Bigly Eggplant Stack
Prep
25m
Cook
30m
Total
55m
Bigly says
Listen. We need to talk about the eggplant stack. The BIGLY eggplant stack. The greatest stacked vegetable creation on planet Earth, possibly off planet Earth, we do not know what they are cooking on Mars yet but I'd bet against the Martians. They don't have the technique. They don't have Bigly.
Eggplant — and this is important — eggplant gets a bad rap. People say eggplant is mushy. People say eggplant is bitter. People say eggplant is the saddest vegetable. Those people are wrong. Those people have never had eggplant cooked PROPERLY. They've had limp gray slabs from a deli case, sweating in a styrofoam container, and they think that's eggplant. It's not. That's a tragedy. This — what we are about to do — THIS is eggplant. Salted. Roasted. Stacked with sweet roasted tomato and creamy fresh mozzarella and bright basil pesto. It's a tower. A tremendous tower. A skyscraper of flavor.
And the SECRET — you knew there was a secret, there is always a secret with Bigly — is to salt the eggplant first. Twenty minutes. Pull out the water. Pull out the bitterness. Then you roast it HOT. Four hundred and twenty-five degrees. Not three-fifty. Three-fifty is for cowards. Four-twenty-five caramelizes the edges and gives you that nutty, sweet, almost meaty texture that makes people who 'don't like eggplant' say 'wait, what IS this.' Stacking vegetables like this — older than France, older than Italy, older than time itself, the Greeks were doing towers of food before anyone could write the word 'tower' down. Look it up. I had a guy with a PhD explain it to me once. Took him 90 minutes. Worth it. It's just a fact.
Ingredients
- 2 mediumglobe eggplants(firm, glossy skin, no soft spots)
- 2 tsp, plus more to tastekosher salt
- 1/4 cup, dividedolive oil
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 4 largeroma tomatoes
- 3 clovesgarlic, sliced
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 8 ozfresh mozzarella ball(the wet kind, in water, not the rubber brick)
- 1/3 cupbasil pesto(homemade or a good jar — life is short)
- 1/4 cupfresh basil leaves (for serving)
- 2 tbspbalsamic glaze (for serving)
- to tasteflaky sea salt (for serving)
Steps
- 1
Slice each eggplant crosswise into 1/2-inch thick rounds. You want at least 8 large rounds total.
- 2
Lay the rounds on a wire rack or paper towels and sprinkle both sides evenly with the 2 tsp kosher salt. Let sit 20 minutes — beads of water will appear on the surface. Pat dry with paper towels.
- 3
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- 4
Slice the tomatoes into 1/2-inch thick rounds. Arrange on one sheet pan. Drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil, scatter the sliced garlic, oregano, and a pinch of salt and pepper over the top.
- 5
Arrange the eggplant rounds on the second sheet pan. Brush both sides with the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil and season with black pepper.
- 6
Roast both pans at 425°F for 25-30 minutes, flipping the eggplant once at the halfway point, until the eggplant is deeply golden and tender and the tomatoes have collapsed and concentrated.
- 7
While roasting, slice the fresh mozzarella into 1/2-inch thick rounds. Pat dry with paper towels.
- 8
To assemble, place a roasted eggplant round on each plate. Top with a slice of mozzarella, a slice of roasted tomato, and a small spoonful of pesto. Repeat to build a second layer, finishing with a top eggplant round.
- 9
Spoon any remaining pesto over the top. Drizzle with balsamic glaze, scatter with torn basil leaves, finish with flaky sea salt. Serve warm.
One more thing
That's the stack. Look at it. The eggplant glistening, the mozzarella melting just slightly from the residual heat, the tomato sweet and concentrated, the pesto bright and herby, the balsamic doing that beautiful dark drizzle thing — this is a plate. This is a PRESENTATION. You put this in front of someone, they take out their phone, they take a picture, they post the picture, their friends get jealous, the friends ask where the recipe came from. That's how the system works. That's the Bigly system. Tremendous.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Eggplant Stack.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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