Name: Grilled Eggplant And Bell Pepper Salad
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 2 h 40 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: 3-4 big eggplants; 2-3 red bell peppers medium size(or roasted peppers from the jar); 1 medium onion or 2-3 green onions chopped finely; 1 bunch fresh chopped parsley; 1-2 medium garlic cloves minced; 3-4 tablespoons sunflower or extra virgin olive oil; salt to taste; lemon juice to taste

Grilled eggplant and bell pepper salad is a wonderful recipe to make all year long when you have eggplants and peppers available. Perfect as appetizer, or a snack served on slices of good crusty bread, this salad makes a handsome option for entertaining.

Grilled Eggplant And Bell Pepper Salad in a bowl next to a slice of bread and a tomato

Grilled eggplant salad is a very popular recipe in the Romanian cuisine.

Especially in the summer, when eggplants are in season, or in the winter, if you cared enough to grill some and freeze in batches, this salad is wonderful to make and serve as an appetizer with some crusty bread.

However, the combination of grilled eggplant and roasted peppers was new to me, until few years ago when a friend of mine who lives in Romania went on vacation to Greece and brought this recipe with her.

I was invited to her house where she put together an amazing meal with recipes inspired from her trip.(Read more about this here)

How To Cook Eggplants:

There are different ways to cook the eggplants. I used them all and they all work. It all depends on whatever your possibilities are and the time of year.

However, each method has an effect on the taste of the eggplant salad that you will, for sure, notice. Here is a guide on how to cook eggplants, so you can make this salad.

Note: You could process the eggplants in the food processor, the salad will then have more like a spread texture, which is delicious but not very authentic.

I prefer to chop the salad rather roughly, so that I have something to chew here and there, but the degree of chopping is totally up to you.

HOW TO GRILL PEPPERS:

Peppers are best roasted directly on an open fire. A wood grill is the perfect way to do it, but directly on a gas fire stove is perfectly acceptable.

Grill them until the skin is black and blistered. Remove them, let them cool a little bit so you can handle them, then peel off the skin and place them on a plate.

Use a little bit of water to wash your hands while you peel the peppers.

It makes your life easier.

Remove the seeds and cut the peppers in thin slices or chop them small, as you like.

NOTE: This salad can be easily made using roasted peppers you buy in the jar at the store.

Mix them with the chopped eggplant, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Here you have a wonderful salad that is handsome, delicious and not very difficult to make. This is the salad that my friend made while I was visiting.

And this is the one I made. I left the eggplant chunkier for more texture, while she preferred to chop it smoother. You can try both versions and see which one you like better.

Serve this salad with crusty bread (here you have a homemade recipe you can try- I make this bread at least once a week),

grilled eggplant with bell pepper salad on a slice of bread

grilled meats, or a platter of cheese and cold cuts and you should be prepared to impress your guests.

What do you think? Are you going to try it? Drop a note and let me know.

Yield: 6 servings