Italian Pickled Eggplant

5 from 3 votes

Salted and boiled eggplant strips are layered in jars with cherry peppers, garlic and parsley, then topped with extra virgin olive oil.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Salting Time6

Total Time6 30

Course: Appetizer, condiment

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Peel and cut eggplants into strips that are roughly 1" wide and a 1/4" thick. Place a thin layer of eggplant strips in a large colander and sprinkle with kosher salt. Repeat this process with all eggplant strips, so salt touches all of the strips.
Place a heavy plate on top of the eggplant and a plate underneath the colander to catch water. Let the eggplant release its water for 6 hours. Check and dump the water from the bottom plate every hour or so. The eggplant will release a lot of water.
Mince 2 cloves of garlic, a 1/4 cup of cherry peppers and a 1/4 cup of fresh parsley.
Bring a large pot to boil with 2 cups of water and 1 cup white vinegar. After the eggplant has released its water, rinse the salt off in colander. Try to squeeze out more liquid from the eggplant, then boil in the water/vinegar for 2-3 minutes max.
Strain eggplant strips and rinse to cool. Squeeze out more moisture one more time and lay eggplant on paper towels to dry.
In 3 clean 16 ounce jars, evenly layer the eggplant strips, cherry peppers, garlic and parsley. Keep layering equally into all the jars and then top with extra virgin olive oil. Press down the eggplant with a spoon and top the jars with extra virgin olive oil. The eggplant should be completely covered.
Store the jars in the fridge for up to 1 week and serve with toasted Italian bread. Enjoy!

Squeeze out the water after rinsing the salt off. This is an important step to ensure the eggplant can absorb the olive oil, and to not have too much water in the jars.
Do not boil the eggplant strips for longer than 3 minutes, so as to prevent mushiness.
When pulling a jar out of the fridge for serving, run it under warm water for 5 minutes or so to loosen up the congealed olive oil.
Eggplant can be stored in the fridge for up to a week (I've done way longer, but do that at your own risk!). Also, if you make a lot of pickled eggplant, storing it in the freezer in large plastic containers is a good option. The flavors will be locked in. When needed, defrost a batch, put in jars and use over the next week.