In this post, you’ll learn the Italian pickled eggplant recipe: eggplant fillets preserved in olive oil.
Lately, I’ve done many pickled eggplants for my Fall and Winter cheese boards and charcuterie plates. The kitchen is full of dark and purple peels, woody stems, jars, lids, and labels.
Traditionally, Italian “casalinghe”, housewives, dedicate a big part of their early fall kitchen activity to preserving. Canned tomatoes and passata are the must-haves, but also vegetables, jams, pesto… and pickled eggplants!
Here’s the Italian pickled eggplants recipe: eggplant strips cooked in vinegar and preserved in olive oil.
Italian pickled eggplant
Ingredients
- 3 long eggplant
- 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 red chili
- ½ red onion
- 3.5 oz white vinegar 100 gr
-
1
teaspoon
of black pepper corns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 thyme sprig
-
extra-virgin olive oil
-
coarse sea salt
Instructions
-
Peel the eggplant (completely or partially if you like them a little sour) and slice them (medium size slices).
-
Place them in a tray or bowl and sprinkle them with salt (if you need to display them on different layers, salt each layer).
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Set them aside for at least an hour.
-
Rinse them, drain them and wrap them in a kitchen cloth (in 15 minutes it should absorb most of the remaining water).
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Fill a medium pot of water, add the vinegar, the bay leaves, and the peppercorns, and bring them to a boil.
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Meanwhile thinly slice the onion.
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When water is boiling, add the sliced onion and eggplant. Cook 2 minutes.
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Drain the eggplant well and display them on a new kitchen cloth. Bring them to room temperature.
-
Meanwhile thinly slice or chop the garlic clove and the chili. And remove the leaves from the thyme sprig.
-
Take a sterilized, medium size jar. Pour in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Display a layer of eggplant slices, sprinkle them with a few slices of garlic, a pinch of chili and one of thyme leaves. Repeat with a second layer and go on until you’ve filled the jar (leave an inch from the border free).
-
Close the jar with a clean, sterilized lid.
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Enjoy your pickled eggplants!
Claudia