In Season: Eggplant

Garden harvests are really cranking in the August heat, and we’re at peak eggplant season in our Market Garden. Read on to learn what distinguishes the varieties, how staff like to use them in their kitchen, and how we are serving them in the restaurant:

We grow three varieties: fairy tale, Asian, and Italian (seen left to right above):

• Fairy tale: are the smaller variety, with white stripes. They’re good for quick cooking, and once they start turning a paler purple they are going past their prime (which can seem counterintuitive).
• Asian: a longer, narrower variety available in both deep and light purple colors. These also cook quickly, and can generally be interchanged with fairy tales in recipes.
• Italian: rounder and fatter, deep purple. These can be cut into large slices, so they’re the best variety for grilling. With more flesh, they are the best variety for preparing dips and spreads, too.

Which should you grow in your garden next season? “Depends on what you want,” explains Market Gardener Jamie Hayes. “The fairy tales put out a lot of flowers, and therefore a lot of fruit, but they’re smaller. If you grow the Italian variety, you get less fruit, but they’re all much bigger.”

Eggplant isn’t always the most celebrated harvest, but sometimes you just need the right recipe recommendation to truly appreciate its unique texture that sops up any flavors you throw its way.

Jamie Hayes, Market Garden Crew Member
A recipe for gochujang-glazed eggplant with fried scallions has travelled among the Market Garden crew, and some people have already made this dish multiple times this season. “I’m obsessed. I’m not even  a big eggplant person, and I really don’t like a lot of heat, but this recipe is just the right level of spicy.”

If you have a NYT Cooking subscription, you can access the written recipe, and you can follow along with the video without a subscription. Here’s an adapted recipe, too, which offers ways to incorporate meat as well as the original ingredients/measurements.

Rachel Kessler, Market Garden Crew Member
“This is a project, but the result is so delicious.” Sometimes you really find a gem on YouTube, and this recipe for marinated eggplant is one of them. It’s a multi-day, multi-step recipe, which involves salting the eggplant to release the water, a quick pickle, and packing it into jars with chiles, herbs, and garlic. “The eggplant came out silky smooth. You can eat them on their own, but they’re a tasty condiment on almost anything. I really like them on sandwiches.”

John Patterson, Executive Chef
Italian eggplant is the best variety for dips. If you’re making baba ganoush or other pureed sauce or dips, Chef John suggests getting a really good char on the eggplant. “Charring the eggplant over a flame is an important step that will often be rushed through, but getting a good burn on the skin is going to impart a really delicious smoky flavor.” Be sure to poke holes in the eggplant, “or it will blow up.”