blue artichoke

Favored in the Middle East, particularly in Turkey; Imam Bayildi translates literally to “the priest fainted.” There are several interpretations to the name. Some say that the Imam fainted from sheer gastronomical delight when presented with this dish. Others maintain he loved the dish so that he fainted when he was refused the dish. Another line is that he fell flat on the floor when he realized how much olive oil was used in the dish and how much it cost. The Greeks have eaten this dish for hundreds of years, using the Turkish name. Why? Because the Greeks maintained that the Imam tasted the dish in Greece, and fainted there!

GC and I ate this dish without fainting, although the bits of torn-up bay leaves did pose a choking hazard. I'd recommend leaving the bay leaves whole and removing before serving. This dish is OK. I like it because it looks nice, uses lots of healthy summer vegetables and is pretty much left alone to cook, once assembled. I omitted the currants because I couldn't easily find any.

Imam Bayildi (Eggplant Turkish Style)

4 med ripe tomatoes
3 med eggplants, ~1# each
2 T. salt for draining
2 T. olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 med yellow onions, peeled and sliced
¼ c. chopped parsley
¼ c. dried currants, optional, but delicious
S/p, to taste
½ c. olive oil
½ t. whole thyme
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 t. sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Dice tomatoes; drain in colander for 1 hour. Discard the juice.

Choose long and narrow eggplants, if possible. Cut off the stems and cut the plant in half, the long way. Using a vegetable peeler, remove 3 long pieces of the peel, each ~1” wide, the long way. Move the peeler back and forth. This will help moisture flow out of the eggplant. Using a large metal spoon, scoop out a bit of the eggplant, leaving a boat with thick sides and bottom. Coarsely chop the scrapings and reserve.

Sprinkle the salt equally on each boat and set on a rack to drain, skin side up, for 45 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the filling.

Heat a large frying pan and add the 2 T. olive oil and garlic. Sauté for a moment and add the onions and chopped pulp from the eggplant. Sauté until onions are transparent, but not discolored. Remove from heat. Place the onions, garlic, eggplant scrapings, tomatoes, parsley and currants in a bowl. Mix gently. Add s/p to taste.

Wipe out the eggplant boats with paper towels. Fill each with an equal amount of the filling and place in an ovenproof casserole just big enough to take them comfortably. [I used a heavy 12" skillet with a lid.] Mix the ½ c. olive oil with ½ c. water, thyme, bay leaves, sugar and lemon juice. Pour 2 T. of this mixture on the top of each boat and pour rest in bottom of pan. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer until eggplants are quite soft, ~1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool with the lid on. Serve cold or at room temp.

Great as a veggie meal or as an appetizer.

Serves 6 as a meal, more as an app.
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine, Jeff Smith, 1984

We had a wonderful windstorm last night, with gusts as fast as 60 mph in some places (not here). It blew down my neighbor's tree and knocked down lots of tree limbs and branches. I rushed outside to see what was going on and saw my potted plants flying across the porch. I hurried to bring them in (only 2 broke!), and to tell GC that it was really scary outside, come see! Our across-the-street neighbors were watching from their porch; we all convened in the street to watch the lightening and listen to the cracking of tree branches. One branch hit my neighbor in the face, cutting him in an almost Harry Potter lightening-bolt on the forehead. We were all jealous of his injury. The wind eventually died down and we went inside, to snuggle in our warm bed in our cool bedroom, safe from flying tree limbs.

Getting to Know All About You: Do you have any neat scars?