If you're anything like me, you immediately run to the vegetable and sides section of every restaurant menu. I'm always looking for new ways to prepare my veggies at home and love some good restaurant inspiration! (Some of my own favorite menus for plant based inspo in New York are ABC V, Nix, and Le Botaniste). Whenever we go to a sushi restaurant, I immediately scan the menu for eggplant miso- its one of my favorite dishes! When I get home though, I am always looking for something easy that I can make any weeknight and miso eggplant just seems too labor intensive! I created this easy eggplant dish with all the yummy flavors of an Asian restaurant, but without too much effort ( and no frying!)
One thing I've learned about eggplant is that it NEEDS oil. If you are someone who for any reason is anti- oil, this probably isn't the recipe for you. On the other hand, I use those giant eggplants, so the amount of oil probably isn't too bad. If the amount of oil I used seems high, you can definitely try reducing it down to 3 tablespoons and let me know how it goes!
Also, you'll see that I brine my eggplants prior to baking- what this means is that I stick it in water with salt for a half hour then rinse it off and dry it up. Whether or not this step is mandatory I don't know, but I can swear my eggplants come out better than other peoples.
Easy Miso Eggplant
I large eggplant
1/4 cup oil 2 tbsp miso (I've used both mellow white miso and chickpea miso and both came out good!) 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Place eggplant in large bowl of cold water with salt. Place a cover on top so all the eggplants are covered in water. Allow to sit 30 minutes before draining and drying well. Preheat oven to 400. Mix miso marinade ingredients and pour over the dried eggplant. Coat eggplants well. Place in a single layer on a parchment lined tray. Cook 40 minutes, then raise oven to medium broil and cook an extra 10 minutes to crisp up the eggplant edges.