It recently dawned on me that a significant portion of my favorite, most-repeated New York Times Cooking recipes rely on eggplant. There’s Kay Chun’s eggplant dal and eggplant adobo, Alexa Weibel’s eggplant caponata pasta and this trio of stunners from Eric Kim: gochujang-glazed eggplant, bulgogi eggplant, eggplant Parm. These recipes take this very dependable vegetable and add big flavor, with the eggplant mostly providing its soft silkiness — a winning formula any time of year.
But right now, when eggplant is in season, I gravitate toward recipes that let the eggplant shine a bit more, especially since farmers’ market tables are piled high with taut, gleaming varietals: stripey graffiti eggplant; plump, lavender-colored Rosa Bianca eggplant; cute little fairy tale eggplants.
I’ll get an armful of the slimmer Japanese eggplants for Zainab Shah’s new recipe for borani banjan, or Afghan-style eggplant in yogurt. No soaking or salting of the eggplants is needed here, just a quick fry of the slices before they’re nestled into garlicky yogurt and scattered with a speedy, spicy tomato sauce, pomegranate seeds and mint. “Go back for seconds of a dish that tastes even better when it’s cold,” notes Zainab. Given the temps outside, yes please and absolutely.
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Borani Banjan (Afghan-style Eggplant in Yogurt)
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Right next to my farmers’ market is a Middle Eastern store that keeps me well-stocked with preserved lemons, harissa, spices and more olives than any one person needs. The preserved lemons and olives will go into Nargisse Benkabbou’s weeknight chicken tagine, and the sweet, citrusy and ever so slightly bitter black limes I brought home will star in this new black lime salmon recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi.
Peaches and tomatoes have started to appear in markets. They haven’t yet peaked where I live, but I’m going to grab some anyway for Alexa Weibel’s gorgeous tomato and peach salad. The accompanying whipped goat cheese — that is, goat (or feta) cheese whirled with heavy cream and lemon zest in a food processor until cloudlike — is such a treat, and I can nudge any not-quite-pinnacle fruit along with a little bit of honey, as suggested by Ashley, a reader.
I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for any cooking newsletter not to include a zucchini recipe during the months of June, July and August. So here is Kay Chun’s roasted zucchini pasta salad, which uses two whole pounds of zucchini. I love the added golden raisins, which provide caponata-esque pops of tangy sweetness.
I’ve arrived home from the market with my glorious bounty, meaning: snack time. One of my tomatoes will go into braaibroodjie (grilled cheese and chutney sandwiches), a recipe from Jan Braai adapted by Sheela Prakash. Sweet fruit chutney, thinly sliced onion, sharp Cheddar and tomato between grilled, buttered bread? Done.
And for this evening’s dessert: Yossy Arefi’s bountiful, beautiful summer berry stacked shortcake. It’s basically a supersized berry shortcake, which just happens to be the exact size I want all my berry shortcakes to be.
