Cooking Eggplant

Eggplant is a friend to vegetarians because is almost as versatile as tofu. However, cooking it takes more skill than tofu, steak, or seafood. I dabble with it every so often and Wednesday night I did me best attempt yet. Here is what I did:

1. Slice the eggplant into circles about 1 cm (3/8 in.) thick.
2. Fry over medium-hot heat in a fry pan until the outside is a burnt umber shade. (That's a color of oil paint, basically your typical medium to red brown.) while frying add olive oil so that both side of the eggplant turn a little darker from the oil. Be careful not too add too much oil, I did and my pasta was too slippery for me. I think that perhaps a teaspoon per 3-4 inch slice would do it, but I rarely measure in the kitchen.
3. I added some salt, just a sprinkle, directly to the slices while I was frying them. I have tried the salt pre-soak and it did not work well for me. I think the salt added something good to the mix because the only complaint I had with the final fried slices is that they were too oily.

I think I'll try eggplant parmesan soon. It's famous, tasty and I've never done it. If you have any suggestions comment below or email me.