Four eggplant bushes and any remaining fruit were recently removed from our vegetable garden to make way for new Autumn seedlings. The plants have been so incredibly productive this year that I decided to leave 3 in the ground. Once they finally stop fruiting I will cut them back a little and then leave them over Winter. I did this with a few of our capsicum plants last year. They sat dormant over the Winter period and then sprouted early in Spring and started producing much earlier than any of the newly added plants. The fruit was also larger in the second year. I am expecting that the same thing will occur with the eggplant. If the same applies to eggplants as it does to capsicum I will maintain only those 3 plants next Summer in a bid to have a supply more suitable for our little family.

I wrote this post a while ago about how many plants to add to your vegetable garden for your family. It will require a little tweaking to suit your circumstances as you progress through the seasons but will give you a good indication of the right number of plants to add to your kitchen garden.

I was more than a little satisfied to farewell the eggplants I removed from the garden as we are totally sick of them this year. I feel like a whinger, complaining about having amazing fresh produce available to use for family meals but there is a limit of some things! Based on previous year’s experience we now have a good idea of how many plants we require int he ground each year for our family needs. In previous years our eggplant crops have been so small that I based my plant number on what I thought would be a great amount to have some excess for new recipe development…..Well, I did that and so much more. This is my final eggplant recipe for the season as we now move into Autumn eating (thank goodness for that!!)

We enjoyed this meal on a pizza base. You can find my recipe for home made pizza here. I brushed the base with a little olive oil, no sauce was used on this one.

You could also enjoy this recipe as a bruschetta or cut up the pieces and add them to an entertaining platter, that is how we ate the left overs the following day when we had visitors drop by.

Print Spicy Eggplant Prep Time 20 mins Cook Time 10 mins Total Time 30 mins A vegetarian spicy eggplant pizza recipe to use up the last of the season's eggplant. Served with a dollop of yoghurt and fresh herbs. Course: Main Servings : 4 Author : Kyrstie Barcak - A Fresh Legacy Ingredients 1 tablespoon coconut oil

3 garlic cloves - chopped

6 peppercorns

1 star anise

1 red chilli - finely chopped de-seeded if you wish

1 cm fresh ginger - grated

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

2 tablespoons water

500 gram eggplant sliced 1/2 cm thickness

1/2 tablespoon palm sugar

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon soy sauce or Tamari To Serve Greek Style Yoghurt

Fresh basil and/or coriander leaves Instructions Prepare and add the pizza base to a heated oven Add the oil, garlic, pepper, star anise, chilli, ginger and tumeric to a warmed pan and heat for a couple of minutes until fragrant Add 2 tablespoons water and stir Add the eggplant to the pan, flipping to coat Add the honey, palm sugar and soy and cook until the eggplant has softened. Turn as required. When the pizza base is cooked, top it with the warm eggplant, a dollop of yogurt and fresh herbs to serve Recipe Notes You may also serve this recipe with bruschetta or on a shared antipasto platter

Have you tried eggplant on pizza?

Here are some of the other ways we have been eating our massive eggplant harvest this year:

There are many more on the Cook Fresh (Recipe Index) Page.

If you are in the Northern Hemisphere and planning your Spring garden you may find my tips for growing Eggplant useful.