I spotted these organically grown mini-eggplants at the market days before I knew how I was going to end up cooking them. Typically used in a pinakbet, I was more drawn to their diminutive size and the possibilities of using them in a dish with more 
visual appeal. A few days later, I obtained some spectacular tomatoes from the Toscana Farms Stand in Silang Cavite and ended up making this “imbento” salad that turned out really well. First, roast the eggplants and peel off the skin. Next on a serving platter, place sliced tomatoes, the peeled eggplants, some slices of buffalo mozzarella, dabs of pesto and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil. Season with some salt and pepper. If you want a touch of acidity, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar would work. This took a couple of minutes to assemble and it tasted absolutely wonderful. When the weather is really hot, I turn to salads for lunchtime nourishment whenever possible, and this is a great addition to the salad options in our home!
14 Responses
Your variation of the insalata Caprese looks good, but I would prefer sticking to the fresh basil leaves rather than pesto.
good looking eggplant.
love eggplants. . . one of my fave veggies, it’s really good if its roasted or grilled
This is perfect… I love everything you put into this salad. And I would definitely add balsamic vinegar. Just love ’em.
This looks excellent! I love caprese salad, but now I think I’ll try it with pesto instead of basil…interesting twist. And of course the grilled eggplants…yum!
wow.. this platter really made my mouth water.. i love eggplants even if it’s just plain boiled, i don’t know why i have this longtime love for the veggie.. my mom used to tell me you don’t get any vitamins from it but what the heck, i pair it with kesong puti for calcium, tomatoes for vitamin c and other stuff which fill in what the eggplant lacks.. heheh.. yummy naman nakakagutom!!!
hi! would just like to ask.. where do you get those buffalo mozarella and how much does it cost? thanks!
You all know, mozzarella is expensive and we should use alternatives such as kesong puti. Most Filipinos are not interested in local product but we have to enhance our own product by using it. Look what the French did, they nurture and patronize their own products and now French cuisine is one of the highly respected cuisines. If other countries have yogurt and cheeses, we can start our own yogurt by creating good product out of taho. We need to improve our kesong puti and taho. French have crepes, Scandinavians have waffles and we can have our own bibingka.
I love eggplants and the dish looks so easy to prepare.
there’s mozzarella that’s made here na. i even saw their truck delivering cheese in greenbelt 3–probably for pepato, etc. mr. moo in silang supplies this but you have to order in bulk. like 30kilos or so of mozzarella. there are also other retailers of locally made mozza, rizal dairy i think is one of them.
hi market man! do you know where i could get fresh buffalo mozzarela here in the philippines?
you can try the fresh buffalo mozzarela in Galileo Enoteca in mandaluyong but they are imported from Italy and most of the time they are not available. There are also local kesong puti being sold at the Salcedo market every Saturday.
we love eggplants..in the morning we fry it.when we make bistek,we add fried eggplants also.and we also make it as kulawo.it has raw coconut milk and had vinegar and onionssalt and pepper.it is de-lish!!
Yes. eggplant I think is the most “versatile” veggie. You can do eggplant lasagne, eggplant relish and eggplant tempura. You can buy buffalo mozarella from Phil Carabao Center at Los Banos Laguna.