One thing I remember my mother telling me as a child was that I should keep trying foods I don't like, as my tastes may change as I become an adult. She told me how she hated avocados after eating them way too often, but then later tried them as an adult and found that she liked them all over again. This is one thing I have carried with me over the years. I may be a "picky eater," but I pride myself on being willing to try (most) new things. My only problem is that I developed weird food allergies after I turned twenty and I have to be very label-conscious with my food decisions (now I'm even less fun to have at a drive-thru), especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables (turns out most of my food allergies stem from my environmental allergies). I am now an adventurous food-taster, of sorts, equipped with an Epi-pen and Benedryl at all times!
Several months ago, I experienced Chicago's Greek Town for the first time. If you're itching for Greek food, this is certainly the place to be! The menu contained some items I was familiar with (I heart Baklava!) and some that I had never heard of at all. Being the cavalier, yet cautious food taster that I am, I ordered a combination platter with all sorts of Greekiness on one plate. I found that I don't care for Dolmathakia/Dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice), but I was a HUGE fan of Spanakopita (phyllo pastry with spinach and feta cheese) and Moussaka (a casserole made with eggplant, meat, and a creamy sauce). Out of everything that I tried, I was most concerned about the eggplant. If you've never tried it (and you have the same aversions to fruits and veggies as I do), eggplant can be very intimidating! To me, eggplants have always looked like dark plum-colored boobs... with stems. Not very appetizing if you ask me. I was surprised to discover that the actual inside of the eggplant is white and has seeds! I'd never really thought about the inside before, but I guess I always assumed that the innards of an eggplant would have a purpleish tone as well. Joke's on me.
For the last couple months I have been thinking about the eggplant, wondering what I could possible do with it, and also wondering if I actually like the flavor or if I was just distracted by all the other Moussaka goodness. Do I like eggplant? Does it taste as bitter as I have always heard that it is? Gosh darn it, I am figuring this out tonight!
The only other dish I know that has eggplant is the estimed "Egglant Parmesan." After weeks of considering it, I decided to just make it and try the darn thing already. I left work and headed directly to Meijer (like a Super Walmart, for those of you who don't have a Meijer [pronouned Meyer] in your neck of the woods) and purchased all the ingredients for this dish. I looked up tons of recipes online and it started to seem like it was going to be way too much work. Thanks to food.com, I was able to find a simplified recipe. It took a while, but I ended up with the following results:
Aside from the big chunks of onion and tomato in the sauce (I know, picky, picky!), I thought it was actually pretty good. I would have been happy with the fried eggplant alone, but the tomato sauce (Prego's Chunky Garden sauce) and the parmesan and mozarella cheeses really added to the flavor. I am quite pleased with myself and am excited to let my mother know that I tried eggplant again and that I realized that I actually do like it! Kudos to you, adult taste-buds... maybe I'll become a better drive-thru companion before we know it!
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