Those beautiful, purple-black eggplants look so exotic sitting there in the produce case.  But the thought of cleaning, cutting and cooking an eggplant scares me a little bit.  If I brought an eggplant home from the farmer’s market today, would I know what to do with it?

There are several schools of thought regarding what is necessary in the preparation of an eggplant.  One  method suggests an eggplant needs to be cut lengthwise in thin slices and laid out on layers of paper towels in order to “sweat out” the moisture.  Not everyone agrees with that, so now I’m more confused than ever.

So, here’s the challenge.  Can anyone tell me in three easy steps, or less, how to clean, cut and prepare an eggplant?  What are your success stories?  What is the one thing you found to be a necessary step in the preparation of an eggplant?  Has anything really gone wrong when you’ve tried to just throw together an eggplant dish without following a strict recipe?    There are several recipes  for eggplant casseroles in my kitchen drawer that all sound delicious, but I have been hesitant to try any of them until I know how to begin the preparation.

With your help, I plan to overcome my fear of eggplant preparation, become an eggplant aficionado and spread the joy of eggplant cookery everywhere I go!