Eggplant a la Baked Potato

Have I mentioned that I love Mark Bittman? I do. His books are as much inspirational as they are instructional, and this recipe is a case in point. His recipe calls for Miso and something else, which is fine, but not as good as this. The great thing his recipe did for me was to make me think of an eggplant as a baked potato. Load it up with toppings and all of the sudden I've devoured an entire eggplant by myself, which I suspect is better for me than the baked potato.

Here's how I make it:

First, cut a large globe eggplant in half lengthwise. Brush the cut side with plenty of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place it flat side down on a hot grill and cook for about 5 minutes. Flip and cook about 5 minutes more, or until the eggplant is pretty squishy, but hopefully not burned on the outside. Even if it is burned on the outside, just slice off the burned part and keep going.

Score the cut side of the eggplant with a fork or knife and mush it up a little bit. This part is way easier than mushing up a baked potato. Drizzle the following ingredients on and mush it up a little more. That's all!

--olive oil

--salt

--pepper

--fresh basil

--minced garlic

--balsamic vinegar

--parmesan

As you can see from the photo below, it isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but it is really yummy.

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