If you like to fire up your grill on summer evenings, this would be a wonderful salad course or a meaty tasting vegetarian entree with its creamy cheese and rich balsamic glaze.
Grilled Eggplant and Manchego Cheese Salad with Balsamic-Black Pepper Glaze
Serves 4
Recipe from Bobby Flay
Ingredients:
2 cups balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
3 medium eggplants, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices (You will need 12 equal slices)
1/3 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
8 (1/4-inch thick) slices manchego cheese
16 fresh basil leaves, plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
Directions:
1. Pour the balsamic vinegar into a medium saucepan and boil over high heat until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the honey and coarsely ground black pepper and transfer to a bowl. The glaze can be made 1 day in advance, covered, and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before using.
2. Heat your grill to high.
3. Brush both sides of the eggplant with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the eggplant on the grill and grill until golden brown and slightly charred, about 4 minutes. Turn over and continue grilling until just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes longer. Keep the grill on.
4. Transfer 8 slices of the eggplant to a flat surface, top each slice with a slice of cheese and 2 basil leaves, and season with salt and pepper. Stack the eggplant slices to make four 2-layer stacks and top with the remaining 4 eggplant slices.
5. Carefully, return the stacks to the grill and grill for 2 minutes, or until the cheese is slightly melted. Remove the stacks to a large dinner plate, drizzle with the balsamic-black pepper glaze, and garnish with chopped basil.
Enjoy!
Tomatoes on the Vine 
Okay. I don't even like eggplant and this looks fantastic!
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What a stunning photo, Velva.
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Look at the char and that glaze – it's seriously making me drool!
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Very yummy! And another recipe with a veggie I love! Thanks! ♥
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Yum! Looks very tasty indeed (-:
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I once followed Bobby Flay religiously, and I feel like I made this way back when. The food memory, and your wonderful photo is stimulating my taste buds right now!
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This looks awesome, I have to try it!
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Art on a plate, and I bet the flavor was good too!
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What a beautiful photo, almost (but not quite) too pretty to eat!
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Grilled eggplants, with their smoky meaty taste, are just so appealing. Especially when covered in cheese and balsamic. A summer dish that definitely does not fail to please.
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lovely recipe with beautiful click.
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That glaze looks scrumtious
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I love aubergine and this just looks amazing. Diane
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Fantastic way to eat eggplant.Mimi
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Those eggplants look really tempting. I use a lot of balsamico in my cooking and I love it.
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What a lovely photo; and I am sure it is as good as it looks.
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Hey Velva! This eggplant looks delicious. I've been meaning to make eggplant in a different way than my standard, so I might have to follow your lead with this method. Plus, I love balsamic vinegar…
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I love eggplant and I love manchego cheese – so this sounds perfect! I have tons of eggplant from my CSA – thanks for the great idea!
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My goodness, this looks so tempting! I love especially the eggplant is brown totally and it's so aromatic. Thanks for sharing and enjoy your day.Cheers, Kristy
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I love balsamic – and, er, eggplant – too 🙂 This looks like a terrific dish!
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Love balsamic glazes! This looks beautiful and delicious.
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This looks so beautiful and well…I'm a huge Bobby fan so in my book – he can do no wrong! Love your blog, it's so well done and one I visit for unique ideas and inspiration! Thanks!
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Wow! I absolutely LOVE grilled eggplant and with the manchego cheese? It looks glorious :)Sues
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Not a fan of eggplant, but I'd definitely give that a try! love Manchego though!
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I love eggplant. I'm not familiar with Manchego cheese, but I bet they taste great!
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What a fantastic combination of eggplant and manchego cheese! And sounds absolutely amazing with the glaze!
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Oh my word, Velva!!! What a marvelously dark and decadent sauce. 🙂 I'm entranced!!!
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I've been getting more into eggplant this year! This looks wonderful! I love the pepper balsamic glaze! I'll bet that would be great on a lot of things! Thanks!
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This combines some of our favorite ingredients and looks delicious!Best,Bonnie
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I'm torn on this one because eggplant is the root of all things evil yet Manchego is a gift from cheese heaven! Great way to make a fancy yet easy dish on the grill, Velva!
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this could not possibly sound more appealing to me. not only is that glaze is AWESOME, but grilling eggplant really does something special to it. and manchego! manchego! 🙂
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Wow, that's almost like a grilled cheese sandwich…just without the bread! Looks freaking good…I adore manchego cheese!
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must be something delicious !
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You've really done it this time, Velva! I adore eggplant, manchego cheese, love balsamic vinegar and when the three are combined on the grill, I am in heaven!
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I don't like eggplant but that looks delicious!Following from Fresh Friday Blog Hop…would love to have you follow back!http://funfritzfamily.blogspot.com/
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I've kind of been on the fence with eggplant. I've tried it a few times and I think I'm still looking for a Wow recipe. This looks pretty darn WOW to me!
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Yum! What a great way to use up end of the summer bounty! I am in a total eggplant phase.
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I love the way you prepared the eggplant, especially that balsamic glaze! It must have been amazing with that cheese! Great post!
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looks great Velva!! I love anything with eggplant
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oh my gosh this is a fabulous dish! I love grilled eggplants.
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This is melt in your mouth perfection. i love balsamic glaze!! everything should be served with balsamic glaze!
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Oh, that balsamic glaze sounds wonderful. I bet it'd be good with lots of other things, too.
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We just grilled eggplants this weekend, but they were a bit bland! This glaze looks quite tasty, will have to try something like this next time.
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Oh it sounds fancy!
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Great shot! Looks super tasty.
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