Marinated Grilled Eggplant With Crumbled Feta Cheese

This is one of those recipes that turns a plain, bland tasting eggplant into something spectacular. The eggplant is first grilled until tender, then marinated in a lemon-garlic-EVOO mixture, and then topped with fresh herbs and crumbled feta. It's the feta that really makes this dish dazzle. It can be used as an appetizer, a side dish to a BBQ, or as a take-along dish to a pinic. I think this would also work well served over a slice of toasted white Italian bread as an antipasto, but however you decide to serve up this dish, you will definitely be asked for the recipe from eggplant lovers like yourself.  :-)

Marinated Grilled Eggplant With Crumble Feta Cheese

(adapted from recipezaar.com by Sackville)

(I halved the recipe but you can find the original recipe here)

500 g (just over 1 lb) large eggplant, cut widthwise into 1 cm slices

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 large garlic clove, minced

75-100 g (6-8 oz) feta cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped or thinly sliced (original calls for coriander)

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Heat a frying pan until very hot. (Mine had the grill lines).

2. Brush the eggplant slices with a little EVOO and fry in batches until soft and cooked through.

3. Arrange on a platter.

4. Mix lemon juice and garlic together with 2-3 tablespoons of EVOO and some salt and pepper to taste.

5. Drizzle over eggplant.

6. Let dish sit for 5 minutes, then scatter the cheese and herbs over and serve.

Makes approx. 4-6 servings.

Buon appetito!