Fried eggplant over whipped ricotta with tomato + olive salad
The epitome of peak-summer eating
I have a note on my phone where I keep ideas for things I’d like to cook. They range from well-thought-out to incomprehensible, but whenever I’m feeling a bit uninspired I turn to this list, which I’ve been adding to for almost two years now, and browse through the dishes and ingredients that, at one point, sounded delicious to me. The ideas come from restaurant menus, social media posts, produce I see at the store, or random flavor and texture combinations that come to mind and pique my interest. Some sit on the list for a long time, many evolve into dishes that in no way resemble the original jotted-down thought, and some very special ones manage to make it from mind to list to plate to, now, newsletter, with nearly no changes.
This is one of them. Fried eggplant over whipped ricotta topped with a tomato, olive, and mozzarella salad. It’s peak-summer eating, with in-season produce galore and lots of bright, zesty flavors that feel like sunshine on the tongue. It tastes best fresh but is still wonderful at room temperature and, if you happen to have leftovers, good right out of the fridge for lunch the next day. (I tend to prefer my leftover lunches cold and straight out of the fridge, so this could be a biased opinion). This can be taken to a barbecue or served as a side dish or, my very favorite, plonked in the middle of a table alongside good bread and a chilled bottle of wine, ready to be dug into by all who surround it. Soft jazz music, flickering candlelight, and the hum of the air conditioner are optional but encouraged.
Fried Eggplant With Whipped Ricotta and Fresh Tomato, Olive, and Mozzarella Salad
Like many of my favorite dishes I have created, the beauty of this is in the layering. It starts with ricotta, whipped until it’s silky smooth and swooshed across your favorite serving dish. Then, breaded and fried eggplant (ideally still good and hot) is placed on top, followed by a fresh little salad of tomatoes, olives, torn bits of mozzarella, and herbs.
The juxtaposition of the hot, crispy eggplant with the smooth, cold ricotta and the tangy, almost lip-puckeringly-sour salad is intensely satisfying. Feel free to make the salad a few hours ahead of time – the longer it rests the better it tastes (if you’ll be making it more than a few hours ahead of time, wait until later to add the herbs). The ricotta can be whipped ahead of time as well. That way, when the eggplant is freshly out of the oil, all the other components are ready to be layered and devoured.
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