Grilled Eggplant with Lemon-Basil Yogurt Dressing

We got to escape to the farmer's market a couple Saturday's ago, and for once, went in with an "if we see it and want it, we'll buy it" attitude. Usually we are extremely careful about planning our meals and only shop with a prepared list. However, sometimes you can't rely on the farmer's market to have what you want, by the time you get there! This ended up being the case for some things (we never got our peaches), but allowed us to pick out a little more "out of the box" foods, like eggplant. We had only attempted to make something with eggplant once before, which was an unsuccessful Baba Ganoush. We decided that if we bought eggplants at the market, that we would find more creative uses for them. And that we did!

We were lucky enough that when we went to purchase our eggplants, the vendor selling them was handing out a fun recipe that day! He instructed us to make the marinade, put the eggplant in, grill it, and then eat it with the dressing. He swore by the recipe and claimed there was no better way to eat eggplant. While the verdict's still out on the latter, the recipe was pretty damn good and we would definitely make it again. We particularly enjoyed the extent of flavors, ranging from Indian curry, to Asian soy sauce, to more Mediterranean yogurt/lemon/basil. It definitely made for an interesting flavor profile and definitely made eggplant more exciting than it ever had been before! So if you're feeling adventurous and want to try something new, I definitely recommend this recipe.

Grilled Eggplant with Lemon-Basil Yogurt Dressing
1-2 large eggplants
Marinade
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp red pepper
Dressing
1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup chopped basil
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp lemon zest
S&P, to taste

Cut eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds. Mix the marinade together, pour into a platter, then add eggplants. Allow to marinate for about 20 minutes.

While eggplant is marinating, combine ingredients to make dressing. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Once eggplant is done in marinade, begin to heat griddle pan. Once hot, place eggplant rounds on and grill for about 5 minutes per side. Serve with dressing!