White Eggplant and New potatoes with Bo's Fig Balsamic Sauce

After I got many comments about the photos of the white eggplant, I had to try some. Apparently the eggplant got it's name because in the 18th century it only came in white, was a little smaller and it resembled goose eggs while hanging on the plant. The skin is a little tougher and should be peeled. The flesh is white, not greenish like the purple ones. I had a hard time seeing where I had already peeled it. It was a little firmer and I heard it was sweeter than the purple, I skipped the sweating part. It seems to have less seed too.

I used it in a couple of recipes, here is one that was easy enough to throw in the oven and finish the rest of the meal. I used a recipe from my Blogger friend Bo from Bo's Bowl . He made two recipes using fig jam, a vinaigrette for salad dressing and a fig balsamic pan sauce for pork medallions. I have some fig jam that I wanted to use and told him I was thrilled that he had these recipes. I used the one for the pan sauce but changed it slightly because I was tossing it over the vegetables and baking it.

Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic smashed and sliced
1 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup fig preserves
1/4 cup walnut oil (you can use olive oil)
salt & pepper (once it's on the pan)

If I had some walnuts I would of tossed them in too.
Whisk it all together in a large bowl and toss in the cubed eggplant and potato wedges. Toss together until everything is evenly coated. Spread out on a baking pan, then salt and pepper. Of course I'm using my stoneware bar pan again, it's perfect for roasting veggies.

Bake in a 350 F oven for 45-50 minutes until potatoes are tender and the desired crispness on the potatoes. I'm not sure I really timed it, I just see how they look in the oven, if they are tender and browned up the way I like it then they are done. Take them out part way and turn them to get browned on both sides. At this point I threw in a little bit of spinach, I liked how that crisped up too. (I added fresh too for the bowl)

It was so good, with the balsamic and fig jam caramelized slightly, yum! I also made a couple of skewers of eggplant to put on the grill with the meat. We didn't care for that as well, I think it needed to marinate longer for grilling.

Make sure you check out Bo's Bowl for the original recipe that he used over pork, and his mixed baby greens with goat cheese, bacon, with fig balsamic vinaigrette. He has a lot of great recipes, and shows you how to make them!
Happy Friday!!