Our farmers market is painted with all the stunning violet and purple shades of eggplant right now. I have the hardest time choosing which eggplants to get, since they are all so different and beautiful: plump, dark ones, speckled ‘graffiti’ ones, skinny Japanese eggplants… I want to buy them all. Eggplant is definitely up there among my favorite vegetables of all time. I also know that it’s quite a polarizing one, since a lot of people don’t enjoy the flavor or find eggplant intimidating to prepare.


Whenever someone tells me they don’t like eggplant, I try to point them in the direction of my marinated eggplant recipe – it’s in our latest cookbook, and it impresses seemingly everyone. Eggplant is spongy and absorbent, so marinating it transforms it into this super flavorful, velvety version of itself that seriously tastes like heaven. I also really like adding eggplant to curry or ciabotta and broiling it in the oven with a miso glaze. It has so much potential to be really delicious!




This eggplant fried rice is our latest obsession. It’s weeknight-friendly, satisfying, and full of fresh, late summer flavors.

I’m writing from a hotel in Orlando, where we’ve been waiting out hurricane Irma. Man did we dodge the bullet with this one. Our home is on a tiny island off the West Coast of Florida, and originally the storm’s projected path fell right over the island as a very powerful category 4. So powerful that we were getting ready to say goodbye to our house. Due to some extremely fortunate weather circumstances, our home only got hit with a category 1 storm and the island did not flood. There’s no power or cell reception, the streets are a mess, the bridge to the island has a large boat jammed against it, and everything is closed, but we still have a house! Hope everyone is staying as safe as possible this hurricane season.

This is an extra cozy, late summer meal that I made last week when we were trying to figure out exactly what to do as the hurricane was approaching. It’s great for weekdays and tastes amazing, even in times of total uncertainty :)