I must say that eggplant pinwheels went much better the second time around!
Reasons the second time was more successful include:
a) a video chat with Corelyn pre-cooking to discuss
b) nowhere to be, nothing to do
c) balsamic reduction, delicious!
This is how it went down, much like before.
I took my eggplant, and my mandoline. I even rinsed the eggplant.
I sliced my eggplant nice and thin.
Love eggplant. I love it so much I could eat it every day at every meal and not get sick of it. You know what I mean.
There’s Corelyn! Video chatting whilst cooking and photographing is the best way to pass an early afternoon off of work.
There’s what she says is grey skies. Doesn’t that look nice and blue from here? The magic of taking a photograph of a TV, my friends
(This is what the process looked like from Corelyn’s point of view.)
Back to the eggplant. We knew that the dates and the goat cheese (which I by accident bought instead of feta but turned out to be delicious) were going to be sweet. So we made sure to salt it well. And by we, I mean me, and my cooking advisor, Corelyn.
So after brushing with olive oil and salting, I put them on the grill pan to sear.
While one side sears, brush the other side with olive oil (borrowed from Melissa because did you KNOW I am out of olive oil? It’s travesty, it’s heresy, it’s horrific, it’s atrocious…you get the idea.) Salt this side too.
Now here’s where it gets good. You take some dates. If you’re not me, you get pitted dates to make your life easier. If you’re me, you grab the wrong dates (because you were also looking for figs, but that’s another story) and you get whole dates. Then you pit them.
Since you’re not pitting your dates though, go ahead and cut them in half.
And go ahead and fill the center with goat cheese. You won’t be sorry. I promise. At this point, you can eat a date stuffed with goat cheese if you want. While you’re waiting for the final product, of course.
Now take your dates that are stuffed with heavenly goat cheese and wrap each one in a piece of eggplant. Stick ’em with a toothpick if you want to be fancy, or you want others to have some. Otherwise, just tuck the loose end down.
Now stick them in the oven for about 10 minutes. Just enough time for the cheese to get melty, and the eggplant to crisp a smidge. I put my oven on 350, but do whatever tickles your fancy.
While you’re baking the eggplant, make some balsamic vinegar reduction. It’s very easy. All you do is take the balsamic vinegar, stick it in a pan over medium heat, and wait for it to get sticky, syrupy, and sweet. Yum. Make a whole cup, save some for later! You can use it on all things! Bread! Snacks! Salad! Anyways, that’s another story.
They should be done now. Here’s one with all the goodness coming out of one side.
Drizzle some balsamic reduction over your pinwheels, and have yourself a pre-Labor day treat. You deserve it!
[addtoany] Yum