FNCCC #18 - Giada De Laurentiis

This week's chef in the Food Network's Chefs cooking Challenge is Giada De Laurentiis. It was hard to pick just one recipe but I found a winner!

I have been grilling eggplant (and every other veggie) for a few months now. By itself, it's awesome. In this salad, it's guest worthy. And lunch worthy. And snack worthy. You get it. YUM!

Grilled eggplant is very flavorful with only evoo, salt and pepper. Pair it with creamy goat cheese, fresh basil and the bite of the balsamic vinegar - it's a little piece of heaven. Try it if you like these flavors! You will not be disappointed.

Grilled Eggplant and Goat Cheese Salad
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
7 Japanese eggplant, ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch wide slices
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts (couldn't find these anywhere - they moved them at my grocery store)
3 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup basil, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped mint
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Drizzle the olive oil over the slices of eggplant and toss to coat. Grill the eggplants until tender and grill marks appear, about 3 to 4 minutes per side (it took a lot longer than this to get it done like I like it).
Place the eggplants side-by-side on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the pine nuts, goat cheese, basil, and mint. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

So what did you make? I bet there were a lot of winners this week! Link to MckLinky below to share yours.