Ratatouille

This ratatouille recipe is a delicious version of the classic French stew. It's rich and flavorful, filled with late summer vegetables, olive oil, and herbs.

Ratatouille is a French stew made with late summer vegetables like eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. It’s rich with olive oil, bright with vinegar, and flecked with fresh herbs. If you haven’t tried it, put this ratatouille recipe on your list to make this summer. It’s even more delightful than the Disney movie of the same name (which is pretty delightful, if you ask me). Making this ratatouille recipe always transports me to Provence, France. A few years ago, I stayed with a local family there. On my first night with them, they served ratatouille for dinner. We sat on…

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Baba Ganoush

This easy baba ganoush recipe is smoky, savory, and creamy. Made with eggplant, tahini, garlic, and lemon, it's a delicious dip for pita and veggies.

Have you tried baba ganoush? If you like hummus, I have a feeling you’ll love this Mediterranean eggplant dip too. Made with grilled or roasted eggplant, tahini, garlic, and lemon, it’s creamy, smoky, nutty, and bright. I’m sharing my easy baba ganoush recipe below. It pairs perfectly with crisp veggies and pita bread, but I love it so much that I’ve also been known to eat it straight off a spoon. I hope you enjoy it too! How to Make Baba Ganoush This baba ganoush recipe is simple to make. It starts with 6 basic ingredients: Baba Ganoush Ingredients Eggplant…

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Eggplant Lasagna

You won't find any noodles in this eggplant lasagna recipe, but trust me—you won't miss them. Tender roasted eggplant is a delicious substitute.

This eggplant lasagna recipe is perfect for this time of year. Summer produce is still abundant, but the temps are starting to cool off. After months of eating salad recipes and veggie burgers off the grill, I’m ready to add comfort foods to our regular rotation. Eggplant lasagna, coming right up! If it’s not clear from the name, this eggplant lasagna recipe is a no-noodle situation. Instead of pasta, thin planks of roasted eggplant separate the layers of bubbly marinara sauce and melty cheese. It’s every bit as delicious as a classic lasagna (even Jack will vouch for it!), just…

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15 Easy Eggplant Recipes

Even eggplant skeptics will fall for these 15 tasty eggplant recipes! With tacos, pasta, salads, and more, they include something for everyone.

Of all the vegetable recipes I post, eggplant recipes are the most divisive. Early on, this surprised me, because eggplant recipes have always been some of my favorite foods to eat. As a kid, I never wanted to stop playing at dinnertime, except when my mom was making eggplant Parmesan. And when I started to explore vegetarian cooking on my own, grilled eggplant was one of the first dishes I mastered. But if I’ve learned one thing through writing Love and Lemons, it’s that not everyone likes eggplant. I’ve heard it called spongy, bitter, and bland, and to that I…

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Eggplant Salad

This eggplant salad recipe is a celebration of summer produce! It's bursting with fresh flavor from grilled eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs.

This eggplant salad recipe is what you should make after a trip to the farmers market in late summer. It features some of the best produce of the season: eggplant, peppers, cherry tomatoes, and lots of herbs. I love this recipe because it has a delicious blend of raw and cooked ingredients. I grill the eggplant and peppers so that they offer a tender, smoky contrast to the super-fresh tomatoes and herbs. A zingy lemon dressing ties the salad together, while tangy feta cheese and pickled onions take it over the top. Flavorful, refreshing, and bursting with seasonal veggies, this…

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Eggplant Caponata

Silky, sweet, and sour, this eggplant caponata recipe is a delicious summer appetizer. Serve it on crostini with lots of fresh basil for garnish!

These days, our neighborhood farmers market is basically like a caponata cooking kit. Mounds of eggplants, tomatoes, and multicolored peppers fill every stall. I’m pretty pleased about it, because this Sicilian vegetable stew is one of my favorite late summer dishes. It’s tangy, briny, and lightly sweet, with a rich, silky texture that’s absolutely irresistible. I first fell in love with caponata years ago on a trip to Italy. Jack and I ordered it as an appetizer with crusty bread and a glass of white wine almost everywhere we went. When we got home, of course I had to learn…

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Eggplant Rollatini

In this eggplant rollatini recipe, bubbly marinara surrounds tender eggplant slices rolled around a rich ricotta filling. It's SO comforting and delicious!

Ok, saucy, cheesy comfort food fans – you’re going to love this eggplant rollatini recipe! “Rollatini” is an Americanized version of the Italian word “involtini,” which describes small bundles of food made by rolling thin slices of meat or produce around a filling. In this eggplant rollatini recipe, I wrap delicate planks of roasted eggplant around a rich blend of lemon zest, pecorino, and ricotta cheese. I nestle the rolls in a dish of marinara sauce and bake until the filling is hot and the eggplant is tender. The combination of flavors and textures is fantastic. The filling offers a…

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Oven Roasted Eggplant

Learn how to make perfect roasted eggplant! Tender in the middle and caramelized on the edges, it's delicious as a side dish, in pastas, and more.

This roasted eggplant recipe is so tasty that you might find yourself devouring it straight off the baking sheet. Yes, eggplant skeptics – even you. The thing about cooking eggplant is that it’s easy to get wrong. Underdo it, and it’s spongy and tough. Overdo it, and it turns to mush. But get it just right, and eggplant is one of the most flavorful vegetables out there. This roasted eggplant recipe is a super simple way to get eggplant right. It comes out of the oven beautifully caramelized and golden brown around the edges and melt-in-your-mouth tender in the middle.…

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Air Fryer Eggplant

Coated in a panko and Parmesan crust, this air fryer eggplant is crispy on the outside, tender in the middle, and packed with rich, nutty flavor.

If you like eggplant Parmesan, then you’ll be crazy for this air fryer eggplant recipe! I coat eggplant slices in a mixture of panko bread crumbs, almond flour, and Parmesan cheese and then air fry them to golden brown perfection. The slices are crispy on the outside, silky smooth in the middle, and filled with rich, nutty flavor. I’m always a fan of eggplant recipes, but without a doubt, this air fryer eggplant is one of my new favorites. Air Fryer Eggplant Recipe Ingredients You only need a handful of ingredients to make this air fryer eggplant recipe: Eggplant, of…

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Grilled Eggplant

Lightly charred and full of smoky flavor, grilled eggplant is a delicious side dish. Dress it up with a fresh couscous topping, or enjoy it on its own!

Way back before Love and Lemons began, when I was first learning about seasonal vegetable cooking, grilled eggplant was one of my favorite things to make. Jack and I would visit farms near Austin, where we lived at the time, and come home with armfuls of summer veggies like zucchini and eggplant. We’d get the grill pan nice and hot (this was before we had an outdoor grill), and cook everything until it was tender and perfectly charred. We’d drizzle on a tasty sauce, pass some crusty bread, and call it dinner. So much has changed since then – we…

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Eggplant Parmesan

This baked eggplant Parmesan recipe will become one of your family favorites! Crispy eggplant is layered with herbs, tomato sauce, and cheese.

Growing up, my mom’s eggplant Parmesan recipe was one of my favorite things to eat. My family ate dinner together every night, and my mom always cooked it from scratch. Tomato sauce never came from a jar, and cheese was never pre-shredded because convenience foods like that were simply not worth the extra expense. Dinnertime was a sound routine for all of us… unless it was summer. Then, my sister and I had more important matters at hand. We had to keep lookout for the ice cream man, hold swing set jumping contests, and run relays in our jelly shoes.…

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A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Welcome to Love & Lemons!

I'm Jeanine Donofrio, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author and recipe developer. I share fresh, delicious vegetarian recipes that celebrate seasonal ingredients and flavors.

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