I have had quite a few black beauty eggplants this season already; didn't know much about the plant itself until this season, my sister gave me a few huge eggplants (black beauties) that she had grown last season and I made eggplant parm with them; but, I did discover something about them too. The bigger they are the more bitter they taste, so you want to actually cut them when they have just gotten that black glossy look to them, then they are tender.
Here is a recipe I made up using just the veggies in my garden and some spices and parmesan and mozzarella cheese:
I used 4 small black beauty eggplants
flour mixed with Tony's Creole powder
4 tomatoes
2 bell peppers
1 sweet onion
basil and garlic powder
I peeled my eggplant then sliced it up into 1/4" slices, I then let it weep for a day, changing the paper toweling about 3 times. I mixed my flour with the creole powder at a 4 to 1 ratio. I sliced up about 4 tomatoes and chopped up about 2 bell peppers and one sweet vidalia onion. I dipped my eggplant slices into the flour/creole mixture, then fried each slice in extra virgin olive oil til light brown. I then drained off any excess oil. Using a baking dish, I layered it with eggplant slices, then tomato slices sprinkled with basil, then topped that off with diced onions and bell pepper, then topped that off with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I made two layers, covered the whole thing with foil and heated it up in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. It tasted much better than eggplant parmesan.
joy
Eggplants
