Make room on your grill for smoky charred eggplant

Summer grilling tends to focus on meat, but vegetables also get great flavor from a stint over hot coals. So move the burgers and hot dogs to the side and make room on your grill for smoky, tender eggplant. In this recipe from our cookbook “ Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year ,” we halve eggplants instead of keeping them whole, exposing the flesh to the direct heat to develop deeper flavor.

Making a crosshatch pattern in the flesh with a knife further increases the surface area to maximize browning. The eggplants are cooked cut side down until well browned, then flipped and brushed with garlic oil. Bits of garlic are pushed into the cuts, where they soften and mellow.



The eggplant then is covered and roasted until a skewer inserted at the narrow end of the largest eggplant half meets no resistance, then finished with a fresh salad of parsley, mint, sesame seeds and lemon zest. We like to serve the eggplant in the charred skins, but the cooked flesh also can be scooped into a bowl, mashed and mixed with the herb mixture, then finished with olive oil and lemon juice. If you prefer to cook the eggplant indoors, broil the oil-brushed eggplant halves cut side up on a wire rack set on a broiler-safe rimmed baking sheet.

GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH SESAME AND HERBS Start to finish: 1 hour Servings: 6 Ingredients 2 medium eggplants (1 to 1 1/2 pounds each), halved lengthwise 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus extra to serve Kosher salt and gr.