Roasted Eggplant Salad Recipe (2024)

Someone here will invariably ask what herb can replace the cilantro. When I feed cilantro haters Mediterranean dishes like this, I combine parsley and mint, usually a ratio of 2:1 or 3:1.

While broiling the eggplant will sort of make eggplant “smokey”, I find the eggplant burnt skin is the real smokey part. If you are not using any of the skin, I would use my blow torch at the end to generate some char.

A bit of smoky paprika makes a tasty variation.

When I make baba ganoosh, I cook the eggplants whole, with the stem cut back, in a cast iron skillet. I cook 10-15 mins per side, doing all four sides. When they are totally cooked, I transfer them to a baking pan and put them in the window to cool. Then I cut them in half and scrape out the entire inner part, also scraping as much as I can from the inside of the skin itself. They come out very smokey and delicious. I'll try the same for this recipe. It looks yummy!

Excellent! But in my oven the broiling took a good half-hour.

Cooking the eggplants over a very high heat seems to be key to burning the skin to the degree needed to achieve the critical smokey flaor of the egglant flesh. Having done that, the dish is sublime and easiest in the world to prepare. Added crusshed szechuan red pepper as a garnish and that was a nice touch.

Made for the first time last night. I have the genetic thing that makes cilantro tastes like soap or hair spray(same with IPA beer), so subbed basil and it was delicious...really needs those hot pepper flakes at end to make it sing. As another poster pointed out, not much smokiness to the flesh of oven-roasted eggplant...in summer, I'll try it on grill...

This is such a simple, flexible way to prepare eggplant. I served it once more or less as described, stuffed into pita with tzatziki, and then used my leftover eggplants with a similar dressing (white wine vinegar instead of lemon) and mixed into somefreezer ravioli with tomato sauce. Really elevated the whole operation of freezer food.

I love the idea of this recipe and will try it again. I recommend using three smallish eggplants so they roast faster. The result wasn't quite as flavorful as I expected, so I'm going to experiment some by adding more heat, and maybe using roasted cumin seeds, crushed, instead of bottled cumin powder. I added olives to the salad and it looked and tasted good. Any other ideas?

This tasted delicious, but didn’t look very good! Mine was kind of sloppy, not at all like the photo. (Even with a stylist wouldn’t have improved the aesthetic)

Cooked this and swapped out one of the eggplants for a head of broccoli cut into florets. Then roasted the broccoli too. Combined the eggplant and roasted broccoli and dusted with sumac before serving. Going to try roasted carrots with this too. Soo delish

I make a variation of this, grilling the eggplant. Yumm

If making ahead, is it better to hold the dressing until just before serving?

When I make baba ganoosh, I cook the eggplants whole, with the stem cut back, in a cast iron skillet. I cook 10-15 mins per side, doing all four sides. When they are totally cooked, I transfer them to a baking pan and put them in the window to cool. Then I cut them in half and scrape out the entire inner part, also scraping as much as I can from the inside of the skin itself. They come out very smokey and delicious. I'll try the same for this recipe. It looks yummy!

Either I didn't prepare this right, or it's missing something. I roasted the eggplant in the oven and it wasn't very flavorful on its own. The marinade is good, but I will tone down the raw garlic to half a clove next time. This needs other spices to up the flavor profile, but I haven't decided what to try yet. Cumin, perhaps? Ideas welcome!

Cooking the eggplants over a very high heat seems to be key to burning the skin to the degree needed to achieve the critical smokey flaor of the egglant flesh. Having done that, the dish is sublime and easiest in the world to prepare. Added crusshed szechuan red pepper as a garnish and that was a nice touch.

I enjoyed this with basil instead of cilantro. To increase protein I served this with Al Slagel’s tomato lentil soup. It was great. but another option would be adding quinoa

A bit of smoky paprika makes a tasty variation.

I find it easier to cube eggplant, skin and all, and microwave it until at the desired texture. It only takes a few minutes. It may not be as "smokey" but it is definitely easier and healthier.

Excellent! But in my oven the broiling took a good half-hour.

Someone here will invariably ask what herb can replace the cilantro. When I feed cilantro haters Mediterranean dishes like this, I combine parsley and mint, usually a ratio of 2:1 or 3:1.