Grilled Eggplant Stacks with Tomato and Feta

Ingredients

• Feta cheese

  4 oz or 113g

• Basil

  Fresh

  1 cup leaves, whole or 24g

• Olive oil

  Salad or cooking

  8 tbsp or 108g

• Salt

  Table

  ½ tsp or 3g

• Tomatoes

  Red, ripe, raw, year round average

  4 medium whole or 492g

• Eggplant

  Raw

  2 eggplant, unpeeled (approx 1-1/4 lb) or 1.1kg

• Pepper

  Spices, black

  1 dash or 0.1g

Directions

1. Crumble the feta cheese and set aside.
2. Blend the basil leaves with olive oil and salt in a blender until finely chopped. Pour into a sieve lined with a paper towel or coffee filter over a bowl and let drain for 20 minutes. Press gently to extract more oil. Reserve 1 tsp basil oil for each serving being prepared and scrape the basil solids into a small bowl.
3. Prepare the grill for medium-hot charcoal or moderate heat for gas grilling.
4. While the grill heats, slice the eggplants into 1/2-inch rounds and tomatoes into 1/3-inch rounds.
5. Brush the eggplant rounds with basil oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill on a lightly oiled rack, turning occasionally, until very tender, 6 to 10 minutes.
6. Arrange the largest eggplant rounds on a baking pan, spread with basil solids, top with tomato rounds, and add feta. Repeat with medium rounds and finish with the remaining eggplant and feta.
7. Place the baking pan on the grill, cover, and cook until heated through and the cheese is softened, about 3 minutes. Transfer to plates and drizzle with reserved basil oil.