We are featuring our eighth Pick Your Own (PYO) meal, Raisin and Sunflower Eggplant Salad. Yes, you heard it here, our eggplant plants are full of fruit ready to be harvested. What to do with eggplant you ask?... make a delicious salad! Eggplant has a mild flavour that pairs well with bold flavours like bitter pickled onions (an easy how-to-pickle guide is within the recipe instructions of this post). However, the toasted fruit and seeds and fig dressing add a sweet and savoury flavour that pairs perfectly with the pickled onions.
The balance of flavours and nutrients are some of the many highlights of this salad. Not only will you be satisfied with this salad, but it may inspire you to get out of your comfort zone and experience new flavours.
Please tag us on Instagram (@thamesrivermelons) if you try this recipe!
So much flavour, a must try!
Recipe
*Serves 4-6
Ingredients
~8 small (2 lbs) Thames River Melons eggplant
1 cup Thames River Melons herbs (basil and sage)
½ cup feta cheese (I used goats feta, but you may also use goat cheese)
Toasted Fruit and Seeds
½ cup of raisins (can substitute for currants or cranberries)
½ cup of sunflower seeds (can substitute for pumpkin seeds or use a nut such as walnuts)
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp Thames River Melons Melon Blossom Honey or maple syrup
2 dashes of cinnamon
Dressing
2 tbsp fig jam
1 tbsp Thames River Melons Melon Blossom Honey
⅓ cup olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
Pickled Onion
1 medium Thames River Melons sweet onion
¾ cup of apple cider vinegar
¼ cup water
½ tsp salt
1 tsp Thames River Melons Melon Blossom Honey
Here is what you will need!
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Wash the eggplant, then cut into quarter or 1/8th wedges (depending on the size of the eggplant). Place the wedges skin side up on a baking sheet, pour olive oil over them and season with salt. Place in the oven and set a timer for 10 minutes.
Eggplant wedges!
3. While the eggplants are in the oven, make the pickled onion brine: in a small pot on high heat bring the apple cider vinegar, water, salt, and honey to a boil.
4. Thinly slice the onion and place into a mason jar. Pour the boiling brine mixture over top of the onions and shake the jar. Let cool and marinate on the counter for a minimum 20 minutes (the longer the better).
5. After 10 minutes in the oven, or until the one side of the eggplant looks golden, flip the eggplant and set another timer for 10 minutes.
Golden and ready to be flipped!
6. Meanwhile, make the salad dressing by adding the honey, olive oil, lemon, and fig jam to a jar. Shake until evenly mixed .
* There may be chunks of fig, but that is okay!
7. Now, take out the eggplant and let it cool on top of the oven.
8. While the eggplant cools, add the butter, sunflower seeds, raisins, maple syrup/honey, and cinnamon to the same pot as the vinegar brine and put on medium heat. Stir until the sunflower seeds get golden and crisp.
* This is my favourite step as it gives off the most delightful aroma.
9. Assemble the salad: place the roasted eggplant wedges on a serving plate, then remove the pickled onions from the jar (look at the waste less notes for more ideas on how to use the remainder of the pickled onions) and add them on top of the eggplant wedges. Add the crumbled feta cheese, sprinkle on the fruit and seed mixture and lastly, cover the salad in dressing and garnish with sage and basil leaves.
10. Serve up warm or cool! This makes a perfect side dish to share with family & friends.
Tada! Raisin and Sunflower Seed Eggplant Salad!
Cost
This salad requires approximately 2 lbs of eggplant. Eggplant PYO cost is $2/lb. Therefore, the PYO vegetables for this salad cost $4 in total.
Nutritional Density
Eggplants contain manganese and vitamin K which are minerals and vitamins essential for good bone and blood health. Both micronutrients play a role in blood clotting. Manganese specifically plays a large role in reactions that contribute to bone formation and bone density (1).
For 100g of eggplant, there is 0.232 mg of manganese and 3.5µg vitamin K (2).
The recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for manganese is 1.8 for female adults and 2.3 for males adults. Therefore, 100g of eggplant provides females with 13% of RDA and males with 10% of RDA. The adequate intake (AI) for vitamin K is 90µg for male adults and 120µg for female adults. Therefore, 100g of eggplant gives 4% of AI for females and 3% of AI for males (3).
The pickled onions may provide probiotics. Probiotics are the good bacteria present when a food item is fermented. The fermentation process uses the bacteria present on the fruit or vegetable and a salt/water/sugar brine to activate the bacteria. When consumed, these bacteria may transport to the colon and help your digestive tract maintain good health (4).
Storage
This salad will keep in the fridge for 2 days. If planning to store, we recommend keeping the dressing on the side as the eggplant may become soggy.
The dressing will keep for 5-7 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Waste Less Notes
You may not use all of the pickled onions (depending on how much your crowd likes onions). However, these pickled onions can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in a sealed container and used in a number of delicious recipes, especially in tacos, stir fry, and as a pizza topping.
Modifications
This recipe may be modified to suit your needs. You may substitute the raisins for any dried fruit, like currants or cranberries. Even diced dates would work great! As for sunflower seeds substitutes, pumpkin seeds or if you have nuts on hand, then walnuts or pecans would be lovely.
Recipe developed and photographed by dietetic interns Lexie Nobbs and Lise Wolyniuk and reviewed by Alex Chesney, RD
References
National Institutes of Health. (2021). Manganese: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. Retrieve August 17, 2024, from https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Manganese-HealthProfessional/
Health Canada. (2023). Canadian Nutrient File. Government of Canada. Retrieved August 17, 2024, from https://food-nutrition.canada.ca/cnf-fce/newSearch
Health Canada. (2023). Dietary Reference Intake Tables: Reference values for vitamins and minerals. Government of Canada. Retrieved August 17, 2024, from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/dietary-reference-intakes/tables/reference-values-vitamins.html#tbl1
Valentino V, Magliulo R, Farsi D, et al. Fermented foods, their microbiome and its potential in boosting human health. Microb Biotechnol. 2024;17(2). doi:10.1111/1751-7915.14428