Grilled Eggplant and Chopped Salad with Lemon – Mint Dressing

Christine Datian must have been reading my mind. As I was doing my eggplant experiment in Florida, she was creating an eggplant recipe of her own in Nevada. Her recipe for ‘Grilled Eggplant and Chopped Salad with Lemon – Mint Dressing’ recently appeared in The Armenian Mirror-Spectator newspaper. I offered to post it to present another way one can serve eggplant. She was happy for me to do just that.
So fire-up your grill and get ready to entice your family with this delightful summertime recipe!  

 

1 large eggplant or 2-3 Japanese eggplant, sliced in ½-inch pieces or chunks
6-7 cups romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, radicchio, escarole, endive, kale and/or spinach (or any choice of lettuce or salad greens)
2-3 medium tomatoes, any variety, cut into chunks
1 large ripe avocado, diced or sliced
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 medium red or green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 English cucumber, halved and sliced or diced (or 4 Persian cucumbers, sliced or diced)
 3-4 green onions or spring onions, sliced or chopped
About 1 cup fresh chopped mint, dill, and Italian flat leaf parsley
Sliced black or Kalamata olives
2 to 3 pita bread rounds, cut into pieces

8 ounces feta or blue cheese, crumbled

Olive oil, salt and pepper (for eggplant on grill)

About 1/3 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 or 2
large lemons and the zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 teaspoon crushed dried mint
1/2 teaspoon each coarse black pepper, paprika, cayenne
pepper, and ground

Pinch of kosher salt (to taste)
Pinch of sugar (optional)