I had some leftover marinade from my grilled tofu post and decided to use it up with some grilled vegetables. I wanted to give eggplant another try and I found some portabella mushroom slices that looked fantastic. Let me start by saying that half of the mushrooms were indescribably fantastic, the other half were okay and the eggplant was a complete and total failure.
Eggplants mock me.
I tried peeling the eggplant this time but it didn’t really matter as I believe my eggplant was doomed from the start. I tried to find a bright, shiny purple eggplant because I figured it would make for good pictures. I didn’t have any luck and as you can see the one I got was pretty dull. After peeling it quickly started turning brown and looking unpleasant. (I know this doesn’t affect the flavor but it sure as heck doesn’t help either!) When I sliced it I saw it had a heck of a lot more seeds than the last one I grilled. The slices were marinated for about thirty minutes and then grilled along with some mushrooms for about ten. The end product was extremely pretty but was absolutely inedible. I have to believe this was the result of an eggplant past its prime.
The mushrooms offered quite a different story. Like the eggplant, the mushrooms were marinated for about thirty minutes before heading into the grill pan. They took up some nice marks and smelled great while they were grilling. I let them go for about four minutes a side (heat at medium low) and that seemed just about right. I cooked the mushrooms in two batches. I wanted the second batch to have a little gloss for a better picture so I brushed them on both sides with some melted butter towards the end of grilling. The difference the butter made was unbelievable! In addition to making things look prettier it took the mushrooms from “Okay” to “I can’t stop eating these dang things!” I will be eating a lot more portabellas.
Just trying to be helpful here..adding a few links to some folks who have had better luck with grilled eggplant than me!
Grilled eggplant and goat cheese
If you are looking for ideas or equipment check out my page on grill pan starter sets!