When life hands you lemons and really bitter eggplant, make Lemon Mint Pasta instead!

Last night I was making grilled eggplant stuffed with feta cheese. I was making it until I tried a piece of the grilled eggplant. So.BITTER. And the skin was so tough, I could barely bite through it. I am at the end of my rope, eggplant wise. I love it, but every time I try to make it at home, I just can't get out the bitterness. What am I doing wrong? I have sprinkled them with salt and let them sit in a colander; I have soaked them in salted water; I always make sure I cook them until they are nice and soft. Everyone I ask has recommended one of these methods, but they just don't work for me. So, from this day forward, the iliketocook household is eggplant free. I'll leave it to the professionals at the restaurants to take care of it for me.

So, there I was, eggplant in the garbage, a bowl full of filling and two empty bellies. So we made:

Lemon Mint Pasta


Here's a picture of the original filling for the eggplant - and then my camera died.

1 container feta cheese with oregano (about 7 oz)
1 hot pepper, seeded and minced finely
1 handful fresh mint, minced
juice of a lemon
2 small tomatos, diced
pasta

Mix all ingredients but the pasta. Cook your pasta, and when you drain it, reserve about a cup of the pasta water. Toss the pasta with the sauce, and add some pasta water to soften.

Serve!

We used a terrific whole wheat linguine, which went very well with the fabulous sauce. In the end I am glad that the eggplant didn't work out; I think the end result meal was a much better creation and will be seen at our table again soon.