Working one half at a time, use the very tip of your knife to make long, shallow diagonal incisions across the entire surface of the eggplant. Then rotate the eggplant and repeat the process, so that the shallow cuts form a crosshatch pattern. Repeat this process with the other half of the eggplant. To see just how simple this process is, watch Chef Tim demonstrate in the video below.

How to roast eggplant in the oven

You’re ready to roast! Be sure to season the eggplant thoroughly with salt, pepper, and olive oil and before placing it in the oven. Eggplants are very absorbent, so we recommend brushing the olive oil on with a silicon brush (if you have one). Cooking time will vary based on the size of your eggplant pieces, but for ½-inch slices, it should take about 20-22 minutes in a 450°F oven.

Recipes with roasted eggplant

Now that you’re done roasting your eggplant, it’s time for the fun part. Choose a recipe that shows off your creation. Here are a few that we love:

Roasted Eggplant Pitas with Tomato, Cucumber & Farro Salad

Seared Cod & Miso-Roasted Japanese Eggplant with Cucumber-Soba Noodle Salad

Smoky Marinated Eggplant with Herb Salsa

If you want to scoring an eggplant at home, we recommend this trusty petty knife.

How to Freshen Stale Bread

Unless you’re a total carb-o-phile, or you share a household with eternally hungry teenage boys, you may not get through a loaf of preservative-free bakery bread before it gets stale. That means, sadly, that extra bread winds up in the trash. Not anymore! This essential kitchen tip can help you freshen stale bread and reduce food waste.

To start: One way to extend the shelf life of fresh bread is to store it in the fridge or the freezer. The cold will preserve a loaf’s lifespan, but it will also rob the bread of its crisp exterior and chewy crumb. What to do about the problem created by our preservation solution?

Don’t worry, we’ve got a solution to that too. The easiest way to freshen a stale loaf of bread is simply to stick it in the oven. Take your loaf right our of the freezer or refrigerator and pop it into a 475°F oven. After to three minutes, the loaf will be hot and crispy again.

This method is best suited for bakery bread. Unlike its more processed counterpart, pre-sliced sandwich bread, bakery bread doesn’t contain any preservatives. That means it will become stale or moldy in just a few days if left out on the counter. Sandwich bread, on the other hand, is often happy on the counter top for up to a week.

Once it’s out of the oven, you can use the bread in recipes, like this Tuscan Ribollita, or just enjoy it with a smear of good butter.

How to Dice Potatoes Like a Pro

We’re embarking on a quest to help you cut down prep time in the kitchen by finessing your knife skills and making short work of onions, garlic, and carrots. Today’s lesson: how to dice potatoes. Let’s start by focusing on a large dice. This method is great for creating big potato chunks perfect for roasting.

Our Method for Dicing Potatoes

how to dice whole potatoes — Start with a big ol’ potato

Speedy chopping can help you get dinner on the table quickly, and this method will keep you fingers safe while you’re working.

The first step is to cut the the potato in half from end to end. Then, lay the new potato plank flat side down on the cutting board. Cut into thirds lengthwise, you’ll end up with three long potato sticks.

Keeping the slices together, rotate the potato half 90° and slice all the way across with four long cuts. This should leave you with 12 large potato chunks. Repeat this process with the other half of the potato.

how to large dice potato — Under one minute to perfect potato chunks

To see some professional potato dicing in action, watch the video below.

Learning how to dice potatoes is just the beginning. Once you’ve mastered this method, you can use it to cut zucchini in a large dice for our Tempeh Ratatouille, tomato for our Chicken with Tomato & Fennel, and cucumbers for the salad that goes with our Chicken Tikka Masala.

How to Remove Rusty Brown Lettuce Spots

Everyone loves a good salad, but sometimes lettuce can be a pain. Delicate leaves can wilt or decay, and hearty lettuces like romaine can develop rusty brown spots. Don’t despair! There’s good news: a little brown lettuce doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole head is bad. Professional chefs call these spots “rust,” and they simply remove them before making a salad. Don’t throw that perfectly good lettuce away! Just follow these steps to remove lettuce rust and get cooking.

rusty brown lettuce — These romaine heads have rusty brown spots, but they’re still good to eat

Rust usually occurs near the roots of a head of lettuce. These reddish-brown blemishes can be the result of too much moisture during storage. Although it’s not harmful, it can certainly be unappetizing. It’s best to remove these spots before making a salad. Luckily, it’s easy to just cut away any discoloration.

To remove the lettuce rust simply take a chefs knife, hold firmly onto the head of lettuce, and cut away from your hand.

remove brown lettuce spots — A little brown lettuce is no match for a chef’s knife

If the lettuce has more than one brown spot, just keep cutting until all the rusty pieces are removed. After the brown portions are removed, just continue your preparation. If you’re looking for a little inspiration, try a romaine salad with feta and roasted red bell peppers, or a hearty main course salad with chicken, homemade croutons, and creamy caper dressing.

romaine lettuce salad — Voilà, a perfectly good salad

Watch the video below to see how a Blue Apron chef gets rid of lettuce rust in just 20 seconds.

How To Slice Delicata Squash

Delicata squash is known for its characteristically delicate rind. Its cream-colored skin is so thin that it can be eaten. When roasted, the skin gives the squash a satisfying bite. Before roasting, you have to know how to slice squash.

Delicata squash can be sliced several ways. One unique way of serving this winter squash is to cut it into rings. To do this, first remove the ends of the squash with a chefs knife. Then, take the knife and slice all the way through the squash, making even 1/2-inch rounds. Each round will have a ring of squash on the outside, and a pocket of seeds in the center. Working one round at a time, insert a knife into the center of the squash ring. Turning the ring, use the knife to cut away the seeds. After you’ve cut all the way around, the seeds should pop right out.

One you’ve sliced the squash, you’re ready to roast. Coat the sliced squash lightly with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Lay the rings flat on a sheet, and bake in a 450°F oven for 15-20 minutes. After the rings have cooled, they’re ready to use. Place them on top of a salad or grain bowl, or serve them alongside your favorite protein.

Here are a few recipes we love that use sliced delicata squash: