This roasted eggplant and potato salad is a great side dish or small main dish. The eggplants and potatoes, capers and sundried tomatoes are a great blend of flavors.
In This Post: Everything You Need to Make a Roasted Eggplant Salad
Roasted Eggplant Salad Photos
Ingredients for this Recipe
Eggplant (Aubergine)
The most common type of eggplant that you will find in your local grocery store are globe eggplants. They are one of the more large eggplants, with a deep glossy purple appearance.
Baby Potatoes
We’ve used baby potatoes because they have this great sweet and nutty flavour and are perfect for skin on roasting, ending up with a crisp golden brown skin.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Olives
This bold flavour combination was something we added after making this recipe for the first time. A burst of colour from the tomatoes and their tart tanginess combined with the salty olives really lifts this dish.
Capers
Capers are small unopened flower buds with a taste similar to an olive with hints of lemon. You will be able to buy a jar of capers in brine water in your local grocery store.
Olive Oil
We recommend using extra-virgin olive oil, because if you’re going to use olive oil, you may as well use one with some health benefits. EVOO is still packed with antioxidants and vitamins.
Garlic
This is a judgement-free space and it’s fine to use pre-minced garlic from a jar. If you’re happy to peel and mince your own fresh garlic from cloves, then that’s also fine. Just don’t use garlic powder in your dressing.
Lemon Juice
Freshly squeezed lemon juice is great and is always preferred. The bottled juice just does not have the same pronounced flavors and contains some preservatives too. But saying that, we’ve made this dish with both because we were all out of lemons one day, and it was just fine.
Dried Oregano
Oregano has a peppery and pungent flavor profile and is definitely one of the bolder flavors we’ve used in this delicious dish.
Ground Salt and Pepper
You can use the salt (we recommend sea salt) and pepper as liberally as you wish in this recipe. The salt will enhance the other flavours and the pepper will add some heat.
Fresh Herbs
We recommend using fresh basil for parsley. We used a sprig of basil in the making of this recipe. We went with basil when making this recipe for this blog post. It has a sweet and savory flavour, with hints of aniseed and pepper. But again, flat leaf parsley is great too.
Alex and Katherine’s Comments
This recipe came about because we hate wasting food. We had made a different potato salad and had leftover baby potatoes. We looked around in our vegetable store and found an aubergine, and a couple of jars of aromatics from the fridge later, and we’re working out what delicious recipes we can make. We love oven-roasted eggplant and thought that with some Mediterranean-style accompaniments, we could have a great-tasting warm eggplant salad.
This eggplant and potato salad makes a great small main course or side dish. We kept the serving size down to two small mains or larger sides, but you can adjust this. It’s a really easy recipe that feels a little bit like cheating. We’ve used some pretty simple ingredients, all things you can pick up at any produce aisle or jars off the shelf in most grocery stores.
We wanted to make a truly flavorful dish for every eggplant lover to enjoy, which is why we bolstered the more neutral flavour of the eggplants and potatoes with the bolder flavors of olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Then to make sure these oven-roasted veggies have plenty of zing to them, we included a lemon, caper and garlic dressing.
We feel this is one of those recipes that you can easily play around with and make it your own. You can quite easily substitute some ingredients. You could try adding some petal-cut red onions, maybe some cherry tomatoes, or any other seasonal vegetables. Perhaps instead of our green dressing, you could try a marinara sauce poured on top with a dash of balsamic vinegar making it more of an Italian eggplant salad?
Roasted Eggplant Salad Recipe
Vegan Ratatouille Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Citrus Juicer
- 1 Fine Grater
- 1 Chefs Knife
- 1 Chopping board
- 1 Cooktop (Stovetop, Hob)
- 1 large non-stick frying pan
Ingredients
- 4 Plant chicken breasts
- 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp vegan butter
- 1 Cup vegetable stock
- 1/4 Cup dry white wine
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 Tbsp capers drained
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Lemon slices for garnish
- Fresh parsley for garnish
- Cooked tagliatelle pasta to serve
Instructions
- In a shallow bowl (large enough to lay down a plant breast in) combine the all-purpose flour, garlic powder, sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Now is a good time to begin boiling a large pot of water to boil your pasta in.
- Lightly brush each plant chicken breast with a covering of olive oil to help the flour and seasoning mix stick.
- Lay each chicken breast down in the flour and turn them over a couple of times until they're completely covered.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.
- Add the flour-coated chicken breasts to the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes until they're crispy and golden brown. Once cooked move remove from the pan and set aside.
- As soon as your pasta water is boiling, add approximately 250g of tagliatelle (enough for 2 people) to the pan and cook for at least 10 minutes.
- While the plant chicken breasts are cooking it's the perfect time to juice one lemon (enough for 3 tablespoons), zest the peel of the same lemon and then cut a few slices from a second lemon to use as garnish.
- While you're waiting for the plant chicken breasts to finish frying, this is also a good time to make 1 cup of vegetable stock, ready for the piccata sauce.
- In the same frying pan that you just removed the plant chicken breasts from add another tablespoon of olive oil and turn the heat up to high.
- Add 2 tablespoons of vegan butter and mix with the oil until melted.
- Now add the vegetable stock and white wine to the pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes until the sauce has reduced slightly.
- Stir the capers and lemon juice into the sauce and reduce the frying pan for another couple of minutes.
- Finally, return the crispy-coated plant chicken breasts to the pan and let them simmer for a couple of minutes while the flour from them thickens the sauce.
- Drain the cooked pasta, and serve the plant chicken and sauce on top of a bed of tagliatelli, garnished with lemon slices and fresh parsley.
Notes
- Fresh is best, using fresh lemons means that you can add lemon zest to your sauce and garnish with juicy lemon slices. Unless you need to, try to avoid using bottled juice.
- It’s in the details. There are a couple of common types of parsley, flat-leaf and curly-leaf. Curly-leaf is French and flat-leaf is the variety that you want to be using in classic Italian dishes.
- If you want to add an extra level of flavour to the finished dish, garnish the plant chicken breasts with some vegan parmesan cheese. just a sprinkle on top, but it is good, we tried it the second time we made this dish.
Roasted Eggplant Salad: Frequently Asked Questions
What can I use instead of sun-dried tomatoes?
Oven-dried tomatoes made by slow-roasting fresh tomatoes until they become chewy and concentrated in flavor.
Roasted red peppers provide a smoky, sweet flavor and a similar texture, though they are less tangy.
Tomato paste for a concentrated tomato flavor, a small amount of tomato paste can add richness and depth.
What types of potato work well in a roasted vegetable warm salad?
Baby potatoes are small, waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold or red-skinned varieties are perfect for roasting. They have a buttery texture and hold their shape well, adding a nice contrast to softer vegetables.
Yukon Gold potatoes have a creamy texture but still crisp up beautifully when roasted, making them a versatile choice for salads.
Red potatoes have a firmer texture and thinner skin, making them great for roasting as they maintain their shape and provide a slight crunch.
How can I make the best roasted eggplant?
Choose the right eggplant. Look for firm, shiny eggplants with smooth skin and no blemishes. Smaller eggplants tend to be less bitter and have fewer seeds.
Pre-salt for flavor and texture. After dicing the eggplant you can season it with salt and let it sit for 30 minutes to draw out moisture and reduce bitterness. Rinse and pat dry thoroughly with a paper towel before roasting.
If You Thought this Recipe was Tasty, You Should Try These
- We’re still to post more eggplant dishes but we do have a great range of small potato dishes and sides. You’ll find the perfect pairing for a comforting winter meal or a summer salad.
- You can use capers to add some authentically seafood-like flavours to other salads as well, just like in our cool Caesar salad dressing.
- For another brilliant easy recipe which works well as a main or side, we’ve got a creamy tomato orzo dish you might like too.
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