Eggplant and Meyer Lemon Risotto

• 2 medium-sized eggplants
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbl olive oil
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 7 oz arborio rice
• 1/2 cup of dry white wine
• 3 1/4 cups of hot vegetable stock
• zest of 1 Meyer lemon + 2 Tbsp freshly-squeezed juice
• 1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
• diced basil or flat-leaf parsley, to serve

Burn Half of an eggplant

1. Preheat broiler. Make 4-5 cuts into eggplant. Place eggplant on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil for approx 1 hour.

2. Once eggplant is cool enough to handle, scoop out flesh and toss skin. Roughly chop eggplant flesh and set it aside.

Recipe

1. Dice remaining eggplant into 1/2 inch pieces. Heat about 1/3 cup of olive oil in a medium saucepan and fry eggplant, in 2-3 batches, until golden. Toss frequently as it cooks so as to not burn it.

2. Place eggplant in colander and sprinkle with kosher salt.

3. Add onion and remainder of oil to same pan and cook until soft. Add garlic, cooking for a couple of minutes. Add rice and stir to coat grains. Pour in wine and let it cook off for 2-3 minutes (turn up the heat if it is not hissing). Once wine is nearly cooked off, dial down heat.

4. Pour in a ladleful of hot stock and stir. Keep adding stock, approximately 1/2 cup at a time, and stir rice continuously as it cooks. Once all stock is used up, remove pan from heat.

5. Add about half of lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, Parmesan, most of pan-fried eggplant (set some aside for topping), all of eggplant flesh and season with salt. Stir and season with more salt and pepper, as needed.

To serve, scoop risotto into bowls, top with some of the remaining pan-fried eggplant and lemon zest. Have plenty of extra Parmesan cheese on hand.