Eggplant , Sweet Potatoes , onion
Best for: Fire-first cooks and campsite suppers — vegetables cooked the oldest way there is, straight in the coals.
Long before there were grates, there was rescoldo: whole vegetables buried in hot embers and ash, left alone until the fire had done all the work. Onions, sweet potatoes, and eggplant come out of the coals blackened to a crisp on the outside and unbelievably soft within — sweet potatoes gone jammy, onions melted sweet, eggplant collapsed into silk. You peel away the char, dress everything simply with olive oil, garlic, herbs, and lemon, and eat food that tastes like it came from a much older kitchen than yours. Use natural lump charcoal for this one; the vegetables cook in direct contact with it.
Grill: Directly in the coals (rescoldo) — no grate. Equipment: Natural lump charcoal, long tongs, heatproof gloves. Course: Side dish.
Ingredients
45–60 minutes Rest: 10 minutes. Total: 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes.
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 2 whole yellow onions, unpeeled
- 1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, or a mix)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
Directions
Burn the coals to embers. Light a generous bed of natural lump charcoal and let it burn down to glowing embers with a light coat of gray ash — about 30–40 minutes. You want a deep bed; the vegetables will be buried in it.
Wash and prick the vegetables. Rinse and dry the vegetables. Prick the eggplant in several places with a fork so steam can escape as it roasts.
Bury them in the embers. Rake the embers level, set the vegetables directly on the coals, and mound hot coals and ash over and around them until they are mostly buried.
Roast, turning once halfway. Roast for 45–60 minutes, turning each vegetable once with long tongs about halfway through, until the onions and sweet potatoes are completely soft when squeezed with a gloved hand and the eggplant has collapsed in on itself.
Rest, split, and scoop. Lift the vegetables out of the coals, brush off the loose ash, and let them rest for 10 minutes. Split the sweet potatoes open, squeeze the onions out of their charred skins, and scoop the eggplant flesh from its blackened skin into a serving dish.
Dress everything and serve. Dress everything with the olive oil, garlic, herbs, lemon juice, flaky salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes if you are using them. Serve warm.
Grilling tip: Cook these in natural lump charcoal only — never in briquettes lit with lighter fluid, since the vegetables sit right in the fuel. A little ash on the food is part of the dish’s old soul; just brush off the loose grit before dressing.
