Recipe: Grilled Eggplant With Sapa

A couple of months ago I saw the same recipe in two different magazines, and it seemed so not-run-of-the- mill that I bought the cookbook it came from, Bitter Honey: Recipes and Stories from the Island of Sardinia by Letitia Clark. It is full of many more not run-of-the-mill ideas, and is very much worth the money. What a palate that woman has.

Letitia Clark was a professional cook in London, where she met her erstwhile partner, also a cook there, and moved with him to his family home, in Sardinia. Although their relationship is now apparently history, her cooking has been well informed by her life there. The recipe below was offered in the London restaurant and, she says, sold out at every sitting, and so I decided to try it. There was a learning curve.

I love eggplant, and this called for it to be cooked on a dry, ridged surface. I put it on a Lodge cast iron griddle, placed over two burners. Boy did it get hot, and the eggplant, which she said should be cooked until soft and marked on both sides with the ridges, came out kind of like eggplant chips. Or some of them did. Actually, this was good, but hanging out with my tongs by a smoking hot stove on a summer day was no fun at all. And the moment when thin slices of eggplant transmuted from soft to crisp was a bit elusive; I did wonder if a restaurant grill might have retained enough oil, over time, to ease the process. The verdict: really good, but not too sure about a repeat performance.

Now let me tell you about my basement. Neat, clean, well-organized, provides storage for a lot of stuff I should probably get rid of but think I might need someday. “Fool,” a visitor from Italy said when he saw it. I think he meant “full.” Every once in a while my daughter goes down there to retrieve a bottle or two of wine, and let’s just say there’s a lot of head shaking, eye rolling, and threats along the line of “If you don’t clear this stuff out of here before you die I’m going to dig you up and make you do it.”

Anyway, she happened to be visiting when I was grilling the eggplant, and remembered that she had noticed a George Foreman grill down there — remember those? still available — and suggested that I might try using that. So I did, proving that it did come in handy one day. So There.

I won’t lie, the result wasn’t quite as good as on the stovetop, but it was way easier and plenty good enough. That aside, the dressing is absolutely and uniquely delicious. As Letitia Clark says, “It’s excellent with grilled radicchio or endive (the bitterness works beautifully), or with grilled lamb and greens.” Whether you like eggplant or not, do at least try the dressing, it’s fab.

Grilled Eggplant with Sapa — an edited version
Serves 6 or so as a starter or a side dish, and can be served hot, cold, or at room temperature. I like it at room temperature.

2/3 cup of pine nuts
3 large eggplants, sliced into 1/4” rounds. What type isn’t specified — I bought regular eggplants, but chose ones that were somewhat slender.
A handful of mint, washed, dried, and roughly chopped
2 and 3/4 oz. ricotta salata, sliced into shards with a potato peeler. Guido’s and Big Y usually carry this, and probably others do, too. You can also use firm feta, that works.

Dressing:
1 TB. balsamic vinegar
1 TB. sapa. Sapa, aka Saba, is a fresh, not aged, grape vinegar. It’s available online from many sources. I order it from Olive Oil Jones, whose oils I also buy. You can substitute date molasses, often used in Middle-Eastern cooking, if you have it.
I garlic clove, minced or pressed
2 TB. lemon juice
Zest of half a lemon
5 TB. best quality extra virgin olive oil
A pinch of hot pepper flakes

I double the dressing recipe and use the excess over the next week.

Toast the pine nuts in a 340-degree oven for a few minutes until golden. I use my toaster oven. They burn very easily, so watch out.

Grill the eggplant in a griddle pan over medium heat in batches, until softened, well-colored, and grill-marked on both sides. Set aside.

Mix all ingredients for the dressing and whisk well to emulsify. To serve, lay the eggplant slices on a platter and sprinkle with the mint, nuts, and cheese. Drizzle over the dressing — use a moderate amount, you can add more later if you think you need to.  I once tried drizzling the dressing between the layers, along with some of the mint and nuts. It was good, but a bit wetter that way. In the end, I think Letitia’s way is best — the dressing works its way through, and the random crisp bits of eggplant add a good contrast of texture. You can always offer extra dressing at the table, along with salt and pepper for those who want it. Taste first, though, the cheese is salty, and you don’t want to overwhelm the sweetness of the vinegars.