Rosie Makes Mama Hawthorne's Eggplant Casserole.

Are you still on the fence about eggplant?

Or maybe the only way you've had eggplant 

is that classic Italian comfort food, eggplant parmigiana? 

Well, I'm here to give you another option -

Mama Hawthorne's eggplant casserole.

Her basement chest freezer was packed

with eggplant casseroles and every other vegetable

that grew in Daddy's garden.

It has cheese and Ritz crackers and butter.

How could it not be good?

This is true comfort food.

Mama Hawthorne's Eggplant Casserole

1 TB each oil and unsalted butter

1 eggplant, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

3 eggs, beaten

6 ounces grated cheddar cheese + extra for topping

Ritz cracker crumbs

pats of unsalted butter

Place diced eggplant in colander and toss with a teaspoon of kosher salt.  Let sit at least 30 minutes to drain.  Spread eggplant out on paper towels and blot dry.

Heat oil and butter in skillet.  Add eggplant and cook 2 minutes.  Add onion and cook 2 more minutes.  Pour mixture into bowl.  Stir in eggs and cheese.  Pour into individual buttered baking dishes. Top with extra grated cheese and a sprinkling of crumbled Ritz.  Dot with butter.  Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes, until topping is golden brown.

Junior, in his relentless search for relaxation.

Ta-daaa!!!!!

Almost there...

Rosie Makes An Eggplant Casserole.

Rosie's garden is producing beautiful purple eggplants now and every summer I turn to Mama Hawthorne's recipe for eggplant casserole. Mama Hawthorne had a huge deep freeze in the basement, probably 3 x 5 feet and 4 feet deep, and it was always filled with these eggplant casseroles, along with squash casseroles, snap beans, black eyed peas, beets, and butter beans from Daddy Hawthorne's garden.

Here's some eggplanty goodness.

I'm adapting Mama Hawthorne's recipe to adjust for what I have.
 Rosie's Ingredients for Eggplant Casserole:
1 large eggplant
1 medium Japanese eggplant (ichiban), not shown
1 medium onion, chopped
3 eggs (Yes, I can count. I added the third egg when I added the extra ichiban.)
8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 package Ritz crackers
 pats of butter (not shown)

First, peel and dice the eggplant into small cubes.
 Place in a colander and toss with Kosher salt.
 The purpose of the salt is to draw moisture out of the eggplant.

Set the colander in a dish and let the eggplant drain for about 20-30 minutes, tossing occasionally. I've chopped the onion, grated the cheese, have my eggs (3) lined up, and my crackers (1/2 package Ritz) in a row.

Here's how much liquid has been released in about 25 minutes.

Dry the eggplant a bit on paper towels.

Saute the eggplant and onion over medium high heat in 1 tablespoon each ELBOO and LOLUB (That's Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil and Land O' Lakes Unsalted Butter! We're talking mainstream culinary lexicon now.) for about 2-3 minutes.

Stir occasionally.

Pour the eggplant and onion mixture into a large bowl and add the grated cheese. Reserve a few tablespoons of cheese for topping.

Stir in the beaten eggs.

Spread the mixture in a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan.

Crush and sprinkle the Ritz over top.

Sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with pats of butter.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes.
The top should be a toasty golden brown
and you don't want any jiggling.
 Let sit for about 10-15 minutes before slicing.

I can't describe the taste of eggplant.
 That's a rather elusive flavor to me.
 But I do describe this dish as comforting.
It's Mama Hawthorne's.

Please enjoy.

Try It. You'll Like It.

The other day if you recall, loyal reader Marilyn Just Asked Rosie to try her hand at spaghetti squash. I was delighted to do so and thank you, Marilyn for the suggestion. I served the spaghetti squash with lamb meatballs I had leftover in the freezer and a nice tomato sauce on the side, with a mushroom and eggplant persillade on top, and garlic and parsley toasts. Even Mr. Hawthorne liked this meal. I only used half of the eggplant for the squash dish. The rest of the eggplant went into my Eggplant Casserole. Well, actually an adaptation of Mama Hawthorne's eggplant casserole.
Thank you, Mama Hawthorne.

After peeling and dicing my eggplant, I put the pieces in a colander and sprinkled with salt. 

 Let drain for at least twenty minutes.

 

Spread out on paper towels to drain more and blot dry.

My ingredients for my Eggplant Casserole:

drained, diced eggplant (about a cup)
 1 onion
 2 eggs
about 6 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 package Ritz crackers
some butter

I sauted the eggplant and diced onions in butter for about 5 minutes.

Added salt and pepper.

Added 2 beaten eggs to the eggplant and onion mixture.

Add in the shredded cheese. Save a little bit for topping.

Pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish.

Top the casserole with reserved cheese and crumble Ritz crackers over top.

Dot with butter and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

And here's my wickedly good eggplant casserole.
What?
 You don't like eggplant?
Not to worry.
You'll like this.
And you'll never know it's eggplant.

Mouthwatering cheesy, Ritzy, buttery goodness.

Trust me on this one.
Have I ever led you astray?
 Well, besides the sweetbreads.
 (Although I liked that dish and others did too 
until they found out what I was serving them.
 Picky, picky, picky)