Thirteen Ways of Looking at an Eggplant

Thirteen Ways of Looking at an Eggplant

(With deepest apologies to Wallace Stevens.)

To read “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,”  go to

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/stevens-13ways.html

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I.

Roasted whole in my oven

Till its purple skin turned black

Then pierced by a fork

So Grandma could

Mash it with garlic

And make baba ganoush

I do not care for it.

But what can we do?

It’s a tradition.

II.

Add to stir fry.

No one will know.

III.

Back from his first trip to New York

My young son said he had enjoyed

“That eggplant drink.”

What?

Oh.

Eggcream.

IV.

Circles of eggplant

Battered and fried

Dipped in gyozo sauce

From Trader Joe’s

V.

I prefer wearing it

To eating it.

It’s called aubergine

At the mall.

Purple, almost black.

It’s a neutral.

VI.

Visiting my cousin in Manhattan

Eating caponata

From Balducci’s on 6th Avenue

Made me forget

To not like eggplant.

VII.

Eggplant piperade

With two kinds of peppers

Cubanelle for crunch

Pickled red

for vinegar and heat.

VIII.

Diced and quickly sauteed

Added to spaghetti sauce

Just before serving

A meatless bolognese

Pass the cheese

(The sauce is pareve.)

IX.

Imam bayildi

(The imam fainted)

It’s a Turkish dish.

Google it.

X.

Grill thick slices

Turn it to and fro

For grill marks

XI.

Cubed eggplant

Tossed in pan drippings

From Italian sausage

I do not know which to prefer

Mixed into the pasta

or eaten instead of.

XII.

I am of three minds

About dinner

Like the three trays

Of eggplant parmesan

That sit in my freezer

XIII.

Sweet sliced

Slow roasted

Carmelized.

Bitterness

Vanishes.

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By Randa Dubnick

Image is Purple Eggplant Orange Bin

All rights reserved