Baked Creole Eggplant Fries

with a spicy Creole Remoulade Dipping Sauce

Crunchy baked eggplant fries with a spicy New Orleans twist! Seasoned with creole seasoning and served with skinny creole remoulade dipping sauce, these fries totally take me to my happy place. I bet that even the eggplant haters will love these crunchy bites. It makes eating your veggies so much fun!

It’s November … all the other food bloggers are preparing for Thanksgiving … and me? I’m reminiscing about a trip to New Orleans I took with my sister a few years ago in November, right after Thanksgiving. We had such a blast! Back home it was snowing and we were walking around in flip flops and soaking up the sun. We explored the city, took the streetcar from one end to the other (on accident, but it really gave us a great tour of the city). We listened to some great music, ate fabulous food, drank LOTS of beer, took a walk on Lake Pontchartrain, visited a graveyard (the above-ground graveyards in New Orleans are so interesting!), a plantation and a rummery and of course the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. We stayed in the Garden district and walked all over the place.

I was surprised to see eggplant on the menu in several restaurants there, but even though I LOVE eggplant, as a land-locked northerner who rarely gets a chance to eat fresh seafood, I was SO focused on eating seafood that I never actually ordered eggplant while we were in New Orleans. But back home in the fall when the harvest comes in, I always have eggplant galore from my mom and dad’s garden. And ever since that trip when the eggplant start to ripen, my mind travels back to New Orleans … one year I had to make Eggplant Pontchartrain – crunchy eggplant topped with a creamy creole seafood sauce. Oh man that was good. This year I went simple and made these creole eggplant fries. And once again reveled in those spicy good creole flavors, with a crunch. In my book, whenever you can make veggies into fries (and still manage to keep it healthy), you should totally do it.

This year was a short harvest season. It felt like suddenly everything was ripe and then winter swept in and killed everything. I made two trips to visit my parents, coming home with a car full of garden veggies both times. And then I set to prepping food and preserving it. I canned fire-roasted tomatoes, made harissa, muhammara, froze peppers, made salsa, hot pepper jelly, moussaka and eggplant parmesan … I made eggplant tomato soup too and and lots and lots of these crunchy good Creole eggplant fries. I’m so happy that they freeze well because today as I was processing the pictures for this post, I was suddenly VERY hungry for eggplant fries. I pulled some fries out of the freezer, stuck them in the oven, quickly whipped up some creole remoulade for dipping and when I pulled the crunchy fries out of the oven I could barely wait to taste them! They were just as good as I remembered. I chowed them right down and basked in happiness, loving all those creole souls in New Orleans who know how to serve up some damn good food, make some great music and have a good time.

Baked Creole Eggplant Fries

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 3 - 6 servings 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the breading:

• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs or crushed rice chex (or a mix of the two … for gluten free, use rice chex)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning (I used Tony Chacheres)
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon cayenne

For the fries:

• 1 eggplant or 2 – 3 japanese eggplant, peeled
• 1 – 2 eggs
• Cooking spray or oil

For dipping: Creole Remoulade sauce (recipe here)

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and/or coat with oil. (I do both.)
2. In a flat bowl, mix together the breading ingredients and set aside. Peel the eggplant, then cut into long skinny fry-like shapes about 1/2 inch thick and 2 – 4 inches long.
3. Put the egg into another flat bowl and whisk until well mixed. Working left to right, set the eggplant “fries” on the left, then the bowl with the egg, then the crumbs and set the prepared baking sheet on your right.
4. Use your left hand to grab a piece of eggplant and roll it around in the egg to coat, then set it in the bowl of crumbs. Use your right hand to sprinkle the breading over the eggplant, then flip it and dust the other side with more crumbs until it is fully coated. Set on the prepared pan.
5. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant pieces, leaving a little space between the “fries” until they are all gone. Spray the tops with oil or cooking spray or drizzle with a little oil.
6. Set the pan in the oven to bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until the crumbs are nicely browned. While the fries are cooking, make the creole remoulade. Enjoy hot with the creole dipping sauce or freeze for later.

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Notes

To freeze the fries: set them on a baking sheet in the oven. Once frozen, put them in a bag. To reheat: spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or coat with oil. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Set the fries on the baking sheet, spray or drizzle with oil and bake for about 10 minutes or until crunchy.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

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