Eggplant is not everyone’s cup of tea. This is unfortunate, because when you cook it well, it’s a delicious vegetable with flesh that practically melts in your mouth. Cook it poorly, though, and it can have a spongy, off-putting texture. To achieve silky, delicious eggplant, use good olive oil and cook it until tender.
Fun fact: eggplant is actually a fruit, but is cooked as a vegetable.
Stacking charcoal-grilled eggplant and tomatoes with sheep’s cheese or Feta is where eggplant really shines. The result is a smoky, creamy dish that works equally well as a side or a full meal. You can also make this on a regular barbecue or bake it in the oven or air fryer.
We’ve made this dish with mozzarella before, but found it was too runny. Sheep’s cheese or Feta holds its shape much better and adds a delicious tangy flavour. For this recipe, we used this sheep’s cheese from YAYLA, a company in Germany that started with dairy specialties and has since expanded its range to include meat products, all with a Turkish flair.
We love the packaging of this cheese because it comes in a can, which helps preserve the sheep’s cheese longer after opening. We buy it at our local farm specialty shop Obsthof Lienau.
To accompany these eggplant stacks, we also grill lamb chops.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium eggplant
- 4 small tomatoes (or 1 beefsteak tomato)
- Sheep’s cheese or Feta (QB)
- Homemade Basil Pesto (QB)
- Olive oil (QB)
- Salt and pepper (QB)
Instructions:
- Thickly slice the eggplant and salt both sides (ours yielded 8 slices). Lay the eggplant slices on a drainboard for 20 minutes.
- Slice the tomatoes into thick rounds.
- Heat the charcoal grill with the vents open until it reaches a high heat and the coals are flaming.
- Rinse off the salt and pat the eggplant slices dry with paper towels.
- Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with olive oil; be generous, as the eggplant will soak it up like a sponge.
- Place them on the grill and flip them as needed to avoid burning, but to char them to your liking.
- Move the eggplant slices to indirect heat and cook for about 8 minutes with the lid closed, allowing them to continue cooking through.
- Brush the tomato slices with olive oil and grill them over direct heat for 2–3 minutes, until slightly charred. Remove from the grill.
- Time to stack! In a roasting pan, arrange the eggplant slices and top each with pesto, sheep’s cheese and a tomato slice. We used 8 slices of eggplant and 6 slices of tomato, leaving a few of the tomato slices deliciously charred for another meal.
- Place the roasting pan with the stacked eggplant on the grill over indirect heat. Close the lid and cook for approximately 15 minutes, until the eggplant is completely tender and the cheese is warmed through.
Ingredients
Method
- Thickly slice the eggplant and salt both sides (ours yielded 8 slices). Lay the eggplant slices on a drainboard for 20 minutes.
- Slice the tomatoes into thick rounds.
- Heat the charcoal grill with the vents open until it reaches a high heat and the coals are flaming.
- Rinse off the salt and pat the eggplant slices dry with paper towels.
- Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with olive oil; be generous, as the eggplant will soak it up like a sponge.
- Place them on the grill and flip them as needed to avoid burning, but to char them to your liking.
- Move the eggplant slices to indirect heat and cook for about 8 minutes with the lid closed, allowing them to continue cooking through.
- Brush the tomato slices with olive oil and grill them over direct heat for 2–3 minutes, until slightly charred. Remove from the grill.
- Time to stack! In a roasting pan, arrange the eggplant slices and top each with pesto, sheep’s cheese and a tomato slice. We used 8 slices of eggplant and 6 slices of tomato, leaving a few of the tomato slices deliciously charred for another meal.
- Place the roasting pan with the stacked eggplant on the grill over indirect heat. Close the lid and cook for approximately 15 minutes, until the eggplant is completely tender and the cheese is warmed through.