It amazes me how Israelis love eggplant. We”ve been eating it fried, pickled, grilled, flame-roasted, creamed, combined with all kinds of vegetables and flavorings and eggs – since the austerity years of the 1950s. Meat was expensive and scarce, but eggplant grew easily here and there was always lots of it. Cooks in those hard times found or invented many recipes featuring the meaty, versatile eggplant. We borrowed from the Arab cuisine, re-invented Eastern European eggplant specialties, developed recipes of our own. It’s still a star vegetable in Israel.
I’ve eaten eggplant every which way, but had never tasted eggplant soup. A recipe in the Jerusalem Post (May 1, 2009) intrigued me, and I cooked it for my birthday dinner. It’s aromatic with basil, oregano, and garlic – creamy yet a little chunky with pine nuts from pesto. Folks loved it. Since then, I’ve discovered a number of eggplant soup recipes, all involving garlic, plenty of herbs, and cream or cheese.
Here’s my adaptation of the one I found in the Post. The original calls for vegetable soup powder, but I don’t keep that around. The first time I made the soup, I simmered up a quick vegetable stock, using the vegetables on hand. 2 carrots, an orange bell pepper, 2 celery stalks, , 1 sliced onion, a zuke, a tomato, a bay leaf, 1/4 tsp. dried thyme, and a couple of cloves of garlic.
The second time, I happened to have a basket of mushrooms that needed cooking, so I substituted their taste for that of the stock and used water. Both versions are delicious, but the mushroom one is faster.
I was waiting for this recipe
This sounds really good and I will definately try this once the weather cools down….
I used to be suggested this website by my cousin. I’m now not sure whether or not this put up is written by way of him as no one else recognise such detailed approximately my difficulty. You’re wonderful! Thank you!