Roasted Eggplant Salad with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce and Tomatoes
Description
The original recipe calls for a layer of crispy kale chips, which are very delicious and which complement the other vegetables well, but I never make them anymore as two roasted components for a summer salad feels too much like hard work.
Ingreadient :
- 2 medium eggplants (about 1½ –2 pounds total), quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
- 1/4 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil
- kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and crushed, or ground cumin
- 1 cucumber (about 8 oz)
- 1 cup whole milk (or 2%) plain Greek yogurt
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- juice of 1 lemon, about 3 tablespoons
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
- a handful of arugula or other greens
- flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling
Direction :
- Heat oven to 450°F convection roast. Toss eggplants with 1/4 cup of the oil on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment for easy cleaning; season with salt (at least 1 teaspoon kosher salt). Roast, until eggplant pieces are deeply golden on the side touching the sheet pan, about 20 minutes or longer. Remove pan from oven, flip over each piece gently using a fork or spatula (this is just to ensure the pieces are golden and to ensure they don’t stick). Set aside.
- Grate the cucumber coarsely on a box grater. Set the grated cucumber over a sieve to drain. Save the cucumber juice — it’s great in cocktails or simply mixed with sparkling or still water.
- In a medium bowl, stir the cucumber into the yogurt, along with the garlic, and the juice of half the lemon (about 1.5 tablespoons). Add the toasted, ground cumin seed. Season with salt, starting with 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, adding an additional 1/4 teaspoon if necessary. Taste. Add more salt and lemon to taste — this should taste nicely seasoned.
- Toss tomatoes with a good pinch of flaky sea salt and the tablespoon of olive oil and vinegar in a medium bowl. Add arugula and toss gently. Spoon yogurt mixture onto a large platter and layer eggplant on top. Top with tomato-arugula mixture. Taste. Sprinkle with more salt, olive oil, or lemon if necessary.
