In the early days of our dating relationship, Jon and I would go out to the fancy restaurants in Tulsa. You know the time period, no kids, dual income, trying to impress each other, etc. 'Our spot' turned out to be a restaurant called Angelo's around 31st and Harvard.
It was an amazing Italian restaurant, the pasta and cannoli, yum! Everything was divine. It's the place we celebrated our engagement and where we celebrated with family when Jon graduated the University of Tulsa.
If you know Jon very well, he's not a salad guy! He likes meat and potatoes for most meals. He loves chocolate donuts and Dr. Pepper for breakfast. But at Angelo's they always served a salad, much like Olive Garden, that Jon and I loved.
What made the salad so tasty was the savory topping of pickled eggplant along with the onions, olives, and tomatoes on a bed of leafy greens. So today I put up a few half pints of the garnish to have on hand. You can buy the stuff at gourmet shops for close to $15 per bottle, but why do that when it's fall and eggplant is on sale.
It's a very simplistic recipe, the vegetables are washed then cut into about 1/4" strips, anything thinner and they will fall apart in the canning process. To keep the eggplant from being bitter, soak the strips in a water, lemon juice, and salt bath. The eggplant likes to float so I place a couple of plates on top to hold the eggplant under water. Let it soak for about 2 hours, then rinse well.
In each jar I packed the strips of eggplant and topped with 5 peppercorns, 2 cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of fresh basil. Next fill the jars with a simple brine of 2-1/4 Tbsp kosher/sea salt, 3 cups red wine vinegar and 1 cup water, boiled. Seal the jars and water bath for 10 minutes. Now the next time we have spaghetti or pasta I can kick up the side salad a notch with my Angelo's inspired pickled eggplant fit for any celebration!
“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. Luke 14:12
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