Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - Not feeling the love for my new Victorio strainer

JRinPA · August 21, 2017

I tried the OXO from bed bath beyond and didn't care for it. I really had to push down it because the legs flexed too much/spring too strong. Also, clearing the scrap all the time was a pain. It was not too bad for small jobs but I am a double batch type. They took it back for store credit, but so far they have kept that money. I go in there every so often but see nothing of interest. At some point I may see if they have canning lids and use it up that way. I did pick up an old foley mill for 50 cents at a yard sale and I like that for some things. No flex in that one, but only one screen size.

Eggplant...well I was looking for a way to use up a free pile but I ended up passing on the excess. I love eggplant as long as I keep picking it and I know it is young, and not iodine-y. My brother has a bunch picked but no idea how to use them. I supply the plants for free so he grows too many. I went up to his place to get his dogs, as I have to watch them for the next week while he is on vacation. While there I raided his tomato cages. I took his ripe tomatoes that will go bad this week, and the ones already going downhill, but left the eggplant. I cannot trust that it is not too old already. I despise eggplant that is too mature; I get that taste and it just turns me off to eggplant for a long time.

Drying I did not think of...the only thing that seemed feasible was skinning, cubing, and pressure canning it, and I really don't know if that would be worth the jar use. How does one use dried eggplant? I do have a 10 rack dehydrator.

What we mostly do with eggplant is peel, slice, cover in salt, then egg+bread crumbs or dry with panko crumbs. Love it this way but it is August and we can only eat so much. We also fry a few pans of it like that and then make eggplant parm. I think we have three parm in the freezer from this month, but freezer space is tight here. Also, eggplant in the skillet is something that takes a while and demands attention, so just making them for the freezer is a time sink.

What I would like to find is an EASY way to convert/save the eggplant to make eggplant parm later in the year. I keep having a vision that I should mash the eggplant (instead of slice) and sort of season and bake it in layers in one big tray, instead of babysitting the skillet. I was thinking maybe the victorio with largest screen might do a good job busting up raw eggplant, like it does on cooked potatoes. Then I could season, oil, and lay it out in layers on pans in the convection oven. Maybe make trays of eggplant parm like that, or preferably freeze just the bags of browned eggplant like that for later use. We have in the past frozen pan fried slices and they were decent, but not like fresh.

I keep thinking about it but haven't tried it. This is going to be a hectic week already with four springer spaniels instead of just two, and I just didn't feel like dealing with it.

August 21, 2017	#45
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 965	I tried the OXO from bed bath beyond and didn't care for it. I really had to push down it because the legs flexed too much/spring too strong. Also, clearing the scrap all the time was a pain. It was not too bad for small jobs but I am a double batch type. They took it back for store credit, but so far they have kept that money. I go in there every so often but see nothing of interest. At some point I may see if they have canning lids and use it up that way. I did pick up an old foley mill for 50 cents at a yard sale and I like that for some things. No flex in that one, but only one screen size. Eggplant...well I was looking for a way to use up a free pile but I ended up passing on the excess. I love eggplant as long as I keep picking it and I know it is young, and not iodine-y. My brother has a bunch picked but no idea how to use them. I supply the plants for free so he grows too many. I went up to his place to get his dogs, as I have to watch them for the next week while he is on vacation. While there I raided his tomato cages. I took his ripe tomatoes that will go bad this week, and the ones already going downhill, but left the eggplant. I cannot trust that it is not too old already. I despise eggplant that is too mature; I get that taste and it just turns me off to eggplant for a long time. Drying I did not think of...the only thing that seemed feasible was skinning, cubing, and pressure canning it, and I really don't know if that would be worth the jar use. How does one use dried eggplant? I do have a 10 rack dehydrator. What we mostly do with eggplant is peel, slice, cover in salt, then egg+bread crumbs or dry with panko crumbs. Love it this way but it is August and we can only eat so much. We also fry a few pans of it like that and then make eggplant parm. I think we have three parm in the freezer from this month, but freezer space is tight here. Also, eggplant in the skillet is something that takes a while and demands attention, so just making them for the freezer is a time sink. What I would like to find is an EASY way to convert/save the eggplant to make eggplant parm later in the year. I keep having a vision that I should mash the eggplant (instead of slice) and sort of season and bake it in layers in one big tray, instead of babysitting the skillet. I was thinking maybe the victorio with largest screen might do a good job busting up raw eggplant, like it does on cooked potatoes. Then I could season, oil, and lay it out in layers on pans in the convection oven. Maybe make trays of eggplant parm like that, or preferably freeze just the bags of browned eggplant like that for later use. We have in the past frozen pan fried slices and they were decent, but not like fresh. I keep thinking about it but haven't tried it. This is going to be a hectic week already with four springer spaniels instead of just two, and I just didn't feel like dealing with it.